Tag: Matt Coleman III

NBA summer league Day 2 reviews for Texas Longhorns draftees

How are the Longhorns doing in the NBA summer league?

With the Las Vegas Summer League heating up, there are four Texas Longhorns rookies spread across the league.

Former Texas star Kai Jones, who was taken by the Charlotte Hornets with No. 19 pick, has to take advantage of this opportunity to get his feet wet at the professional level. After being selected just outside the lottery, he is practically guaranteed a spot on the Hornets NBA roster, unless something unforeseen goes horrendously wrong.

Jones is the only player in a situation like his, as the other three Longhorns are truly battling for a spot in the NBA, especially undrafted Matt Coleman, who is playing on the Sacramento Kings summer league team. Coleman is simply competing for a spot in in general, whether it be a G League contract or an NBA deal.

Former Longhorn Greg Brown III was the No. 43 overall pick in the 2021 NBA draft and has a lot to prove in the summer league with the Portland Trailblazers, as they’re making moves as of right now to be a contender, so every remaining roster spot must be able to provide something.

Perhaps the most successful of the four thus far is big man Jericho Sims, who was already signed to a multiyear two-way contract with the New York Knicks after being taken with No. 58 overall pick. He shined in his first game, scoring 12 points on 6-for-6 shooting and grabbing 8 rebounds.

Let’s break down how each of the four did in their second game in the Las Vegas Summer League.

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 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.

Where Texas’ four NBA draft prospects are projected to land after the combine

Where are Texas’ NBA draft prospects projected to land in the upcoming NBA Draft?

With the NBA Combine concluded, some players helped their stock while others are going to need to excel in individual workouts and team interviews to make up for a subpar combine.

Of the five Longhorns that entered the NBA Draft, four have officially foregone their college careers with Jericho Sims signing with Klutch Sports Group this past week. Whether or not all four of them will be in the NBA is yet to be seen. Courtney Ramey was the lone player to withdraw his name on Saturday and will head back to college.

Of the four prospects that entered their names into the draft — Greg Brown III, Matt Coleman III, Kai Jones and Jericho Sims — it seems as if two of them getting drafted is very likely while the other two will have to work a tad harder to carve out an opportunity to find themselves on an NBA roster.

Let’s take a look at where the four prospects are currently projected to go come draft night.

Texas basketball could have the most players selected in the 2021 NBA draft in school history

The Texas Longhorns basketball program could have the most draft picks in program history during the 2021 NBA draft.

With the recent news surrounding Texas forward Greg Brown choosing to declare for the 2021 NBA draft, it brought the total number of Longhorn draft prospects to three. Brown will join teammates Kai Jones and Matt Coleman III who have each announced their decision to turn pro.

The only remaining player that Texas is waiting to hear from is Jericho Sims, who must make a decision by midnight on May 31 as it’s the deadline to declare for the NBA draft. If he does in fact declare, it would bring the total Longhorns in the draft to four players.

If each of these four players were to be selected in either the first or second round of the draft, it would set a program record for the number of Texas players selected in a single NBA Draft.

Texas’ program has had as many as three players selected in a single draft. Coincidentally enough, this happened only three times in 2006, 2010 and 2011.

Brown has been considered a lottery pick going back to the start of the 2020-21 season, but has since been projected as a mid-to-late first round pick. Jones has been considered a first-round pick after a strong season, with the potential to go in the top-10.

Coleman hasn’t been considered a first round player, but he has potential second-round talent due to his ability to score from the field, three-point line and from the free-throw line. He lacks ideal size and has struggled in man defense.

Sims is in the same projected draft range as Coleman, to become a second-round talent for his ability to be a strong scorer and defender in the paint, but lacks the ability to shoot outside or from the free-throw line.

Texas’ program under head coach Chris Beard seems to be turning the page as a premiere basketball school. Having four players drafted in a 60-pick draft (6.7% of the draft) would be another stepping stone to how the Longhorns will be viewed in the future landscape of college basketball.

Texas Basketball: Guard Matt Coleman III declares for the NBA draft

Texas Longhorns guard Matt Coleman III will forgo his final year of eligibility and declare for the 2021 NBA draft.

Texas is beginning to receive answers on the handful of players who had uncertain futures with the program.

On Wednesday, Courtney Ramey announced his return for the 2021-22 season. It was only a matter of time before the dominoes fell regarding the remaining members of last season’s Big 12 championship squad.

Texas won’t have their full set of guards returning next season after it was announced on Thursday that Matt Coleman III would declare for the upcoming 2021 NBA draft.

During Coleman’s time at Texas, he was a two-time third-team All-Big 12 player, averaging 13.2 points, 3.5 rebounds, 4.0 assists and 1.2 steals per game for his career. He shot 42.9% from the field, 34.7% from three-point range and 79.5% from the free-throw line.

Last season, he lead all Texas players in steals, assists, and minutes played per game. Coleman was also the only player to play and start in all 27 games.

Now, Texas will await the decisions of Jericho Sims and Greg Brown.

Texas Basketball: Predicting the starting five for the 2021-22 season

Here’s a way-too-early prediction of Texas basketball’s starting five next season.

Texas head coach Chris Beard has been on a roll despite the short amount of time that he’s been in Austin. Although the Longhorns lost a few players including Kai Jones (NBA draft) on top of Royce Hamm and Donovan Williams transferring to UNLV, Beard has gotten plenty more in return.

He’s assembled what looks like an elite coaching staff and has acquired plenty of talent in the process through the portal and recruiting. It also helps to have a player like Andrew Jones return for another season and lead this group of new faces.

It’s still too early to confirm who will be on the Forty Acres next season, but it looks like the starting five will feature several new names. Key players Greg Brown, Courtney Ramey, Matt Coleman III and Jericho Sims are still undecided on their futures at the moment.

Over the last two weeks, Texas acquired Timmy Allen, Devin Askew, Christian Bishop and Jaylon Tyson. Here’s who I predict could be a part of Texas’ starting five for the 2021-22 season under Beard. If Sims chooses to not return to Texas, Tyson would likely find his way into a starting role.

Texas loses to No. 2 Baylor, drop three out of last four

The No. 6 Longhorns lost to the No. 2 Bears in Austin on Tuesday night.

After a week where the No. 6 Longhorns lost to arch-rival Oklahoma in Austin followed by a cancelation with Kentucky, Texas hoped to bounce back against Baylor.

In the return of head coach Shaka Smart, the Longhorns were able to keep it close in the first half behind junior guard Andrew Jones’ 14 first half points. They were down only 41-34 in the first half.

The second half started strong thanks to some solid efforts from Jones and senior guard Matt Coleman III. At one point, the Longhorns were able to pull ahead of the Bears by one point, but quickly lost the lead while still keeping it at a one-possession game.

The turning point came after a costly mistake from freshman forward Greg Brown. After a powerful dunk made the score 55-51, Brown hung from the rim and stared down Baylor forward Johnathan Tchamwa-Tchatchoua after putting him on a poster. This resulted in a technical foul that Texas couldn’t seem to recover from and the game never got closer from this point. From there, the Bears went on a 28-18 run to close out the game.

The final score was 83-69 with Baylor remaining unbeaten and the Longhorns having dropped three out of the last four games. Texas moves to 11-4 (5-3) and will look to bounce back against Oklahoma State in Stillwater on Saturday.

Leading Scorers:

Andrew Jones – 25 points (10-16), 5 rebounds, 3 assists

Matt Coleman III – 13 points (5-10), 4 rebounds, 2 assists

Courtney Ramey – 12 points (5-11), 2 rebounds, 6 assists

WATCH: Texas basketball celebrates dramatic win, Twitter reactions

In dramatic fashion, Texas defeated Oklahoma on Tuesday night with a last-second shot.

There’s no doubt that some type of magic is surrounding the Texas men’s basketball team right now.

Luck or not, they’re peaking at the right time.

The Longhorns impressive winning streak continued on Tuesday night. In dramatic fashion, Texas defeated the Oklahoma Sooners 52-51 with only one second left on the clock.

Texas guard Matt Coleman III brought the March Madness to Norman. Leading the team with 21 points on the night, Coleman’s last-second three pointer may have punched Texas’ ticket to the NCAA tournament.

That’s a worthy cause of a celebration, right?

The Texas men’s basketball team weren’t the only ones celebrating. Longhorn Nation took to Twitter to express their excitement over the intense ending of a crucial conference matchup.

Check out Matthew McConaughey and quarterback Sam Ehlinger’s immediate reactions on the next page.

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