Tag: Marcus Zegarowski

Brooklyn Nets have signed guard Marcus Zegarowski

The Brooklyn Nets have filled in one of their final roster spots with Creighton guard Marcus Zegarowski.

With the regular season coming closer and training camp coming down to its final days, the Brooklyn Nets have filled out their final roster spot with guard Marcus Zegarowski.

Brooklyn announced their signing intentions on Twitter earlier this week.

Zegarowski was the Nets 2021 2nd round draft pick, who was sent down to play with the G League affiliate the Long Island Nets. He only played a total of eight games, posting ten points per game, with a couple of rebounds and assists.

The Creighton guard will join NBA role players Chris Chiozza and Yuta Watanabe on Exhibit 10 deals. UNLV slasher Donovan Williams has also been to camp, despite not officially inking a contract.

Zegarowski will make the fourth Exhibit 10 player on the roster, which guarantees if the player is cut then the Long Island Nets retain their rights.

The Brooklyn Nets now have 12 fully guaranteed contracts, with quite a handful of help coming from two-way and Exhibit 10 contracts.

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Nets’ Marcus Zegarowski drained six 3-pointers in G League

His six 3-pointers with Long Island were tied for the third-most in a game in the G League this season.

Brooklyn Nets draftee Marcus Zegarowski on Wednesday dropped six 3-pointers with the Long Island Nets in the NBA G League in a win over the Capital City Go-Go.

Zegarowski finished with 18 points, four rebounds, two assists, two steals and one blocked shot during the 109-103 overtime win. He went 6-of-10 from 3-point range, making his first six attempts in the contest without missing.

His six 3-pointers were tied for the third-most in the G League this season.

The 49th overall pick was viewed as one of the top shooters in the draft this year, and he had that working during his second game with Long Island. He looked to shoot the ball confidently and did not hesitate to pull up when he was open.

The former Creighton star participated with Brooklyn during training camp before joining Long Island ahead of the season opener. He is expected to spend the season in the G League to continue his development and work on his overall game.

He faced long odds to make the Nets’ roster this season but with more development in the G League, he could emerge as a future rotation player given his ability as a point guard and shooter.

Long Island returns to action on Friday once again vs. the Go-Go. The contest can be streamed starting at 7 p.m. EST.

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

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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.

Marcus Zegarowski: ‘I think I’m the best shooter in the draft’

Rookie Wire recently caught up with Zegarowski to discuss his career at Creighton, the pre-draft process and much more.

Fresh off of a stellar season at Creighton, Marcus Zegarowski is busy showing NBA teams during the pre-draft process that he is capable of being one of the top point guards in the class this year.

Zegarowski was named an honorable mention All-American by the Associated Press after averaging 15.5 points, 4.3 assists and 3.7 rebounds per game as a junior. He was just the sixth player in program history to be recognized multiple times as an All-American by the AP.

The 6-foot-2 guard shot 42.1% from 3-point range on 6.6 attempts per game, leading the Big East in total 3-pointers (80) and triples per game (2.76). He left Creighton after three years as a career 42.3% shooter from beyond the arc.

Behind the play of Zegarowski, Creighton finished second in the Big East during the regular season. They earned a berth in the NCAA Tournament, advancing to the Sweet 16 for the first time since 1974 before falling to Gonzaga.

Now, Zegarowski is preparing for a new challenge: the NBA draft.

He announced in April that he would sign with an agent and declare for the draft, forgoing his remaining collegiate eligibility. He has been training in Miami, often going through three workouts a day to get ready for the next level.

Rookie Wire recently caught up with Zegarowski to discuss his career at Creighton, the pre-draft process, what he wants to show NBA teams and much more.

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

Tre Mann, JT Thor among prospects to work out with Pacers

Florida guard Tre Mann and Auburn forward JT Thor are among the prospects set to work out with the Pacers on Wednesday.

Florida guard Tre Mann and Auburn forward JT Thor are among the prospects set to work out with the Indiana Pacers on Wednesday, the team announced.

Mann was named to the All-SEC first team after averaging 16 points, 5.6 rebounds, 3.4 assists and 1.4 steals in 24 games with the Gators. He has been most commonly projected to be a mid-to-late first-round pick and has been one of the biggest risers in most mock drafts as of late.

Thor averaged 9.4 points, five rebounds and 1.4 blocked shots in 27 games played last season with the Tigers. He finished the season as one of five freshmen in the country to register at least 250 points, 100 rebounds and 30 blocks.

In addition to Mann and Thor, the Pacers will also be bringing in Eugene Omoruyi, Joshua Primo, DJ Steward and Marcus Zegarowski during the workout.

The Pacers will enter the draft with the 13th overall pick following the lottery last week. They also have the 54th and 60th picks in the draft and will begin to ramp up draft preparations now that the lottery and combine have concluded.

The NBA draft is scheduled to take place on Thursday, July 29.

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

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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.

14 prospects who improved their NBA stock during the first weekend of March Madness

March Madness is always an incredibly fun time for fans but it is also crucial for scouts who are focused on NBA draft prospect evaluation.

March Madness is always an incredibly fun time for fans but it is also crucial for scouts who are focused on NBA draft prospect evaluation.

After the opening weekend of the NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament, we wanted to show love to the players who have already used their time under the national spotlight to increase their chances of playing in the pros.

Note that for this exercise, we are specifically discussing players who have done enough to increase their profile for NBA teams.

This means someone like LSU freshman Cam Thomas, who scored 27 points and 30 points during his two tournament appearances, was excluded. That is because front offices already knew that Thomas was a remarkable scorer. But he recorded just three assists total and did very little new to answer any other questions executives may have had about his game.

The same goes for someone like Villanova big Jeremiah Robinson-Earl, who has been one of the tournament’s best players. But he has also been one of the most consistent prospects in college basketball in 2020-21. So very little has been learned about how he projects to the pros.

Below, however, are the players who scouts may be moving up on their draft boards after the first two rounds of the tournament thus far: