Interesting early entrant tidbits from Andy Katz and draft express

coolhandgopher

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If you're keeping an eye on how things are progressing for the potential return of players to college or if you just like to see whose stock is rising/falling, here's a couple posts for you.

The first is from Andy Katz. Sounds like Jeff Teague's as good as gone, which hurts Wake a lot and it sounds like Damion James is still heavily weighing his options; it's always tough to predict how a player returning to college will react, but from my perspective, his decision is huge-his return puts Texas on the short list of Final Four contenders: http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/blog/index?entryID=4213130&name=katz_andy

And from Draft Express, I'll copy the parts I found interesting from their blog, the most interesting thing I found from reading through the blog is the judgement of some of these players and their agents on who they will and will not work out for. The snippets about James Harden and Demar DeRozan particularly made me raise my eyebrows. The more I read about DeRozan, the more I think the T-Wolves would be well advised to pass on him and it also sounds like the T-Wolves missing out on Harden won't necessarily be a bad thing.

The first decision made by Tellem and Bob Myers was to pull Tyreke Evans out of the competitive portion of the Chicago combine, putting him in the same situation as other top prospects such as Blake Griffin, Hasheem Thabeet, James Harden and Jordan Hill.

Evans and co. are all in Chicago, they are just being selective about what parts of the combine they decide to participate in. James Harden for example has elected not to conduct any interviews with teams drafting outside the top five, canceling a scheduled interview at the Westin Hotel with the Cleveland Cavaliers for example. He also reportedly will not be conducting any competitive workouts with anyone anywhere in the draft process. A source close to him tells us he feels very good about the possibility of being selected by Oklahoma City or Washington, and for right now is not planning on visiting the Minnesota Timberwolves.

Most teams we’ve spoken to in Chicago are indicating that they believe Oklahoma City is indeed leaning towards picking Harden. They also believe the Thunder are not enamored with Rubio at all, as they are committed to developing Russell Westbrook at his natural position—point guard.

• No Competitive Workouts for DeRozan

DeMar DeRozan will not be conducting any competitive workouts, his agent Aaron Goodwin tells us. The rumor mill indicated that he was only interested in going up against James Harden, except for in Toronto, where he was slated to face off with Gerald Henderson. Goodwin says that is not the case.

“DeRozan is not working out with anyone. He isn’t going up against Gerald Henderson or anyone else at this point. He may not even go to Toronto. He won’t fall to 9.”

It will be very interesting to see how things play out, particularly if players such as Jrue Holiday and Jonny Flynn continue to move up the board. On face value, teams like Washington, Minnesota, Golden State and New York don’t have an immediate positional need for a player like DeRozan, but his upside could clearly sway the tide in his favor.


-One player who really doesn’t seem to have very much positive buzz these days is Ty Lawson. “Injury prone” one assistant GM calls him. “A backup point guard…he’s 100% behind Jonny Flynn” another NBA representative says. “He’s a product of North Carolina’s system” a third told us. Lawson seems to be outside of the lottery at the moment, but still has a good chance to be picked by two teams looking for point guards in the late teens, Philadelphia (#17) and Atlanta (#19). He’ll have to keep Eric Maynor at bay, though.

-James Johnson is being knocked by some teams for not being very impressive in their interview sessions, but others are wondering if those are the same franchises that appear to be most interested in him at this point. We’re hearing that Phoenix at 14, Detroit at 15 and Chicago at 16 all like him quite a bit, and there are some question marks about whether there are smokescreens being placed in order to cause him to fall.

“He was great in the interview we did with him. Seems like a really nice kid,” one team that sat down with him here in Chicago said. “I’m not really sure where that stuff is coming from.” Johnson is being knocked by some for not always being terribly enthusiastic about practice, and also for butting heads with Wake Forest head coach Dino Gaudio and teammate Jeff Teague at times.

-Larry Brown is reportedly extremely high on Stephen Curry, and may be willing to trade up in order to get him. Apparently he views him as being able to play either guard position, even alongside Charlotte’s current group of point guards, Raymond Felton and D.J. Augustin.

Curry is getting love from teams as high up as Washington and also has a chance to be drafted 6th (Minnesota) or 7th (Golden State). While the Knicks clearly like him, he isn’t the only player they will consider—the other top candidates on their board currently appear to be Tyreke Evans and Jrue Holiday.
 




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