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.

Celtics reportedly work out E.J. Lidell, M.J. Walker, Troy Baxter Jr.

Boston reportedly worked out a trio of 2021 draft prospects on Tuesday.

The Boston Celtics conducted pre-draft workouts with a trio of fringe 2021 NBA draft prospects on Tuesday in addition to NAIA standout E.J. Onu, according to Forbes Sports’ Chris Grenham. The Celtics have been working out a number of 2021 draft prospects likely to go late in the second round or undrafted, presumably with an eye for being taken with Boston’s No. 45 pick in the latter round of this year’s draft, or perhaps to sign to a camp deal.

While it’s tempting to read the proverbial tea leaves regarding what the Celtics are planning on draft night with such an assortment of players coming in for workouts, it may just be that the team is starting its data collection at the back end with more than a month to go before the annual event takes place in late July.

Having said all that, let’s take a look at the prospects mentioned by Grenham.

2020 ACC Tournament Completion: Duke topples top-seeded Florida State

The Blue Devils will have a chance to defend their ACC Tournament championship.

This is part of a series in which we are simulating the remainder of the canceled 2020 ACC Tournament using the sports simulation tool WhatIfSports.com. For more information about the simulation, check out the introduction here. For tournament progress to this point, refer to the bracket at the bottom of the post.

In a rematch of the 2019 ACC Tournament championship game, Duke and Florida State sought a chance to play for the 2020 title. Since these teams had the best overall records in the ACC during the season, this semifinal could have been the de facto title game. Regardless, the Blue Devils were not about to let an insignificant thing like seeds dictate their fate. As such, they knocked off the top-seeded Seminoles, 79-67.

Duke didn’t trail until there were four minutes left in the first half. Florida State expanded its lead to eight before the Blue Devils scored seven unanswered points to cut it to one at halftime. The teams traded leads for much of the second half and got the game to a 61-all tie before the Seminoles went on a scoring drought that lasted five-and-a-half minutes. That allowed the Blue Devils to go on a 12-0 run and not look back.

Tre Jones did a lot for the Blue Devils with 15 points and game highs of nine assists and three steals. Cassius Stanley also scored 15, doing so on 6-of-11 shooting from the field. Matthew Hurt added 13, and Vernon Carey achieved a double-double of 12 points and 10 rebounds.

Devin Vassell and Trent Forrest scored 13 apiece to lead the Seminoles. Patrick Williams scored 11 off the bench, and M.J. Walker added 10. Shooting 39.4 percent from the floor as a team played a key role in the loss.

Notre Dame will try to play spoiler vs. Florida State in home finale

Notre Dame will stumble its way into its regular-season finale Saturday against No. 11 Florida State.

Notre Dame will stumble its way into its regular-season finale Saturday against No. 11 Florida State. Having lost four in a row, the Irish (9-14, 6-11) will have to settle for playing the spoiler role as the Seminoles (15-4, 11-3) try to clinch the outright ACC championship. The Seminoles, which include NBA prospects Scottie Barnes and M.J. Walker, probably are the sole reason this game will be the Irish’s first on an ESPN network that’s not the ACC Network (ESPN2) for the first time in a long while. Then again, it’s not like the Irish have deserved greater exposure.

The big question is whether this will be Mike Brey’s final game at Purcell Pavilion. With the Irish limping to their second finish below .500 in three years, many are wondering if Brey has outlived his usefulness in South Bend. At the very least, let’s hope that the students who will be allowed into this game treat Brey a little better than they did Wednesday. After 446 wins over 21 years in the same role, he deserves the respect he’s earned.

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