nba-draft Page 7 - Sports News, Headlines & Highlights
My Weird Son Deandre Ayton Is The Green Goblin
When the Phoenix Suns draft big lanky Arizona lad Deandre Ayton with the No. 1 overall pick on Thursday, as they are expected to do, they will also receive Josh, Eric, and Alejandro. Those aren’t members of Ayton’s entourage or family, but three distinct personalities that inhabit the very large bod...
The Kings Are Going To Screw This Up Somehow
Any and all pre-draft player prognostication must come with the caveat that no one actually knows anything, at this point. DeAndre Ayton might turn out to be Michael Olowokandi 2.0; Marvin Bagley III could wind up being another Justise Winslow; It’s not impossible that Luka Dončić is in fact Mario H...
What Is Going On With Michael Porter Jr.?
Michael Porter Jr. was once considered one of the clear best two or three prospects in the 2018 NBA Draft, but with one week to go before draft night, concerns about his long-term health that have trailed him all season are becoming more pronounced. Despite playing just 53 minutes for Mizzou last se...
Luka Doncic Wraps Historic Season With EuroLeague Title, MVP, And Final Four MVP
Slovenian wonderteen and sure-fire top-three pick in the upcoming NBA draft Luka Dončić led his Real Madrid team to a EuroLeague title Sunday, in an 85-80 win over Fenerbahce Dogus Istanbul. Doncic scored 15 points on eight shots, and after the game was named EuroLeague Final Four MVP....
Maybe, Just Maybe, The Knicks Might Have A Functional Defense
The Knicks did not luck out, which is basically an evergreen sentence. Their lottery pick did not leap into the top three, which had only a six percent chance of occurring last night. It instead landed at nine, as expected. I feel a little good about this. ...
It Appears The Kings, Who Always Screw Up, Can't Possibly Screw This Up
For what feels like the first time in recent franchise history, the Sacramento Kings got lucky. The Kings briefly held the reins in the NBA’s greatest-ever tank-off last season, but they were soundly out-tanked over the stretch run, and wound up finishing with the lottery’s seventh-best odds after e...
Here's How The NBA Draft Lottery Went Down
The team with the worst record in the NBA this season, the Phoenix Suns, won the draft lottery tonight, and with it the choice of either Arizona’s Deandre Ayton or Real Madrid’s Luka Dončić. Whoever of those two the Suns don’t pick will likely go to the Sacramento Kings, who defied the odds and took...
Future Of Basketball Luka Dončić<em></em> Gets A Rare Triple-Double In Spain
Possible first-overall draft pick Luka Dončić, who’s been playing in Spain with Real Madrid since he was 16, is already the kind of all-around athletic beast who appears to be the final form that every basketball player is evolving towards. He’s a six-foot-eight guard/forward hybrid who’s comfortabl...
Steve Kerr's Good NBA Draft Idea: Let Undrafted Players Return To Their Teams
Current NCAA regulations forbid any player who declares for the NBA draft and signs with an agent to return to his college team, even if he goes undrafted. It’s a particularly cruel facet of an already exploitative system, and a rule that’s explicitly designed to keep players within the bounds of th...
Joshua Simmons's Long Journey From NBA Draft Punchline To College Hoops Nomad Is Almost Over
You’ve likely never heard of Joshua Simmons. You certainly hadn’t heard of him when he entered his name in the NBA draft. Five years ago, at 20 years old, Simmons was on the NBA’s official early entry list, despite having played just a handful of games at a junior college 30 minutes east of Greenvil...
Get Ready For The NBA Tanking Campaign Of A Lifetime
By the time the NBA’s All-Star break usually rolls around, the standings are more or less set. It’s typically obvious which four or so teams will be contending for a championship, and it’s also apparent who will be spending the rest of the year in the toilet, tanking for superior lottery odds and dr...
Michael Porter Jr. Still Wants To Play Again For Mizzou
Last November, Michael Porter Jr., Mizzou freshman and one-time favorite to become the top pick in the 2018 NBA Draft, was forced to undergo surgery on his back. He played just two minutes of college ball, and at the time, it seemed that he would miss the rest of the season recovering from the injur...
Michael Porter Jr.'s Freshman Season Is Over After Two Minutes Of Play
Michael Porter Jr. will likely be one of the first five players taken in the 2018 NBA Draft. The general consensus pegs him as one of the elite prospects available next year, although unlike Marvin Bagley III, DeAndre Ayton, Mohamed Bamba, and Luka Doncic, Porter will have practically no experience ...
The NBA's One-And-Done Draft Rule Is Just Dumb Enough To Allow One More Prep-To-Pro Star
ESPN reported this week that Adam Silver and Michele Roberts are more open than ever to changing the NBA’s draft eligibility rules, which currently require American high school players to be a year removed from the graduation of their high school class by the time of the draft in order to be eligibl...
It's Not Too Early To Get Excited About Luka Dončić
Predicting how good an NBA draft class will be is a sloppy exercise, but as far as anyone can tell, the top of the 2018 NBA draft appears to be loaded. Incoming college freshmen Marvin Bagley III, Michael Porter Jr., Mohamed Bamba, and DeAndre Ayton are all considered to have star potential, yet the...
Stan Van Gundy Says The NBA Should Dump The Draft Altogether
Pistons head coach Stan Van Gundy has arrived at the same conclusion as basically the rest of the NBA-watching world: this latest draft lottery adjustment probably won’t do much to curb tanking, its stated goal. Van Gundy’s suggestion is reportedly to get rid of the draft altogether:...
Report: NBA Approves Lottery Reform That Probably Won't Prevent Tanking
The lottery reform proposal that was submitted to the NBA board of governors earlier this month has reportedly been approved. The new system, designed to curtail tanking, is unlikely to curtail tanking....
Report: NBA Board Of Governors To Vote On Lottery Reform
ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski is reporting that a new NBA draft lottery system is one step closer to becoming a reality. According to Woj, the league’s competition committee has recommended a reform proposal that was created by the NBA, and the league’s board of governors will now vote on the proposal o...
Magic Johnson Couldn't Resist Trashing Poor D'Angelo Russell
Here’s Lakers legend and president of basketball operations Magic Johnson, explaining the trade that sent D’Angelo Russell to the Nets and cleared the way for second overall pick Lonzo Ball to supplant him as the team’s point guard of the future:...
Danny Ainge Either Knows Something We Don't, Or He's A Horse's Ass
Celtics GM Danny Ainge has established a bit of a routine as he’s spent the past few years running the rich-getting-richer version of Sam Hinkie’s Process: The Celtics are rumored to be targeting this or that star or star-in-making in a potential trade, the gossip rises to a fever pitch, and then n...