Tag: 2022 nba draft

Former Duke basketball star Paolo Banchero reminisces on getting drafted first overall

The Orlando Magic released a video of former Duke basketball star Paolo Banchero looking back on his special night at the 2022 NBA draft.

[autotag]Jared McCain[/autotag] got all the Duke headlines at the NBA draft in 2024, but two years before, all the news in Durham revolved around [autotag]Paolo Banchero[/autotag].

The Orlando Magic picked Banchero with the first overall pick in 2022, the fifth Blue Devil taken with the opening pick in the NBA draft. On Wednesday, with all eyes on the draft stage again, the Magic shared a video of Banchero remembering the night he owned the basketball world.

“Just thinking back to the emotions from that night, just how happy I was, how happy my family was, seeing us all at the table, brings back good memories.”

Banchero said he watched the clip of his name getting announced almost every day for his first couple of months in the league.

“To rewatch it again, it never feels any more dull,” Banchero said. “It’s always, you know, a great feeling when I watch it.”

Banchero led the Magic to the NBA playoffs last season as the fifth seed in the Eastern Conference.

No other school can match the Blue Devils’ five No. 1 picks in NBA draft history. Check out every top-10 pick from Duke here.

2022 NBA Redraft: All 4 OKC Thunder selections go in the first round

The Thunder’s strong 2022 NBA draft class was evident in this redraft.

With a season under their belt, the 2022 NBA draft class looks strong; several players had impressive rookie campaigns last year.

No. 1 pick Paolo Banchero lived up to his draft status with the Orlando Magic; he won Rookie of the Year. Meanwhile, Oklahoma City Thunder wing Jalen Williams outperformed expectations with a No. 2 finish in ROTY voting.

Over a year after the draft, Rookie Wire’s Cody Taylor conducted a redo with the class. For the Thunder, all four of their draft picks went in the first round in the redraft.

Let’s look at where Chet Holmgren, Jalen Williams, Ousmane Dieng and Jaylin Williams went in the redraft and compare it to their actual selection.

Photos of Blake Wesley’s season at Notre Dame

What was your favorite moment from Blake Wesley in his time at Notre Dame?

One-and-done isn’t a term that gets thrown around the Notre Dame basketball program very often but it did in regards to freshman [autotag]Blake Wesley[/autotag] who has officially declared for the [autotag]NBA draft[/autotag].  It remains to be seen if he will be a first round draft pick as he’d become Notre Dame’s first since 2016 to do so.

Wesley averaged 14.4 points per game for Notre Dame, twice scoring a career high 24 points in a single contest (at Illinois, at Wake Forest).  Before he gets his name called on NBA draft night take a look back at Wesley’s season at Notre Dame that saw the Irish reach the NCAA Tournament’s second round.

JD Davison considered the Boston Celtics best G League prospect

Davison is Boston’s best G League prospect as related in a recent survey of such players around the NBA.

The Boston Celtics are among teams in the NBA that have leaned harder on their G League affiliate to find homegrown talent able to help the parent club. So it did not turn heads when the Celtics elected to take guard JD Davison with the 53rd overall selection in the 2022 NBA draft with the intention of having him develop with the (Portland) Maine Celtics.

In a report from Bleacher Report’s Jonathan Wasserman, Davison was named Boston’s best G League prospect in a recent survey of such players around the NBA. According to the B/R analyst, the former Alabama standout fell out of lottery range and to the Celtics because of “poor shooting and decision-making.”

“Both weaknesses have been evident in the G League, but they’re also improvable, while his athleticism and playmaking aren’t as teachable,” he explains, likely invoking Boston’s thinking on the matter to begin with.

“Averaging 12 assists over his last five games with the Maine Celtics, Davison should be interesting … for his ability to set up teammates,” suggests Wasserman. “He should also offer enough open-floor finishing and some more in ball-screen situations, but the scoring will mostly be a bonus.”

“He’ll have a chance to carve out an NBA role by raising his shooting-threat level a notch and cutting down on unforced turnovers.”

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YouTube: https://bit.ly/3F9DvjQ

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Rick Carlisle: Thunder wanted to draft Pacers guard Andrew Nembhard

“I think Sam Presti told me that they were going to take him at (34) if we hadn’t taken him at 31.”

During practice on Wednesday, Indiana Pacers head coach Rick Carlisle revealed an interesting bit of intel related to the Oklahoma City Thunder.

When asked about rookie guard Andrew Nembhard, Carlisle revealed the Thunder were the other big competitor to draft him during the 2022 NBA draft.

“Andrew Nembhard was a guy that Kevin (Pritchard) had been talking about all year last year as a guy he liked. He played one of the two days in Chicago at the pre-draft camp and played well. Then, it was just a matter of getting lucky and having him be there at 31 because I think Oklahoma was at 32 and I think Sam Presti told me that they were going to take him at 32 if we hadn’t taken him at 31. A lot of things fell into place.”

While Carlisle misspoke a bit — the Thunder owned the 34th pick not the 32nd in this past draft — this is the first time it has been noted that Oklahoma City had interest in Nembhard, who is enjoying a phenomenal rookie campaign.

In 45 games, the 23-year-old is averaging 8.5 points on 42.8% shooting, four assists and 2.9 rebounds.

While Jaylin Williams — the player the Thunder selected at No. 34 — has had a decent rookie campaign, adding a steal in Nembhard to go along with Chet Holmgren, Ousmane Dieng and Jalen Williams would’ve made this already good draft class to a great one.

Alas, that’s how the draft process goes. Such a volatile process makes misses/close calls like Nembhard an inherent part of it.

The full video can be watched below:

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Rockets rookie Jabari Smith Jr. is his toughest critic during shooting slump

“I’m a shooter, and they’re not going in right now,” #Rockets rookie Jabari Smith Jr. says of his shooting slump. “It’s hard, because I’m my toughest critic.”

HOUSTON — Being a top-five overall selection in the annual NBA draft comes with a lot of pressure. Most times, those players are selected by a team in a rebuilding phase coming off a terrible season that landed them in the lottery.

Fans of the team hope adding a player of top-five quality and magnitude will immediately make their team ready to compete against the teams that made deep runs in the playoffs the previous season.

Unfortunately, it often doesn’t work that way. It takes time for a player to adapt to the playing style of the NBA. You cannot rush the process. If a player tries to do that, he will add stress onto himself, which will also hinder his developmental process.

That is what 19-year-old Houston Rockets rookie Jabari Smith Jr. is going through right now, as he tries to figure out his role on a team with four starters under age 23.

Houston selected him with the third pick in the first round of the 2022 NBA draft after witnessing his stellar one-year performance at Auburn University. His offensive skills included a lethal jump shot for a player of his height (6-foot-11), while his ability to guard any position on the defensive end stood out to many.

Yet, like his teammate Jalen Green, whom the Rockets selected with the second pick in the 2021 NBA draft, Smith has struggled to find where he belongs through the first 50 games of his professional career.

“You are not going to make every shot,” Rockets assistant coach John Lucas said of his advice to Smith. “He is shooting every shot like he’s got the weight of the world on him.”

Smith is averaging 11.9 points and 7 rebounds per game, which are fair numbers for a rookie still getting acclimated to the NBA, but they are different from where he wants or expects to be.

One thing that has constantly been on his mind is his inability to consistently make shots from 3-point range. That was one of his strengths in one season at Auburn, where Smith shot 42% from deep.

In 12 games played in January, Smith is shooting 17% (9-for-53) from beyond the arc and is 1-for-16 over his last five starts.

“I would say (I’m feeling) just pressure, knowing that I’m a shooter and they’re not going in right now,” Smith said after taking extra shots with Rockets assistant coach Rick Higgins. “It’s kind of frustrating, but you know, trying to keep that pressure off. It’s hard, because I’m my toughest critic. So, it’s just hard sometimes.”

One lesson the Rockets coaching staff has been teaching Smith is to use his other abilities as he works on getting his shooting touch back. On Saturday, Smith’s hustle and lockdown ability on defense helped Houston secure a victory over the Detroit Pistons.

Smith finished with 12 rebounds, three blocked shots and two steals. His defensive stop on Pistons guard Alec Burks caused a jump ball with 20.6 seconds left in the game and the Rockets leading by one point. That play prompted his teammates to erupt off the bench.

“The shot wasn’t falling, but just trying to cover for my teammates,” said Smith. “Do the little things like defense, rebound and defend. “Just trying to help to impact the game in other ways.”

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Rockets see Jabari Smith Jr. as ‘just scratching the surface’ of his potential

#Rockets assistant coach John Lucas on Jabari Smith Jr.: “He is just scratching the surface. I think he has a chance to really be good. Jabari knows how to play.”

HOUSTON — The  Rockets resumed practice on Tuesday, preparing for their second preseason game on Friday versus Toronto. Assistant coach John Lucas II was called upon to lead practice after head coach Stephen Silas entered the NBA’s health and safety protocol following Sunday’s emphatic 134-96 victory over San Antonio.

Even though Silas’ voice wasn’t heard, the game plan he had been implementing since training camp began was followed by Lucas and the rest of the coaching staff.

“Obviously we miss him because he’s our leader for what we do,” Lucas told reporters. “We just got through practice today, followed his game plan. Going to talk to him about what he wants us to do tomorrow. And we just keep building. We have a system in place, we have a good staff, and we just build with what we have.”

One of those building blocks is rookie Jabari Smith Jr., who the Rockets selected with the No. 3 pick in the 2022 NBA draft.

“He is just scratching the surface,” Lucas said about Smith’s first preseason game performance. “He has a chance to really be good, because one of the things he can do already is shoot and that helps our spacing on the floor, and he is an elite defender.”

Smith finished Sunday’s game with a game-high 21 points, but his 5-of-8 shooting (62.5%) from 3-point range particularly impressed the Rockets’ coaching staff.

“My teammates made it easy for me by finding me when I was open,” Smith told reporters after the game. “Coming into the game, I was looser than in summer league. I didn’t have all the jitters, and my teammates helped me with that.”

Smith’s work ethic has been noticed by his teammates and Lucas, who raved about how much time the rookie puts into honing his craft. It was a trait that former coaches from Smith’s past raved about when talking about the 6-foot-11 forward out of Auburn University.

“In doing research on him before the draft and talking to his coaches, including his AAU coach, they all said the same thing, and that is he likes to work,” Lucas said.

If anyone knew just how much Smith takes pride in becoming one of the best players in the NBA, it would be Lucas, who has consistently worked with Smith on making his shot better since the summer.

“Jabari has really improved his shooting,” said Lucas, who would put Smith through drills at 6 a.m. during the summer. “He has gotten his feet under him and managed to do better. I watched him in summer league and thought that his shot was too slow, and he has really picked it up. But more importantly, Jabari knows how to play.”

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NBA draft 2022: Rookie-scale salaries for each first-round pick

With training camp set to begin this week, Rookie Wire took a look at the rookie scale salaries for every first-round pick.

The NBA on June 30 announced the salary cap for the 2022-23 season would be $123.655 million. When the salary cap was set, the salaries of the incoming rookie class were also locked in.

Contracts for first-round picks are slotted based on where they were drafted. The amount is tied to a certain percentage of the salary cap and fluctuates each season. Players can sign for as much as 120% and as little as 80% of the rookie scale so each contract can be different.

While the amount of each contract is locked in, agents can negotiate different conditions for their clients. Some players will take salary advancement payments while others will negotiate when they will be paid throughout the season.

With training camp set to begin this week for most teams, Rookie Wire took a look at the rookie scale baseline salaries for every first-round pick over the next several seasons.

Pick Year 1 Year 2 Year 3 Year 4 Total
1 $9,089,200 $9,543,900 $9,998,300 $12,607,856 $41,239,256
2 $8,132,500 $8,539,000 $8,945,900 $11,289,726 $36,907,126
3 $7,303,100 $7,668,100 $8,033,500 $10,154,344 $33,159,044
4 $6,584,400 $6,913,800 $7,242,900 $9,162,269 $29,903,369
5 $5,962,700 $6,260,600 $6,558,800 $8,310,000 $27,092,100
6 $5,415,500 $5,686,100 $5,957,300 $7,553,856 $24,612,756
7 $4,943,700 $5,191,100 $5,437,800 $6,906,006 $22,478,606
8 $4,529,000 $4,755,500 $4,982,000 $6,337,104 $20,603,604
9 $4,163,200 $4,371,400 $4,579,600 $5,834,410 $18,948,610
10 $3,955,000 $4,152,900 $4,350,300 $5,546,633 $18,004,833
11 $3,757,200 $3,945,100 $4,133,100 $5,484,624 $17,320,024
12 $3,569,400 $3,748,100 $3,926,500 $5,410,717 $16,654,717
13 $3,391,000 $3,560,500 $3,729,900 $5,330,027 $16,011,427
14 $3,221,500 $3,382,500 $3,543,800 $5,248,368 $15,396,168
15 $3,060,100 $3,213,200 $3,366,100 $5,160,231 $14,799,631
16 $2,907,300 $3,052,700 $3,198,300 $4,906,192 $14,064,492
17 $2,761,800 $2,900,000 $3,038,100 $4,666,522 $13,366,422
18 $2,623,800 $2,754,900 $2,886,100 $4,438,822 $12,703,622
19 $2,505,600 $2,631,000 $2,756,300 $4,244,702 $12,137,602
20 $2,405,200 $2,525,500 $2,645,700 $4,079,669 $11,656,069
21 $2,309,000 $2,424,700 $2,540,100 $4,046,379 $11,320,179
22 $2,216,700 $2,327,600 $2,438,500 $4,011,333 $10,994,133
23 $2,128,300 $2,234,900 $2,340,900 $3,972,507 $10,676,607
24 $2,043,200 $2,145,300 $2,247,600 $3,931,052 $10,367,152
25 $1,961,400 $2,059,300 $2,157,600 $3,885,838 $10,064,138
26 $1,896,400 $1,990,900 $2,085,800 $3,760,697 $9,733,797
27 $1,841,600 $1,933,700 $2,025,800 $3,654,543 $9,455,643
28 $1,830,300 $1,922,000 $2,013,500 $3,634,368 $9,400,168
29 $1,816,900 $1,907,600 $1,998,800 $3,607,834 $9,331,134
30 $1,803,800 $1,894,000 $1,984,400 $3,581,842 $9,264,042

Contract figures courtesy of Spotrac

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Victor Wembanyama, the No. 1 basketball prospect in the world, is also just a kid who loves Legos

“I feel like I’m an artist on an off the court.”

Bronny James and the California Basketball Club (CBC) faced off against U18 French Select during the AXE Euro Tour, and one of the notable players on the French team is Oscar Wembanyama, who is the younger brother of projected No. 1 overall pick Victor Wembanyama.

The game was broadcast on ESPN2, and the elder Wembayama was in attendance to watch the action.

Wembanyama recently made his first trip to the United States, and he saw the Dallas Wings take on the Las Vegas Aces in the WNBA. While in Texas, he worked out at SMU. When asked how he liked his time in America, he said that he “looks forward to living there” soon.

During his interview on the ESPN2 broadcast, the prospect was also asked if his game resembles any player in the NBA, and he said that he didn’t think comparing himself to anyone would be at all “ambitious enough” — he said he wanted to be the “best ever” in his field.

However, if he had to pick two players, he mentioned Kevin Durant and Giannis Antetokounmpo. But my favorite part of the interview was when he was asked to describe himself:

“I feel like I’m an artist on an off the court. I love thinking about a lot of things and working to get an art piece done … I love drawing. I love building legos. I love it. I love writing.”

You can watch that clip from the interview by clicking here.

He elaborated that he liked the “process” of starting from nothing and then reaching his goals. The big man added that he is also a fan of classical music.

Wembanyama was already my favorite prospect in the 2023 NBA Draft. His highlights are truly out of this world. But now that I know he likes drawing and building legos and writing, he has earned even more of my respect and admiration.

The Tip-Off

LeBron James had a great reaction to Bronny’s stunning poster dunk:

“Both of LeBron James’ sons, Bronny and Bryce, are playing games in Europe with the California Basketball Club as part of the AXE Euro Tour. And while the California squad dropped its opening game in London, Bronny arrived in Paris ready to put on a show.

He even managed to surprise his dad in the process.

With CBC up by 12 in the second quarter against the U18 French Select squad, Bronny — the No. 49-ranked player in the class of 2023, according to 247Sports — went coast-to-coast for a one-handed dunk over a defender. It brought the entire arena to its feet — and for good reason. What a dunk.

But the best part had to be the Proud Dad Moment from LeBron. He immediately took to Twitter with his live reaction to the poster slam from Bronny.

Oh my goodness is right.“

You can watch the full highlight right here.

Shootaround

Gary A. Vasquez-USA TODAY Sports

— The reported NBA Christmas Day 2022 games, ranked by watchability

—Bronny James is pursued by schools including Oregon, Ohio State and is expected to ‘take the college route’

— HoopsHype trade rumor rankings: Jaylen Brown, Russell Westbrook and more

— Trevelin Queen speaks to Sixers Wire about his incredible journey to the NBA, G League, fit with Sixers

Did the Boston Celtics find a diamond in the rough with JD Davison?

Did the Boston Celtics find themselves a steal in the form of JD Davison?

Did the Boston Celtics find a diamond in the rough in Alabama combo guard JD Davison? Picked up by the Celtics with the 53rd pick of the 2022 NBA draft, expectations were low coming into Las Vegas Summer League action.

The second-round pick ran the point and led summer league action in assists with 8.2 per game. the third most ever recorded by a Boston player to go along with 13 points per game on 43% shooting. Davison didn’t look like a rookie or the 53rd overall pick out there with his burst, but will his play translate to NBA regular season?

Can Davison crack the rotation? The host of the CLNS Media “Celtics Beat” podcast Evan Valenti debates this with Celtics blogger Dan Greenberg in the following clip.

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Follow us on Facebook and check out the Celtics Lab podcast on:

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