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Russ Smith

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UCONN's Marcus Williams is gone, he's signing with Billy Duffy and figures to be a mid first rounder. Good thing Calhoun punished him so severely with that suspension for a few games, Marcus rewarded the loyalty by bolting for the NBA.

Rajon Rondo is gone too, he too will sign with Duffy. Nick Fazekas of Nevada is testing the waters but won't sign with an agent.

NBAdraft.net also says that Kansas' Brandon Rush will test the waters again. He did so last year out of HS but the rule is that a HS kid can test the waters and still do it again in college. rush thinks he's a lottery pick but wants to be sure. He of course announced about 2 weeks ago he was coming back to Kansas, a few days after admitting his high freshman GPA was "due to the easy classes I took. If I come back next year it's going to take a lot of tutoring and help."

Still hearing that UA's Marcus Williams will test the waters, but it sounds like he and Farmar are in the same position, won't hire an agent, and will come back if they don't have a guarantee in the first round. I expect to see both kids in the pac 10 next year.

they also say Aaron Gray of Pitt and PJ Tucker of Texas are filing for the draft, but are not expected to hire agents.

There's also a rumor that Josh McRoberts of Duke is coming out even after announcing he wouldn't. But that's largely because he's considered a lock lottery pick if he does so people speculating he should, becomes a rumor he will.

From what I'm hearing there's going to be a ton of kids testing the waters this year, with no highschoolers in the draft kids want to find out if they can make money now or not. Ironic that a rule put in to keep young kids from jumping too soon may actually be enouraging a bunch of in many cases less talented kids, too jump too soon.
 
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Russ Smith

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MaoTosiFanClub said:
Josh Boone declared today. UConn and Duke could be really down next year if Gay and McRoberts leave.

Some of the kids declaring I REALLY hope they're not getting agents. Bobby Brown of Fullerton State? I've seen the kid play, he's a pretty good player, in fact he got famous for outplaying Farmar in a summer league game this offseason, but I sure hope he's left his options to come back open, seriously doubt he'll be drafted.

Just seems no matter what rule they adopt, there's a backlash. This time it seems all the kids in school who even remotely think they can come out early are leaning that way now because there's no highschoolers in the draft so they figure there's more room for me this year.
 

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Russ Smith said:
NBAdraft.net also says that Kansas' Brandon Rush will test the waters again. He did so last year out of HS but the rule is that a HS kid can test the waters and still do it again in college. rush thinks he's a lottery pick but wants to be sure. He of course announced about 2 weeks ago he was coming back to Kansas, a few days after admitting his high freshman GPA was "due to the easy classes I took. If I come back next year it's going to take a lot of tutoring and help."

Gotta be careful about what you read sometimes.

The outlook of teams will change greatly depending on which underclassmen turn pro.

Self said the only KU player not certain of returning is Brandon Rush, who indicated publicly after KU’s season-ending loss to Bradley he definitely would be back, but has agreed to let Self compile information from NBA teams on where he might be drafted.

NBAdraft.net’s Aran Smith on Thursday caused a stir with KU fans by writing that Rush “is thinking about testing the draft process again … Rush considers himself a lottery pick now. But NBA scouts NBADraft.net spoke to say he’s a bubble first-rounder at best.”

Self said Rush “has never once indicated he’d be a lottery pick, never once said he’d be chosen in the first round. He’s never once said anything about leaving. There really is no change (in Rush’s status).

“We’ve talked to some NBA people and presented him (Rush) some information, but from what I’ve been told, there is not a clear indication of where certain players might be drafted. They (NBA officials) need to know more about who will be in the draft. It’s still pretty early.”

Self said it probably “still would be a couple of weeks” before a final decision.

“We’re compiling information. We made a commitment to Brandon and his family to do that, and that’s what we’ll do,” Self said.

Players have until April 29 to declare for the draft.
 
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Russ Smith

Russ Smith

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DWKB said:
Gotta be careful about what you read sometimes.

Yeah that's why I said NBA draft.net says so it would be clear where it was coming from. Rush badly wanted to go NBA last year, he only went to Kansas because he couldn't get a first round guarantee.

But that's not just Rush, every kid looking to come out wants that so they get the guaranteed contract.

I think a lot of college kids are aware of the William Avery story. Avery wanted to come out and asked Coach K to poll NBA GMs. K came back and told him 2nd round to undrafted. Avery's mom was flabbergasted, they'd been told by intermediaries that he was a lock first round pick. She questioned Coach K and according to her he screamed at her that Avery was going to "BLEEP" my program if he left now. He said he had been told by several GM's that AVery should not come out.

Avery came out, and was the 14th pick, got 3.5 million over 3 years and his mom made her thoughts on Coach K quite public. She accused him of blatantly lying for his own selfish interests. Since then everytime I hear a kid say I'm talking to my coach, I assume they are doing their own investigation too.

Chalmers name keeps coming up too as wanting to go NBA but that's because he talked about it last year before the McDonald's game. If you do that, there will always be rumors you're coming out.
 

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AUSTIN, Texas (AP) -- Texas sophomore forward LaMarcus Aldridge said Monday night he intends to enter the NBA draft, where he's expected to be among the top picks.

"When I came to Texas, my main two goals were to get started on earning my degree and to have the opportunity to play in the NBA," Aldridge said. "I've accomplished both of those and the opportunity is there for me right now to begin the next stage of my basketball career."

Aldridge said he has begun the process of hiring an agent. He made his announcement after the team banquet.
 
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Russ Smith

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Dback Jon said:
AUSTIN, Texas (AP) -- Aldridge said he has begun the process of hiring an agent. He made his announcement after the team banquet.

he's going to be an interesting case to see who he hires as an agent. the rumor is Aldridge is connected to Bret Bearup and Andy Miller. Miller is the agent who got charged with violating state laws in Tennessee and Florida for contacting Tony Harris and Mike Miller while in college without registering in those states as an agent. He's tight with Bearup the financial advisor often accused of steering recruits to certain schools(close friend of Billy Donovan).

A few months back Kevin Durant announced he was re-opening his recruitment after verballing to Texas, and then ultimately announced he was going to Texas afterall. The rumor swirling around then was that Bearup convinced him to stick with Texas because Bearup knew for a fact that Aldridge, and probably PJ Tucker, were going pro. The rumor is Durant was afraid he'd be stuck playing low post as a freshman replacing Brad Buckman because Aldridge was going to be allowed to be a face up player as he felt playing the post hurt his NBA stock. Durant figured playing the post would hurt HIS NBA stock. But since he was advised Aldridge was leaving, he stuck with Texas because he figured he'd play right away and wouldn't be forced to play C.

I forget what the outcome of the charges against Miller were in both states but they had him dead to rights from cellphone records. He's prominent in Telfair's book too the author alleges that he signed Telfair to an agreement midway through his senior year in HS which not only meant Telfair was no longer an amateur, it was illegal in the state of New York.
 
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Russ Smith

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FYI Shakur has reportedly announced he'll test the waters but won't hire an agent so he'll be back. Can't imagine he'll get a first round guarantee.

marcus Williams said he'll decide within a week if he'll test the waters or not, but he has no intention of hiring an agent. Probably good news for UA since I doubt he's a first round guarantee either.
 

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Russ Smith said:
FYI Shakur has reportedly announced he'll test the waters but won't hire an agent so he'll be back. Can't imagine he'll get a first round guarantee.

marcus Williams said he'll decide within a week if he'll test the waters or not, but he has no intention of hiring an agent. Probably good news for UA since I doubt he's a first round guarantee either.

I don't even know if he'd be drafted. He played alright in the NCAA tourney........I don't know the NBA, but I doubt that is going to cut the mustard with their scouts.
 

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This is similar to Chris Rodgers and Jason Gardner's underclass attempts into the NBA Draft. The scouts will tell them they're not NBA material and what to work on and they'll go back to school. Shakur would leave in a heartbeat were he to get a first round guarantee, but there's no way that happens.

And Aldridge leaving in my mind pretty much sews up Darrell Arthur going to Texas.
 
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DWKB

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Posted Wednesday, April 12, 2006

Brandon Rush, who was awarded Kansas University’s most-valuable-player award by teammates and coaches Tuesday night, says he’ll be back next year to try to win it again.

Rush, KU’s 6-foot-6 freshman men’s basketball guard from Kansas City, Mo., told reporters after a 11⁄2-hour awards show at the Kansas Union that he definitely would be back for his sophomore campaign.

It’s the second time he has said he’ll be back, the first coming after KU’s season-ending loss to Bradley.

“I’ve not accomplished what I want to accomplish, that is win a national championship before I go anywhere,” Rush said. “I’m looking forward to coming back, having a great season and trying to lead us to the championship.”
 
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Russ Smith

Russ Smith

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DWKB said:
“I’ve not accomplished what I want to accomplish, that is win a national championship before I go anywhere,” Rush said. “I’m looking forward to coming back, having a great season and trying to lead us to the championship.”

Call me surprised, I was pretty sure he was gone. they keep saying that Chalmers wants to go but I'm sure he's in the same boat as Farmar and Gardner where he there's no way he's a guaranteed first rounder so he'd stay.

Kansas should be preseason top 5 along with Florida, UCLA, UNC and I guess maybe Texas if Tucker stays.

I suspect the vast majority of guys filing will come back.
 

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I'd guess Tucker goes NBA. Like Diogu last year, he isn't going to grow anymore so he may as well go while his stock is at it's highest and he has had past academic issues.

Your preseason Top 5 looks about right although I see Ohio St. and not Texas making it.
 

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With Shakur testing the waters, he will not accompany the rest of his UofA teammates when they go to Europe in late May for two weeks. This will benefit Prince and Dillon as they will see plenty of playing time.
 
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Russ Smith

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MaoTosiFanClub said:
I'd guess Tucker goes NBA. Like Diogu last year, he isn't going to grow anymore so he may as well go while his stock is at it's highest and he has had past academic issues.

Your preseason Top 5 looks about right although I see Ohio St. and not Texas making it.

yeah if Tucker goes, Ohio State looks pretty tough. Oden is pretty special, he's going to force a lot of teams to make jumpshots and forget about the paint.
 
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Russ Smith

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Rudy Gay goes pro, will hire an agent. the press release says they expect UCONN guard Marcus Williams to announce the same thing, going pro, hiring an agent. Boone already announced but will not hire an agent.

hard to say he's making a mistake, he'd have probably been rated a bit higher had he come out last year but you never know, my guess is the workouts would have shown the flaws he showed this year.

I'm not a big believer in the theory that coming out early gets you picked higher than if you stay. It does for HS or Euro players who have limited exposure, but once you're in college they've seen you, and they will see in workouts what you can't do, I don't buy that guys "expose themselves" by staying too long.
 
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Russ Smith

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Tyrus Thomas LSU will announce today he's gone, and will hire an agent according to Doug Gottlieb of ESPN. Big Baby Davis will announce at the same press conference but Gottlieb didn't have any indication on where he's leaning. Everyone I've heard expects Davis to test the waters with no agent.

Thomas was told scouts viewed him as a lock top 5 pick so he's gone.
 

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Russ Smith said:
Tyrus Thomas LSU will announce today he's gone, and will hire an agent according to Doug Gottlieb of ESPN. Big Baby Davis will announce at the same press conference but Gottlieb didn't have any indication on where he's leaning. Everyone I've heard expects Davis to test the waters with no agent.

Thomas was told scouts viewed him as a lock top 5 pick so he's gone.

Not suprised on Thomas - he should be a top 10 pick.

Davis should be as well.
 
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Russ Smith

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Leon Powe announces he's entering the draft but will not hire an agent. Powe said he was told by scouts he's a late first early second rounder with the potential to move up. It's expected unless he completely bombs the workouts he'll stay in the draft because he's not expected to be able to do much to improve his stock(since this draft is considered weak).

As I've mentioned before he has extreme financial considerations as his mother is dead and he hasn't seen his father since he was very young. He has 4 siblings and an NBA contract would make a huge difference to his family.

Wish him a lot of luck Powe's Cal career was hampered by knee problems but what a great player and what a great kid.
 
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Russ Smith

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http://www.dailynews.com/sports/ci_3729144

Afflalo to test status
BY BRIAN DOHN, Staff Writer



UCLA sophomore guard Arron Afflalo will enter the NBA draft, but he will not hire an agent and will abide by the NCAA-mandated guidelines to retain his college eligibility, sources said Wednesday.

Afflalo, who led the Bruins in scoring last season, will remain enrolled in classes at UCLA while working out for NBA teams in preparation for the June 28 draft.

Meanwhile, UCLA sophomore point guard Jordan Farmar continues to wrestle with whether to declare for the draft as well. Sources close to Farmar believe he will follow Afflalo's path and not hire an agent. An announcement on the plans of both players could come by the end of the week.

In case either or both of the players leave, UCLA will add backcourt depth today. That's when Leuzinger High of Lawndale senior guard Russell Westbrook said he will sign a binding national letter of intent. He gave a non-binding oral commitment to Bruins coach Ben Howland late Tuesday night, and will play next season.

Afflalo's decision makes sense in that he will be able to work out for NBA teams, and attend a June pre-draft camp in Orlando if he so desires, but not lose his college eligibility because he will attend classes. Players have until June 19 to withdraw from the NBA draft and remain in college, providing they do not sign with an agent.

Afflalo, who averaged 15.8points in leading UCLA to the national title game, is doing the same thing Dijon Thompson did two years ago. Thompson averaged 14.4 points and 4.3 rebounds as a junior and then declared for the draft but pulled his name out before the deadline. He went on to lead the Bruins in scoring (18.4 ppg) and rebounding (8.8 rpg) his senior season.

It is unlikely either Afflalo or Farmar would remain in the draft if they were not guaranteed of being picked in the first round.

The 6-foot-3 Westbrook, a shooting guard, was offered scholarships mostly by mid-major schools going into his final year at Leuzinger, but during a strong senior season, in which he averaged 25.1points and 8.7 rebounds, offers came from Wake Forest, Arizona State and UCLA.

"I think it was the best thing for me," Westbrook said of committing to the Bruins. "It's an opportunity to play for a good school and a good coach. I worked on everything (last season), every aspect of my game."

In Westbrook, UCLA gets a rising talent with the ability to play minutes at the point. And if Farmar and/or Afflalo leave, Westbrook gives the Bruins someone who can play immediately.

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Russ Smith

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It's official, Farmar and Afflalo are in but no agent. Same story Afflalo is expected to be back, Farmar is on the fence right now.

I also heard a rumor that Aaron Brooks of Oregon has filed but can't confirm it.

no word on Marcus Williams of Arizona. Villanova is sweating out Kyle Lowry, and I'm told Memphis still expects Darius Washington to declare. With Washington the rumor is if he declares, he'll have an agent.
 

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Powe's knee problems are what he needs to focus on in his workouts. If he proves they are no longer a problem, then his stock will most definitely rise.
 

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