Tag: Daniel Oturu

Report: Rockets interested in signing Daniel Oturu to training camp deal

“Daniel Oturu has an opportunity to either sign with a team in Turkey or the Houston Rockets,” veteran Minneapolis sports reporter Darren Wolfson (@DWolfsonKSTP) says.

The Houston Rockets are casting a wide net as they evaluate options at center behind new starter Alperen Sengun. Even after signing Bruno Fernando and Willey Cauley-Stein in recent weeks, it appears general manager Rafael Stone isn’t done.

Veteran Minneapolis sports reporter Darren Wolfson says on a new podcast that young center Daniel Oturu could be an option.

“Daniel Oturu has an opportunity to either sign with a team in Turkey or the Houston Rockets,” Wolfson said, per HoopsHype. “I’m told (they) have at least inquired about a training camp deal.”

Now 22 years old, the 6-foot-10 Oturu was picked at No. 33 in the 2020 NBA draft, which suggests he has an upside — or at least was believed to have one less than two years ago. So, it could be worth a flyer to Stone and the Rockets.

The onetime University of Minnesota standout has played only sparingly at the NBA level over his first two professional seasons. In the G League, Oturu averaged 20.6 points (63.2% FG, 37.5% on 3-pointers), 9.3 rebounds and 1.9 blocks in 32.1 minutes per game last season.

Houston has a full roster heading into training camp, though it’s believed that at least three players (Sterling Brown, Marquese Chriss and Trey Burke) will be traded or released prior to camp. Thus, roster constraints shouldn’t be a problem.

For Oturu, the decision might come down to how much risk he’s willing to accept and/or any assurances he receives from the team. If he believes there’s a legitimate chance to play his way on to the Rockets at backup center and eventually earn an NBA contract, that’s the most lucrative path — both professionally and financially.

On the other hand, if he thinks Houston is simply trying to secure his G League rights following a post-preseason release (once rosters need to be trimmed), then certain international deals could be more lucrative. After all, it’s not clear whether that same offer would be available at a later date. Time will tell as to Oturu’s answer.

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2020 NBA Draft Big Board 5.0: Final update ranking Top 100 prospects

After numerous delays and postponements, front offices and draftniks have had more time to analyze the 2020 NBA draft than any previous year.

After numerous delays and postponements, front offices and draftniks have had more time to analyze the 2020 NBA draft than any previous year.

Originally scheduled for June, the ongoing pandemic pushed the big night back by five months. While this may cause some teams to overthink their decisions, it gave analysts plenty of time to study all of the top prospects eligible in this class.

This year, players had to participate in a mostly virtual pre-draft process. On the bright side, this meant that teams had the opportunity to interview more candidates than ever before.

However, the number of in-person visits were incredibly limited due to the restrictive parameters set by the league. Similarly, the NBA draft combine was conducted without the typical scrimmages where players can separate themselves from the others with impressive on-court performances.

Overall, the players that stood out in this pre-draft process had a different path to recognition than any other year. College basketball players did not have the opportunity to showcase themselves during March Madness. The nation’s top seniors did not get to participate in the Portsmouth Invitational Tournament.

As such, executives will rely mostly on the existing game footage as well as the intel they gathered during their conversations with the prospects. We also depended on similar strategies, getting access to one-on-one interviews with more than three dozen prospects and exchanging our thoughts with various scouts across the league.

This helped us put together our final big board, looking at the Top 100 players ranked on their potential to make a difference for teams in the NBA.

Relevant statistics were pulled from Synergy Sports Tech, Bart-Torvik, KenPom, Open Look Analytics and RealGM. Note that the age listed for each player references how old they will be on the night of the draft.

Rafael Stone: For right player, Rockets could trade into 2020 draft

The Rockets don’t currently have a pick in the 2020 draft, due to previous trades. However, their new GM says they might get one, anyway.

The Houston Rockets don’t currently have a selection in the NBA’s 2020 draft, owing to previous trades. However, that doesn’t mean they won’t eventually acquire one, according to new GM Rafael Stone.

In a new Q&A with Jonathan Feigen of the Houston Chronicle, Stone said this about their status for the league’s Nov. 18 draft:

We certainly wouldn’t mind getting into the draft, particularly if somebody becomes available we think will help us win now. We’re still in the win-now [mode], more than the develop four or five years from now mode. There are guys in the draft I think can play right away. We’ve had teams tell us they would be open to [a trade]. I think we probably can get draft picks if the right guy is there.

Besides using current players and/or future draft compensation to acquire a 2020 pick, the Rockets could also buy one. Houston still has most of its annual cash allotment available to use in trades during the 2019-20 league year, which does not conclude until after the draft.

Before Daryl Morey’s departure, Houston’s previous GM said there was a “reasonable chance” of his team buying a draft pick, which seemed to signal that owner Tilman Fertitta had authorized spending that cash.

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The Rockets have been active in recent weeks as it pertains to scouting and interviewing various draft prospects, including big man Daniel Oturu, shooting guard Terry Armstrong, and swingman Jay Scrubb.

While Stone says the Rockets have a clear win-now emphasis, given the presence veteran superstars James Harden and Russell Westbrook, it sounds as if the Houston front office believes that at least some 2020 draft prospects could still fit within that short-term mission.

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2020 NBA aggregate mock draft 8.0: Draft day ranges for top prospects

The 2020 NBA draft is fairly unpredictable and prospects have wider ranges in where they could get selected when it is all said and done. 

The 2020 NBA draft is fairly unpredictable and prospects have wider ranges in where they could get selected when it is all said and done.

We looked at mock drafts from NBADraft.net, ESPN, The Athletic, Bleacher Report, CBS Sports, The Ringer, Stadium, SI.com, USA TODAY Sports Media Group’s Rookie Wire, USA Today and Yahoo to give us a more clear understanding of consensus rankings and projections.

This also provided context for realistic high-end and low-end predictions for the players most often included in mock drafts.

Please note that the range included for each player is not based on our own reporting or intel and it only reflects the data pulled from the various mock drafts.

The full list of our latest aggregate mock draft rankings can be found here. HoopsHype’s Alberto de Roa contributed research to this report.

2020 NBA aggregate mock draft 8.0: Draft day ranges for top prospects

The 2020 NBA draft is fairly unpredictable and prospects have wider ranges in where they could get selected when it is all said and done. 

The 2020 NBA draft is fairly unpredictable and prospects have wider ranges in where they could get selected when it is all said and done.

We looked at mock drafts from NBADraft.net, ESPN, The Athletic, Bleacher Report, CBS Sports, The Ringer, Stadium, SI.com, USA TODAY Sports Media Group’s Rookie Wire, USA Today and Yahoo to give us a more clear understanding of consensus rankings and projections.

This also provided context for realistic high-end and low-end predictions for the players most often included in mock drafts.

Please note that the range included for each player is not based on our own reporting or intel and it only reflects the data pulled from the various mock drafts.

The full list of our latest aggregate mock draft rankings can be found here. HoopsHype’s Alberto de Roa contributed research to this report.

Daniel Oturu interviewed with the Celtics ahead of the NBA Draft

Projected second-round pick Daniel Oturu reportedly interviewed recently with the Celtics ahead of the 2020 NBA Draft.

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Projected second-round pick Daniel Oturu reportedly interviewed recently with the Boston Celtics ahead of the 2020 NBA Draft, according to Chris Grenham of Forbes.

The 6-foot-10 product from Minnesota averaged 20.1 points, 11.3 rebounds and 2.5 blocks in 31 games last season with the Golden Gophers. He is most commonly projected to be a second-round pick but some believe he can hear his name called at the end of the first round.

Oturu showed signs of being a good fit in the pace-and-space style of play given his ability to stretch the floor after he shot 36.5% from beyond the arc on 1.7 attempts last season. His sample size isn’t necessarily huge but he appears poised to see an improvement in that area.

Currently, the Celtics hold the 14th, 26th, 30th and 47th picks, respectively, and could look to target Oturu in the second round. He has previously interviewed with teams such as the Milwaukee Bucks, Houston Rockets Oklahoma City Thunder and Chicago Bulls among others.

In addition to Oturu, the Celtics have been linked to a slew of other prospects, including Grant Riller, Killian Tillie, Jay Scrubb, Paul Reed and several others. With four draft picks in tow, the Celtics are certainly doing their homework ahead of the NBA Draft.

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Even without a draft pick, Houston interviews ‘stretch big’ prospects

Could Houston potentially trade into the first or second round? The Rockets now have at least two draftable bigs on their interview list.

The Houston Rockets have already traded away their picks in both the first round and second round of the 2020 NBA Draft. However, that doesn’t mean they can’t eventually trade their way back in.

Per veteran Minneapolis journalist Darren Wolfson, the Rockets are currently on the interview list for former University of Minnesota center Daniel Oturu — who is projected at roughly No. 30 overall, according to the latest aggregate NBA mock draft from HoopsHype.

That’s interesting for multiple reasons. First, with Oturu potentially a first-round selection, it would seem rather unlikely that he’d slide out of the draft altogether and be available as an undrafted free agent. So if the Rockets are interviewing him, it would appear to suggest that GM Daryl Morey is considering scenarios of acquiring a 2020 draft pick.

Second, it’s noteworthy that the 6-foot-10, 240-pound Oturu is a center. Oturu averaged 20.1 points (56.3% FG), 11.3 rebounds, and 2.5 blocks per game last season, and it would seem to signal that the notoriously undersized Rockets might be open to larger lineups in the future.

Oturu does have some range and potential as a “stretch big,” having shot 36.5% on 3-pointers last season. However, it remains to be seen how that might translate from the shorter college line to the NBA.

Here’s how Rookie Wire describes Oturu in their latest Big Board:

Daniel Oturu was ridiculously productive during his sophomore campaign for Minnesota. It is “extremely tough” to predict Oturu’s draft range because executives are “all over the map” about him, per The Athletic’s Sam Vecenie. Scouts may not love what they see from Oturu’s mechanics but it is certainly impossible to deny how much he was able to accomplish on the court.

Per Wolfson, the Rockets have also interviewed many other draftable prospects, such as 6-foot-11 Arizona forward Zeke Nnaji. Like Oturu, Nnaji could also fill the “stretch big” role. Per Rookie Wire:

One of the players who improved his draft stock the most during his freshman season was Arizona big man Zeke Nnaji. The Pac-12 Rookie of the Year averaged 16.1 points and 8.6 rebounds per game and could provide positional depth for the Philadelphia 76ers in the frontcourt. His shooting is projected to be better in the NBA than it was in the NCAA.

Nnaji was at No. 34 on the most recent aggregate mock draft, in the same range as Oturu. As Wolfson noted, the Wolves have the No. 17 and No. 33 overall picks. They could be a logical trade partner for the Rockets, given the long history and working relationship between Morey and Minnesota’s president of basketball operations, Gersson Rosas.

Rosas was Houston’s No. 2 executive (after Morey) for years. Since taking Minnesota’s lead job last year, Morey and Rosas worked together on the blockbuster four-team trade in February involving Robert Covington.

The 2020 NBA Draft will take place on Wednesday, Nov. 18. The Rockets do have most of their cash allotment for the 2019-20 league year still available, which could help facilitate a deal. That might especially be the case in 2020 given the COVID-19 pandemic, which has hurt many owners financially and reportedly could lead to more picks being up for sale.

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Minnesota big man Daniel Oturu mocked to Sixers for 2020 NBA Draft

Minnesota Golden Gophers big man Daniel Oturu has been mocked to the Philadelphia 76ers in the draft.

The NBA is resuming the 2019-20 season in Orlando, but it is never too early to look ahead to the NBA Draft. The Philadelphia 76ers currently own the number 22 pick in the draft, but that could change depending on the Oklahoma City Thunder.

With the draft comes lots of mock drafts and a new one was put out by Bleacher Report’s Jonathan Wasserman and he has the Sixers selecting Minnesota Golden Gophers big man Daniel Oturu with the 22nd pick.

Wasserman on Oturu:

Oturo has moved onto some scouts’ first-round boards after averaging 20.1 points, 11.3 rebounds and 2.5 blocks as a sophomore. There is sense that he’s rising, particularly for those willing to buy his 19 made threes and mid-range touch as shooting potential. But he also converted 16-of-22 drives to the basket from spot-ups. Though his decision-making isn’t always sharp, the Sixers could look to Oturu for important depth behind Joel Embiid

On top of the impressive stat line, Oturu shot 36.5% from deep on 1.7 attempts per game so he can shoot the ball a little bit. There is a lot that he can do on the floor and he would be a solid pickup in the draft to add to the team’s depth a little bit. [lawrence-related id=35838,35831,35824]

Daniel Oturu, a former Cretin-Derham …

Daniel Oturu, a former Cretin-Derham Hall star, will start the interview process with NBA teams next week. Since the spring, Oturu has trained with former AAU teammate and Duke point guard Tre Jones. Oturu and the Jones brothers (also Tyus Jones) are represented by Kevin Bradbury, an agent for BDA Sports. “Every day we’re getting more information on the status of the coronavirus and how it’s impacting people,” Oturu said. “I just have to continue to work and show [teams] who I am as a person and a basketball player.”