Jerami Grant Rumors | Hoops Rumors

Draft Links: Parker, Hollis-Jefferson, Tarczewski

April 15th, 2014 at 9:10pm CST by Ryan Raroque

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.

Jerami Grant To Enter Draft

April 14th, 2014 at 12:41pm CST by Chuck Myron

Syracuse sophomore Jerami Grant is planning to announce today that he’s entering this year’s NBA draft, tweets Pete Thamel of SI.com. The small forward is No. 17 in the prospect rankings that Chad Ford of ESPN.com puts together, and No. 21 with Jonathan Givony of DraftExpress.

Grant averaged 12.1 points and 6.8 rebounds in 31.4 minutes per game for the Orange this season, but he rarely took a shot from behind the arc, failing to nail a single trey all year. He started only 20 of 32 games this season, but it was still a much more significant role than he had as a freshman, when he started just nine times and notched 14.3 minutes per contest.

The 6’8″ Grant helped Syracuse to a 25-0 start, but Dayton eliminated the Orange in the NCAA tournament’s round of 32. He went scoreless in a late-season loss to Virginia, and he had just four points in what appears to have been his final college game.

And-Ones: Abdul-Jabbar, CBA, Ennis, Grant

March 26th, 2014 at 10:39pm CST by Cray Allred

Kareem Abdul-Jabbar told Mark Medina of The Los Angeles Daily News that he has some interest in becoming a part of the Bucks ownership group. “The team very likely will change hands and there are a number of people that are interested, and I’ve had some people approach me. But there’s nothing yet,” said Abdul-Jabbar. “I talked with [Bucks owner] Mr. Kohl, but he’s talked to a lot of people. The team isn’t doing well and not making money.” More from around the league:

While the Sixers are derided for approaching the worst losing streak in NBA history, Jeré Longman of The New York Times looks at how many members of the young and unproven roster are fighting more for a career than a record-halting win. “It’s an audition for the whole team,” said guard James Anderson. “A lot of people, all they see is the streak, but we’re out here fighting, trying to stick around in this league.”
Nate Duncan of Basketball Insiders believes that the current CBA has had unintended consequences that have hurt small market and mediocre teams. Duncan thinks the harsh repeater tax, meant to deter big market teams from exceeding the salary cap, only widened the gap in salary flexibility since the tax is an even greater deterrent for small market teams that otherwise might splurge during a window of title contention. Duncan also covers changes in contract extensions and trade regulations that have weakened mediocre teams and resulted in dull trade deadlines.
Multiple league sources tell Chris Broussard of ESPN.com that they are concerned an over-reliance on advanced statistics is blocking NBA former players from getting as many front office jobs, since they aren’t as devoted to metrics as “stat guys” with a background in analytics or finance. “Generally speaking, neither the [newer generation of] owners nor the analytic guys have basketball in their background,” one longtime league executive told Broussard. “This fact makes it easy for both parties to dismiss the importance of having experience in and knowledge of the game.”
Jim Boeheim tells Adam Zagoria of SNY.tv it could be a while before freshman Tyler Ennis and sophomore Jerami Grant make their decisions on whether to declare for the draft or return to Syracuse. “I don’t think there will be any word on them for a while,” said Boeheim. ”You never know in this business. They’ll figure it out somehow.”

Draft Notes: Embiid, Ennis, Parker

March 23rd, 2014 at 3:32pm CST by Zachary Links

While fellow freshman Andrew Wiggins will leave after the season, Kansas teammate Joel Embiid tells Jeff Goodman of ESPN that he will talk to the Jayhawks coaching staff and also his mentor, fellow Cameroon native and NBA player Luc Mbah a Moute, before making a final decision concerning his NBA future. “I’m not worried about that right now,” Embiid said, just moments after watching KU get knocked out of the NCAA tournament with a loss to Stanford. Here’s the latest draft news..

When asked whether they’ll stay another year, Syracuse stars Tyler Ennis and Jerami Grant said they haven’t thought about it yet and have no timetable on a decision, tweets Donna Ditota of The Post-Standard.
Matt Moore of CBSSports.com looks at how Mercer’s upset of Duke could affect prospects Jabari Parker and Rodney Hood.
Marc J. Spears of Yahoo Sports (on Twitter) is surprised that there isn’t more draft buzz surrounding Michigan Star Glenn Robinson III. One NBA scout told him he’d be a solid late first-round pick.
The Cavs will have to move up in the order to get a franchise player in the draft, writes Bob Finnan of the News-Herald. However, even at their likely draft position (later in the lottery), they could still have guys like Aaron Gordon, Noah Vonleh, and Marcus Smart to choose from.
The Sixers‘ misery today might pay off down the line, writes Maria Panaritis of the Philadelphia Inquirer.