Tag: Chaundee Brown

South Bay Lakers GM Nick Mazzella discusses Lakers’ Summer League team

“You know, we think he has a shot.” – South Bay Lakers GM Nick Mazzella on Mac McClung.

The Los Angeles Lakers participated in two different Summer League tournaments shortly after draft night and finished with a combined 4-3 record.

Los Angeles developed hype around the team despite not having a 2021 draft pick — it was traded in the package for Russell Westbrook — with the additions of Joel Ayayi and Austin Reaves on two-way contracts, followed by Mac McClung and Chaundee Brown.

Devontae Cacok, who was one of L.A.’s two-way players for the last two seasons, also participated despite not making the main roster following the conclusion of his contract.

Other notable players on the roster were Vic Law, Trevelin Queen, Yoeli Childs and Jordan Floyd.

Nick Mazzella, who is the general manager of the G League South Bay Lakers, recapped how the key players performed throughout the competitions:

Lakers sign Chaundee Brown to roster

The Los Angeles Lakers announced Tuesday they signed Chaundee Brown to the main roster.

The Los Angeles Lakers announced the signing of Chaundee Brown to the 15-man roster, the team said in a statement Tuesday.

Brown went undrafted in the 2021 NBA draft. Shortly after the draft’s conclusion, he agreed to an Exhibit 10 deal with L.A., meaning he would get an opportunity to showcase his readiness during summer league competitions.

Brown, who played collegiate basketball at Michigan, participated in the California Classic games in Sacramento and played in the one game in Las Vegas thus far.

In that game against the Phoenix Suns, Brown finished with 11 points on 5-of-9 shooting, putting his cutting-to-the-rim ability and toughness on defense on display.

Brown’s signing coincided with the signing of Mac McClung to the main roster, meaning the Lakers have filled 14 roster spots and need to bring in one more player to complete the 15-man roster. Up to 20 players can be on the team until final cuts take place before the new season begins.

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Live tracker: Here is where the top undrafted free agents have signed

The 2021 NBA draft has come and gone but the draft cycle still continues for a bit longer as the undrafted free agents find their new homes.

The 2021 NBA draft has come and gone but the draft cycle still continues for a bit longer as the undrafted free agents find their new homes.

While the following prospects didn’t get to hear their name called by the commissioner or deputy commissioner on Thursday night, they can find solace in the fact that their path to the pros is far from over. It’s not unheard of for an undrafted free agent to carve out a role for themselves in the NBA.

Some notable names, including Gonzaga’s Joel Ayayi and G League Ignite’s Daishen Nix, will join the fraternity of undrafted basketball players who hope to still make a name for themselves in the NBA.

Here is where the best remaining prospects have landed so far, according to reports:

A roundup of NBA sleepers draft analysts are higher on than others

Who owns the most real estate on Davion Mitchell Island? Who is buying stock in Sharife Cooper?

Everyone loves Cade Cunningham. It’s not a hot take for an analyst to say that Cunningham is their favorite player in the class. That’s not particularly interesting to read, either.

But what is fascinating, however, is when an analyst deviates from the norm and ranks someone significantly higher than where the prospect falls in other rankings. What does that tell us about their individual scouting process and what they value? Further, what does that tell us about the potential draftee?

Some folks call it “buying stock” in a player. Others, like ESPN’s Zach Lowe or The Ringer’s Bill Simmons, call it owning real estate on a player’s island. I like to refer to it as a “draft crush” when I wind up higher than consensus in my evaluation of a player.

My process is ridiculously tedious but the results can be fairly useful. I’ve tracked the evolution of more than sixty unique mock drafts, big boards and draft models from trusted analysts and popular accounts on Twitter.

Each placement is assigned a value based on Kevin Pelton’s draft pick trade value chart. I do this because, as Pelton notes, the difference in relative value between the No. 5 overall pick and the No. 7 overall is much more stark than, say, that of the No. 45 pick and the No. 47 pick.

After composing an aggregate score based on each ranking, I can see where each analyst strays from the pack.

I’ll leave the conclusions drawn from these results up to the reader. But if nothing else, this can eventually be used as a bragging point if one writer was higher than consensus on a draftee who eventually ends up outperforming his draft position.

2021 aggregate NBA mock draft 7.0: Ranking the full class of prospects

The 2021 NBA draft is less than a week away and we finally have an idea of who is in — and who has withdrawn — from the class.

The 2021 NBA draft is less than a week away and we finally have an idea of who is in – and who has withdrawn – from the class.

In order to get a better sense of where all of the prospects stand as of right now, we compiled mock drafts from NBADraft.net, CBS Sports, Bleacher Report, Yahoo, The Athletic, The Ringer, Yahoo, NBA Big Board and USA TODAY Sports Media Group’s For The Win to see where the prospects rank at the moment.

Please note that these rankings reflect the composite score to get a feel for consensus, not our own opinion.

Since our previous update last month, some of the players with the most positive momentum include Quentin Grimes, Joe Wieskamp, Vrenz Bleijenbergh, Aaron Wiggins, Justin Champagnie, Jericho Sims, Jason Preston, Josh Primo, Neemias Queta, Trey Murphy and Bones Hyland.

Among players who ranked on our previous update who have since withdrawn from the draft include Roko Prkacin (32), Marcus Bagley (39), Terrence Shannon (48), Ariel Hukporti (50), Max Abmas (53), Johnny Juzang (54), Jordan Hall (66), Carlos Alocen (69) and Ochai Agbaji (75).

The most notable omissions who remain in this class but not these rankings are Yves Pons, Scottie Lewis, Jay Huff, Marcus Zegarowski, Aamir Simms, Dalano Banton, Matt Mitchell, Jose Alvarado, Carlik Jones, Derrick Alston Jr., Romeo Weems, Balsa Koprivica, Chaundee Brown, Isaiah Miller, Jordan Schakel and D.J. Carton.

Note that for the offensive roles, we borrowed a fun idea from Todd Whitehead (formerly of Nylon Calculus) with help from our friends at Bball-Index.com to create a slightly tweaked formula from the version they use.

The goal of that is not to explain how well a player scores but rather offer context for the way that he was used on his most recent team. This should help you predict how he might be used at the next level.

Meanwhile, 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

2021 NBA Draft Big Board 5.0: Final rankings of the Top 100 prospects

With just over a week left until the 2021 NBA draft at Barclays Center in Brooklyn, it’s officially the most wonderful time of the year! 

With just over a week left until the 2021 NBA draft at Barclays Center in Brooklyn, it’s officially the most wonderful time of the year!

That means that after a slew of surprising early entry withdrawals impacted the worlds of both college and international basketball, the next generation of NBA talent is getting closer to entering the league. As players finalize their place on big boards in front offices, I wanted to offer my opinion on how I think those rankings should look.

Note that our list is certainly going to look different from the lists at ESPN, The Athletic, Bleacher Report and other publications. Player evaluation is an inexact science. Part of the process is being willing to admit when you were wrong about a player.

But avoiding group-think and ending higher than consensus on a player is how an NBA team ends up selecting them in the draft. With that in mind, here is who I would target if I were running a front office.

Nah’Shon Hyland, Trey Murphy III among prospects to work out with Lakers

Hyland and Murphy were among six prospects on Saturday to participate in pre-draft workouts with the Lakers.

VCU guard Nah’Shon “Bones” Hyland and Virginia guard Trey Murphy III were among six prospects on Saturday to workout with the Los Angeles Lakers, the team announced.

Hyland was named the Atlantic 10 Player of the Year last season after averaging a league-high 19.5 points, 4.7 rebounds, 2.1 assists and 1.9 steals per game. He scored 30 or more points on three occasions last season and was in double figures in 22 of 23 contests.

Meanwhile, Murphy averaged 11.3 points, 3.4 rebounds and 1.2 assists in 25 games last season. He shot 50.3% from the field and 43.3% from 3-point range, ranking seventh among all ACC players in 3-pointers made (2.1) per game.

In addition to Hyland and Murphy, the Lakers also brought in Oklahoma guard Austin Reaves, Stanford forward Oscar Da Silva, Michigan guard Chaundee Brown Jr. and NC State forward DJ Funderburk.

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Los Angeles enters the draft with just one current pick, the 22nd overall selection. Certainly, Hyland and Murphy project to be available in their range and could be potential options to consider when they are on the clock on July 29.

The Lakers have been heavily linked to guards in mock drafts, which would help add depth to the backcourt. The future of Dennis Schroder in L.A. is not certain and they could elect to take a guard as some insurance in case they cannot come to terms with him in free agency.

In any case, it will certainly be worth watching how the Lakers handle the draft as they look to regroup following an early first-round exit in the playoffs this year.

This post originally appeared on Rookie Wire! Follow us on Facebook!

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Chaundee Brown Jr. declares for NBA draft

The Michigan basketball sixth-man is departing for the NBA draft, despite having another year on the table.

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One of the big questions facing Michigan basketball this offseason is who could return to the team in 2021-22? With the 2020-21 year being a free year according to the NCAA, literally anyone on the roster could essentially come back for another season.

Michigan point guard Mike Smith already declared for the NBA draft, and the other transfer who had come to Ann Arbor for one year is on his way behind him.

Coming aboard after having been a starter at Wake Forest, Chaundee Brown Jr. accepted a diminished role as the Wolverines’ sixth-man, which led some to believe that he could return for one more year back in the starting lineup. However, Brown announced on social media that he’s not only entering the 2021 NBA draft, but he’s hiring an agent, meaning he’s out for good.

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Brown averaged 20.6 minutes-per-game in 28 games for Michigan basketball, for an average of 8 points-per-game. But his biggest contribution was from deep, where he had a career-best 41.9% accuracy rate from 3.

Still to make their intentions known are Eli Brooks, Hunter Dickinson (a freshman who could go early), Isaiah Livers and Franz Wagner.

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March Madness: 2021 NBA draft prospects who improved stock in tournament

There is no stage as important for NBA draft evaluation quite like March Madness, which means we have a better idea about tons of prospects.

There is no stage as important for NBA draft evaluation quite like March Madness, which means we have a better idea about tons of prospects.

Now that the NCAA Men’s Basketball tournament is all said and done, we have a better idea of whose draft stock is in a better place now than it was before the games began in mid-March.

Upperclassmen like Baylor’s Jared Butler and Davion Mitchell were already on draft boards as projected first-rounders before the postseason began. Similarly, top prospects like Gonzaga’s Jalen Suggs or USC’s Evan Mobley had big moments but that was expected for projected lottery picks.

Several others were able to make their case for why they should be picked earlier in the draft than many had previously expected.

Below are some of those prospects who shined the brightest under the big lights during the exciting stretch of March Madness that we just enjoyed.

We have also included a rough estimate of draft stock as it stands right now before the combine and interview process. Note that because all seniors are allowed to return to school for another year due to the pandemic, it is harder to predict who will be in this class than in a typical year.

After quiet stretch of games, Chaundee Brown Jr. delivers terrific performance in victory over Ohio State

With a big game on Sunday, Michigan basketball’s Chaundee Brown Jr. shares why he had such a solid performance vs. Ohio State.

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Reaching 90 points for the third time this season and the first time in a Big Ten game, the No. 3 Michigan Wolverines defeated the No. 4 Ohio State Buckeyes, 92-87, at Value City Arena on Sunday.

Five Wolverines scored in double-figures, led by freshman center Hunter Dickinson’s 22 points and followed by senior guard Eli Brooks’ 17.

The third-highest scorer for Michigan was senior swingman Chaundee Brown, Jr., who finished with 15 points on 6-of-8 shooting, including 3-of-4 from 3-point range, with all his makes behind the arc coming in the first half.

For Brown, this performance was a reminder of the value he provides this team off the bench and came after a quiet stretch of games, as he had reached double-digits just once in the last seven games and had not recorded more than six points in the last four.

Sometimes, shooters have a feeling they are going to have a big game before the basketball is even tipped and, fortunately for the Wolverines, this was the case on Sunday.

“I told (classmate) Isaiah Livers in warmups, I was like, ‘I like these rims, I love these rims,’” he said. “Then, I hit my first shot, I’m like, ‘Yeah, it’s going to be a good one.’”

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Brown also finished the contest with three rebounds, two of which came on one offensive possession in the second half. More than just a 40 percent 3-point shooter, this rebounding effort, along with being one of Michigan’s best on-ball defenders, are points of his game he takes great pride in.

“I told Coach (Juwan) Howard, I’m like, ‘Don’t switch anything up, go to Hunter (Dickinson), go to Hunter,’” he said. “I knew I was trying to crash the glass, do whatever I can to help us win. I told him don’t switch anything up, just keep going to Hunter. All I could do was crash the glass and help my team out, which I did.”

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With this victory, their fifth over a ranked opponent in 2020-21, the Wolverines improved to 16-1 (11-1 Big Ten), while Ohio State dropped to 18-5 (12-5).

A point mentioned by Kevin Harlan during the CBS broadcast, this was the first-ever meeting between these two storied programs with both ranked in the top-five of the Associated Press Poll.

“It felt good, Coach Howard talked about this rivalry between Michigan basketball and Ohio State basketball,” Brown said. “We know, obviously, that it’s a rivalry in football, but basketball is totally different.

“We knew that we had to deliver the first punch and I give them credit, they’re a really good team, but we fought for 40 minutes, we did really good. Everyone played well, everyone contributed, so, I’m just proud of the guys.”

Returning to the Crisler Center, Michigan is set to host another ranked foe, the No. 11 Iowa Hawkeyes (17-6, 11-5), on Thursday at 7 p.m. EST on ESPN.

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