Seven games/prospects for NBA fans to watch in NCAA Tournament

By Kurt HelinMar 15, 2018, 10:00 AM EDT

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For fans of a lot of the NBA’s tanking class teams, the NCAA Tournament is serious scouting time. Fortunately for those fans, their teams have been way ahead of them — scouts and GMs will be in arenas from San Diego to Pittsburgh looking to get an eye on the top college prospects one last time, but they have largely formed their opinions on the players. Or they should have. If you’re moving players way up or down your board based on the NCAA Tournament, you’re doing it wrong.

Who should you watch? What games should you catch as an NBA fan with an eye on the up-and-coming prospects? First, you should go listen to the podcast I did with NBC’s Rob Dauster where we get into way more detail on NBA prospects. But since you’re here, check out this list of seven players/teams/games to tune in for during the opening weekend.

1) Want to see the most high-level prospects in one game this weekend? Watch the (potential) second-round matchup between Kentucky and Arizona Saturday. We have to get to this one first — Davidson and its tough-to-defend offensive style have a shot against Kentucky. But if the first round games follow form, St. Patrick’s Day is going to have the best game of the first round — a classic matchup of inside vs. outside.

Arizona is led by the likely No. 1 pick in June, Deandre Ayton — an incredibly skilled and athletic 7-footer who can score inside, crashes the boards hard, and can step out and drain threes. He has the potential to be a top-five force in the NBA, and when he’s focused he can dominate a college game like no other (which makes it odd Arizona tends to go away from him for stretches).

On the other side, Kentucky is loaded with lottery-level picks on the perimeter — Kevin Knox on the wing, the very smooth Shai Gilgeous-Alexander at the point, and while Hamidou Diallo at the other guard spot is not lottery bound he is likely getting an NBA look. Gilgeous-Alexander is one of the fastest risers on draft boards this year, he wasn’t even supposed to be Kentucky’s star rookie point guard coming into this season but he has impressed. He will be tested by Arizona point guard Rawle Alkins, who could well an NBA player in his own right (though more a second round guy who will have to earn his way in).

2) Just how good is Trae Young? Make sure you watch this Thursday early because Oklahoma may not last longer. If there is a fan favorite in college hoops this season, it’s Trae Young of Oklahoma — he gets the “he plays like Stephen Curry” comps from fans because of Young will fearlessly take and make 30 footers or throw playground-style passes. Scouts are not quite as high on him — he might be the third PG taken (if you count Real Madrid’s 6’8” ball handler Luka Doncic as a point) – but he’s still top 10. Young is 6’2” and is not an explosive athlete (which leads to some trouble finishing around the rim, and on defense). Still, he can do this.

Thursday, in one of the first games of the Tournament, he and Oklahoma goes up against a feisty Rhode Island team that has some real guard depth, too. That should be interesting.

3) If Young and Oklahoma can beat Rhode Island, their reward is a loaded Duke team on Saturday. To borrow (and modify) a Ben Simmons line, rooting Duke to win it all is like rooting for the house to win at blackjack. Yet, a lot of us have Duke going all the way because this team is LOADED with talent — three likely first-rounders come June, a ton of depth, and oh, and Mike Krzyzewski coaching them.

If you’re a fan of one of the teams in the tankapaloza going on at the bottom of the NBA standings, you need to catch some Blue Devils this first weekend (and likely subsequent weekends) because they have a couple of lottery picks. Marvin Bagley is going to go in the first five come June, a freak athlete who knows how to score and is a beast on the boards. Next to him along the front line is Wendell Carter Jr., a slightly more polished player than Bagley who can take over a game in his own right and been the best Blue Devil in key games this year (Carter likely goes in the 5-10 range in June). That’s not even getting into Grayson Allen, Trevon Duval and… frankly, we don’t have time to get into all the Duke players who could be in the NBA in a few years. Just watch.

4) I’ll admit it, I have a man crush on Collin Sexton’s game — if he leads Alabama to a first-round win, he gets to show off against a loaded Villanova squad. I get it, Sexton was inconsistent during his freshman season in Alabama, and that should give teams pause. But his highs are so high — most recently in the SEC tournament — that it’s going to be hard not to take a chance on him somewhere around 10 in the draft. If you want to see him, you may need to tune in Thursday night, when Alabama takes on Virginia Tech in an even contest.

Win and we get to see Sexton in a real contest against Villanova on Saturday. The top seed is led by lottery pick Mikal Bridges, who will go in the lottery because he is a long, athletic defender who can step into the NBA and play on that side of the ball, plus he can knock down threes. Sexton against Bridges would be an entertaining back-and-forth.

5) Watch Michael Porter Jr. now, because you haven’t had the chance all season. At the start of the season, Missouri’s Michael Porter Jr. was seen as one of the top picks in the entire draft. However, spinal surgery for a 6’10” guy that kept him out almost all season — he’s played just 25 minutes — has dropped him down to the 6-8 range in the draft (he could fall further depending on how his medical reports look and how he does in interviews with teams, where there are questions). Porter and Missouri play Friday against Florida State, win that and Sunday they probably against Ohio State.

6) Michigan State isn’t getting tested this weekend, but if your team is tanking you should watch them anyway. Much like Duke, if you are a fan of a team racing toward the bottom of the standings, you should probably tune in to watch Michigan State play — they are loaded with talent that will be playing in the NBA in a couple of years.

Jaren Jackson is a prototypical modern NBA big man who will go in the top five this June, maybe top three. He can do it all — offensively score inside or hit the three ball, defensively protect the rim or switch onto guys on the perimeter. He is going to be an impact NBA player. Miles Bridges is an athletic two-way wing who can knock down jumpers, but is even more impressive is his length and work on defense.

7) Lonnie Walker IV of Miami may put on a dazzling display of athleticism. Or not. You never know, but it’s worth watching to see. Lonnie Walker IV has the skills to be an impressive NBA player, which is why he likely gets drafted in the late lottery, but he’s also the model of inconsistency. Miami will need his shot creation — he can catch and shoot, knock down threes off the bounce, and he’s a force in transition — to advance very far in this tournament. Who knows if which Walker shows up here, or in Summer League. That said, if he puts it together, he will be special.

Coach, front office updates from around NBA: Fizdale headed to Suns bench

By Kurt HelinJun 6, 2023, 10:48 AM EDT

Things continue to move and settle around the NBA as teams find coaches (well, except Toronto) and some front office personnel move around. Here is the latest around the league.

• Former Grizzlies and Knicks head coach David Fizdale, an associate general manager with the Jazz last season, is returning to the bench as an assistant on Frank Vogel’s staff in Phoenix, reports Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN.

Fizdale and Vogel are tight, remember Fizdale was in the bubble on Vogel’s staff when the Lakers won a ring. Give new owner Mat Ishbia credit for spending, he made Kevin Young the highest-paid assistant coach in the league to stay with the team and has now hired a former head coach to be a top assistant. That’s a lot of coaching firepower, now the Suns just need to fill out the roster with some firepower around Kevin Durant and Devin Booker.

• If you want to become a general manager in the NBA, the best way is to be an assistant GM for Sam Presti in Oklahoma City. Apparently. Presti has had five different assistant GMs under him and now all five have gone on to be general managers elsewhere.

The latest is Will Dawkins, who will be the GM and No. 2 in the power structure in Washington under new team president (and former Clippers GM) Michael Winger, reports Josh Robbins and David Aldridge of The Athletic.

The Washington Wizards will hire OKC executive Will Dawkins as their No. 2 executive, a league source tells @davidlaldridgedc and me.

— Josh Robbins (@JoshuaBRobbins) June 5, 2023

Also in the front office in Washington is former Hawks GM Travis Schlenk. That’s a lot of brain power and good hires. The question remains how much freedom owner Ted Leonsis — a guy who demanded his team do whatever it took just to make the playoffs every year — will give Winger, Dawkins and company. The team has big decisions this summer with Kyle Kuzma as a free agent and Kristaps Porzingis expected to opt out.

• The Milwaukee Bucks finally made the hiring of Adrian Griffin as their head coach official.

“Adrian is a widely-respected coach and former player, who brings great leadership and experience to our team,” Bucks General Manager Jon Horst said in a statement. “His championship-level coaching pedigree, character, basketball acumen and ability to connect with and develop players make him the ideal choice to lead our team. He has earned this opportunity.”

Will Herro make his Finals debut for Heat in Game 3? Don’t be so sure.

By Kurt HelinJun 6, 2023, 9:37 AM EDT

MIAMI — Game 3 has always been the target for a Tyler Herro return to the Heat.

Herro has been wearing bucket hats on the sidelines since his devastating hand injury against the Bucks, but he’s been working out with the team and going through practices for more than a week preparing for his return. Is it time for Herro to bring even more shooting and shot creation to the Heat’s rotation?

Don’t be so sure.

Eric Spoelstra said Tuesday Herro is day-to-day and “has not been cleared yet” to play, although he would go through a contact workout later in the day, after which decisions would be made. He added he is not Nostrodomous and doesn’t know if Herro will play in Game 3. (As a side note, Herro was not made available to the media to speak. League rules required injured players returning to the lineup to be available to the media, while players unavailable to play are not.)

On Monday, both Ros Gold-Onwude — the former WNBA player turned quality analyst for ESPN — and veteran Heat beat reporter Ira Winderman cautioned against expecting a Herro return.

Reporting from #NBAFinals: I spoke with Tyler Herro ahead his Game 2 pregame routine and he told me he experiences both soreness and swelling in the right hand after shooting and he can feel the soreness when he’s making a “follow through” shooting motion. He also shared his…

— Ros Gold-Onwude (@ROSGO21) June 5, 2023

A party familiar with process had told me over weekend that Tyler was not playing in this series. But that was just one of many familiar with situation, not enough to make it anything definitive. Just pointing out such sentiment is out there from those familiar with the process. https://t.co/qvJzm1D08I

— Ira Winderman (@IraHeatBeat) June 5, 2023

If there is pain and swelling, can the Heat put him out there? This is the Finals, but this is also a 23-year-old under a long contract, and if there is a heightened risk of further injury Miami may need to protect the player from himself.

If Herro returns, expect him to come off the bench in a very limited role. It’s a huge ask to take someone who has not played in an NBA game since basically tax day (April 16 was his last game) and throw him into the highest level of basketball anywhere in the world. Spoelstra may give him a four- or five-minute run just as a test (maybe at the start of the second quarter, when Nikola Jokić sits) and see how things go.

On the surface, you can say Herro would be what the Heat need — a 20.1 point-a-game scorer this season with the best handles on the team, able to create his own shot or shoot over the top of the defense (37.8% from 3 this season). Dig a little deeper, however, and that fit is not as smooth in this series. On offense, he can be a ball-stopper at points against a Nuggets team the Heat want to keep in motion. The bigger concern is on defense, where he is a clear target (and because of that Spoelstra can’t play him with Duncan Robinson, even in the minutes Jokić sits). This might have been a tough series for a healthy Herro.

If he can play and come off the bench for short runs, he could boost the Heat offense this series.

Just don’t be so sure he’s ready to go.

Silver says NBA won’t mind if Wembanyama’s debut comes in Sacramento, not Las Vegas

Associated PressJun 6, 2023, 8:16 AM EDT

OLIVIER CHASSIGNOLE/AFP via Getty Images

DENVER (AP) — Victor Wembanyama’s next couple of weeks are now set: He’ll be playing in the French league finals starting this weekend, and then the San Antonio Spurs will almost certainly make him the No. 1 pick in the NBA draft on June 22.

And if that means the French star’s summer league debut comes in Sacramento instead of Las Vegas in early July, the league is fine with that.

NBA Commissioner Adam Silver said the league doesn’t have a preference regarding the site of Wembanyama’s first game with the Spurs. While the NBA Summer League in Las Vegas is the biggest – all 30 teams attend – and commands the most attention, there are smaller summer leagues that precede the Vegas event by a few days. Sacramento plays host to one of those events, and the Spurs are one of six teams headed there this year.

“All summer leagues are NBA Summer Leagues,” Silver told The Associated Press. “I’m very supportive of the Sacramento summer league. I remember when (Kings owner Vivek Ranadive) first came to the league and said this was something he wanted to do. I said, ‘As long as you have enough other teams who support it and players who want to play in it, it’s a good thing.’”

The Kings might be getting a lot more buzz than usual this summer. Not only are the Spurs headed there, but so is Charlotte – which holds the No. 2 pick. And it just so happens that the Spurs and Hornets will open Sacramento summer play against one another, potentially setting the stage for a No. 1 vs. No. 2 matchup a few days before Vegas even starts.

If Wembanyama plays in Sacramento, he’d be the first No. 1 pick that didn’t debut in Las Vegas since Markelle Fultz for Philadelphia in 2017. The 76ers played in Utah’s summer league that year before going to Vegas.

Other recent No. 1 picks have opened in Las Vegas with big-crowd, big-spectacle atmospheres. Paolo Banchero’s debut in Vegas for Orlando last summer had John Wall and DeMar DeRozan sitting courtside, as was Jerry West – three guys who didn’t need to see the scalpers who were working outside the arena for hours before the game. Zion Williamson played only nine minutes in his debut in 2019, in a game that was stopped by an earthquake, and his debut got LeBron James and Anthony Davis to grab courtside seats.

The Spurs have not said whether Wembanyama will play in the Sacramento event, which starts on July 3, and almost certainly won’t address the topic until they actually draft him in a little over two weeks. Wembanyama is expected to be with the Spurs in Las Vegas as well; the league has already announced him as one of the participants for its inaugural NBA Con – which runs there from July 7-9 and will celebrate many aspects of basketball culture.

“What’s made the summer leagues so valuable are really the media rights more than the individuals who buy tickets there, because it’s a very affordable experience,” Silver said. “So, the answer is, I want Victor to get playing court experience and I think the team – assuming it’s San Antonio – should make decisions completely independent of any commercial implications from where he debuts.”

Wembanyama’s Boulogne-Levallois team beat his former team, ASVEL, 3-1 in a French league semifinal series that ended Sunday. Monaco, the top seed in the league, awaits Wembanyama’s team in the best-of-five final that starts Saturday and could go until June 20 – two days before the draft.

“So proud of my guys,” Wembanyama tweeted Sunday after the semifinal win. “Job ain’t done tho.”

Wembanyama said in October that he’s 7-foot-3; some still say he’s 7-foot-4 or 7-foot-5, and given that he’s only 19, it’s certainly possible that he had a bit of growing left in recent months. Either way, he’s a generational talent who’ll come into the NBA with enormous hype, the likes of which probably hasn’t been seen since James went No. 1 overall to Cleveland in 2003.

“What I try to advise players – and I’m not making a prediction that he will or won’t live up to the hype – is to control what you can control, and I think what you can control is doing the work,” Silver said. “If he is in San Antonio, it’s an organization that led the way in terms of international scouting and signing of international players. Certainly, everyone would acknowledge they know how to develop players and particularly big men. And so, if I were in his shoes, or if I’m advising him, I’m saying, ‘Quickly become part of that organization and be a sponge and listen to the advice.’”

Add Jaren Jackson Jr., Brandon Ingram to USA World Cup roster

By Kurt HelinJun 5, 2023, 11:45 PM EDT

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The Team USA roster heading Manilla for the World Cup this summer just gets deeper and more athletic.

Two more players have committed to playing: Defensive Player of the Year Jaren Jackson Jr. and the Pelicans scoring machine Brandon Ingram, reports Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN.

We now have eight of the 12 players expected to represent the USA this summer:

Mikal Bridges
Jalen Brunson
Anthony Edwards
Tyrese Haliburton
Brandon Ingram
Jaren Jackson Jr.
Bobby Portis
Austin Reaves

Jackson Jr. brings rim-protecting defense plus the ability to space the floor needed by bigs in the international game. Ingram fits the style of scorer — from Kevin Durant back to Carmelo Anthony — that has always done well for Team USA in international competitions. Ingram averaged 24.7 points per game this season, but missed almost half the season due to a toe injury.

The World Cup takes place this summer in the Philippines, Japan and Indonesia, featuring 32 teams from around the world. The USA is in Group C with Greece (with, likely, Giannis Antetokounmpo), New Zealand and Jordan. The World Cup is the primary qualifier for the 2024 Paris Olympics, so advancing as deep as possible matters (if the USA wins its group it likely stays on the other side of the bracket from Spain and France, removing obstacles to a deep run).

Warriors coach Steve Kerr is in charge of Team USA, with his assistant coaches being Erik Spoelstra (Heat), Tyronn Lue (Clippers) and Mark Few (Gonzaga).

The USA will have a training camp in Las Vegas, where they play Puerto Rico in an exhibition before heading to Abu Dhabi and then on to the World Cup, where the USA will play all its games in Manilla.

The World Cup starts Aug. 25 and continues through Sept. 10.

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