Jarred Vanderbilt intrigues NBA Draft scouts despite injuries
After Wednesday's NBA Draft decision deadline, Michael Scotto of The Athletic has posted an updated mock draft, one that has good news for Jarred Vanderbilt.
The now former UK forward, whose one-and-done season was hampered by injuries, chose to keep his name in the draft and sign with an agent, even though he was not able to participate in the NBA Draft Combine last month.
That absence apparently did not hurt the Texas native's stock all that much. Scotto has Vanderbilt as the 44th player chosen in his mock draft.
From the post:
“Vanderbilt can make plays with the ball,” an Eastern Conference executive told The Athletic. “You had to see Jarred in high school to appreciate his skill set. He didn’t get a chance to show it at Kentucky. He likes facilitating.”
And this:
“I like him because he does a lot of winning things,” a second Eastern Conference executive told The Athletic. “He can do a little bit of everything. . . . "
Scotto has Shai Gilgeous-Alexander being selected at No. 12, Kevin Knox at No. 14 and Hamidou Diallo at No. 35.
▪ Herald-Leader colleague Ben Roberts is in Colorado Springs for the USA Basketball tryouts, where he reports on five-star recruit and Kentucky target Matthew Hurt, a 6-foot-9 forward in the Class of 2019.
Hurt has a long list of schools he's considering, including UK, Louisville, Indiana and his home-state school of Minnesota.
[Rather than regressing, John Calipari is on a recruiting roll]
▪ Brad Calipari played a lot of point guard during his just-complete European tour, reports Jerry Tipton of the Herald-Leader. Playing at point helped Calpari expand his game.
The UK head coach's son scored 17 points and had 11 assists in the third game of the tour with Global Sports Academy, which won the last three games of the tour.
▪ Louisville coach Chris Mack picked up his first significant commitment when Josh Nickelberry, a 6-4 guard in the Class of 2019, pledged to the Cardinals. The North Carolina native is rated as a top 60 prospect by ESPN.
▪ The father of James Hampton, the Charlotte AAU player who collapsed and died last week during a game, tells the Charlotte Observer he is devastated by his son's death. Hampton had a medical history of epileptic seizures.
This story was originally published June 2, 2018 at 9:15 AM with the headline "Jarred Vanderbilt intrigues NBA Draft scouts despite injuries."