Jabari Parker Declares For Draft
Jabari Parker has decided to enter this year’s draft, as he writes on SI.com in a piece with Jeff Benedict. There was less clarity about Parker’s decision than with anyone else projected to go in the top half of the lottery, as the possibility of playing with AAU teammate and top 2015 prospect Jahlil Okafor at Duke next season tugged at his heart. Ultimately, Parker, the No. 2 prospect in the rankings of Chad Ford of ESPN.com and the third-best with Jonathan Givony of DraftExpress, has opted to head to the NBA after his freshman year.
Parker says the decision came down to his conclusion that the NBA gives him the best opportunity for growth on and off the court, as he writes in the piece. He also acknowledges that he considered going on a two-year Mormon mission rather than playing basketball, but he’s chosen not to do that.
The combo forward averaged 19.1 points and 8.7 rebounds in 30.7 minutes per game for Duke, which suffered an upset loss to Mercer in the NCAA tournament. Teams consider Parker and the Kansas duo of Andrew Wiggins and Joel Embiid as the primary contenders for the No. 1 overall pick, though many prefer the greater upside that Wiggins and Embiid have, as our Charlie Adams noted when he examined Parker’s stock last month.
In any case, today’s news is a relief to teams with significant chances at one of the top two or three picks in the draft, as well as those farther down the lottery order, since the absence of Parker from the draft would further commoditize the other top prospects. Parker notes in his piece that he’s sent official paperwork to the NBA, and Wednesday was the final day that underclassmen could withdraw from the draft and still retain their college eligibility, so there’s finally clarity surrounding the top of the 2014 draft.
Draft Notes: Parker, Saric, Ennis, Gordon
There were dozens of scenarios in play for June’s draft order entering the final night of the regular season, as I outlined Wednesday, but many of them remain unresolved. Random drawings set for Friday will break the four ties shown in our Reverse Standings, while the May 20th draft lottery looms for the top of the order. Until then, here’s the latest on a handful of the top prospects:
- Jabari Parker would go right to the top of the 2015 prospect rankings if he chooses to stay at Duke for his sophomore year, opines Chad Ford of ESPN.com, who answered reader questions in a chat Wednesday.
- Dario Saric’s agent said the matter of whether his client will remain in the draft or withdraw will have much to do with their confidence that he’d be drafted in the top 10 or 14 picks. However, most teams would want to know for sure that he’d play in the NBA next season before committing a top-10 pick to him, as Ford writes in the same chat.
- Syracuse point guard Tyler Ennis is going with agent Mike George of Excel Sports Management for his representation, tweets Adam Zagoria of SNY.tv.
- Another projected lottery pick, Arizona forward Aaron Gordon, is set to sign with BDA Sports, reports Bruce Pascoe of the Arizona Daily Star (Twitter link).
- Purdue sophomore A.J. Hammons will return to school rather than entering this year’s draft, the Boilermakers announced. The center is the 40th-best prospect on the list that Jonathan Givony of DraftExpress compiles, while Ford puts him 72nd.
Draft Links: Parker, Hollis-Jefferson, Tarczewski
A few days ago, Alex Kennedy of Basketball Insiders reported that Jabari Parker’s decision on whether or not he’ll enter the 2014 NBA Draft would be expected by either today or tomorrow. However, Duke basketball associate director of sports information Matt Plizga confirms that the 6’8 forward will not announce his future plans tomorrow, writes Adam Zagoria of SNY.tv (first reported by the Chicago Tribune). Regardless of when that decision may be announced, Basketball Insiders writer Yannis Koutroupis analyzes what factors should be considered as Parker weighs his options.
With that aside, here are some more draft-related links to pass along tonight:
- University of Arizona head coach Sean Miller confirms that Rondae Hollis-Jefferson and Kaleb Tarczewski have opted to stay in school another year, tweets Bruce Pascoe of the Arizona Daily Star.
- According to the Michigan State Spartans’ official basketball website, junior swingman Branden Dawson will return for his senior season.
- Nik Stauskas intends to sign with agent Mark Bartelstein, reports ESPN’s Jeff Goodman (Twitter link).
- NBA draft prospect Jerami Grant passes the eye-test as far as length and athleticism goes, though Kevin Pelton, Amin Elhassan, and Chad Ford of ESPN are concerned about his limited offensive game. In an Insiders-only piece, Pelton, Elhassan, and Ford take an in-depth look at the former Syracuse forward through analytics, scouting, and front office perspectives.
- In another article, Pelton, Elhassan, and Ford evaluate former Michigan guard Gary Harris (Insiders only). Pelton says that Harris should go high in the lottery; Elhassan and Ford focus more on the 6’4″ guard’s ability as a two-way player.
- In his own piece, Ford passes along his observations from the 2014 Nike Hoops Summit, which included more than a handful of potential NBA prospects who could enter the draft as early as 2015. According to one scout, the talent crop didn’t stand out as much as last year’s class, though among the names who impressed were Emmanuel Mudiay (committed to SMU) and Jahlil Okafor (committed to Duke).
- The American prospects from the Nike Hoops Summit are grouped according to possible stardom, potential to be an NBA-rotation player, or their ability to become a good college player by Nate Duncan of Basketball Insiders.
Latest On Jabari Parker
It’s still unknown as to whether or not Duke freshman Jabari Parker intends to declare for this year’s NBA Draft. It was reported earlier that Parker had applied for housing for his sophomore year. This doesn’t prohibit him from declaring, but it does show that he hasn’t made up his mind definitively to enter the NBA. As for Parker’s draft projection, you can check out his prospect profile for more information.
More on Parker’s situation:
- Chad Ford of ESPN.com (Video) breaks down Parker’s game.
- Parker still hasn’t made up his mind about leaving Duke, and is set to meet with coach Mike Krzyzewski next week, Ford writes. According to the article, Parker refuted the report that he already has applied for student housing at Duke for next school year. He also doesn’t view a potential return to Durham as risky. Parker said, “I think there’s no risk. I think the community at Duke has really done a good job of taking care of my safety and they make sure that everything is done by the playbook.“
- Parker’s decision is between returning to Duke or entering NBA. He is not considering a Mormon mission, tweets Eric Pincus of The Los Angeles Times.
- The decision on Parker entering the draft won’t come until Tuesday or Wednesday of next week, reports Alex Kennedy of Basketball Insiders (Twitter link).
Draft Rumors: Embiid, Walker, Randle, Parker
The status of this year’s top prospects is still somewhat in the air. Joel Embiid made his entry into the draft official earlier today, while Julius Randle denied reports that he was ready to do the same. Jabari Parker has made housing arrangements at Duke for his sophomore year, a source from the school tells Tom Moore of Calkins Media (Twitter link). Moore notes that the arrangements don’t rule out a decision by Parker to enter the draft, but they do give credence to Parker’s insistence that staying in school another year is a real possibility. Let’s round up the rest of the night’s draft notes:
- Scott Howard-Cooper of NBA.com writes that Randle’s shot at becoming the No. 1 overall pick in the draft is gone, but that the big man has set himself up to stay near the top of the lottery if he does well in pre-draft workouts.
- In a separate piece, Howard-Cooper ranks his top 30 draft prospects, placing Embiid in the No. 1 spot.
- Chris Broussard of ESPN.com discusses Embiid’s draft stock in an Insider subscription-only video. Broussard says that most GMs that he’s talked to think Embiid will indeed go first overall. If Embiid’s back injury checks out as a non-issue, Broussard thinks the big man will become the odds-on favorite to become the top selection.
- As expected, LaQuinton Ross has signed with agent Jeff Schwartz of Excel Sports, per a tweet from Adam Zagoria of SNY.tv.
- Freshman Chris Walker announced in a tweet that he will return to Florida next year rather than declare for the draft (hat tip to Chad Ford of ESPN.com). The decision doesn’t come as a surprise, as Walker is projected as a lottery pick in the 2015 class by Jonathan Givony of DraftExpress.com.
- Xavier Thames has signed with agents Colin Bryant and Valerian Owens, according to Marc J. Spears of Yahoo! Sports (Twitter link). The guard from San Diego State isn’t projected to be drafted, ranked as just the 50th best senior by Givony.
Poll: Who Should Be The No. 1 Pick?
The college season is over, and the time for evaluating top prospects in live game conditions is through. The 2014 draft class didn’t live up to astronomically high expectations, but it still appears to be the best group in the past few years. There will be a lot riding on the decisions that teams holding lottery picks will have to make, and the greatest amount of pressure will rest on the shoulders of the GM with the No. 1 overall pick.
Andrew Wiggins entered as the most ballyhooed of them all and a surefire top overall pick, but he stumbled, and found himself behind Kansas teammate Joel Embiid, a relative basketball neophyte from Cameroon who surged to the No. 1 spot on draft boards in the middle of the season. Jabari Parker was up and down, but he appears more NBA-ready than Wiggins and Embiid. All three have been the leading candidates for the top pick for much of the season.
Chad Ford of ESPN.com has moved Wiggins back to No. 1 in his latest rankings, and that’s where Jonathan Givony of DraftExpress has him, too. Still, Wiggins is third behind Embiid and Parker on Aran Smith’s board at NBADraft.net. Teams remain undecided, and the Kings apparently have Wiggins outside their top three picks, according to Ford.
Much depends on the health of Embiid’s injured back, and the identity of the team picking first overall won’t be known until the May 20th draft lottery. There are plenty of variables that will go into the equation in the 79 days remaining before the draft, but if you were the GM picking first overall and the draft were tonight, whom would you select?
Feel free to consult our prospect profiles on Embiid, Parker and Wiggins to help you make your decision. When you’re ready, cast your vote below, and explain your choice in the comments.
Who Should Be The No. 1 Pick?
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Andrew Wiggins 43% (366)
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Jabari Parker 33% (279)
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Joel Embiid 17% (146)
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Someone else 8% (65)
Total votes: 856
Draft Notes: Kentucky, Wiggins, Magic, Kings
There are no NBA games scheduled this evening as the spotlight falls on the NCAA title game between Kentucky and Connecticut. Eight players on the rosters of the two teams are among the top 61 prospects in Jonathan Givony’s DraftExpress rankings, though potential lottery pick Willie Cauley-Stein is injured and won’t play for the Wildcats. It’s nonetheless a bevy of talent on display, and with multiple sources telling Gery Woelfel of The Journal Times that just about every one of Kentucky’s decorated freshmen will declare for this year’s draft, it looks like it won’t be long before that talent is in the NBA (Twitter link). Here’s the latest on the next wave headed for the Association:
- The Magic have Andrew Wiggins, Dante Exum, Jabari Parker and Marcus Smart, in that order, atop their draft board, Chad Ford of ESPN.com reports in his latest Insider-only “Tank Rank” piece. Exum also has “some traction” with the Sixers, and the Lakers are high on him, too.
- The Kings don’t have Wiggins within their top three prospects, Ford hears. The ESPN.com scribe makes note of the draft plans for several other teams, too, though some of it appears to be educated guesswork.
- Wiggins has chosen BDA Management’s Bill Duffy for his agent, sources tell Bleacher Report’s Jared Zwerling (Twitter link). Duffy beat out Jay Z’s Roc Nation Sports, and Wiggins was also linked to Rich Paul of Klutch Sports.
- Parker, Randle and Joel Embiid are all expected to sign with Arn Tellem of Wasserman Media Group, Woelfel tweets. Woelfel includes Smart’s name on that list, too, reiterating what Zwerling reported last week.
- TNT’s David Aldridge ranks the shooting guards expected to be available for the draft in his Morning Tip column for NBA.com, giving Michigan’s Nik Stauskas the slight edge for the No. 1 spot over Gary Harris of Michigan State.
Draft Rumors: Saric, Parker, Brown, Clarkson
Jabari Parker‘s father tells Adam Zagoria of SNY.tv that Parker is still undecided on whether to declare for the 2014 draft. “He’s undecided and we know the [NBA’s Early Entry eligibility] deadline is the 27th [of April] so if he’s going to make a decision he has to make it by that date, but right now he’s undecided,” said the elder Parker. It would be a surprise if Parker, a consensus top-three talent, didn’t come out for the draft when all is said and done. Let’s look at some more draft notes:
- Chad Ford of ESPN.com, in his weekly chat, insists that Dario Saric is still leaning toward staying out of the draft, in spite of a weekend report suggesting otherwise. Ford also hears from several scouts who say Parker will stay in school, but Ford believes the Duke star will ultimately enter this year’s draft.
- Oklahoma State senior Markel Brown and Missouri junior Jordan Clarkson, who’s entering the draft, are set to sign with Andy Miller’s ASM Sports agency, tweets Darren Heitner of Forbes.
- NBA front office types who told their owners that there was a franchise-changing player in this year’s draft are probably nervous now, an Eastern Conference executive tells Bleacher Report’s Howard Beck, who examines the falling stock of the 2014 class.
- Some of the top prospects in the 2015 class don’t seem too enthused about commissioner Adam Silver’s push for a new NBA minimum age, as they tell Alex Kennedy of Basketball Insiders.
Cray Allred contributed to this post.
And-Ones: Nowitzki, Draft, Parker
Dirk Nowitzki eschews an agent and has mentor Holger Geschwinder negotiate his contracts for him, but the Mavs star isn’t fond of free agency, as he tells TNT’s David Aldridge, who writes in his Morning Tip column for NBA.com. Nowitzki reiterates that he fully intends to re-sign with Dallas this summer.
More from around the league:
- Despite Nowitzki’s stated intent to re-sign with Dallas, Alex Kennedy of Basketball Insiders believes Dirk would be well-served to explore his options. Kennedy cites Nowitzki’s desire to be on a championship contender as the primary reason, and believes if he was willing to take a pay cut, he could fit in nicely with a number of teams that offer him a better chance to win than the Mavericks.
- Rich Paul was mentioned earlier as a possible agent for Andrew Wiggins. Paul might also land Duke’s Jabari Parker if he declares for the draft, tweets Sean Deveney of The Sporting News. Deveney also lists former NBA player B.J. Armstrong as a possibility to represent Parker.
- Western Michigan Senior Shayne Whittington has signed with agents Ronald Shade and Herb Rudoy of Interperformances, reports Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo! Sports (Twitter link). Whittington is currently ranked 195th by Chad Ford of ESPN.com, and is a projected second round pick at best.
Chuck Myron contributed to this post.
Draft Notes: Staten, Gordon, Wiggins, Parker
Juwan Staten is going to return to West Virginia for his senior year, reports Jeff Goodman of ESPN.com. Staten’s father, Billy, told ESPN.com that Staten, who averaged 18.1 PPG, 5.6 RPG, and 5.8 APG, that his son would come back to Morgantown. Staten had started his college career at Dayton before transferring to West Virginia after his freshman season. He averaged 7.6 PPG as a sophomore, but had a breakout campaign this past season, writes Goodman. Chad Ford of ESPN.com had Staten slotted as a late second round pick or going undrafted in June.
More from the college ranks:
- Barring a last second change of heart, Arizona freshman Aaron Gordon is likely to declare for the NBA Draft, reports Marc J. Spears of Yahoo! Sports (Twitter link). Gordon is currently ranked seventh on Chad Ford of ESPN.com‘s Big Board, and you can check out our prospect profile on Gordon here.
- Spears also ran down his top ten NBA prospects that competed in the NCAA Tournament in a separate article.
- Andrew Wiggins‘ last game wasn’t a very impressive performance. He only scored four points, and made one out of six shot attempts. Tom Moore of Calkins Media doesn’t think it will hurt Wiggins’ draft stock amongst NBA scouts. Moore believes the player will be judged on his overall body of work and future potential. The article uses the final game of Michael Carter-Williams as an example, where the potential Rookie of the Year only scored two points and missed five of six shots. If you want a better look at Wiggins, you can check out his prospect profile.
- Another player we have profiled, Jabari Parker, might not enter the draft this year despite being a guaranteed top three selection. If he doesn’t, it will weaken this year’s draft significantly, as well as lower the margin for error for teams picking in the lottery, writes Mitch Lawrence of The New York Daily News.