Trey Lyles Rumors | Hoops Rumors

And-Ones: Jianlian, McCullough, Draft

April 2nd, 2015 at 10:35pm CST by Eddie Scarito

Chris McCullough plans to enter this year’s draft despite tearing his ACL in January, but the player is confident he can sell NBA teams on his commitment to rehabilitating the injury, Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo! Sports writes. “This is the kind of injury that players come back strong from all the time in basketball now, and the process has gone good so far,” McCullough told Wojnarowski. “I’m working hard at the rehab, trying to eat the right foods. I’ll be back on the court later this year.” In 16 games for Syracuse this season, McCullough averaged 9.3 points and 6.9 rebounds in 28.1 minutes per contest.

Here’s more from around the league:

Wizards guard Will Bynum thinks that 2007 Bucks lottery pick Yi Jianlian has improved his game and could play in the NBA once again, Jorge Castillo of The Washington Post tweets. Bynum played with the big man in China this season. Jianlian’s last NBA action came during the 2011/12 season when he appeared in 30 games for the Mavs. His career stats are 7.9 points, 4.9 rebounds and 0.7 blocks in 22.2 minutes per night.
Kentucky could lose as many as seven players to the NBA draft this season, an NBA scout tells Adam Zagoria of SNY.tv. “I think all seven leave,” the scout said to Zagoria. “If they win it all, there’s no doubt in my mind all seven of them leave. No doubt. The only ones who would stay [if they lose] would be a Trey Lyles, maybe a Devin Booker. The rest of them are all going, I don’t care if they win or lose. I think if they lose there’s maybe a moment [of pause] by Lyles or Booker. Those are the only two that I think may pause at all.” The other five players whom the scout believes will declare for the draft are Karl-Anthony Towns, Willie Cauley-Stein, Dakari Johnson, Andrew Harrison, and Aaron Harrison.
Knicks GM Steve Mills says that the franchise has already received calls from two opposing teams that are interested in obtaining New York’s first round draft pick, Ian Begley of ESPNNewYork.com tweets. The Ted Stepien Rule prevents the Knicks from trading this year’s pick, but New York could make the selection for another franchise and trade the player’s rights after the draft.
Team president Phil Jackson says the Knicks won’t solicit offers for their first-rounder, but admitted that they would “sit back and see what comes to them,” Begley adds in another tweet.

Mannix On Porzingis, Johnson, Wildcats

March 18th, 2015 at 8:04pm CST by Charlie Adams

Kristaps Porzingis is reportedly climbing up draft boards, but some scouts still aren’t convinced he’s the real deal, as Chris Mannix of Sports Illustrated denotes in his March Madness Big Board. “Is he Dirk Nowitzki or Andrea Bargnani?” one scout asked rhetorically. Mannix passes along NBA scouts’ views on several first-round prospects, and we’ll round up the most notable takes below:

Arizona freshman Stanley Johnson’s frame and defensive instincts have led scouts to compare the 18-year-old forward to Metta World Peace, according to Mannix, who relays that teams will be watching Johnson very closely during the tournament. Johnson’s offensive abilities remain secondary to his defensive prowess, but he’s quietly averaged 14.1 points per night while shooting 36.6% from beyond the arc this year.
Several scouts told Mannix that while Kentucky’s Willie Cauley-Stein lacks superstar potential, there isn’t a safer pick in this June’s draft. The 21-year-old seven-footer has averaged 3.7 blocks per 40 minutes throughout his college career.
Kentucky freshman Trey Lyles’ numbers haven’t been eye-popping this season, but that’s a result of a relative lack of playing time in the Wildcats’ time sharing system. Multiple executives tell Mannix that the 6’10” 19 year old could end up being seen as a steal one day if he falls to late in the first round.