Category: NBA Draft

Report: league mulling moving 2020 NBA Draft to August or September

The NBA is reportedly considering moving the 2020 NBA Draft back to August or September.

If you had plans to watch the 2020 NBA Draft on June 25th, it might be wise to make other plans; The Ringer’s Kevin O’Connor reports he’s hearing the draft will be pushed back from its planned date at the end of next month.

His league sources are saying the annual roster replenishing event will take place in August or September, which makes sense for a number of reasons. Chiefly, at least for now, there’s still the remainder of the 2019-20 NBA season to be played.

For those who are not steeped in the mechanics of how the NBA Draft actually functions, this is critically important, as the regular season records of each team plays the biggest role in what order all teams select.

In theory, the league could cancel the remainder of the regular season and go straight into the postseason based on current standings, but that would require front offices to manage participating in the postseason at the same time they focus on the draft without an especially compelling reason for doing so.

That they are considering moving the draft signals the league is serious about finishing the regular season though, as a move to cancel it would then make the draft a relatively straightforward affair.

As O’Connor notes, moving the draft back also has the benefit of giving scouts more time to evaluate players in a draft that will almost certainly have no pre-draft workouts or a combine after little in the way of postseason tournaments which also play a role in creating evaluative information.

As with many things in this pandemic, it’s still too soon to say — but we’re starting to get a rough outline of how the NBA would like things to go pending many things beyond their control or even knowledge at this point.

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Two prospects for Celtics fans to watch in the 2021 NBA Draft

While the 2021 NBA Draft might be too far off for some, it’s never too early to begin scouting prospects for the Boston Celtics.

ESPN’s Jonathan Givony recently released a very early 2021 mock NBA draft with two players for Boston Celtics fans to keep an eye on.

The 2021 NBA draft may be a way off still, but it’s never too soon to think about how prospects might fit into the team’s longer-term plans — or at least with the higher ranked prospect, ties to Boston players.

That player would be Boston native Terrence Clarke, who forged friendships with up-and-coming Celtics wing duo Jaylen Brown and Jayson Tatum with workouts after Clarke reached out to the pair this winter.

Brown in particular took the future Kentucky Wildcat under his wing, offering Clarke counsel on what to expect at higher levels of competition.

“I wish some stuff I would have learned a little bit earlier that I know now, that it would have probably helped me have a better career,” Brown offered via MassLive’s Tom Westerholm.

“So just telling [Clarke] some of that stuff that people told me to help me try to give him a little bit of an advantage, because when you get to a certain [level], it’s going to be a lot of 6-foot-7 guys, it’s going to be a lot of talented guys.”

Clarke is unlikely to end up a Celtic given Boston figures to be one of the stronger teams in the East in the 2020-21 NBA season, and with little in the way of draft assets to move into the lottery of a future season, it seems more likely Boston will be drafting late in the first.

However, another prospect worth keeping tabs on with a local connection is University of Connecticut guard James Bouknight.

Bouknight is one of the best guards to come through UConn since Kemba Walker and Shabazz Napier did at the start of the decade, is taller and bouncier than either at 6-foot-4, and can shoot deep 3-pointers.

He’s still a bit of a work in progress — thus his decision to forego this year’s NBA Draft, but projects well in the proximate draft, with Givony expecting the Brooklyn native to go 26th overall.

Then again, with so much time between now and the summer after this one, both of these prospects may see the fortunes change radically in either direction.

Even still, it’s worth keeping an eye on both of these two as the coming year unfolds.

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NBC Boston Sports releases new mock seeing Celtics go international

The Boston Celtics take an international turn in this new mock draft from NBC Sports Boston.

The Boston Celtics find themselves drafting with some international flavor in a new mock put together by NBC Sports Boston’s A. Sherrod Blakely.

The Celtics will almost certainly have three first round picks at their disposal in the 2020 NBA Draft presuming the current standings or something like them is used to select draft order.

Current standings would have Boston selecting 17th overall (via the Memphis Grizzlies), 26th overall (their own pick) and selecting the final pick of the first round (no. 30 overall, owed the team by the Milwaukee Bucks).

With that in mind, Blakely assembled a solid trio of prospects for the Celtics to take with those draft assets, two of whom are international prospects previously reviewed by the Celtics Wire.

The third is a young domestic prospect worth a closer look, so with that said let’s dig in to the prospects floated by Blakeley in Boston’s range.

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2020 NBA Draft: Could Jaden McDaniels slide to Thunder at No. 25?

There are many unknowns with respect to the 2020 NBA Draft. The Thunder, however, seem to already be doing their due diligence.

Despite the NBA’s suspension of play and uncertainty as to whether the league will be able to crown a 2020 champion, the draft will take place — we just aren’t sure exactly when.

Still, if there’s one thing that front offices and league executives have been able to do since the league suspended play on March 11, it’s been watch film on prospects and do some virtual scouting. The draft will take place once the fate of the season has been determined, and according to The Athletic’s John Hollinger, the Oklahoma City Thunder may be all in on Washington’s Jaden McDaniels.

McDaniels has long been considered one of the top prospects in the class, with some believing that he had the potential to be a top-5 pick in 2020. Hollinger, however, is unsure.

The former executive with the Memphis Grizzlies opines that McDaniels’ stock has fallen to the point where he could slide outside of the top 15 and that the Thunder may have made the young wing a draft promise as early as two months ago.

McDaniels has slid further, going from top-5 preseason hype to a place somewhere in the 15-25 range on a lot of online boards. That seems fair. He’s more of a length-tools-potential guy than somebody getting selected on performance, so you can understand why his fairly horrid freshman season hasn’t completely cratered his draft stock.

A small forward with his combination of extreme length and non-existent offensive skill may just be too tempting for the Oklahoma City Thunder to pass up; it’s possible they promised him two months ago.

Although it would have been curious for Sam Presti’s staff to make a promise to McDaniels so early, there’s a lot about the predraft process that we don’t know, including how teams communicate with players and what kinds of ideas may be exchanged.

The other side of the coin that’s worth mentioning — the Thunder own a bevy of draft picks over the next seven years, with the exact number of first round picks that could vest for them reaching as high as 13. In that regard, it could make sense for Presti and his staff to swing for the fences and make an early promise to a prospect that they think has great potential. It is also entirely possible that the Thunder could attempt to package one or two future picks in order to move up, if necessary.

In this year’s draft, the Thunder is likely to select somewhere around 25th. The exact pick isn’t known yet because, technically, the season hasn’t ended, but based on the standings when the league suspended play on March 11, the Thunder would own the Denver Nuggets’ first round pick while its own first round pick would be sent to the Philadelphia 76ers.

Regardless, according to Hollinger’s report, Oklahoma City may have already found their man. And his name just might be Jaden McDaniels.

Nine NCAA prospects that should be on the Boston Celtics’ radar

The Boston Celtics should have these nine prospects on their big boards, according to The Athletic’s Sam Vecenie and Jared Weiss.

The Athletic’s Sam Vecenie and Jared Weiss have continued their review of prospects they believe the Boston Celtics should be interested in this week.

Shifting from players who ought to be in range of the pick owed them by the Memphis Grizzlies — currently slotted 17th overall — to the picks Boston controls later in the first round, Weiss and Vecenie continued their assessment of late first-round prospects.

Those picks, the Celtics’ own (likely 26th overall) and the first owed them by the Milwaukee Bucks (No. 30 if current standings hold), may not even be used by Boston, instead packaged to move up or out of the 2020 draft.

But Vecenie and Weiss reviewed nine more prospects who might fall within Boston’s range, which could be fluid due to the dearth of star power and lack opportunities to assess prospects.

So let’s take a look at who they had in mind.

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San Diego State’s Malachi Flynn Declares For NBA Draft

Malachi Flynn is giving up his eligibility and entering the NBA Draft.

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San Diego State’s Malachi Flynn Forgoes Declares For NBA Draft

Big news from San Diego State

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Flynn is giving up eligibility for the draft

San Diego State’s Malachi Flynn has decided to give up his final year of eligibility and will enter the 2020 NBA Draft. Flynn was a star in the Mountain West and earned player of the year this past season.

It had to be a tough decision especially since the NCAA Tournament was canceled due to COVID-19. This is a life-changing decision but a deep tournament run would have upped his draft stock even more.

“It was a tough decision deciding to declare,” Flynn said to ESPN. “One of the biggest things that had me wanting to come back was not playing in March Madness.”

College sports are so much up in the air, even for next year, so going now is probably the best move due to the uncertainty going forward for sports.

The draft process is going to be different with the possibility of no in-person workouts or even a combine, so getting expert advice on the draft is needed evermore so right now.

“After receiving feedback from NBA teams and after thoughtful conversations with my family and Coach [Brian] Dutcher, I have decided to forgo my senior season and have declared for the NBA draft,” Flynn said to ESPN in a statement.

“I have immensely enjoyed my two seasons at San Diego State. The bond that has been forged with my teammates during this magical season will never be broken. I am grateful to my teammates, coaching staff and university for helping me become the basketball player and man I am today.”

Mock drafts project Flynn as a fringe-first round pick and per ESPN is their 40th rated prospect. Playing on a 30-2 team is a plus as is being Wooden Award All-America Team and a finalist for the Bob Cousy award.

Moving up the draft boards will be a challenge if workouts do not go on as planned.

The NBA Draft is scheduled for June 25 but that is up in the air with the pandemic of coronavirus.

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Kentucky’s Tyrese Maxey signs with Rich Paul and Klutch Sports

Rich Paul has landed one of his first big fish of the upcoming NBA Draft in Kentucky’s Tyrese Maxey.

While the word from basically every level of the NBA seems to indicate that players, owners and the rest of the apparatus are hopeful of finishing the season in some form, without fans. But whenever the NBA completes their season, there will be an NBA Draft at some point this year, whether it’s digital like tomorrow’s WNBA Draft or whether it will be another made-for-TV event without fans but includes the participants. No matter when and where the draft is held, Klutch Sports has signed its first player who is expected to go in the 2020 NBA Draft.

ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowksi reported on Thursday that Kentucky’s Tyrese Maxey has signed with Klutch Sports and Rich Paul.

Klutch also announced the move on Instagram.

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We are excited to welcome @tyresemaxey! #Klutch

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Our own Bryan Kalbrosky had Tyrese Maxey going in the lottery at No. 7 in his latest Mock Draft. The NBA has yet to determine the draft order as there has been no lottery and with no clear return on the horizon for the NBA, it appears that everything is movable given the current circumstances. Maxey likely won’t be the last draft pick who ends up with Klutch by the draft gets here, whenever it does.

The Kentucky pipeline also remains strong for Klutch as Maxey joins other fellow Wildcats such as Anthony Davis, John Wall and Eric Bledsoe.

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6 NCAA prospects Boston might consider in the 2020 NBA Draft

The Athletic’s Sam Vecenie and Jared Weiss highlight six prospects the Boston Celtics may consider taking in the 2020 NBA Draft, and the Celtics Wire reviews their assessments.

The Boston Celtics are the subject of a new NBA Draft piece by the Athletic’s Sam Vecenie and Jared Weiss that looks at what might be in Boston’s plans for the 2020 Draft, using a number of prospects reviewed in big board style instead of specific draft pick projections.

The list the duo analyzes has six players in total, five of which the Celtics Wire has analyzed before, and a new prospect for us to dive into as well.

Some of the potential picks might not fall within Boston’s likely range — 17th overall (via the Memphis Grizzlies), No. 26 (their own) and 30th overall (due from the Milwaukee Bucks) if the season ended today.

But with seven rookies on the roster already this season, a move to consolidate contracts, picks or both seems more than plausible.  We’ll include a portion of their analysis of each player as well, and our previous assessments — where applicable — are linked in each player’s name and school.

That said, let’s work our way through the prospects Weiss and Vecenie float as potential fits for Boston, in reverse order for just a touch of drama.

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New USA TODAY mock has Boston going guard-heavy earlier in first round

USA TODAY has put out a new mock draft that sees the Boston Celtics focused on backcourt prospects.

More than a few recent mock drafts circulating recently have seen the Boston Celtics primarily focused on big men or wings, but a new USA Today mock draft by analysts Jeff Zillgitt, Scott Gleeson and Mark Medina projects a backcourt-oriented draft strategy for Boston.

The mock uses the current standings as a means for predicting what teams choose when, with the Celtics looking at owning the No. 17 overall pick (owed them by the Memphis Grizzlies), their own pick at No. 26, and the 30th overall pick (from the Milwaukee Bucks).

That range reflects the current standings in the NBA, though this could change if some part of the NBA’s 2019-20 regular season is restarted in some form, a prospect far from certain to happen.

That said, let’s take a look at Boston’s projected selections.

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NBA teams hoping to push back draft until at least August

Several teams are still hoping to salvage the NBA draft process, according to ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski and Jonathan Givony.

As the NBA’s teams, players and administration are holding out hope that there is a way to save the season and crown a 2020 Champion. But one of the butterfly effects of trying to salvage the season will presumably be moving the 2020 NBA Draft, which will need to get done sometime before school begins in the fall at universities.

ESPN’s duo of Adrian Wojnarowski and Jonathan Givony reported on Friday morning that teams have united to ask the league to push back the draft from its original date on June 25 to at least August 1, with the hopes of having a draft in early September.

An Aug. 1 date would be flexible, based on whether the league restarts and advances the regular season and playoffs through the summer. In that case, most envision a September draft and free-agency period based on a season that concludes around Labor Day weekend.

So, the hope for the league is that they are able to salvage the season where it can end in the latter part of the summer and still have an “off-season” in September. According to ESPN’s Bobby Marks, the best-case scenario looks like the season ending in September with the following 2020-21 season hopefully starting around Christmas.

Whether those scenarios will play out is another story, but the NBA has an idea of how they may come back if the public health crisis subsides.

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