Eastern Notes: Hood, Ellington, Knicks, Sixers
The consensus among NBA insiders is that Rodney Hood cost himself a significant amount of future earnings in free agency after struggling to find his way in the playoffs, Joe Vardon of Cleveland.com writes. Hood made slightly under $3.39M this past season and is set to become a restricted free agent once the league’s new year begins July 1.
Sources tell Vardon that the Cavaliers still like Hood and can envision a future with him on the team. The shooting guard fell out of the rotation during the latter half of the team’s postseason run before playing 52 minutes over the team’s last two NBA Finals contests. He finished the postseason with a plus/minus of -92 in a total of 260 minutes.
Here’s more from around the Eastern Conference:
- The Heat would like to find a way to keep Wayne Ellington on the team, sources tell Barry Jackson of the Miami Herald. Miami will likely look to trim salary and avoid paying the luxury tax, meaning it may not be able to compete with rival suitors for Ellington’s services.
- TCU’s Kenrich Williams will work out for the Knicks on Wednesday, Adam Zagoria of SNY reports (Twitter link). Williams is projected to go in the second-half of the draft and New York holds the no. 36 overall pick.
- The Sixers will work out a half dozen prospects on Wednesday, according to a team press release. Bruce Brown (Miami), Stephen Brown (Bucknell), Jevon Carter (West Virginia), Bryant Crawford (Wake Forest), Duncan Robinson (Michigan), and Maverick Rowan (Lakeland Magic) will all participate in drills at the team’s training facilities in Camden, New Jersey.
Draft Updates: M. Robinson, Hutchison, Edwards, More
Two notable prospects have withdrawn from this week’s NBA draft combine, according to reports. Jonathan Givony of ESPN.com tweets that Mitchell Robinson won’t participate in the event, while Adam Zagoria of ZagsBlog.com tweets that Boise State’s Chandler Hutchison has also withdrawn. In each case, it’s not clear if the player has received a promise from a team or if there’s another reason for his decision.
While NBA evaluators have four years of film on Hutchison to watch, Robinson remains one of the mystery men of this year’s draft class. Due to eligibility issues, he didn’t play a single minute of college basketball, so his draft stock remains cloudy.
Let’s round up a few more draft-related news items and notes…
- Purdue guard Carsen Edwards was spotted at the combine, so it appears he received a last-minute invite due to the late withdrawals, tweets Givony.
- Following the official NBA combine this week, another event called the Pro Basketball Combine will take place next week. The Pro Basketball Combine released its full list of participants today, with Deng Adel, Maverick Rowan, and LiAngelo Ball among the names on that list.
- A handful of early entrants have withdrawn – or will withdraw – from the draft to return to school next season, according to Jeff Goodman of ESPN (Twitter link). Those players include Malik Hines (UMass), Kalob Ledoux (McNeese State), Malik Martin (South Florida) and Zane Martin (Towson), with Ledoux and Malik Martin expected to transfer.
- A ton of meetings will take place at the combine this week, so it’s likely not worth reading too much into each one, but here are a few early updates: The Pistons are meeting with Kansas guard Sviatoslav Mykhailiuk (Twitter link via Vince Ellis of The Detroit Press), the Bucks are interviewing Texas Tech’s Zhaire Smith (Twitter link via Gery Woelfel of The Racine Journal Times), the Timberwolves are interviewing Anfernee Simons (Twitter link via Darren Wolfson of 5 Eyewitness News), and the Knicks are meeting with Trae Young (link via Stefan Bondy of The New York Daily News).
Official List Of Early Entrants For 2017 NBA Draft
The NBA has officially announced that 73 early entrant prospects will be eligible to be selected in the 2017 NBA draft next week. Although the number of early entrants (73) is larger than the number of picks in the draft (60), the list of early entrants is still significantly smaller than it was at the entry deadline in April. At that point, 182 early entrants had declared for the draft. More than 100 have withdrawn since then after testing the waters.
Here’s the complete list of early entrant prospects for the 2017 NBA draft:
College underclassmen:
- Bam Adebayo, F/C, Kentucky (freshman)
- Jarrett Allen, C, Texas (freshman)
- Ike Anigbogu, C, UCLA (freshman)
- OG Anunoby, SF, Indiana (sophomore)
- Dwayne Bacon, SF, Florida State (sophomore)
- Lonzo Ball, PG, UCLA (freshman)
- Jordan Bell, PF, Oregon (junior)
- James Blackmon Jr., SG, Indiana (junior)
- Antonio Blakeney, SG, LSU (sophomore)
- Tony Bradley, C, UNC (freshman)
- Isaiah Briscoe, G, Kentucky (sophomore)
- Dillon Brooks, F, Oregon (junior)
- Thomas Bryant, C, Indiana (sophomore)
- Clandell Cetoute, F, Thiel College (junior)
- John Collins, PF, Wake Forest (sophomore)
- Zach Collins, PF, Gonzaga (freshman)
- Chance Comanche, F/C, Arizona (sophomore)
- Tyler Dorsey, SG, Oregon (sophomore)
- P.J. Dozier, SG, South Carolina (sophomore)
- Jawun Evans, PG, Oklahoma State (sophomore)
- Tony Farmer, SF, Lee College (sophomore)
- De’Aaron Fox, PG, Kentucky (freshman)
- Markelle Fultz, PG, Washington (freshman)
- Harry Giles, PF, Duke (freshman)
- Isaac Humphries, C, Kentucky (sophomore)
- Tre Hunter, G, Mt. San Jacinto College (junior)
- Jonathan Isaac, SF, Florida State (freshman)
- Frank Jackson, PG, Duke (freshman)
- Josh Jackson, SF, Kansas (freshman)
- Justin Jackson, SF, UNC (junior)
- Jaylen Johnson, PF, Louisville (junior)
- Ted Kapita, F/C, North Carolina State (freshman)
- Marcus Keene, PG, Central Michigan (junior)
- Luke Kennard, SG, Duke (sophomore)
- Kyle Kuzma, PF, Utah (junior)
- T.J. Leaf, PF, UCLA (freshman)
- Tyler Lydon, F, Syracuse (sophomore)
- Lauri Markkanen, PF, Arizona (freshman)
- Eric Mika, F/C, BYU (sophomore)
- Donovan Mitchell, SG, Louisville (sophomore)
- Malik Monk, G, Kentucky (freshman)
- Johnathan Motley, PF, Baylor (junior)
- Austin Nichols, PF, Virginia (junior)
- Semi Ojeleye, SF, SMU (junior)
- Cameron Oliver, PF, Nevada (sophomore)
- Justin Patton, C, Creighton (freshman)
- L.J. Peak, SF, Georgetown (junior)
- Ivan Rabb, PF, California (sophomore)
- Xavier Rathan-Mayes, G, Florida State (junior)
- Devin Robinson, SF, Florida (junior)
- Josh Robinson, G, Austin Peay (junior)
- Kobi Simmons, PG, Arizona (freshman)
- Dennis Smith Jr., PG, N.C. State (freshman)
- Edmond Sumner, PG, Xavier (sophomore)
- Caleb Swanigan, PF, Purdue (sophomore)
- Jayson Tatum, SF, Duke (freshman)
- Matt Taylor, G, New Mexico State (junior)
- Trevor Thompson, C, Ohio State (junior)
- Melo Trimble, PG, Maryland (junior)
- Craig Victor, PF, LSU (junior)
- Antone Warren, C, Antelope Valley CC (sophomore)
- Nigel Williams-Goss, PG, Gonzaga (junior)
- D.J. Wilson, PF, Michigan (sophomore)
International:
- Simon Birgander, F/C, Clavijo (Spain)
- Luka Bozic, SF, Zagreb (Croatia)
- Vlatko Cancar, SF, Mega Leks (Serbia)
- Wesley Alves da Silva, SF, Paulistano (Brazil)
- George de Paula, PG, Paulistano (Brazil)
- Isaiah Hartenstein, PF, Zalgiris (Lithuania)
- Jonathan Jeanne, C, Nancy (France)
- Alpha Kaba, F/C, Mega Leks (Serbia)
- Tidjane Keita, SF, Cegep de Thetford (Canada)
- Frank Ntilikina, PG, Strasbourg (France)
The NBA’s official list of early entrants doesn’t include junior forward Darin Johnson of CSU-Northridge or sophomore guard Maverick Rowan of North Carolina State. Those players were listed on the league’s initial list of early entrants, and weren’t named among the players who withdrew last month. It appears that Johnson and Rowan pulled out of the draft after the NCAA’s withdrawal deadline in May, but before the NBA’s withdrawal deadline on Monday, which would cost them their NCAA eligibility going forward.
For details on which prospects originally declared for the draft, then withdrew their names, be sure to check out our previous unofficial early entrant list.
Draft Updates: D. Robinson, McDuffie, Rowan
Florida junior Devin Robinson, who was previously reported to be testing the draft waters, will hire an agent, forgoing his remaining NCAA eligibility, a source tells Jon Rothstein of FanRag Sports. Robinson’s 2016/17 averages were somewhat modest (11.1 PPG, 6.1 RPG), and he ranks just 63rd on Chad Ford’s ESPN big board, but the 6’8″ forward exhibited an improved outside shot in his junior year, shooting 39.1% on threes, and comes in at No. 37 on the DraftExpress board. He’ll have a chance to be drafted in the second round this June.
Here are a few more draft-related updates:
- A pair of Arkansas guards have decided to test the 2017 NBA draft waters, the school announced on Friday in a press release. Juniors Daryl Macon and Jaylen Barford won’t sign with agents, meaning they could opt out of the draft by May 24 and retain their NCAA eligibility. Neither player is considered likely to be drafted, so there’s a good chance they’ll both be back with the Razorbacks.
- Wichita State forward Markis McDuffie will put his name into the draft pool, but won’t hire an agent, reports Adam Zagoria of ZagsBlog (Twitter link). McDuffie ranks 49th on DraftExpress’ list of sophomore prospects.
- North Carolina State sophomore shooting guard Maverick Rowan will also enter the draft without hiring an agent, giving him the opportunity to withdraw his name, as he tells Jon Rothstein (Twitter link). Rowan comes in a little behind McDuffie on DX’s sophomore rankings, at No. 55.
