Tag: Vrenz Bleijenbergh

Vrenz Bleijenbergh tweets congratulations to Thunder guard Vit Krejci

Thunder Twitter’s favorite 2021 draft prospect tweeted congratulations to Vit Krejci, who signed a contract with OKC on Friday.

Thunder Twitter’s favorite draft prospect has found his way back to the Oklahoma City social media circle. Vrenz Bleijenbergh, who many Thunder fans assumed would be on the team’s radar during the 2021 draft, tweeted congratulations to a player who signed with OKC.

Bleijenbergh, born in Belgium, tweeted his excitement for fellow European player Vit Krejci after Krejci signed a multi-year deal with the Thunder on Friday.

The two are friends, Bleijenbergh told the Down To Dunk podcast, and when the Belgium wing visited OKC during the 2021 draft process, it was Krejci who picked him up from the hotel and showed him around the downtown area.

 

As a 6-foot-10 wing who can shoot from deep, Bleijenbergh seemed like a potential fit into the system the Thunder are trying to put together. The friendship with Krejci seemed like another sign he may have had the inside track for OKC, who held three second-round draft picks.

Instead, Bleijenbergh went undrafted and joined Real Betis of the Spanish Liga ACB, the same league for which Krejci played before being drafted in 2020.

Krejci’s draft rights were traded to the Thunder from the Washington Wizards. He missed all of last season after tearing his ACL in September, and on Friday signed a deal reported to be for four years, only the first of which is fully guaranteed.

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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.

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

Celtics trade up in new 2021 NBA mock roundtable draft, move on from Carsen Edwards

Boston manages to tackle two birds with one stone in this projected deal.

The NBA Wires family of sites have put together a roundtable mock draft for the second year in a row, simulating how editors and contributors to the constellation of USA TODAY SMG basketball outlets believe the 2021 NBA draft will go down.

And while the Boston Celtics only have the No. 45 pick to work with in this year’s annual talent pipeline event, the team pulls off an interesting deal with a popular trade partner of late, engineered by Celtics Wire managing editor Justin Quinn. That trade partner would be the Oklahoma City Thunder as managed by Thunder Wire’s head honcho Logan Newman, who continued to take advantage of the Celtics’ surfeit of youth in a way that might make Sam Presti proud.

Let’s take a look at the deal in question.

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.

Kings to host Vrenz Bleijenbergh for private pre-draft workout

Bleijenbergh was named a Pro Basketball League Rising Star after averaging 9.5 points, 4.8 rebounds, 3.5 assists and 1.3 steals.

International prospect Vrenz Bleijenbergh on Monday will reportedly work out with the Sacramento Kings, according to Jason Anderson of the Sacramento Bee.

Bleijenbergh was named a Pro Basketball League Rising Star after averaging 9.5 points, 4.8 rebounds, 3.5 assists and 1.3 steals across 41 games with the Port of the Antwerp Giants in Belgium. He shot 37.9% from the field, including 33.5% from 3-point range.

The 6-foot-11 forward arrived in the United States this month and has conducted workouts with the Oklahoma City Thunder and Memphis Grizzlies. He also was among the prospects that participated in a four-day workout event in front of teams in Minnesota last week.

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Bleijenbergh is most commonly projected to be a second-round pick. He has been highly touted for his court vision and ability as a passer. He has good athleticism for his size and can often beat his defender off the dribble and attack closeouts.

Sacramento enters the draft with the ninth and 39th overall selections, respectively. They have not publicly released the prospects they have worked out but have certainly been active during the process as they keep their plans close to the vest.

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 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.