Draft Notes: M. Bridges, Pinson, Farrell, Rowsey
With the deadline passing for underclassmen to withdraw from the NBA draft, pre-draft workouts are taking on a new level of importance. Here are a few notes to pass on as the draft looms 20 days from now:
- Villanova’s Mikal Bridges and North Carolina’s Theo Pinson will work out for the Hornets on Saturday, tweets Rick Bonnell of The Charlotte Observer.
- Notre Dame guard Matt Farrell has sessions scheduled Monday with the Lakers and Wednesday with the Nuggets, according to Adam Zagoria of ZagsBlog (Twitter link).
- Marquette’s Andrew Rowsey has workouts upcoming with the Raptors, Mavericks, Lakers and Kings, tweets Gery Woelfel of WoelfelsPressBox.
- The Kings are welcoming six players for a session today, relays Sean Cunningham of ABC10 in Sacramento (Twitter link). On hand will be Creighton’s Marcus Foster, West Virginia’s Daxter Miles, SMU’s Ben Emelogu and Seton Hall’s Desi Rodriguez, along with Missouri’s Alize Johnson and Jordan Barnett.
- The Jazz have a workout set for today with Oregon’s Troy Brown, West Virginia’s Jevon Carter, Georgia’s Yante Maten, Michigan’s Moritz Wagner and Kansas’ Sviatoslav Mykhailiuk and Malik Newman, the team announced on Twitter.
- Newman was in Phoenix for a workout on Thursday, the Suns tweeted. He was joined by Ohio State’s Keita Bates-Diop, Virginia’s Devon Hall, Colorado’s George King, Xavier’s J.P. Macura and USC’s Chimezie Metu.
Lakers Rumors: Ball, Workouts, Caldwell-Pope
Lakers guard Lonzo Ball is focused on gaining strength and stamina to become less injury-prone next season, teammate Kyle Kuzma told ESPN’s Ohm Youngmisuk and other media members on Tuesday. Ball played in only 52 games during his rookie campaign due to a variety of ailments.
“He has been in there pretty much every day I have been in here around this time,” Kuzma said of Ball’s weight training. “You can tell he is taking the weight room a lot more serious and that is going to help him by allowing him to recover faster and hopefully next year be on the court more because of that weight room.”
In other news regarding the Lakers:
- West Virginia guard Jevon Carter is among six prospects the Lakers will work out on Wednesday, the team announced on its website. Carter is ranked No. 44 on ESPN Jonathan Givony’s Top 100 list. Kostas Antetokounmpo (Dayton), Elijah Bryant (BYU), Trey Kell (San Diego State) and Omari Spellman (Villanova) will join Carter. Gary Trent Jr. of Duke will also be there, as previously reported.
- The Spurs are a logical candidate to pursue free agent shooting guard Kentavious Caldwell-Pope, Frank Urbina of Hoops Hype speculates. San Antonio could lose Danny Green if he opts out of his contract. Caldwell-Pope could replace him and the Spurs have their mid-level exception to offer him, Urbina continues. The Clippers and Grizzlies may also be in the market for a starting shooting guard, though it’s possible KCP could get another one-year offer from the Lakers if they don’t land two top-level free agents, Urbina adds.
- Kuzma was named to the league’s All-Rookie First Team while Ball earned Second Team honors. You can see the All-Rookie teams here.
Draft Notes: Robinson, Kings, Bluiett, Rorie, Caldwell
Despite reports suggesting otherwise, the Lakers aren’t believed to have made a promise to Mitchell Robinson to take him in the first round, Eric Pincus of Basketball Insiders tweets. Robinson skipped last week’s combine and a report surfaced that the Lakers made a pledge to him with the No. 25 overall pick. The seven-footer did not play college basketball, as he withdrew from Western Kentucky as a freshman last September to focus on the draft. He’s ranked as the No. 22 prospect on ESPN Jonathan Givony’s Top 100 list.
In other draft-related developments:
- The Kings will work out Jaylen Hands (UCLA), Thomas Wilder (Western Michigan), Devon Hall (Virginia), Rawle Alkins (Arizona), B.J. Johnson (La Salle) and George King (Colorado) on Wednesday, according to the team’s website. They brought in Trevon Bluiett (Xavier), Jevon Carter (West Virginia), Wenyen Gabriel (Kentucky), Caleb Martin (Nevada), Cameron Reynolds (Tulane) and Gabe Vincent (UC Santa Barbara) on Monday.
- Bluiett also has workouts scheduled with the Jazz, Bulls and Suns, according to Xavier’s Twitter feed (Twitter link).
- Montana guard Ahmaad Rorie will return to school for his senior year, ESPN’s Jeff Goodman tweets. He averaged 17.2 PPG, 3.9 RPG and 3.7 APG as a junior.
- J.J. Caldwell will be going pro, as Goodman relays (via Twitter). The Texas A&M guard had a rocky college career, as he was ineligible as a true freshman, then got kicked off the team this past season in February for off-the-court issues.
Draft Rumors: Pistons, Suns, Doncic, Z. Smith
The Pistons‘ meetings at this week’s draft combine have included an interesting twist, according to Keith Langlois of Pistons.com, who writes that the prospects interviewed by Detroit talked about being outfitted with a virtual reality headset.
“They didn’t really ask any tricky questions,” Kansas guard Devonte’ Graham said of his meeting with the Pistons. “They did a virtual reality where I was like in the headphones and goggles and I was making plays – see if you made the right reads and stuff like that. It was cool.”
Penn State’s Tony Carr had a similar account of his interview with the Pistons: “They definitely did some interesting virtual-reality testing things just to kind of figure out your decision making and things like that (with) the 3-D glasses. It was pretty cool. I actually watched my little brother play with them but I’ve never used them myself.”
According to Langlois, the list of prospects who have met – or will meet – with the Pistons at the combine also included Tyus Battle (Syracuse), Shake Milton (SMU), Rawle Alkins (Arizona), Brian Bowen (South Carolina), Jevon Carter (West Virginia), and Trevon Duval (Duke). In a tweet, Langlois adds Kentucky’s Hamidou Diallo to that list as well.
Here are a few more draft notes and rumors:
- Sources familiar with the Suns‘ thinking tell Sean Deveney of The Sporting News that new head coach Igor Kokoskov likely won’t be too involved with the team’s decision on the No. 1 pick. Kokoskov may have some input, but the Suns don’t want to put him in a tough position by creating the impression that he lobbied for or against Luka Doncic, who has played for Kokoskov on the Serbian national team.
- Speaking of Doncic, agent Bill Duffy tells Deveney that “Luka has stated no particular thought on any NBA teams.” The comment is certainly intended a response to those who interpreted Doncic’s lack of commitment to the NBA as a signal that he doesn’t want to play for the Kings or another team that might use a high pick on him.
- Deveney has another draft-related tidbit for us, writing in a separate article that no player has been drawing more interest this week from “late-lottery” executives than Texas Tech’s Zhaire Smith. In Jonathan Givony’s latest mock draft at ESPN.com, Smith comes off the board at No. 16, but he could end up sneaking into the back end of the lottery, as Deveney details.
- According to Adam Zagoria of ZagsBlog.com (Twitter link), the Pelicans, Hawks, Cavaliers, Kings, Thunder, Grizzlies, Jazz, Spurs, Sixers, Nets, and Timberwolves have reached out to express interest in IMG Academy prospect Anfernee Simons.
Multiple Prospects Withdraw From Draft
This Wednesday is the deadline for players who are testing the draft waters to make a final decision. Several players have made a decision today, opting to withdraw from the draft. Here are some players who’ve decided to stay in school (all decisions are reported by ESPN’s Jeff Goodman unless otherwise indicated):
- Jaylen Adams, St. Bonaventure (via Jon Rothstein of CBS Sports)
- Rawle Alkins, Arizona (via his own Twitter feed).
- Jevon Carter, West Virginia (Twitter link)
- Obi Enechionyia, Temple (via Marc Narducci of the Philadelphia Daily News)
- Alize Johnson, Missouri State (Twitter link)
- Andrew Jones, Texas (Rothstein tweets)
- George King, Colorado (Twitter link)
- Matt Morgan, Cornell (Twitter link)
- Shaquille Morris, Wichita State (Rothstein tweets)
- Jaaron Simmons, Will play at Michigan after graduating from Ohio University (Twitter link)
- Zach Smith, Texas Tech (Rothstein tweets)
- Kamau Stokes, Kansas State (Rothstein tweets)
- James Thompson IV, Eastern Michigan (Twitter link)
- Thomas Wilder, Western Michigan (Twitter link)
Bam Adebayo, Jaylen Johnson Staying In Draft
A pair of college underclassmen who were previously said to be testing the draft waters have decided to forgo their remaining NCAA eligibility by hiring representation, per various reports.
One of those players is Kentucky freshman big man Bam Adebayo, who will sign with an agent and won’t return to the Wildcats, sources tell Jon Rothstein of FanRag Sports. Adebayo is considered likely to be drafted in the first round, so it makes sense that he’ll keep his name in the draft, joining former UK teammates De’Aaron Fox, Malik Monk, Isaiah Briscoe, and Isaac Humphries among this year’s early entrants going pro.
Also going pro is Louisville junior forward Jaylen Johnson, who announced that he won’t return for his senior season. “I will miss my teammates and coaches, but it is really important that I help out my mom and family,” Johnson said in a statement. “I’m going to work incredibly hard to give it my best shot. I’ll be rooting for the Ville next year.”
Here are several more early entrants who are declaring for the draft in advance of this year’s deadline:
- Jevon Carter, G, West Virginia, junior (announcement via school): Testing waters.
- Matt Morgan, SG, Cornell, sophomore (Twitter link via Jeff Goodman of ESPN.com): Testing waters.
- Nik Slavica, SF, Croatia (Twitter link via international reporter David Pick)
- Leo Cizmic, SF, Israel (Twitter link via Eurohopes)
- Ji Wei Zhao, PG, China (Twitter link via Zhang Duo)
- Zou Yuchen, PF/C, China (Twitter link via Zhang Duo)