Tag: Jordan Schakel

Why did the Boston Celtics sign and cut Jordan Schakel, Brandon Slater and Taylor Funk?

Schakel, Funk, and Slater are a trio of wings who fit the profile of the sort of player Boston has been looking for in recent years.

The Boston Celtics have made a flurry of moves to strengthen their G League roster by signing Jordan Schakel, Brandon Slater, and Taylor Funk — and then cutting them. If you are confused, this is part of the team’s strategy to develop role players within their system, similar to what they’ve done in the past.

Schakel, Funk and Slater are a trio of wings who fit the profile Boston has been looking for in recent years. The move to sign the three to camp deals and then waive them is to set them up to join the Maine Celtics as affiliate players for the G League season to come.

The hosts of the CLNS Media “How Bout Them Celtics!” podcast recently took a deep dive into this new approach by the Celtics to develop future role players.

Take a look at the clip embedded above to hear what they had to say about this strategy and how it might pay off.

Listen to the “Celtics Lab” podcast on:

Apple Podcasts: https://apple.co/3zBKQY6

Spotify: https://spoti.fi/3GfUPFi

YouTube: https://bit.ly/3F9DvjQ

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Smith: Boston Celtics sign, cut Brandon Slater, Taylor Funk and Jordan Schakel

This was specifically done to pave the way for the trio of small forwards to join the Maine Celtics this coming G League season.

The Boston Celtics reportedly completed a flurry of transactions. Before you get too excited, it does not have much if anything to do with the rumored pursuit of Portland Trail Blazers point guard Jrue Holiday.

Spotrac’s Keith Smith reported the team has “signed and waived Brandon Slater today” and “also waived Taylor Funk and Jordan Schakel.”

This was specifically done to pave the way for the trio of small forwards to join the Maine Celtics and keep them in Boston’s development pipeline in the short-term future.

Much like Funk and Schakel, Slater is an older (24) and rangy, long wing able to defend, but has faults in his game that led the Virginia native to go undrafted out of Villanova in 2023. Unlike them, his shot from deep needs work.

His career 3-point shooting average at Villanova (32.5%) showed signs of steady improvement, so it makes sense to give the former Wildcat a shot at honing his shot in Maine this season.

Listen to the “Celtics Lab” podcast on:

Apple Podcasts: https://apple.co/3zBKQY6

Spotify: https://spoti.fi/3GfUPFi

YouTube: https://bit.ly/3F9DvjQ

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Smith: Boston Celtics to sign wing Jordan Schakel to nonguaranteed camp deal

Schakel, an undrafted wing out of San Diego State University from the 2021 class, has since played for the Washington Wizards and their G League affiliate, the Capital City Go Gos, and most recently with the Santa Cruz Warriors.

While not quite as splashy as a trade for Damian Lillard or Jrue Holiday, the Boston Celtics continue to work on their roster for the 2023-24 NBA season, with Spotrac’s Keith Smith reporting that the Celtics have signed guard Jordan Schakel to an unguaranteed contract for training camp.

Schakel, an undrafted wing out of San Diego State University from the 2021 class, has since played for the Washington Wizards and their G League affiliate, the Capital City Go Gos, and most recently with the Santa Cruz Warriors, the developmental affiliate of the Golden State Warriors in that league.

There, the 6-foot-6 shooting guard put up 11.1 points, 4.7 rebounds, and 1.6 assists per game while shooting 40.7% from beyond the arc, 45.5% from the field, and 84.0% from the free throw line in 27 total appearances.

Schakel had a tougher time in his two appearances at the NBA level last season, putting up just 1.5 points and 0.5 assists per contest with the Wizards last season.

The Californian will compete against other non- or partially guaranteed players like Dalano Banton, Luke Kornet, Svi Mykhailiuk, and Lamar Stevens in training camp for one of the team’s roster spots.

Listen to the “Celtics Lab” podcast on:

Apple Podcasts: https://apple.co/3zBKQY6

Spotify: https://spoti.fi/3GfUPFi

YouTube: https://bit.ly/3F9DvjQ

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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.

Jordan Schakel: ‘I’m a winning player. I don’t accept losing’

Jordan Schakel, a sharpshooting wing from the San Diego State Aztecs, could be one of the biggest sleepers in the 2021 NBA draft.

Jordan Schakel, a sharpshooting wing from the San Diego State Aztecs, could be one of the biggest sleepers in the 2021 NBA draft.

Among all players 6-foot-6 or taller who played at least 50 percent of all possible minutes for their team during their tenure in college, he and Gary Trent Jr. are the only players since 2008-09 to record a career three-point percentage above 40 percent with a free-throw percentage above 85 percent and turnover rate below 10 percent.

He recently caught up with HoopsHype to discuss his biggest strengths and his work ethic. Schakel also touched on his interest in the UFC, growing up around Hollywood stardom and what he learned during a valuable pick-up run with Rico Hines.

Please note this interview was minorly edited in its transcript for clarity.

2021 NBA Draft Big Board 4.0: Top 100 prospects pre-combine and lottery

Now that the early entry list is officially out and combine invitations have been sent out, the 2021 NBA draft class is starting to finalize.

Now that the early entry deadline has passed and combine invitations have been sent out, the 2021 NBA draft class is starting to finalize.

Last year, the NCAA tournament and the combine were both canceled due to the pandemic. That made evaluations much tougher for scouts and front offices around the league. This year, the pre-draft process feels somewhat normal again for top basketball prospects who are set to join the pros.

As a new class of players prepares to turn professional, here is how we would currently rank this class based on what we have seen from them so far, with some of my picks that are higher than other experts have them ranked.

2021 NBA Draft Big Board 3.0: Top 100 prospects pre-early entry deadline

As the NBA’s 2020-21 regular season nears its close, the league’s next wave of talent is preparing to take the great leap to become pros.

As the NBA’s 2020-21 regular season nears its close, the league’s next wave of talent is preparing to take the great leap to become pros.

Players have until the end of this month, May 30, to apply for entry into the 2021 NBA draft. They will then have until July 19 to determine whether or not they plan to stay in this class or (unless they hired an agent who does not have NCAA certification) return to school.

This is obviously an incredibly difficult decision and as the majority of early entry candidates have made their intentions public, those who are testing the waters are already weighing their options.

Fortunately, the NBA’s Undergraduate Advisory Committee (UAC) exists to help answer some of those questions.

The advisory committee, which began in 1997, offers feedback to prospects on their potential draft stock. As many prospects are facing pivotal decisions about their future, this kind of intel is incredibly important.

Players like Gonzaga’s Corey Kispert and Baylor’s Jared Butler both went through this process last season, likely were not satisfied with the results and opted to return. Now, after tremendous efforts last season, both are projected first-rounders.

These decisions have tremendous financial implications for these individuals as well. For example, even if Kispert or Butler went with the last pick in the first round in 2020, they would have likely earned a contract worth around $5 million over three years. This year, even if they went outside of the lottery at at No. 15 overall, that would be around $8.5 million.

With that in mind, for the latest version of For The Win’s 2021 NBA draft big board, I’ve provided my evaluation for the top prospects expected to be in the pre-draft process. Players excluded from this exercise were likely because the reporting suggests that they are going back to school.

Note that these decisions were fully based on where I would have each player ranked, not a projection, although various conversations with scouts as well as other talent evaluators around the league have factored into my evaluation.