Draft Rumors: In or Out of the NBA Draft?
By Chad Ford
NBA Insider
Updated: June 19
At around 5 p.m. ET today, the NBA Draft picture is going to get a whole lot clearer.
With less than eight hours to go before college and international underclassmen can withdraw from the draft, there are still a several big names out there sitting on the fence.
The biggest is 7-foot-5, 303-pound Russian center Pavel Podkolzine. After a big workout in front of everyone in the NBA at the Chicago pre-draft camp and a number of individual workouts for lottery teams, Podkolzine told Insider late Wednesday night that he is seriously considering pulling his name from the draft today.
Why? The elusive NBA promise.
While every team in the lottery has told Podkolzine's agent that Pavel is a lock for the top 10, he's still not holding a promise from a team to select him that high.
Pavel, along with a number of other NBA prospects, is seeking the holy grail of the NBA draft -- a guarantee from a team that, if he's still on the board, it will take him.
Like several other top prospects, including Mike Sweetney, Podkolzine wants some assurances that on draft night he's not sitting in the green room looking forlorn on national television.
Podkolzine's situation is the most intriguing. Insider talked to six teams in the lottery on Wednesday. All of them thought there was no way Podkolzine could slip out of the top 10.
"That's really inconceivable," one GM told Insider. "He's worked out better than anyone thought, he's further along than we expected and the doctors just aren't worried about the pituitary thing."
The "pituitary thing" is acromegaly (a growth hormone secreting pituitary adenoma). In layman's terms, Podkolzine's pituitary gland secretes an unusually high amount of a growth hormone, which partly explains his enormous stature. A quick, minor surgery can fix the problem and none of the teams Insider talked to on Wednesday indicated it would be a problem.
So what is the problem? While everyone claims to love him (the N.Y. Post reported today that the Knicks were trying to move up from No. 9 to get him) no one will commit.
"When you're dealing with a kid that's 18," agent Justin Zanik told Insider, "you want to take every precaution. He has four more chances at this. You want to feel as good as you can that he's making the most out of this chance."
Blame the unstable nature of the first round on the commitment issue. Teams have been burned in the past by committing too early only to see a player they covet slip in the draft. Then teams are forced to decide between reneging on a promise to draft the guy the really want, or settling for the guy they committed to.
"You have to really love a guy -- and I mean really love a guy -- to give him a promise," one Western Conference GM told Insider. "I know it's popular for teams and the media to speculate about promises, but in actuality, I don't think it happens very often. I think agents would like everyone to believe it happens -- that way they can shift the blame if things go wrong in the draft on someone else -- but the truth is it normally doesn't make sense for a team to make a promise."
Several other GMs agreed. So where does that leave Pavel, Sweetney and a number of bubble first-rounders like Jameer Nelson, Ndudi Ebi, Kendrick Perkins, Maurice Williams and Slavko Vranes?
Hoping for a guarantee in a business that has very few of them.
If Podkolzine doesn't get one?
"Then I go back to Italy," Podkolzine told Insider late Wednesday night. "I want to make sure a team believes in me. I want to make sure that they want me. If not, I can go back to Italy, work on my game, and try again next year."
In or Out of the NBA Draft?
Here's a look at where a number of other players stand on their deadline decision.
IN: Maciej Lampe, Mickael Pietrus, Jarvis Hayes, Boris Diaw, Leandrinho Barbosa, Carlos Delfino, Travis Outlaw, Zaur Pachulia, Kendrick Perkins, Zoran Planinic, Josh Powell,
LIKELY IN: Pavel Podkolzine, Mike Sweetney, Ndudi Ebi, Sofaklis Schortsanitis, Viktor Khryapa, Szymon Szewczyk
OUT: Chris Thomas, Ezarem Lorbek, Marcus Moore, Anderson Varejao, Aleksandar Djuric, Kresimir Loncar, Misan Nikagbatse
ON THE FENCE: Jameer Nelson, Maurice Williams, Malick Badiane, Slavko Vranes, Alexsander Vujacic, Blagota Sekulic, Andre Emmett, Jason Parker, David Brkic
Check back on Insider throughout the day with more updates as players make their decisions.
Promises, Promises
Speaking of those elusive promises, the rumor mill went into high alert Wednesday when high school star Travis Outlaw decided to keep his name in the draft.
Several league sources told Insider that the Blazers promised Outlaw they'd take him with the No. 23 pick. Outlaw, an athletic 6-foot-9 power forward, is considered to be one of the best athletes in the draft. However, his wiry frame will keep him from contributing for several years. That's cool with the Blazers, who have too much talent on their team anyway. He wouldn't be able to crack the rotation right away.
If you're keeping track at home, that brings the number of so-called "promises" being rumored up to three.
Several league sources claim that the Celtics will take UNLV point guard Marcus Banks with one of their picks.
The other prominent rumor, that the Suns had locked up Yugoslavian forward Zarko Cabarkapa at No. 17, took a hit late Wednesday. Cabarkapa worked out for the Suns and Lakers before suddenly returning to Serbia several weeks ago. Numerous sources claimed that the Suns and Lakers had both given him promises and were stashing him away for the rest of the pre-draft period.
However, Cabarkapa will return to the U.S. this weekend and has three more workouts scheduled over the next week. He'll be in Milwaukee this weekend and also plans to work out for the Knicks and Nets early next week.
There is also a healthy amount of speculation that Croatian point guard Zoran Planinic and Georgian big man Zaur Pachulia have received first-round guarantees. Planinic's name has been linked to the Nets.
One guy who won't be getting a promise from the Suns is Ndudi Ebi. Suns GM Bryan Colangelo told Ebi's advisors that he wouldn't take him in the first round. He believes Ebi should return to school. "I've been encouraging his advisers to make that decision,'' Colangelo told the Arizona Daily Star. "I went as far as to say we would not have him in for a workout.''
Trade Rumor of the Day
The Nuggets said it would take a knock-your-socks-off offer to trade their No. 3 pick in the draft. They may have gotten one on Wednesday.
Several NBA sources claim that the Kings are willing to part with all-star Peja Stojakovic and super sub Bobby Jackson for the No. 3 pick, Marcus Camby and Ryan Bowen.
The Kings obviously would take Carmelo Anthony with the No. 3 pick. Camby would give them another big man who could spell Vlade Divac and Chris Webber if he ever got healthy.
Why would the Nuggets pull the trigger on the deal?
They would immediately get better with the addition of Stojakovic and Jackson. Remember, they'd still have roughly 18 million worth of cap room to spend on a couple of free agents, and some in the organization feel they need a few more established players to lure the best free agents.
Workout News
Raptors: Georgia Tech's Chris Bosh, KU's Nick Collison and Serbian forward David Brkic worked out in Toronto on Wednesday. KU's Kirk Hinrich, Oregon's Luke Ridnour and Hawaii's Carl English will be in town today.
Heat: Georgetown power forward Michael Sweetney and Serbian shooting guard Alexsandar Pavlovic worked out in Miami on Wednesday.
Knicks: North Dakota's Jerome Beasley worked out for the Knicks on Wednesday. Georgia's Jarvis Hayes will workout for the Knicks today.
Wizards: Georgia's Jarvis Hayes worked out in Washington on Wednesday. Maciej Lampe will work out in Washington on Wednesday.
Jazz: Russian big man Pavel Podkolzine, Serbian Blagota Sekulic and Arizona's Jason Gardner were in Utah on Wednesday
Suns: Arizona's Luke Walton and Senegal's Malik Badiane worked out in Phoenix on Wednesday.
Hornets: BYU's Travis Hansen worked out on Wednesday. Serbian shooting guard Alexsandar Pavlovic is in town today.
Bulls: GM John Paxson couldn't make the trip to France to see Mickael Pietrus work out. However, assistant GM B. J. Armstrong did go. Paxson claimed that he doesn't have to see the kid in person to draft him. "Would I draft a guy I haven't seen?" Paxson said. "Yes, and it goes back to what I said when I got the job [on April 14], and that is I'm going to depend on the people who have been scouting all year to make decisions. I said that back then, and I still believe that."
Warriors: Greek big man Sofaklis Schortsanitis worked out on Wednesday.
Blazers: Russian forward Viktor Khryapa worked out on Wednesday.
------------------------------------------------
Peep Show
By Terry Brown
NBA Insider
Thursday, June 19
Martin
New Jersey Nets: On July 1, the New Jersey Nets will attempt to resign point guard Jason Kidd. One month later, they will then have to decide what to do with power forward Kenyon Martin, who is then eligible to have his rookie contract extended. "I'm not in any hurry, but I'm not going to sell myself short, either," Martin said in the NY Post. "I'd love to see the Nets tell me -- and show me -- that I'm going to be a part of their plans for many years to come. That's ideal to me now." Kidd has also made it clear that his staying in New Jersey will depend partly on Martin's situation. "Kenyon has gotten better every year he's been in the league, he's improved every year, and he works as hard as anyone in the offseason to improve his game," Kidd said.
San Antonio Spurs: Tim Duncan also has the opportunity of becoming a free agent on July 1 if her decides to opt out of his current contract but it looks like he's already too busy recruiting other free agents to come to San Antonio to worry about himself. "I want to have a great team here," Duncan said recently in the San Antonio Express News. "I want great players to come here. I want us to be a contender year in and year out." He also joked about a future without the Spurs. "I'm going to Europe," Duncan said in the same article. "There's a league over there. I really want to learn French. Tony (Parker) says it's nice. So, I'm going to go over there and see what I can do."
Los Angeles Clippers: The LA Times is reporting that for the third time in six seasons, the Clippers will not have a head coach for the upcoming draft. Mike Dunleavy appears to be the frontrunner for the position but it doesn't look like the franchise will be able to get any deal done in time. "Hope springs eternal," said Dunleavy's agent, Warren LeGarie, in the Times story. "The Clippers have made a fair attempt to get something done, but at this point we're still a little bit apart."
Boston Celtics: Danny Ainge is beginning to clean house in Boston, getting rid of strength and conditioning coach Shaun Brown, reports the Boston Globe. Brown joined the Celtics in 1997 after spending five years with Rick Pitino in Kentucky and four years at Providence. He is the first franchise administrator axed by Ainge since he became director of basketball operations last month.
By Chad Ford
NBA Insider
Updated: June 19
At around 5 p.m. ET today, the NBA Draft picture is going to get a whole lot clearer.
With less than eight hours to go before college and international underclassmen can withdraw from the draft, there are still a several big names out there sitting on the fence.
The biggest is 7-foot-5, 303-pound Russian center Pavel Podkolzine. After a big workout in front of everyone in the NBA at the Chicago pre-draft camp and a number of individual workouts for lottery teams, Podkolzine told Insider late Wednesday night that he is seriously considering pulling his name from the draft today.
Why? The elusive NBA promise.
While every team in the lottery has told Podkolzine's agent that Pavel is a lock for the top 10, he's still not holding a promise from a team to select him that high.
Pavel, along with a number of other NBA prospects, is seeking the holy grail of the NBA draft -- a guarantee from a team that, if he's still on the board, it will take him.
Like several other top prospects, including Mike Sweetney, Podkolzine wants some assurances that on draft night he's not sitting in the green room looking forlorn on national television.
Podkolzine's situation is the most intriguing. Insider talked to six teams in the lottery on Wednesday. All of them thought there was no way Podkolzine could slip out of the top 10.
"That's really inconceivable," one GM told Insider. "He's worked out better than anyone thought, he's further along than we expected and the doctors just aren't worried about the pituitary thing."
The "pituitary thing" is acromegaly (a growth hormone secreting pituitary adenoma). In layman's terms, Podkolzine's pituitary gland secretes an unusually high amount of a growth hormone, which partly explains his enormous stature. A quick, minor surgery can fix the problem and none of the teams Insider talked to on Wednesday indicated it would be a problem.
So what is the problem? While everyone claims to love him (the N.Y. Post reported today that the Knicks were trying to move up from No. 9 to get him) no one will commit.
"When you're dealing with a kid that's 18," agent Justin Zanik told Insider, "you want to take every precaution. He has four more chances at this. You want to feel as good as you can that he's making the most out of this chance."
Blame the unstable nature of the first round on the commitment issue. Teams have been burned in the past by committing too early only to see a player they covet slip in the draft. Then teams are forced to decide between reneging on a promise to draft the guy the really want, or settling for the guy they committed to.
"You have to really love a guy -- and I mean really love a guy -- to give him a promise," one Western Conference GM told Insider. "I know it's popular for teams and the media to speculate about promises, but in actuality, I don't think it happens very often. I think agents would like everyone to believe it happens -- that way they can shift the blame if things go wrong in the draft on someone else -- but the truth is it normally doesn't make sense for a team to make a promise."
Several other GMs agreed. So where does that leave Pavel, Sweetney and a number of bubble first-rounders like Jameer Nelson, Ndudi Ebi, Kendrick Perkins, Maurice Williams and Slavko Vranes?
Hoping for a guarantee in a business that has very few of them.
If Podkolzine doesn't get one?
"Then I go back to Italy," Podkolzine told Insider late Wednesday night. "I want to make sure a team believes in me. I want to make sure that they want me. If not, I can go back to Italy, work on my game, and try again next year."
In or Out of the NBA Draft?
Here's a look at where a number of other players stand on their deadline decision.
IN: Maciej Lampe, Mickael Pietrus, Jarvis Hayes, Boris Diaw, Leandrinho Barbosa, Carlos Delfino, Travis Outlaw, Zaur Pachulia, Kendrick Perkins, Zoran Planinic, Josh Powell,
LIKELY IN: Pavel Podkolzine, Mike Sweetney, Ndudi Ebi, Sofaklis Schortsanitis, Viktor Khryapa, Szymon Szewczyk
OUT: Chris Thomas, Ezarem Lorbek, Marcus Moore, Anderson Varejao, Aleksandar Djuric, Kresimir Loncar, Misan Nikagbatse
ON THE FENCE: Jameer Nelson, Maurice Williams, Malick Badiane, Slavko Vranes, Alexsander Vujacic, Blagota Sekulic, Andre Emmett, Jason Parker, David Brkic
Check back on Insider throughout the day with more updates as players make their decisions.
Promises, Promises
Speaking of those elusive promises, the rumor mill went into high alert Wednesday when high school star Travis Outlaw decided to keep his name in the draft.
Several league sources told Insider that the Blazers promised Outlaw they'd take him with the No. 23 pick. Outlaw, an athletic 6-foot-9 power forward, is considered to be one of the best athletes in the draft. However, his wiry frame will keep him from contributing for several years. That's cool with the Blazers, who have too much talent on their team anyway. He wouldn't be able to crack the rotation right away.
If you're keeping track at home, that brings the number of so-called "promises" being rumored up to three.
Several league sources claim that the Celtics will take UNLV point guard Marcus Banks with one of their picks.
The other prominent rumor, that the Suns had locked up Yugoslavian forward Zarko Cabarkapa at No. 17, took a hit late Wednesday. Cabarkapa worked out for the Suns and Lakers before suddenly returning to Serbia several weeks ago. Numerous sources claimed that the Suns and Lakers had both given him promises and were stashing him away for the rest of the pre-draft period.
However, Cabarkapa will return to the U.S. this weekend and has three more workouts scheduled over the next week. He'll be in Milwaukee this weekend and also plans to work out for the Knicks and Nets early next week.
There is also a healthy amount of speculation that Croatian point guard Zoran Planinic and Georgian big man Zaur Pachulia have received first-round guarantees. Planinic's name has been linked to the Nets.
One guy who won't be getting a promise from the Suns is Ndudi Ebi. Suns GM Bryan Colangelo told Ebi's advisors that he wouldn't take him in the first round. He believes Ebi should return to school. "I've been encouraging his advisers to make that decision,'' Colangelo told the Arizona Daily Star. "I went as far as to say we would not have him in for a workout.''
Trade Rumor of the Day
The Nuggets said it would take a knock-your-socks-off offer to trade their No. 3 pick in the draft. They may have gotten one on Wednesday.
Several NBA sources claim that the Kings are willing to part with all-star Peja Stojakovic and super sub Bobby Jackson for the No. 3 pick, Marcus Camby and Ryan Bowen.
The Kings obviously would take Carmelo Anthony with the No. 3 pick. Camby would give them another big man who could spell Vlade Divac and Chris Webber if he ever got healthy.
Why would the Nuggets pull the trigger on the deal?
They would immediately get better with the addition of Stojakovic and Jackson. Remember, they'd still have roughly 18 million worth of cap room to spend on a couple of free agents, and some in the organization feel they need a few more established players to lure the best free agents.
Workout News
Raptors: Georgia Tech's Chris Bosh, KU's Nick Collison and Serbian forward David Brkic worked out in Toronto on Wednesday. KU's Kirk Hinrich, Oregon's Luke Ridnour and Hawaii's Carl English will be in town today.
Heat: Georgetown power forward Michael Sweetney and Serbian shooting guard Alexsandar Pavlovic worked out in Miami on Wednesday.
Knicks: North Dakota's Jerome Beasley worked out for the Knicks on Wednesday. Georgia's Jarvis Hayes will workout for the Knicks today.
Wizards: Georgia's Jarvis Hayes worked out in Washington on Wednesday. Maciej Lampe will work out in Washington on Wednesday.
Jazz: Russian big man Pavel Podkolzine, Serbian Blagota Sekulic and Arizona's Jason Gardner were in Utah on Wednesday
Suns: Arizona's Luke Walton and Senegal's Malik Badiane worked out in Phoenix on Wednesday.
Hornets: BYU's Travis Hansen worked out on Wednesday. Serbian shooting guard Alexsandar Pavlovic is in town today.
Bulls: GM John Paxson couldn't make the trip to France to see Mickael Pietrus work out. However, assistant GM B. J. Armstrong did go. Paxson claimed that he doesn't have to see the kid in person to draft him. "Would I draft a guy I haven't seen?" Paxson said. "Yes, and it goes back to what I said when I got the job [on April 14], and that is I'm going to depend on the people who have been scouting all year to make decisions. I said that back then, and I still believe that."
Warriors: Greek big man Sofaklis Schortsanitis worked out on Wednesday.
Blazers: Russian forward Viktor Khryapa worked out on Wednesday.
------------------------------------------------
Peep Show
By Terry Brown
NBA Insider
Thursday, June 19
Martin
New Jersey Nets: On July 1, the New Jersey Nets will attempt to resign point guard Jason Kidd. One month later, they will then have to decide what to do with power forward Kenyon Martin, who is then eligible to have his rookie contract extended. "I'm not in any hurry, but I'm not going to sell myself short, either," Martin said in the NY Post. "I'd love to see the Nets tell me -- and show me -- that I'm going to be a part of their plans for many years to come. That's ideal to me now." Kidd has also made it clear that his staying in New Jersey will depend partly on Martin's situation. "Kenyon has gotten better every year he's been in the league, he's improved every year, and he works as hard as anyone in the offseason to improve his game," Kidd said.
San Antonio Spurs: Tim Duncan also has the opportunity of becoming a free agent on July 1 if her decides to opt out of his current contract but it looks like he's already too busy recruiting other free agents to come to San Antonio to worry about himself. "I want to have a great team here," Duncan said recently in the San Antonio Express News. "I want great players to come here. I want us to be a contender year in and year out." He also joked about a future without the Spurs. "I'm going to Europe," Duncan said in the same article. "There's a league over there. I really want to learn French. Tony (Parker) says it's nice. So, I'm going to go over there and see what I can do."
Los Angeles Clippers: The LA Times is reporting that for the third time in six seasons, the Clippers will not have a head coach for the upcoming draft. Mike Dunleavy appears to be the frontrunner for the position but it doesn't look like the franchise will be able to get any deal done in time. "Hope springs eternal," said Dunleavy's agent, Warren LeGarie, in the Times story. "The Clippers have made a fair attempt to get something done, but at this point we're still a little bit apart."
Boston Celtics: Danny Ainge is beginning to clean house in Boston, getting rid of strength and conditioning coach Shaun Brown, reports the Boston Globe. Brown joined the Celtics in 1997 after spending five years with Rick Pitino in Kentucky and four years at Providence. He is the first franchise administrator axed by Ainge since he became director of basketball operations last month.
