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NBA Draft Rumors for June 17, 2012
Evan Fournier
Would it be harder on the father or the son? “Both,” Austin said. “Because we’re both very competitive. I get everything from him. Obviously. He’s my dad. It would be different and be tough. But I think it could work out if it did happen. I don’t think it will. But if it did, I think it could work out.” NBA.com
Fournier is 6-foot-7 with a nice shooting touch and plenty of confidence. He believes he can make the leap from the first division of French basketball – he averaged 14.0 points for Poitiers last season – to the NBA. “I can play point guard sometimes to help the team, because I like to have the ball in my hands,” Fournier said. “But I’m a shooting guard.” San Antonio Spurs star Manu Ginobili has served as a role model for the French player. “I don’t have a favorite player but I love his game,” Fournier said. Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel
Dave Pendergraft On if Sergiy Gladyr will join the summer league team: “We don’t know yet. Pape Sy will. We will play him at a different position in the past. We experimented with moving him to the point but the learning curve wasn’t fair for him and his natural position is probably a two. We are going to bring him over and he will be involved with us this summer. Sergei, we don’t know. We are going back and forth with his agent. He has made strides in the ACB. But is he ready? We are not looking for future prospects in our summer program this year. In the past we said, ‘Let’s just bring him in and watch him for 10 days and maybe down the road there will be a future.’ Well, there is some urgency in our summer league this year because of the roster spots. That being said, Sergei may be two or three years down the road and maybe next summer will be the best opportunity for him.” Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Hawks general manager Rick Sund gives much of the responsibility for the NBA draft to assistant GM Dave Pendergraft and director of basketball operations Mike McNieve. Some excerpts from Pendergraft’s chat with reporters: On having lots of open roster spots: “That’s what I tell the [draft-eligible] players. Come July 1 we will have only six guys under contract. In a perfect world our 23rd pick becomes a rotational player and our 43rd pick will be talented enough to join our roster. That’s the best-case scenario. We feel like we will be able to get a good player at both positions.” Atlanta Journal-Constitution
On chances of getting rotational-quality player with 23rd pick: “That’s our hope. At 23 there are some guys that have potential and you have to wait on it and then there are several guys that might not have as much potential but you can put them in the game the first two or three years, whether it is four-year players or physically they are more mature. It’s just going to depend on who’s there. We would like to get a player that can come in and play for us next year.” Atlanta Journal-Constitution
If the Trail Blazers were to select Lillard or North Carolina’s Kendall Marshall at No. 6 or No.11, (Nolan) Smith says he would welcome it and warns that he’ll be coming for them. “Any point guard that comes in, we’ll be teammates, but I’m going to let them know that I am here,” Smith said. “We’re going to battle and compete and may the best man win.” CSNNW.com
According to several NBA front-office execs, Jordan is deciding whether to take North Carolina small forward Harrison Barnes, Kansas power forward Thomas Robinson or Florida shooting guard Bradley Beal with the No. 2 pick. Chicago Tribune
Beal was impressive today, according to 2 ppl w/knowledge of his #Cavs workout against Barnes.Both played well, but Barnes’ added length didn’t seem to bother Beal much Sulia
Mary Schmitt Boyer/Tom Reed: Beal’s agent, Mark Bartelstein, says workout with #Cavs went great and Beal enjoyed his time in Cleveland. Beal works out in Charlotte Mon. Twitter
As the June 28 NBA draft nears, rumors and speculation run rampant, and the latest involving the Trail Blazers is that Syracuse shooting guard Dion Waiters has been given a promise by the Blazers that they will select him with the 11th pick. Oregonian
I asked Blazers general manager Neil Olshey about it, and I’ve never heard him laugh so hard. “I got the job on a Tuesday, and by the time I landed in Chicago the next day (for the predraft camp), I had convinced an owner (to pick a prospect), a player to shut down his workouts … I mean, I hadn’t even talked to my scouts yet.”Oregonian
Olshey said he hasn’t given Waiters a promise, or any player, for that matter. But that’s not to say Olshey is against the practice. He said he has done it before as an executive with the Clippers, and when he worked in a sports agency under Arn Tellem, he said it was not uncommon for one of their clients to get a promise from a team.Oregonian
But promises do exist — Olshey said when he was working for Tellem, they received promises for Shelden Williams, Marcus Banks, Kendrick Perkins, Kedrick Brown and Robert Swift. Sometimes, the promises don’t work out — Swift in 2004 got a promise from Boston at No. 14, but he was chosen by Seattle at No. 12. Oregonian
Vanderbilt marksman John Jenkins, Kentucky’s Doron Lamb and Oregon State’s Jared Cunningham are among the shooting guards receiving high marks from Griz personnel. Scouts also seem impressed by point guard prospects Marquis Teague of Kentucky and Tony Wroten of Washington. However, Griz brass entertained swingmen Draymond Green (Michigan State) and Jae Crowder (Marquette) on Saturday with great interest because of a desire to also add more versatile, high basketball IQ players to the roster. Memphis Commercial Appeal
Wallace, though, has this piece of advice: Don’t rely on Internet mock drafts to forecast the Grizzlies’ pick. “All of the projections in the mock draft are just that: They’re projections,” Wallace said. ”We don’t know until the night of the draft which players will be available to us, and what we will do.” Memphis Commercial Appeal
North Carolina power forward John Henson said an ankle injury is to blame for bad results on some of the physical testing at the Chicago pre-draft camp. “It’s not 100 percent,” he said after working out for Golden State on Thursday. ”But I don’t have time to sit down and rest it. These two weeks are crucial in my career. Regardless of how it feels, I’ve got to go.” He left Oakland for Phoenix and after that was scheduled for visits with the Rockets, Bucks, Cavaliers, Raptors, Pistons and 76ers. NBA.com
The Suns close workouts and do not announce or comment on visiting prospects, but league sources revealed that on Saturday they hosted an impressive group of big men who are all first-round candidates. The workout featured North Carolina’s John Henson and Tyler Zeller, Illinois’ Meyers Leonard, Baylor’s Perry Jones and Mississippi State’s Arnett Moultrie, as well as Vanderbilt small forward Jeffery Taylor. Arizona Republic
On Tuesday, the Suns worked out two big men who also are first-round candidates. In that workout, St. Bonaventure’s Andrew Nicholson outshined Syracuse’s Fab Melo, but neither is considered in the realm of Saturday’s bunch, although Nicholson’s stock is rising. Arizona Republic
The only previous Suns workout visitor who is projected to go in the first 13 picks was North Carolina point guard Kendall Marshall. The other point-guard candidate for the Suns’ 13th pick, Weber State’s Damian Lillard, is slated to visit Phoenix this week. Arizona Republic
The upcoming NBA draft is light on international prospects, but that could be good news for French shooting guard Evan Fournier. The 19 -year-old, one of the top European players in the draft, is trying to show he is worthy of being a first-round selection June 28. He made a stop at the Cousins Center on Saturday to take part in a four-guard Milwaukee Bucks workout that also featured Memphis’ Will Barton, Temple’s Ramone Moore and Long Beach State’s Larry Anderson. Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel
