G League – Page 4 – Syndication Server

NBA Notebook: Irving, Siakam, VanVleet, Anunoby, Trent, Conley, Rozier, Clippers, Hornets, McMillan

Reporting on the futures of Kyrie Irving and Nate McMillan. Updates on trade talks for Raptors, Clippers, Hornets, and more on HoopsHype.

With the NBA trade deadline three weeks away, the Toronto Raptors are the most intriguing team in the league. Rival executives are clamoring for the opportunity to trade for All-Star-caliber players Pascal Siakam and Fred VanVleet. Rising young talents OG Anunoby and Gary Trent Jr. also could become available.

If you’re looking for a point guard, D’Angelo Russell, Mike Conley, and Kyle Lowry are among the names floating in the rumor mill.

With that in mind, this week’s NBA notebook includes the latest intel on the potential futures of Kyrie Irving and Nate McMillan, and more from our Michael Scotto. Plus, the latest trade rumors commentary on the Raptors, Clippers, and Hornets from our capologist Yossi Gozlan, a free agency stock watch from our Frank Urbina, and a look at the most valuable players overseas right now by Alberto De Roa.

Scoot Henderson: ‘I feel like I can damn near do it all at this point’

Scoot Henderson and Michael Scotto discuss the G League Ignite, No. 1 pick battle with Victor Wembanyama, player comparisons, and more.

Inside the Mandalay Bay Convention Center at the G League Showcase in Las Vegas, all eyes and television cameras focused on an 18-year-old guard seated at the end of the bench who will soon be the face of an NBA franchise.

Ignite point guard Scoot Henderson had several ESPN cameras recording him cheering on his teammates from the sideline as he missed games at the Showcase due to injury.

After the Ignite played the final game on Tuesday, Dec. 20, Henderson spoke with HoopsHype for an exclusive interview. Henderson discussed how the G League experience has shaped his development, why he should be the face of an NBA team, the battle with Victor Wembanyama to go No. 1 overall in the draft, a scouting report on his game, player comparisons, and more.

2023 Aggregate NBA Mock Draft 2.0: Top prospects after Victor Wembanyama, Scoot Henderson?

NBA mock draft lists the top prospects after Victor Wembanyama and Scoot Henderson, including intel from HoopsHype’s Michael Scotto.

The 2023 NBA Draft is headlined by center Victor Wembanyama and guard Scoot Henderson, but who are the top prospects on the board following that dynamic duo?

To get a better projection of where all of the top prospects currently stand, we compiled 10 mock drafts from ESPN, The Athletic, Bleacher Report, NBADraft.net, Sports Illustrated, CBS Sports, SB Nation, Yahoo, Basketball News, and USA TODAY’s For The Win.

HoopsHype then gathered thoughts from several NBA executives and scouts for their insight on the projected first-round picks for the second edition of the aggregate mock draft to find the answer.

NOTE: These rankings reflect the composite score to get a feel for the overall consensus, not our own opinion. For example, if a player was the first pick on a publication’s mock draft, he received 60 points. If a player was second, he received 59 points, and so on. We then tabulated the total number of points for each player’s consensus ranking.

HoopsHype’s Alberto de Roa contributed research to this report.

2023 Aggregate NBA mock draft 1.0: Victor Wembanyama vs Scoot Henderson for No. 1 pick

NBA mock draft with Victor Wembanyama and Scoot Henderson battling for the top pick and intel on prospects from HoopsHype’s Michael Scotto.

The 2023 NBA Draft class is headlined by center Victor Wembanyama and guard Scoot Henderson, with both players expected to battle it out to be the No. 1 pick, according to NBA executives who spoke with HoopsHype.

HoopsHype also gathered thoughts from several NBA executives and scouts for their insight on the projected lottery picks for the first edition of the aggregate mock draft.

To get a better projection of where all of the projected top prospects stand heading into the new season, we compiled mock drafts from ESPN, The Athletic, Bleacher Report, NBADraft.net, CBS Sports, SB Nation, Yahoo, and USA TODAY’s For The Win.

NOTE: These rankings reflect the composite score to get a feel for the overall consensus, not our own opinion. For example, if a player was the first pick on a publication’s mock draft, he received 60 points. If a player was second, he received 59 points and so on. We then tabulated the total number of points for each player’s consensus ranking.

HoopsHype’s Alberto de Roa contributed research to this report.

Canada’s Leonard Miller makes shocking NBA Draft decision

Leonard Miller’s draft stock has been on the rise lately.

It seems like Leonard Miller loves crunch time.

A day before the June 1 deadline, Miller made his decision to forgo colleges and focus on professional basketball opportunities. He had narrowed down his decision between the NBA Draft and the G-League Ignite.

A projected late first-round pick as of a few weeks ago, Miller had until June 13 to make a final decision to withdraw from this year’s NBA draft pool and keep his draft eligibility for next year.

Miller has made the decision to pull out of the draft and join the G-League Ignite squad for next season, HoopsHype has learned. He had a last-minute change of heart leading up to his decision the last couple of days.

The G-League Ignite rosters in the past have a history of numerous players who make it into the league. The Houston Rockets’ second overall pick of last year’s draft, Jalen Green, played for the Ignite squad during the 2020 season. Green’s teammate, Isaiah Todd, was drafted by the Washington Wizards in the second round last year.

Dyson Daniels, HoopsHype’s No 10 selection in this upcoming draft latest mock draft, played for the G-League Ignite last season. It looks like Miller will hope to duplicate Daniel’s success in next year’s draft.

Source: Boston Celtics hire Jarell Christian as G League coach

The Boston Celtics hired Jarell Christian as head coach of the G League’s Maine Celtics, a league source told HoopsHype’s Michael Scotto

The Boston Celtics have hired Jarell Christian as head coach of the Maine Celtics, their G League affiliate, a league source told HoopsHype.

Christian, 35, was most recently an assistant coach with the Washington Wizards from 2019-21. Christian spent one season as head coach of the Capital City Go-Go, Washington’s G League affiliate, before becoming an assistant coach with the Wizards.

You can follow Michael Scotto on Twitter: @MikeAScotto

Source: G League Ignite agrees to deal with Dakota Mathias

The G League Ignite agreed to a deal with Dakota Mathias, a league source told HoopsHype’s Michael Scotto.

The G League Ignite agreed to a deal with Dakota Mathias, a league source told HoopsHype.

Mathias was a member of Team USA’s AmeriCup qualifying roster and spent time with the Philadelphia 76ers as a two-way player last season.

Mathias, 26, remains on the two-way radar for multiple NBA teams. He’ll bring shooting and leadership to a young Ignite squad.

You can follow Michael Scotto on Twitter: @MikeAScotto

Diary of a coach at the G League bubble: Mission complete

Jay Hernandez is the head coach of the Greensboro Swarm of the G League and an assistant coach and director of player development for the Charlotte Hornets. He has been writing a diary on HoopsHype about this quite strange G League season. The G …

The G League Champion was just crowned and the Lakeland Magic are the champs. They played extremely well during the season but turned it up a notch in the playoffs to beat some of the top seeds in the tournament. The basketball was very competitive in the bubble and the talent was definitely at an all-time high. The players had to endure 15 games in 25 days along with 11 days of quarantine beforehand. The commitment and sacrifice needed from G League staff, health care professionals, players, coaches and more is what makes this experience that much more special.

The Work

Coaches had major responsibilities. I respect all of the coaches that I got to meet and compete against and I am honored to be a part of this select group. The question I get asked most often is what was the hardest part of the bubble?

Obviously, it was being away from loved ones, but the hardest technical part was never turning the switch off. Trying to teach eight rookies through games, building chemistry through quarantine, having to organize practices, figure out rest times, scheduling, game preparation, previous game evaluation, team film, individual film, written reports, player development, managing emotions and more. There was no outlet to get away so you were in it 100 percent.

When I got home, I finally decompressed and fell asleep watching television and went to bed by 10 pm when my average sleep time in the bubble was 2:30 am.

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Main Takeaway

Relationships reign supreme.

I was able to meet some great people that worked in the bubble, other coaches/staff members as well as my own team. The conversations and the mutual experience are something that made it much easier to connect. I appreciate the talks, insight and vulnerability that players and coaches had with me. I developed better working relationships, friendships and I learned so much during my time in Orlando.

Hopefully, the bubble experience is behind us and in the coming years, we can reflect on how professional basketball was able to be played during these times.

In Conclusion

We were fortunate to win our last game. We finished on a high note even though we were missing four starters/rotation guys for the last four games of the season. I was thankful that we had a great group of guys that maintained a positive attitude and showed the “Fighter Mentality” that we had emphasized since the first meeting we had together. I told them that we were bonded through life because of this experience and that if they needed anything from me that I will be there for them.

I am back with the Hornets and looking forward to sharing my experience with the staff and all that I have learned. Thank you to the fans of the G League and a special thanks to the Greensboro Swarm fans. We can’t wait to play in front of fans in Greensboro and give them a glimpse of what the future of the NBA looks like.

Diary of a coach at the G League bubble: Time to play

Jay Hernandez is the head coach of the Greensboro Swarm of the G League and an assistant coach and director of player development for the Charlotte Hornets. He’s writing a diary on HoopsHype about this quite strange G League season. We have just …

We have just finished a back-to-back and are just past the halfway point of the season. What has stood out so far is how fast-paced the games are, how skilled the players are and how well all of the coaches have implemented their systems in such a short period of time. Playing every other day with back-to-backs mixed in is a challenge. Our staff is teaching a lot through games. Before I go any further let me take you back to the beginning of training camp and get you caught up.

Training Camp Day 1

Everyone is excited and the energy is at an all-time high. We all finally get a chance to do what we love. My message is clear as I state, “Emotions don’t last but the work does.”

When you love what you do, then the work takes priority over how you feel from one day to the next. I want my teams to always be about being consistent with their approach regardless of role, playing time, wins, or losses. All of the mental reps we had via Zooms would now be applied on the court.

Since we had 11 days in quarantine, we relied on our Sports Science team with the Hornets to put together a schedule that would enable the players to build up to our first game and sustain 15 games in 25 days without injury. I have to hold the players back on this first day from playing competitively but it’s the right thing to do.

***

Training camp went really well. We even had a chance to scrimmage a well-coached and prepared Lakeland Magic team. We played four, 10-minute quarters and had a chance to go through our pregame routine. I am thankful to Anthony Parker, Adetunji Adedipe and Stan Heath for agreeing to it last minute.

We were originally scheduled to scrimmage the Mad Ants but had to cancel 30 minutes before because we had a false positive that needed to be confirmed. We lost a day and had to go back to our rooms and wait. In the times we are living through, health and safety are the priority so it’s especially important to be able to adapt and overcome.

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The season

Our team is young and has been battling. Jalen McDaniels played really well for us and after two games went back to Charlotte.

The Hornets just won a big game in Phoenix and I am happy to say that Jalen was in the rotation. You love to see players with his talent and skill embrace playing in meaningful games in the G and translate it to the NBA.

It took us three games to get the first win and the team presented me with a signed game ball. It meant a lot for them to think of me and I was just so happy for the players to come back after a good practice and execute the game plan that coaches Norman Richardson and Evan Harville put together.

The postgame message was this: “Today’s meal doesn’t satisfy tomorrow’s hunger.”

The talks I’ve had with the Hornets staff, coach James Borrego and management have allowed me to continue to be decisive and confident in the messaging that I have been providing the team. Mitch Kupchak and Larry Jordan came and got to see four games. Their presence in the gym was a great sign of support and commitment to the development we have invested in with the Hornets.

On top of having one of the best bigs in Vernon Carey, we were able to add another in Nick Richards who finally got to play his first game last Sunday. He entered the bubble and left after one day to rejoin the Hornets so having him back adds frontcourt depth that has really helped elevate our team.

If you haven’t had the chance to catch a game then it is time that you check one out. You won’t be disappointed with the competitiveness, the tactics or young talent that will be producing for NBA teams for years to come.

I will follow up at the end of the Bubble to give my final thoughts.