Trade rumor rankings: Jerami Grant, De’Aaron Fox and more

With just three weeks remaining until the 2021-22 NBA trade deadline, the scuttle league-wide about potential player movement is starting to hit a fever pitch.

As such, for the first time this season, we are ranking the 10 players who have appeared most often on our Trade Rumors Page over the past week, as opposed to the Top 5.

With so much info to get into, let’s go ahead and jump right in.

Ranking the likeliest players to make All-Star debuts this season

Being selected as an NBA All-Star is one of the highest honors a professional basketball player can attain, and as such, when a player makes their All-Star debut, it is seen as a huge deal by the player, his team and his fans.

There are a lot of players making strong cases to make the All-Star for the first time, so we decided to rank the 14 guys we believe have the best chances to earn that distinction this season.

Check it out below.

Analytics MVP 2.0: Who are the best players based on advanced analytics and impact metrics?

As part of a new series at HoopsHype, we are examining who should win the NBA MVP award based on what we can learn from advanced analytics.

For this survey, each impact metric was included because it was considered among the most trustworthy by NBA executives when asked by HoopsHype during this past offseason.

The metrics pulled included Daily Plus-Minus (DPM), Estimated Plus-Minus (EPM), LEBRON (BBall-Index), RAPTOR (FiveThirtyEight), Regularized Adjusted Plus-Minus (RAPM), Player Efficiency Rating (Basketball-Reference), Box Plus-Minus (Basketball-Reference). We also added the model of Box Plus-Minus from Backpicks.com as well as the newest impact metric, Daily-Updated Rating of Individual Performance (DRIP).

ESPN’s Real Plus-Minus was not included because the data has not been published yet this season. However, if it’s publicly available by our next update, RPM will also be calculated.

Because all of these metrics (except PER) are graded on a per-100 possession scale, we adjusted for playing time by multiplying their impact contribution on each metric by the percentage of possible minutes they have played for their team so far this season.

As with the official vote, the top player received 10 points, the second received seven points, the third received five points, the fourth received three points, and the fifth player received one point. If a player finished outside of the Top 5, they didn’t receive any votes from that measurement.

Only players that made the Top 5 on least one of these nine metrics were included in our rankings below. Some of the most notable omissions include Jayson Tatum, Karl-Anthony Towns, Donovan Mitchell, Trae Young, Jimmy Butler, Zach LaVine, Ja Morant, Devin Booker, and Luka Doncic.

To see who is performing the best based on HoopsHype’s Global Rating, click here. All stats are accurate as of Jan. 17, 2022. 

Where ACC teams rank in this week’s Ferris Mowers coaches poll

What are Notre Dame’s chances at dancing this spring?

The ACC saw progress in terms of the Ferris Mowers Coaches Poll powered by USA TODAY Sports this week.

Duke remains the only team ranked as the Blue Devils check in fifth in the updated rankings but a pair of ACC teams are now in the receiving votes portion of the rankings which wasn’t the case a week ago.

Miami (FL) was the first team out of the poll while North Carolina also received six votes.

The entire poll is listed below.  Notre Dame is now 11-6 on the year after a win on Monday at Howard.  The Irish return to action Saturday afternoon at Louisville.

Rank Team Record Points Change
1 Gonzaga 14-2 787 (23) +1
2 Auburn 16-1 759 (8) +2
3 Arizona 14-1 687 (1) +3
4 Purdue 14-2 647 +1
5 Duke 14-2 643 +3
6 Baylor 15-2 642 -5
7 Kansas 14-2 611 +3
8 Wisconsin 14-2 546 +5
9 UCLA 11-2 530 -6
10 Houston 15-2 491 +1
11 Villanova 13-4 479 +3
12 Kentucky 14-3 419 +5
13 Michigan St 14-3 366 -4
14 Iowa St 14-3 326 +2
15 USC 14-2 322 -8
16 LSU 15-2 300 -4
17 Illinois 13-3 297 +7
18 Ohio St 11-4 263 -3
19 Texas Tech 13-4 261
20 Xavier 13-3 252 +1
21 Providence 14-2 227 -1
22 Texas 13-4 103
23 Colorado St 13-1 75 +4
24 Loyola-Chicago 13-2 60 +5
25 Tennessee 11-5 52 -2
25 Connecticut 11-4 52 +5

Schools Dropped Out

No. 18 Seton Hall; No. 25 Alabama

Others Receiving Votes

Miami-Florida 40; Seton Hall 37; Brigham Young 23; Alabama 21; Davidson 14; Texas A&M 11; San Diego St. 10; Iowa 10; North Carolina 6; Indiana 6; Southern Methodist 5; Oregon 5; West Virginia 4; Texas Christian 4; San Francisco 2; Oklahoma 1; Oakland 1; Murray St. 1; Grand Canyon 1; Boise St. 1

Craig Randall II on going from local tryout to G League star

Craig Randall II hadn’t played in actual basketball games in almost two years. And then, just a few days ago, he was named the G League Player of the Week, while averaging 35.3 points per game.

Randall’s story is unique, to say the least, and it started at the University of Memphis. The 6-foot-4 guard spent his first two years in Memphis but started in only four games, so he transferred to Tennessee-Martin by his junior year. After graduating in 2020, he decided to go pro but went undrafted. With the COVID-19 pandemic at full roar, his options were limited.

Despite wanting to play, he passed on overseas options and remained in the States waiting for the perfect opportunity while working out in the gym with his brother.

This season, with hundreds of NBA players entering the health and safety protocols, NBA teams started signing G League players to 10-day hardship deals. As a result, G League teams were also looking for new players to add to their rosters – thus opening up opportunities for Randall.

Randall attended several tryouts and finally got picked up by the Long Island Nets.

A month later, the 25-year old combo guard was named the G League Player of the Week. So far this season, Randall is averaging 25.8 points, 5.0 rebounds, and 5.2 assists per game. To this day, Randall is one of the rare pro players without a Wikipedia page, and a modest social media following (2,200 followers on Instagram, 464 followers on Twitter).

In an interview with HoopsHype, Randall talked about his peculiar journey, his ultimate dream to reach the NBA and more.

Lady Vols defeat Kentucky, remain unbeaten in conference play

Lady Vols defeat Kentucky and remain unbeaten in conference play.

The Lady Vols kept its undefeated Southeastern Conference record intact with an 84-58 victory over Kentucky at Thompson-Boling Arena.

No. 5 Tennessee (17-1, 6-0 SEC) overcame a first-quarter deficit against the No. 19 Wildcats (8-5, 1-2) to win its eighth consecutive game.

The Lady Vols, who are off to its best start since winning a national championship in 2007-08, were trailing, 17-11, at the end of the opening quarter.

Tennessee used a balanced offensive attack to post a comeback victory over Kentucky.

Tennessee outscored the Wildcats, 27-10, in the second quarter.

Rae Burell and Keyen Green scored 14 points. Jordan Horston scored 11 points and Jordan Walker added 10.

Alexus Dye and Tess Darby finished with nine points each. Dye also had seven rebounds.

Rhyne Howard had a game-high 24 points for the Wildcats. Former Lady Vol Jazmine Massengill had 13 points for Kentucky.

Notre Dame’s NBA and ABA Champions

It’s been how long?!?

Quick:

Who was the last Notre Dame basketball player to play in and win an NBA Championship before Pat Connaughton?

You’ll have to be in your late-20’s in order to remember it.

Seven former Notre Dame basketball players have won championships in the ABA or NBA.  Here those seven are:

Related:  Who wins the NBA Finals – FIW Staff Picks (we were all wrong – whoops)

Notre Dame falls back into old ways with loss at Virginia Tech

Notre Dame couldn’t close the deal as old offensive issues showed back up for the Irish on Saturday night.

After entering Saturday’s game at Virginia Tech with six-straight victories and jumping out to a 40-32 halftime lead, it appeared it would be more of the recent same for Notre Dame, but instead some old demons showed their ugly heads to stunt the Irish winning streak.

Paul Atkinson, Jr. led the way for Notre Dame with 19 points Saturday night in Blacksburg with five coming in the first few minutes of the second half to stretch the Irish lead to 10.  Old problems with closing showed their ugly head once again for Notre Dame however as they simply couldn’t close the deal.

A Dane Goodwin jumper moved the Notre Dame lead to 62-57 with 6:31 to play but the Irish would convert just a pair of field goals the rest of the way as Virginia Tech outscored the Irish 22-11 from there.

The tough loss puts Notre Dame at 10-6 on the year overall and 4-2 in ACC play.  The Irish return to action on Monday afternoon when they travel to Howard.

Related:

2021-22 Notre Dame basketball roster

Vols fall at Kentucky, 107-79

Tennessee loses at Kentucky, 107-79.

Tennessee (11-5, 2-3 SEC) lost at Kentucky (13-3, 4-1 SEC), 107-79, ending its two-game winning streak at Rupp Arena.

Kentucky’s Tyty Washington Jr. scored a game-high 28 points.

The Wildcats forced Tennessee into 20 turnovers.

Kentucky and head coach John Calapari opened the game in a 1-3-1 zone defense, a tribute to former Wildcats’ head coach Joe B. Hall who passed away Saturday.

Olivier Nkamhoua scored on that possession and took a 2-0 lead.

The Wildcats opened a 52-38 advantage at halftime.

Santiago Vescovi led the Vols with 20 points. Freshman Kennedy Chandler added 17 points, while Josiah-Jordan James and Brandon Huntley-Hatfield finished with 11 points each.

Sahvir Wheeler had 21 points and eight rebounds for the Wildcats. Kellan Grady finished with 16 points.

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Aggregate NBA mock draft 3.0: Jabari Smith leaps ahead of Paolo Banchero, Chet Holmgren for No. 1

The best prospects in the world are all competing for the top spot in the 2022 NBA draft and it is hard to sort how everyone is stacking up.

In order to help us get a better sense of where all of the projected top prospects in the class stand as of right now, we compiled mock drafts from Draft Express (ESPN), Aran Smith (NBADraft.net), Sam Vecenie (The Athletic), Jonathan Wasserman (Bleacher Report), Jeremy Woo (Sports Illustrated), Krysten Peek (Yahoo), Matt Babcock (Basketball News) as well as USA TODAY Sports Media Group’s For The Win.

Please note that these rankings reflect the composite score in order to get a feel for consensus, not our own opinion. Predictions for a first overall pick earned a player 58 points while the second overall pick earned 57 points, the third overall earned 56 points, and so on.

Johnny Davis (Wisconsin), Jeremy Sochan (Baylor), Harrison Ingram (Stanford), EJ Liddell (Ohio State), Wendell Moore (Duke), Blake Wesley (Notre Dame), and Walker Kessler (Auburn) have improved their draft stock the most since our most recent update last month.

The most notable prospects making their debut on our rankings are Tari Eason (LSU), Aminu Mohammed (Georgetown), Dereon Seabron (NC State), Christian Braun (Kansas), Trevion Williams (Purdue) and Orlando Robinson (Fresno State).

Some of the top prospects who were not included in any of these most recent mock drafts include Matthew Cleveland (Florida State), Azuolas Tubelis (Arizona), Max Abmas (Oral Roberts), Kofi Cockburn (Illinois), Alex Fudge (LSU), Buddy Boeheim (Syracuse), Josh Minott (Memphis) and Kadary Richmond (Seton Hall).

Otherwise, you can learn the latest updates on every single prospect who has been included in recent mock drafts by scrolling below.

HoopsHype’s Alberto de Roa contributed research to this report