Tag: Jason Preston

Jason Preston floated as ‘sneaky free-agent pickup’ for Spurs

Jason Preston was floated as a potential solid addition for the San Antonio Spurs.

The San Antonio Spurs’ point guard position has been a whirlwind this season. Heading into the year, it was revealed that Jeremy Sochan would take on the role despite primarily being a forward for his entire basketball career. Sochan expressed some frustration with the role, and eventually, the Spurs went in a different direction.

Now, rather than having Sochan be their sole on-ball creator, the Spurs have split up ball-handling duties between him, Devin Vassell, Malaki Branham, and Tre Jones. That said, there’s still room for them to improve at the point guard position, as adding more playmaking talent could benefit them in the long run.

According to Zach Buckley of Bleacher Report, Jason Preston would be a great “sneaky free-agent pickup” for the Spurs.

“The 33rd pick of the 2021 draft is basically a blank slate, as foot surgery wiped out his would-be rookie season, and the Clippers’ win-right-now intentions limited him to just 124 minutes over 14 games in 2022-23,” Buckley wrote. “He’s not a great athlete, and there are questions about his shooting potential, but he thinks the game at a high level and can consistently create shots for the players around him.”

Preston has turned himself into a playmaking maestro in the G League this season. Through 12 games (and 11 starts), he’s averaging 11.6 points, 6.8 rebounds, 8.7 assists, and 1.3 steals while shooting 46.6% from the field and 25.7% from behind the three-point line for the Memphis Hustle.

At 24 years old, Preston is still young. He’s only appeared in 14 NBA games and has plenty of room to grow. For the Spurs, he could be a great low-risk addition, according to Buckley.

[lawrence-auto-related count=3]

Lisfranc injury: How 5 players returned after the foot diagnosis

Rookie Wire went back and looked at how some basketball players recovered from a Lisfranc injury.

Oklahoma City Thunder rookie Chet Holmgren has been ruled out for the entire 2022-23 season due to a Lisfranc injury in his right foot, the team announced.

Holmgren suffered the injury playing in the annual CrawsOver Pro-Am in Seattle, Washington. He was seen attempting to defend a layup attempt by LeBron James, but came up limping after the play and eventually left the game.

Thunder executive vice president Sam Presti expressed his disappointment for Holmgren but is confident he will come back better than ever. The team expects him to make a full recovery from the injury, which will require surgery.

Lisfranc injuries occur if bones in the middle of the foot are broken or if ligaments in the area are torn. The ligament helps keep the midfoot in place and stabilizes the arch of the foot. It is relatively uncommon in basketball with it popping up more frequently in football.

The recovery time for the injury can vary depending on various factors, but players often return by the next season. It was once viewed as a career-ending injury, especially in football, but advances in medical treatment have allowed players to successfully return.

With that in mind, Rookie Wire went back over the years and took a look at how much time some basketball players needed to recover from the injury and how they played afterward.

Clippers’ Jason Preston to miss significant time after foot surgery

Preston will miss an extended period of time after undergoing surgery to repair ligaments in his right foot.

Los Angeles Clippers rookie Jason Preston will miss an extended period of time after undergoing surgery on Thursday to repair ligaments in his right foot, the team announced.

The news was first reported by Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN.

Preston, who was the 33rd overall pick, averaged nine points, 4.8 assists and 2.6 rebounds in five appearances with the Clippers in the Las Vegas Summer League. He produced his best game on Aug. 15 after recording 16 points and five assists.

The 22-year-old was expected to play a large role with the Clippers after signing a three-year contract in August. The team valued his passing ability in the backcourt and viewed him as a key member of that group.

[mm-video type=video id=01fhawekpn7a1nscyy3t playlist_id=01f09kz5ecxq9bp57b player_id=01f1jxkahtwnvzepyp image=https://images2.minutemediacdn.com/image/upload/video/thumbnail/mmplus/01fhawekpn7a1nscyy3t/01fhawekpn7a1nscyy3t-a73bf11e34a120535dfda69187829e6f.jpg]

Preston was named to the All-MAC first team last season at Ohio after averaging 15.7 points, 7.3 assists, 7.3 rebounds and 1.5 steals. He was one of 18 Division I players to record at least one triple-double last season after recording 11 points, 11 assists and 10 rebounds on Jan. 23.

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

[lawrence-related id=39268,37812,39701]

[listicle id=39842]

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.

Final 2021 NBA Mock Draft: Latest intel, trade rumors and predicting all 60 picks

Wasn’t it just the 2020 NBA draft? How is the 2021 NBA draft already here? Crazy, maybe, but the league is about to have a ton of new faces.

Wasn’t it just the 2020 NBA draft? How is the 2021 NBA draft already here? Crazy, maybe, but the league is about to have a ton of new faces.

The names that you’re most likely to hear at the top are Cade Cunningham, Jalen Green and Evan Mobley. But the draft will start heating up once guys like Jalen Suggs, Scottie Barnes and Jonathan Kuminga start to find their new homes.

This draft will also be unique in that there will be fewer players in attendance than usual. According to one prospect who recently spoke to For The Win, due to COVID-19 restrictions, those not invited to the green room are not allowed to come to the stage and shake the hand of the commissioner as they have been in years past.

Regardless of who is actually in the building, however, it is certain to be an exciting and life-changing night for the next generation of NBA talent.

Based on conversations I’ve had with scouts around the league, and from reports and tea leaves left in other mock drafts from trusted draftniks, below is how I project the events will unfold at Barclays Center and on ESPN and ABC at 8:00 p.m. ET on July 29.

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.

2021 NBA Mock Draft 6.0: Predicting all 60 picks after the combine

While most of the basketball world is focused on the NBA Finals, scouts and draftniks are in the midst of a very busy time of year as well.

While most of the basketball world is focused on the NBA Finals, scouts and draftniks are in the midst of a very busy time of year as well.

The most crucial dates leading up to the draft are the NCAA men’s basketball tournament, the early entry application deadline, the lottery, the combine and the early entry withdrawal deadline. All have since come and gone, which means that we’re somehow already in the home stretch before the big night in Brooklyn on July 29.

Prospects are still frantically traveling around the country, visiting with teams for both individual and group workouts in front of key decision-makers. Still, others are currently playing for their national team on the FIBA circuit.

But as far as the public is concerned, the only new information that will be released between now and the draft will be filtered through whatever is reported by journalists. As such, until intel starts rolling in, this mock draft offers the most informed projections yet.

While these predictions are based on my conversations with NBA scouts and executives around the league, as well as my own scouting and information-gathering, they’re subject to change dramatically over the course of the next few weeks.

Lakers conduct draft workouts with six participants Wednesday

The Los Angeles Lakers worked out six prospects Wednesday for the NBA draft process.

The NBA draft always takes plenty of work in advance in order for teams to be confident with their selections when the draft clock begins ticking.

The Los Angeles Lakers have the No. 22 overall pick in this year’s draft, barring any trades.

With the draft date of July 29 fast approaching, the Lakers are continuing the evaluation process by conducting individual workouts with players.

Los Angeles also interviewed several players at the NBA draft combine in June, like Corey Kispert of Gonzaga, Trey Murphy III of Virginia and more.

Los Angeles’ preparation continued Wednesday as they worked out six prospects, via Ryan Ward of Lakers Nation:

These players aren’t projected to be first-round draft pick options for the Lakers, and it’s uncertain if they’ll go in the second round, too.

The Lakers could be doing more due diligence to add talent to the South Bay Lakers of the G League or during Summer League in Las Vegas.

From those six players, Giorgi Bezhanishvili and Cody Riley are small-ball big men, which are the type of players usually playing center in the G League.

Matt Coleman, LJ Figueroa, Alan Griffin and Jason Preston are all guards capable of knocking down 3-pointers on solid volume.

Preston is arguably the best prospect L.A. could add to evaluate further. At Ohio this past season, he averaged 15.7 points, 7.3 assists, 7.3 rebounds and 1.5 steals while shooting 51.4 percent from the field on 12.4 attempts and 39 percent from deep on 4.1 attempts. He’s listed as 6’4″, making for an intriguing player.

Preston talked with Lakers media after his session and had this to say, via Ryan Ward:

Los Angeles’ roster doesn’t comprise of many young prospects, so with the limited cap space L.A. is dealing with this summer, trying to find hidden gems could be a worthwhile investment.

[pickup_prop id=”8690″]

[vertical-gallery id=40179]

[mm-video type=video id=01f9yxqxcpdxxn6fg2hv playlist_id=01f09kz5ecxq9bp57b player_id=01eqbvq570kgj8vfs7 image=https://images2.minutemediacdn.com/image/upload/video/thumbnail/mmplus/01f9yxqxcpdxxn6fg2hv/01f9yxqxcpdxxn6fg2hv-377128bbeae66bfa8d66b0a506e24769.jpg]

Did he stay or did he go? Tracking the biggest NBA draft decisions

All prospects who declared early entry for the 2021 NBA draft without foregoing their collegiate eligibility had until July 7 to withdraw.

All prospects who declared early entry for the 2021 NBA draft without foregoing their collegiate eligibility had until July 7 to withdraw.

While the official date from the league is not actually until July 19, the NCAA has mandated the deadline of July 7 for players who wish to play college basketball next season.

Prospects who declared as early entry candidates but were just “testing the waters” often opt to return to the collegiate ranks so as to improve their draft stock for the subsequent year instead. But there are several reasons why a player might be even more willing to return to college for another campaign than usual.

For example, seniors have the option to use another year of eligibility because of the massive impact of COVID-19. Others may be interested in playing another year of college in front of fans after last season was met with many restrictions.

Meanwhile, all NCAA athletes also now have the ability to profit from their name, image and likeness (NIL) for the first time. This offers an avenue to collect some money while still in college without needing to fully commit to turning pro.

Here are the latest updates about who is still testing the waters, who will be turning pro and who will be returning to the NCAA.