Viktor Gaddefors Rumors

Draft Notes: Payton, Embiid, Knicks

June 24th, 2014 at 11:12pm CST by Ryan Raroque

In Jeff Goodman’s latest mock draft for ESPN (Insiders only), Elfrid Payton gets selected by the Timberwolves at No. 13. In response to that projection, Darren Wolfson of 1500 ESPN said that Minnesota doesn’t have any interest in drafting the former Louisiana Lafayette guard with that pick. It probably won’t matter anyway, as Gary Washburn of the Boston Globe hears that Payton has been greatly impressive in workouts and won’t slip past the top 10 on draft night (Twitter links).

With that aside, we’ll keep tabs on this evening’s draft-related news here:

Add Sweden’s Viktor Gaddefors to the list of players that Memphis is bringing in for a second workout on Wednesday, notes Ronald Tillery of The Commercial Appeal.
The Hornets appear primed to add at least one big man with either the 24th or 45th pick in this year’s draft, and Rick Bonnell of the Charlotte Observer lists Mitch McGary and Johnny O’Bryant as potential targets.
Former Florida big man Patric Young is on Phil Jackson’s draft wish list, writes Marc Berman of the New York Post. Berman also points out that the Knicks worked out Jahii Carson recently.
Following up Andy Katz’s earlier ESPN report that the Kings have three deals in place regarding their No. 8 pick, ESPN’s Marc Stein identified the Celtics, Suns, and 76ers as the potential trading partners.

Earlier updates:

The Pelicans are making a concerted effort to acquire a first-round pick, tweets NBA.com’s David Aldridge.
According to Jonathan Givony of DraftExpress, Joel Embiid is strongly in play for the 76ers at No. 3 and the Magic at No. 4; the worst-case scenario is that Embiid won’t fall past the Kings at No. 8 (Twitter link).
The Knicks remain confident that they’ll land a first-round pick and/or a second-round pick in Thursday’s draft, tweets Frank Isola of the New York Daily News.
The Pistons are without a first-round pick this year, but team president/head coach Stan Van Gundy says that one team picking between No. 26 and No. 30 is open to shedding their pick for the best offer. “There’s one team that’s saying “give us your best deal for (our) pick” (Twitter link via Vincent Goodwill of the Detroit News).
The Bucks made an unsuccessful attempt to bring in Cleanthony Early for a workout, tweets Gery Woelfel of The Journal Times.
In another piece, Woelfel notes that the Spurs, Pacers, and Pistons are among the list of teams that brought second-round hopeful Jamil Wilson in for a workout.
The Grizzlies are trying to put together a last minute workout for Glenn Robinson III, Jordan Adams, Joe Harris, and Geron Johnson tomorrow, tweets Chad Ford of ESPN.
Former Duke swingman Rodney Hood participated in a second workout for the Suns, notes Rick Bonnell of the Charlotte Observer (Twitter link).

Southwest Notes: Nowitzki, ‘Melo, Pelicans

June 20th, 2014 at 4:59pm CST by Chuck Myron

Zach Randolph is No. 10 in the latest Hoops Rumors Free Agent Power Rankings, but it seems like he’ll be off-limits to other suitors come July, as agent Raymond Brothers and the Grizzlies appear to be making significant progress toward a deal. That might have the effect of driving up the value of other free agents amid a class that’s highlighted by players with option clauses and restricted free agents. Here’s the latest on the Grizzlies and their Southwest Division rivals:

Dirk Nowitzki has encouraged the Mavs to consider signing Carmelo Anthony, but he nonetheless believes that ‘Melo ending up in Dallas is not a realistic outcome, as Bryan Gutierrez of ESPNDallas.com observes. Still, a recent report indicated that the Mavs are among the three top teams on Anthony’s list of preferred destinations.
Executives around the league believe it’ll be an active offseason for the Pelicans, tweets Alex Kennedy of Basketball Insiders. That’s in spite of more than $54MM in salary commitments for next season and comments from GM Dell Demps, who said in April that he wants to see more of the team’s existing core together.
Aaron Craft, Markel Brown, Viktor Gaddefors, Jordan Morgan and Ojars Silins are among the draft prospects who’ll work out for the Grizzlies on Sunday, the team announced.

Draft Notes: Lakers, Gordon, Smart, Ennis

June 20th, 2014 at 3:20pm CST by Chuck Myron

The Lakers will audition Zach LaVine for a second time on Saturday, tweets Dave McMenamin of ESPNLosAngeles.com, and they’d like to be able to do the same with Doug McDermott, according to Chad Ford of ESPN.com, who writes in an Insider-only piece. The Lakers are also the only team for which Aaron Gordon has worked out twice, as he told reporters, including Eric Pincus of the Los Angeles Times (Twitter link). Here’s more from around the draft scene:

The Sixers would like to meet with Gordon, too, and they have an audition scheduled Saturday for Marcus Smart, Bleacher Report’s Kevin Ding tweets.
Tyler Ennis, Cleanthony Early, Roscoe Smith, Eric Moreland, Ojars Silins and Viktor Gaddefors are performing for the Suns today, according to Paul Coro of the Arizona Republic (Twitter links). It’s Smith’s second workout for the team, Coro notes.
It appears as though Jarnell Stokes hasn’t had a chance to make up workouts he had to cancel with the Sixers, Celtics and Hawks when he suffered injuries in a car accident, as Andy Katz of ESPN.com details. He has auditioned for the Rockets and Spurs, among previously reported teams, since his recovery, according to Katz.
Tarik Black, Sean Kilpatrick, Nick Russell and Philipp Neumann are among those showing off for the Bucks today, the team announced (Twitter link).
The Lakers added South Carolina power forward Matthew Hezekiah to today’s workout group, Pincus notes (on Twitter).

Odds & Ends: Hawks, Draft, Mark Jackson, Bulls

June 18th, 2013 at 2:30pm CST by Luke Adams

As we look forward to what could be the final game of the 2012/13 season tonight, let's check in on a few odds and ends from around the NBA….

Hawks GM Danny Ferry was noncommittal when asked by Chris Vivlamore of the Atlanta Journal Constitution if the team planned to extend qualifying offers to Jeff Teague and Ivan Johnson. I'd be pretty surprised if Teague didn't receive a qualifying offer, considering he's unlikely to accept the one-year offer and it could always be rescinded if Atlanta needed to clear cap space.
In addition to Dario Saric, Norvel Pelle, and the 14 international prospects we identified in yesterday's post, Viktor Gaddefors and Joshua Simmons also withdrew from the 2013 draft, the NBA announced today.
Warriors head coach Mark Jackson tells Tim Kawakami of the San Jose Mercury News (Twitter link) that he and the team haven't had any recent talks about a contract extension, and he's fine with that.
Although the Mavericks were recently named as a potential suitor for Monta Ellis, Tim MacMahon of ESPNDallas.com thinks the veteran guard is "far from a perfect fit" for the Mavs.
The Bulls could go in a number of different directions on draft night, but the most likely outcome will see the club drafting a big man, says Nick Friedell of ESPNChicago.com.
They may not have reached a trade agreement with the Celtics, but the Clippers still figure to be very active this offseason, writes Ramona Shelburne of ESPNLosAngeles.com.