Tag: DeJon Jarreau

Rockets add former University of Houston star DeJon Jarreau on hardship deal

With COVID-19 issues taking their toll on the roster, the Rockets signed former University of Houston star DeJon Jarreau on Tuesday to a temporary hardship contract.

With COVID-19 issues taking their toll on Houston’s roster, as evidenced by four unavailable rotation players, the Rockets signed local college hero DeJon Jarreau to a temporary hardship deal. He will be in uniform and active for the home game on Tuesday night versus the Lakers.

A 6-foot-5 guard who is well regarded for his defense and toughness, Jarreau has averaged 9.7 points (38.1% on 3-pointers), 4.5 assists, and 3.9 rebounds in 20.9 minutes per game with the Fort Wayne Mad Ants, Indiana’s NBA G League affiliate. The 23-year-old rookie went undrafted in 2021 shortly after helping lead his college team, the University of Houston, to their first NCAA Final Four appearance in 37 years.

Mark Berman of Fox 26 Houston was first with the report of “Deeky” Jarreau reaching a contract agreement with the Rockets.

Under new rules, NBA teams can sign one replacement for each player who tests positive for COVID-19 (starting with the second player), and teams are required to have at least 13 active players who are not injured.

The Rockets recently filled two of their vacated roster spots by recalling rookie guard Daishen Nix and forward Usman Garuba from the Rio Grande Valley Vipers, Houston’s G League affiliate. Both are on two-way contracts and can fill the roster spots of two of the protocols players.

A player such as John Wall, who is sitting out as part of a mutual agreement, does not count toward the NBA’s desired total of 13 active players. So, excluding Wall and including two-way players, the Rockets start with a roster of 16 players — but the four protocol absences reduce that to 12. Thus, one signing was needed to get back to 13. Similarly, any other positive test results in the coming days will require a replacement.

Houston may be hit disproportionately hard by the league’s current wave of enhanced post-Christmas testing, since it was not frequently tested throughout much of the season due to their status as a fully vaccinated (and now fully boostered) team. As a result, while other teams are having certain players not tested due to them already having documented COVID-19 cases this season and being exempt, the Rockets have their entire roster subject to the enhanced testing.

Any replacement players (such as Jarreau) who are signed will not count toward the team’s yearly salary and will not factor into any luxury tax calculations. Each hardship signing is initially for a period of 10 days.

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Former Houston guard DeJon Jarreau signs two-way contract with Pacers

Jarreau averaged 11.6 points, 6.6 rebounds, 5.8 assists and 1.4 steals with the Heat in summer league.

Former Houston Cougars guard and free agent DeJon Jarreau on Tuesday signed a two-way contract with the Indiana Pacers, the team announced in a press release.

Jarreau was named the American Athletic Defensive Player of the Year after averaging 10.6 points, 5.4 rebounds, 4.3 assists and 1.3 steals last season. He was the first Cougar since 1993 to record a triple-double when he had 15 points, 10 rebounds and 10 assists on March 12.

The 6-foot-5 guard went undrafted last month and appeared in the Las Vegas Summer League with the Miami Heat. He averaged 11.6 points, 6.6 rebounds, 5.8 assists and 1.4 steals on 47.7% shooting from the field in five games with Miami.

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Jarreau will split his time between the Pacers and Fort Wayne Mad Ants in the NBA G League. He will have the opportunity to develop with the Mad Ants while gaining NBA experience throughout the season with the parent club.

Players this season signed to two-way contracts are eligible to spend no more than 50 games in the NBA. They will earn a flat salary equal to 50% of the minimum salary applicable to a player with zero years of service.

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

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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 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.

Ex-Houston guard DeJon Jarreau reportedly conducting pre-draft workouts with Celtics

The lanky former Cougar is evidently on Boston’s draft radar.

The Boston Celtics are reportedly working out a 2021 NBA draft prospect today, former Houston Cougar guard DeJon Jarreau, per Forbes Sports’ Chris Grenham. Another potential option for the Celtics’ second-round pick — slated to go 45th overall — or perhaps a camp deal, Jarreau is another 2021 draft entrant considered a fringe prospect.

Still, at 6-foot-5 Jarreau’s size and ability to move the ball are likely the primary interests regarding the New Orleans native. Averaging 10.6 points, 5.4 rebounds, 4.3 assists and 1.3 steals per game, Jarreau has a well-rounded game that might slot in well to the deep rotation if he can get his 3-point shooting (34.4% in 2020-21) up.

A good athlete able to post up a bit, he also needs to work on getting tunnel vision, frequently turning the ball over while attacking overly aggressively.

While he might not be a force in Boston’s rotation if taken, there are some good building blocks in place to potentially develop into a solid rotation player if the team likes what they see.

This post originally appeared on Celtics Wire. Follow us on Facebook!

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Ex-Houston guard DeJon Jarreau reportedly conducting pre-draft workouts with Celtics

The lanky former Cougar is evidently on Boston’s draft radar.

The Boston Celtics are reportedly working out a 2021 NBA draft prospect today, former Houston Cougar guard DeJon Jarreau, per Forbes Sports’ Chris Grenham. Another potential option for the Celtics’ second-round pick — slated to go 45th overall — or perhaps a camp deal, Jarreau is another 2021 draft entrant considered a fringe prospect.

Still, at 6-foot-5 Jarreau’s size and ability to move the ball are likely the primary interests regarding the New Orleans native. Averaging 10.6 points, 5.4 rebounds, 4.3 assists and 1.3 steals per game, Jarreau has a well-rounded game that might slot in well to the deep rotation if he can get his 3-point shooting (34.4% in 2020-21) up.

A good athlete able to post up a bit, he also needs to work on getting tunnel vision, frequently turning the ball over while attacking overly aggressively.

While he might not be a force in Boston’s rotation if taken, there are some good building blocks in place to potentially develop into a solid rotation player if the team likes what they see.

This post originally appeared on Celtics Wire. Follow us on Facebook!

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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.