NBA draft buzz: Shumpert up, Leslie steady, Thompkins down
Trey Thompkins on his last night as a Bulldog. (AP photo)
Iman Shumpert, Travis Leslie and Trey Thompkins have reason to be optimistic as Thursday’s NBA draft approaches. Each of them is projected to go in Round 1 in somebody’s mock draft.
The three local products also have cause to fret. Each is listed as a Round 2 choice in somebody else’s mock draft. The latest in mockeries:
• Shumpert, the Georgia Tech guard, is projected to be taken by the New York Knicks with the 17th pick of Round 1 (link requires registration) by Chad Ford of ESPN Insiders and by the Houston Rockets with the 23rd pick of Round 1 by NBADraftExpress. He’s also tabbed to go to the Portland Trail Blazers with the 21st pick of Round 2 (the 51st overall) by NBAdraft.net. If you’re counting, that’s a variation of 34 places from highest to lowest.
•Thompkins, the Georgia forward, is projected as going to the Boston Celtics with the 25th pick of Round 1 by NBAdraft.net. He’s also slotted to go to the Indiana Pacers with the 12th pick of Round 2 (42nd overall) by NBADraftExpress and to the Golden State Warriors with the 14th pick of Round 2 (44th overall) by ESPN’s Ford. That’s a variation of 19 spots.
• Leslie, the Georgia guard, is afforded the narrowest window of the three. NBADraftExpress has him going to the Chicago Bulls with the last pick (30th overall) of Round 1. Ford has him going to the Washington Wizards with the fourth pick (34th overall) of Round 2. NBAdraft.net has him going to the Houston Rockets with the eighth pick of Round 2 (38th overall). That’s a variation of eight spots.
The guess here is that Shumpert is the only one of the three who should feel reasonably confident about his Round 1 chances. He has created a buzz for himself with his postseason workouts. (Two months ago, the consensus on Shumpert was that he should have stayed in school.) Thompkins has gone from the low end of the lottery to perhaps out of the first round, which can happen when you arrive at the combine carrying a body-fat percentage of 15.5. Leslie has long been regarded as a late-first-to-early-second prospect, and he still is.
As for the Hawks, who hold only the draft’s 48th pick: Ford has them taking Jordan Williams, the Maryland center; NBADraftExpress opts for E’Twaun Moore, a shooting guard from Purdue, and NBAdraft.net projects them taking Charles Jenkins, a combo guard from Hofstra. If that school sounds familiar, there’s a reason.
The Hawks once had a guard from Hofstra. They signed him for $25 million over four seasons. He played a total of 44 games for them. His name: Speedy Claxton.
By Mark Bradley
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73 comments Add your comment
tjhook
June 22nd, 2011
2:31 am
Trade suggestion: Atlanta trades Al Horford, Jeff Teague and Marvin Williams to San Antonio for PG Tony Parker, SF Richard Jefferson and F/C Matt Bonner. We need veteran leadership and Parker and Bonner can provide that; Jefferson should still have a couple of good years left.
On the other side, I am currently visiting San Antonio and the fans have convinced themselves that Tony is disposable.
kevin johnson (kj)
June 22nd, 2011
4:49 am
Spent over 28 years in ATL, huge Hawks, Bulldogs, and Braves fan for life.
The Military brought me to Fort Bliss, TX, 26 hour drive to ATL if you drive straight through
I”m Blessed with an amazing wife and 5 beautiful babies. My Brigade lost over 35 soliders(family members) to Iraq War. I’m Blessed to be alive and so very blessed to have a wonderful family here.
No major sports teams in El Paso, but I did attend a lot of the UTEP Miners Basketball games.
They had a Conference USA player of the Year, and some up and coming talent. Unfortunately for Julian Stone they had a couple of coaching changes during his tenure.
Julian Stone would be a great (1 or 2 Guard) addition to any NBA team. He needs to add some weight for mass. I watched the entire tournament in which Stone led his team into the Championship Game in which they lost as a heart breaker.
I watched Stone game after Game, very unselfish player, maybe needs to become a little selfish, but 110% team oriented guy!
He lead the team to a 25 win record this year and kept feeding the ball to Randy Culpepper, one of the most electrifying players in NCAA basketball when he is hot!
While taking 5 shots a game he averaged 8.5pts, 7.5 rebs, 5.3 assists, 1.5 steals, slightly under 1 block a game. He shot over 50% FG, and over 25% 3pt line
During the games he could easily post up and take advantage of the mismatch as Stone is much taller than the average guard, but he combine to play 1,2, or 3 postion player
if they called his number more ofter he would have averaged around 20 pts/game.
Last year he led the team to 25 wins, 26 wins year before
2010 – 25 wins took backseat to R. Culpepper( Conference USA) player of year, and scoring leader
2009 – 26 wins Took backseat to R. Culpepper and D. Caracter(Drafted 2nd round by Lakers)
2008 – 23 wins Took backseat to R. Culpepper and Stephan Jackson(all time scoring leaders and C USA
2007 – 19 wins took backseat to S. Jackson, R. Culpepper, and D Caracter
the year before Stone took over UTEP only had 14 wins
He needs some work on FT, and outside shot
He is a great slasher, scorer potential, great post player but creates mismatch for other defenses and motivates the team by his play and actions
He needs the opportunity to have a little bit of freedom and he will excel
thanks
kevin
I defintely he should be a pick in the 2nd round
2008 – 23 wins
superiorblogman
June 22nd, 2011
6:33 am
Teague is a younger less seasoned version of Parker. I would not trade anyone other than Marvin and Zaza for Parker, not that he is not a good player though.
Back to the draft, I just hope that if Cleveland really reached out to us if the deal is Josh Smith for say Sessions and the 4th pick we dont pick Kanter. Really, Derrick Williams is a superstar and there is nothing else worth giving up Josh, Al, nor Joe for in this draft.
superiorblogman
June 22nd, 2011
6:37 am
I would love to send Kirk Hinrich for Sessions, Cavs trade exception and the #32 pick, we would end up with 3 new players.
http://games.espn.go.com/nba/tradeMachine?tradeId=3zexh82
CJ
June 22nd, 2011
8:00 am
@tjhook Tony Parker (29), Richard Jefferson (30), and Matt Bonner (31) are all older than Horford (25), Marvin (25) and Teague (25) and they play the same positions. I don’t think I would package our three youngest starters together. There’s a reason why Tony P is expendable to the Spurs.
CJ
June 22nd, 2011
8:02 am
@superiorblogman I wouldn’t mind having a Sessions/Teague combo, but I think it’s pretty humorous that our projected wins go up by 10 by losing Hinrich and adding Sessions. Gotta love the Trade Machine.
Bilbo
June 22nd, 2011
8:05 am
Take the player from Maryland. He played for Gary Williams so he has a clue.
Jimmy Crack
June 22nd, 2011
8:22 am
It doesn’t matter what the Hawks do or don’t do, they are the Utah Jazz of the new millenium. Always in the playoffs and a 1st or 2nd round casualty. The Hawks will never compete for a championship without a true starting Center and a point guard who is a vocal floor leader.
GT
June 22nd, 2011
8:25 am
Trey Thompkins is the kind of character a lot of NBA teams could use. The last thing the Miami Heat needs is a forward but they could use some the personality.
Iman Shumpert brings a lot of the same old thing to the table. He is the enbodiment of Hewitt’s era there. He went through the ACC on one of its most down years in its history with barely a notice. The real question here is was Shumpert a smart guard coached by a clueless coach or was Hewitt coaching and not getting to Shumpert. I often wonder if some teams in the NBA dont pay Hewitt to hide this talent so they can get it cheaper in the draft.
Travis Leslie may be the real bargain in the draft. He is the prototype that is showing up at guard around the league. Speed kills, he has the strength and size to play defense. There is upside here.
John
June 22nd, 2011
10:45 am
I just hope the Hawks don’t take an overseas project type of player. I feel like Sund does not value late first round and any second round selections, based on his previous drafts and trades. I don’t care what anybody says, you can find a player that can fit a small need late in the draft. I feel like Sund concedes that you can’t and will draft a player that needs to stay in Europe for several years, only to never play for the Hawks.
John
June 22nd, 2011
10:47 am
Teague has to be our starting PG this year. We have to give him a shot. I take him over Sessions any day of the week. Let Hinrich back Teague and JJ up, let Jamal walk, and sign several role players that can actually contribute and play a role off of the bench.
John
June 22nd, 2011
10:51 am
Don’t trade Josh just to trade him. I am for trading Al before Josh. Al’s skill set is replacable, Josh’s isn’t. If Josh leaves, our D is done. This season, if Josh plays SF and Al plays PF, Josh will come much closer to making the All-Star team and All-NBA. Al is a really good player that has gotten All-star births and the All-NBA selection because he can be listed as a Center, and other than Dwight, there are very few impact Cs in the league. In my opinion, Al needs to stay at C where he can use his quickness against other centers. When he moves to PF, other PFs use their quickness to dominate him. Sometimes you are what you are. Al is a very good undersized C. He needs to stay there except when going against Dwight. That is his only real matchup problem at center. He will have several at PF.
Dragon
June 22nd, 2011
11:32 am
Just proves the Hewitt conundrum….the man could recruit great talent, but could not coach it. Christ Bosh was the last player that Hewitt got the most out of. Then there was the gun-toting Crittendon and Young. All those No 1 draft picks and so little to show for it.
Hewitt was a good man who kids liked, but a horrible game day coach. in the 3-point era, that won’t beat Kennesaw State, much less Coach K and UNC-Cheats.
ASG = JERKS
June 22nd, 2011
11:38 am
Those idiots on 790 the Zone were throwing out ATL getting LaBron and dealing Josh Smith. Chellini must have had his brain transplanted to his arse when he went in for a botox injection. Idiot.
The U
June 22nd, 2011
11:55 am
Of the three guys the article referenced as potential Hawk picks in the 2nd round, Charles Jenkins game would be the more NBA ready of the three. A good NYC guard whose been a pretty dominate player at his position in his conference after his redshirt year. Jose Barea (Dallas Mavericks) came out of the same conference (Northeastern) and was also pretty dominate at his position. Theres a banger at Old Dominion University (Hassel) is the last name, same conference that could be worth a camp invite or even a pick. A lefty with a good low post game. Kids are out here you have to be open to giving them a fair shot.
ASG = JERKS
June 22nd, 2011
12:21 pm
Need to get Stockton and The Mail Man Karl Malone to get this thing right.
Alabama | MrSEC.com
June 22nd, 2011
12:26 pm
[...] Trey Thompkins’ NBA draft stock is dropping.2. Brandon Knight looks to be in good shape because teams are always chasing point [...]
superiorblogman
June 22nd, 2011
12:42 pm
http://ken-berger.blogs.cbssports.com/mcc/blogs/entry/11838893/30186974
Got this from hoopshype.com they say us dealing Josh to the Magic has a real chance there are talks. There is absolutely nothing I want from Orlando outside of Dwight and it would be a horrible deal to get anything from Orlando outside Dwight.
superiorblogman
June 22nd, 2011
12:50 pm
http://ken-berger.blogs.cbssports.com/mcc/blogs/entry/11838893/30186974
So, this talk of giving Josh away to the Magic is true. Rick Sund is the worse GM in the history of basketball
Mark Bradley
June 22nd, 2011
1:00 pm
Starting lineup: Schafer, Heyward, Chipper, McCann, Freeman, Uggla, McLouth, Lugo, Beachy
Notebook: More strength & conditioning, NBA draft and Dooley on ‘Extreme Makeover’ | UGA sports blog
June 22nd, 2011
5:00 pm
[...] junior seasons with the Bulldogs but neither appears to be a sure-fire, first-round selection. Columnist Mark Bradley reviewed all the pre-draft projections for Leslie and Thompkins (as well as Georgia Tech’s Iman Shumpert) and they’re both [...]
Georgia » Blog Archive » Notebook: More strength & conditioning, NBA draft and Dooley on ‘Extreme Makeover’
June 22nd, 2011
8:36 pm
[...] youth seasons with a Bulldogs though conjunction appears to be a sure-fire, first-round selection. Columnist Mark Bradley reviewed all a pre-draft projections for Leslie and Thompkins (as good as Georgia Tech’s Iman Shumpert) and they’re both approaching [...]
Notebook: More strength & conditioning, NBA draft and Dooley on … – NBA
June 22nd, 2011
10:19 pm
[...] youth seasons with a Bulldogs though conjunction appears to be a sure-fire, first-round selection. Columnist Mark Bradley reviewed all a pre-draft projections for Leslie and Thompkins (as good as Georgia Tech’s Iman Shumpert) and they’re both approaching [...]