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Draft Updates: Ferrell, Ndiaye, Moore, Hawks

May 9th, 2016 at 4:30pm CST by Chuck Myron

A major draft-related event takes place this week, as scouts, executives and these prospects will gather for the NBA combine in Chicago from Wednesday through Sunday. Teams will start working out players in earnest after that, though some auditions have already taken place. Here’s the latest on that front with the June 23rd draft little more than six weeks away:

The workouts that former Indiana University point guard Yogi Ferrell has with the Lakers and Clippers are slated for May 16th and 18th, respectively, tweets Jonathan Goodman of ESPN.com, advancing an earlier report from Adam Zagoria of SNY.tv. Ferrell will also work out for the Suns on the 20th, Jazz on the 22nd, Bulls on the 23rd, Hawks on the 25th, Mavericks on the 26th, Pistons on the 31st, Wizards on June 2nd, Nets on June 8th, and Knicks on June 10th, Goodman reveals. Ferrell is trying to work his way into the second round, with Jonathan Givony of DraftExpress ranking him No. 66 while Chad Ford of ESPN.com rates him only 99th.
Massive UC Irvine center Mamadou Ndiaye will work out for the Rockets and Lakers, Goodman tweets. Givony, who ranks him the 30th-best prospect among juniors, lists Ndiaye at 7’6″, while Goodman says he’s 7’5″. Ford, who also lists him at 7’6″, ranks him the 136th-best prospect overall.
Utah State small forward Jalen Moore will work out with the Grizzlies on May 16th, the Timberwolves on the 18th and the Nets on the 23rd, as he tells Goodman (Twitter link). Moore is Givony‘s 69th-best junior and Ford‘s 190th prospect overall.
The Hawks worked out Taurean Prince, Justin Jackson, Nigel Hayes, Pascal Siakam, Alex Hamilton and Wes Washpun on Saturday, a source told Jake Fischer of SI Now (Twitter link).

Wisconsin PF Nigel Hayes To Test Draft Waters

April 20th, 2016 at 8:00am CST by Chuck Myron

Wisconsin power forward Nigel Hayes will enter this year’s draft, but he won’t immediately sign with an agent, allowing him the chance to return to college ball if he wants, sources tell Adrian Wojnarowski of The Vertical (Twitter link). The 6’8″ 21-year-old is the 49th-best prospect in Jonathan Givony’s DraftExpress rankings, but Chad Ford of ESPN.com places him well outside draft range at No. 93. Givony believes he has a decent chance to become a first-round pick if he waits on the draft for a year, listing him 30th in his 2017 mock draft. Hayes will retain his college eligibility for next season if he withdraws from the draft by May 25th and doesn’t hire an agent.

He experienced a troubling decline in 3-point shooting percentage from last season to this year, going from 36.9% on 2.5 attempts per game to 29.3% on 3.8 tries. He also rebounded less despite more minutes, collecting 5.8 per contest compared to 6.2 last year, but his scoring average rose from 12.4 to 15.7 as he assumed a more significant role in the Badgers offense.

Hayes wasn’t in the Recruiting Services Consensus Index top 100 coming out of high school, but he played a prominent role as a reserve his freshman year on a team that went to the Final Four. He was a starter the past two seasons, including the 2014/15 run to the national title game. His college postseason career ended poorly this year as he followed up a 30-point regular season finale against Purdue by going just 11 for 54 from the field in the Big Ten and NCAA tournaments.