Tag: Isiaha Mike

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.

Everything to know about NBA G League pre-draft evaluation process

Rookie Wire obtained every detail possible about the NBA G League pre-draft evaluation process, including all of the known invitations sent.

Rookie Wire obtained every detail possible about the NBA G League pre-draft evaluation process, including all of the known invitations sent.

Due to the ongoing coronavirus pandemic, many draft-eligible prospects not invited to the NBA combine have had trouble getting all of their information to team-decision makers in advance of the 2020 NBA Draft. To combat this, the NBA G League is offering a greater opportunity to be evaluated by team decision-makers.

This information included below was shared with USA TODAY Sports Media Group’s Rookie Wire on the condition of anonymity because the person who shared the details was not authorized to speak publicly on the matter.

While the G League Elite Camp was canceled this year, a “select number” of participants were given the chance to share virtual evaluations through both shooting drills and an NBA pro day.

Prospects who agreed to participate will use HomeCourt, a mobile basketball training application, to record on-court workouts. The results will be shared with NBA team staffers through the app.

Players were encouraged to have two staffers with them in the gym to assist with the process. The coaches and trainers were required to wear a face mask and gloves during the workout.

NBA Evaluation: 8 Shooting Drills (based on previous editions of the Draft Combine)

  • Warm-Up/free-throws (50 shots)
  • Spot-Up shooting (50 shots)
  • Shooting off dribble/pull-up jumpers (30 shots)
  • Mid-Range/off the catch (20 shots)
  • 3-point drill /3-pointers off the catch (20 shots)
  • Side-mid-side/3-point jumpers on the move (2 minutes)
  • 3-point endurance/catch-and-shoot at game speed (5 minutes)
  • Cool down/free-throws (50 shots)

Each shooting drill can be completed a max of three times. Only the best score is uploaded into the NBA Player Evaluation platform for all NBA teams to access the data and video.

This is how the results look, as obtained by Babcock Hoops’ Derek Murray:

NBA Pro Day: 45-Minute Open Workout

  • This workout allows the draft prospect to share the unique
    aspects of his game through a 45-minute open workout.
  • Players are prohibited from partaking in live competition against any other draft-eligible and/or other players, including: informal scrimmages, pick-up games (e.g., 2-on-2), defensive drills (e.g., pick-and-roll coverage, post defense, etc.), offensive drills (e.g., Pick-and-Roll / Pop situations)
  • Pro Day must be a half-court workout.
  • Pro Day is an open workout for up to 45 minutes. If a player does NOT use the full 45 minutes, that is OK.
  • Must be completed on the same date as shooting drills. The player is allowed a 10-minute break in between.

KNOWN INVITATIONS

USA TODAY Sports Media Group’s Rookie Wire was able to obtain a list of prospects invited to participate in this process. Note that others may have been included as well, though these were the names we can confirm at this time. 

Tres Tinkle, Oregon State

Malik Fitts, Saint Mary’s

Trevelin Queen, New Mexico State

Freddie Gillespie, Baylor

Jordan Ford, Saint Mary’s

Rayshaun Hammonds, Georgia

Jon Teske, Michigan

Emmitt Williams, LSU

Anthony Lamb, Vermont

Austin Wiley, Auburn

Isiaha Mike, SMU

Nate Darling, Delaware

Kamar Baldwin, Butler

Caleb Homesley, Liberty

Anthony Cowan, Maryland

Dwayne Sutton, Louisville

Steven Enoch, Louisville

Osasumwen Osaghae, Florida International

Kylor Kelley, Oregon State

John Mooney, Notre Dame

Xavier Sneed, Kansas State

EJ Montgomery, Kentucky

Quinton Rose, Temple

Jordan Bowden, Tennessee

Jake Toolson, BYU

Samir Doughty, Auburn

Terry Armstrong, South East Melbourne

Eli Pemberton, Hofstra

Kouat Noi, Cairns

Sacar Anim, Marquette

Jeff Dowtin, Rhode Island

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Source: Canadian prospect Isiaha Mike to keep name in 2020 NBA draft

Isiaha Mike tells USA TODAY Sports Media Group’s Rookie Wire that he will officially keep his name in the 2020 NBA draft.

Isiaha Mike tells USA TODAY Sports Media Group’s Rookie Wire that he will officially keep his name in the 2020 NBA draft.

Mike, who still had one year of collegiate eligibility remaining, declared early entry for the 2020 NBA draft class. He forfeited said eligibility when he did not withdraw by the NCAA deadline of August 3.

Meanwhile, the NBA’s deadline to withdraw from this class was set for ten days before the draft. That means that Mike had until November 9 to decide if he wanted to be in the 2020 NBA draft or the 2021 NBA draft.

After signing a professional contract with BV Chemnitz 99 in the German Basketball League, he could have opted to play overseas for 2020-21 and not have his name in the 2020 class.

While this could have been an attractive route as this pre-draft process was met with extreme uncertainty due to the ongoing coronavirus pandemic, he ultimately decided to remain in the 2020 NBA draft.

He may have been comfortable keeping his name in this class because he was one of a “select number” of prospects to receive an invitation from the NBA G League to participate in their virtual evaluation process. This includes eight shooting drills and an open workout, as reported by Rookie Wire.

He told Rookie Wire that while he still has his contract overseas, his situation is “extremely flexible” right now. If an NBA team prefers him to play in their system next season, he is more than willing to do that.

But because of his contract overseas, an NBA team may want to use him as a draft-and-stash option. He is one of the top college basketball players with an overseas contract and was one of the only non-seniors, who are automatically eligible for the NBA draft.

Thie draft-and-stash could be appealing because they could have his rights but they do not have to roster him next season.

There are several teams approaching the luxury tax or who have a surplus of draft picks that may opt to select someone who does not have to be on their active roster next season.

Mike, who is 6-foot-8, averaged 14.0 points and 6.3 rebounds per game for the SMU Mustangs in 2019-20. He was 37.7 percent from 3-point range and connected on 2.1 attempts per game from beyond the arc.

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