Nets Leaning Toward Taking Favors; Lopez Suffered From Mono; 48 Players W/draw from Draft | Zagsblog
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Thursday / March 28.
  • Nets Leaning Toward Taking Favors; Lopez Suffered From Mono; 48 Players W/draw from Draft

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    EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. –– The Nets are strongly leaning toward taking Derrick Favors with the No. 3 pick in the NBA Draft, multiple team sources said.

    “He’s the most natural power forward,” one source said.

    The Nets, who already have a center in Brook Lopez, will work out the 6-10 Favors and 6-11 DeMarcus Cousins June 21. On Thursday, they will look at 6-7 Syracuse forward Wesley Johnson, another player they are considering.

    “Favors is 18 years old, won’t be 19 until September. So he’s like a work in progress,” Nets president Rod Thorn said at the press conference introducing Avery Johnson as the  team’s new coach.

    With Cousins, a center, and Johnson, a small forward, the Nets are seeking to get other questions answered.

    “Cousins, can he play forward?” Thorn said. “Is there any chance he can play power forward or is he strictly a five?

    “With Johnson, we want to see how can he put the ball on the floor.”

    Thorn also pointed out that Johnson, who turns 23 next month, is older than the others because he transferred from Iowa State and sat out a year. Favors and Cousins were both one-and-dones.

    Favors averaged 12.4 points and 8.4 boards in his single season at Tech. Over his final 10 games, he averaged 15.8 points and 9.1 rebounds while shooting 64 percent from the field and 78 percent from the stripe in ACC games.

    “You’re looking for a guy who can play,” Thorn said.

    BROOK LOPEZ SUFFERED FROM MONO

    Lopez revealed to the media for the first time that he had suffered from mononucleosis for about a month and that he has been over it for “a month, a month and a half about now.”

    “Isn’t that embarrassing?” Lopez asked. “I feel fine now.”

    Lopez said he dropped from 240 pounds to 220.

    “That’s why [my clothes] are a bit baggy,” he said.

    Lopez and his twin brother, Robin, have been out in Phoenix training at the Athletes Performance Facility.

    He said he wanted to go to a Suns-Lakers game in Los Angeles, but his mother wouldn’t let him.

    “I begged my mom to let me go to one of the Suns games in L.A.,” he said, “but she shot me down, shot me down.”

    48 PLAYERS WITHDRAW FROM NBA DRAFT

    48 players who had declared as early entry candidates for the 2010 NBA Draft have withdrawn. There are 50 collegiate and five international prospects that remain early entry candidates.

    The 2010 NBA Draft will be held June 24 at the The Theater at Madison Square Garden.

    Here is the list of players from U.S. colleges and institutions who have withdrawn their names from consideration for the 2010 NBA Draft:

    Player School
    Lavoy Allen                                        Temple
    Kevin Anderson                                Richmond
    Talor Battle                                        Penn State
    Keith Benson                                        Oakland
    Anatoly Bose                                        Nicholls State
    Dee Bost                                        Mississippi State
    Carlon Brown                                        Utah
    Mike Davis                                        Illinois
    Paul Davis                                        Winston-Salem State
    Malcolm Delaney                                Virginia Tech
    Kenneth Faried                                        Morehead State
    Jimmer Fredette                                BYU
    Anthony Gurley                                        Massachusetts
    Jeremy Hazell                                        Seton Hall
    Adnan Hodzic                                        Lipscomb
    JaJuan Johnson                                        Purdue
    Ravern Johnson                                        Mississippi State
    Cameron Jones                                        Northern Arizona
    Kenny Lawson                                        Creighton
    Demetri McCamey                                Illinois
    E’Twaun Moore                                Purdue
    Arnett Moultrie                                        UTEP
    Rico Pickett                                        Manhattan
    Eniel Polynice                                        Mississippi
    Herb Pope                                        Seton Hall
    Jeff Robinson                                        Seton Hall
    Tracy Smith                                        North Carolina State
    Alex Tyus                                        Florida
    Quinton Watkins                                San Diego State
    Chris Wright                                        Dayton

    Here is the list of international players who have withdrawn their names from consideration for the 2010 NBA Draft:
    Player                                Team/Country*
    Pablo Aguilar                        Granada (Spain)
    Andrew Albicy                        Paris-Levallois (France)
    Robin Benzing                        Ratiopharm Ulm (Germany)
    Stefan Bircevic                        Metalac (Serbia)
    Bojan Bogdanovic                        Cibona (Croatia)
    Sarra Camara                        Le Havre (France)
    Antoine Diot                        Le Mans (France)
    Bangaly Fofana                        Asvel (France)
    Miralem Halilovic                        Sloboda Dita (Bosnia)
    Edwin Jackson                        Rouen (France)
    Mindaugas Kuzminskas                        Siauliai (Lithuania)
    Luc Louves                        Maurienne (France)
    Uros Lukovic                        Radnicki Basket (Serbia)
    Donatas Motiejunas                        Benetton Treviso (Italy)
    Tomasz Nowakowski                        Luka Koper (Slovenia)
    Xavier Rabaseda                        FC Barcelona (Spain)
    Fernando Raposo                        Pau Orthez (France)
    Semen Shashkov                                Ural Ekaterinburg (Russia)

    *Country indicates where team plays, not country of nationality.
    Following is the list of players from U.S colleges and institutions who remain early entry candidates for the 2010 NBA Draft:

    Player School
    Solomon Alabi                        Florida State
    Cole Aldrich                        Kansas
    Al-Farouq Aminu                        Wake Forest
    James Anderson                        Oklahoma State
    Luke Babbitt                        Nevada
    Armon Bassett                        Ohio
    Eric Bledsoe                        Kentucky
    Craig Brackins                        Iowa State
    Avery Bradley                        Texas
    Derrick Caracter                        UTEP
    DeMarcus Cousins                        Kentucky
    Jordan Crawford                        Xavier
    Ed Davis                        North Carolina
    Devin Ebanks                        West Virginia
    Derrick Favors                        Georgia Tech
    Courtney Fortson                        Arkansas
    Keith “Tiny” Gallon                        Oklahoma
    Charles Garcia                        Seattle
    Paul George                        Fresno State
    Manny Harris                        Michigan
    Gordon Hayward                        Butler
    Xavier Henry                        Kansas
    Darington Hobson                        New Mexico
    Armon Johnson                        Nevada
    Wesley Johnson                        Syracuse
    Dominique Jones                        South Florida
    Mac Koshwal                        DePaul
    Sylven Landesberg                        Virginia
    Gani Lawal                        Georgia Tech
    Tommy Mason-Griffin                        Oklahoma
    Elijah Millsap                        Alabama-Birmingham
    Greg Monroe                        Georgetown
    A.J. Ogilvy                        Vanderbilt
    Daniel Orton                        Kentucky
    Patrick Patterson                        Kentucky
    Samardo Samuels                        Louisville
    Larry Sanders                        Virginia Commonwealth
    John Sloan                        Huntingdon (AL)
    Lance Stephenson                        Cincinnati
    Lazar Trifunovic                        Radford
    Evan Turner                        Ohio State
    Ekpe Udoh                        Baylor
    John Wall                        Kentucky
    Willie Warren                        Oklahoma
    C.J. Webster                        San Jose State
    Terrico White                        Mississippi
    Hassan Whiteside                        Marshall
    Elliot Williams                        Memphis
    Stevy Worah-Ozimo                        Slippery Rock
    Jahmar Young                                    New Mexico State
    The following is the list of international players who remain early entry candidates for the 2010 NBA Draft:

    Player                                                Team/Country*
    Thomas Heurtel                        Strasbourg (France)
    Dusan Korac                        Centar (Montenegro)
    Tibor Pleiss                        Brose Baskets (Germany)
    Ryan Richards                        Gran Canaria (Spain)
    Kevin Séraphin                                        Cholet (France)

    (Photo courtesy NBA.com)

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    Adam Zagoria is a Basketball Insider who covers basketball at all levels. A contributor to The New York Times and SportsNet New York (SNY), he is also the author of two books and is an award-winning journalist and filmmaker. His articles have appeared in ESPN The Magazine, SLAM, Sheridan Hoops, Basketball Times and in newspapers nationwide. He also won an Emmy award for his work on the SNY mini-documentary on Syracuse guard Tyus Battle. A veteran Ultimate Frisbee player, he has competed in numerous National and World Championships and, perhaps more importantly, his teams won the Westchester Summer League (WSL) championships in 2011 and 2013. He lives in Manhattan with his wife and children.

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