Friday, May 1st, 2009 at 12:43 pm  |  25 responses

NBA Draft Early Entry Candidates

Over 100 players throw their hats in the ring.

by Jeff Fox

With the deadline for declaring for this June’s NBA Draft having passed, the NBA announced the list of 103 players (NCAA and international) who have declared as early entry candidates. This list is by no means final—all players have until June 15 to pull their name out. Any player who has signed with an agent, however, automatically terminates his NCAA eligibility.

With SLAMonline‘s Joey Whelan furious typing away at a story analyzing some of the questionable names on this list, we’ll not say anything but the players that make educated fans say, “Who?” probably made a bad choice. And before the questions start flooding in about where Brandon Jennings’ name is on the list, he is eligible for the Draft. He doesn’t appear on the list because he signed with another professional team after the 2008 Draft. (At least that’s the gist of it without going into all the unnecessary intricacies.)

NCAA

Darion Anderson Northern Illinois 6-2 Sophomore
Ryan Anderson Nebraska 6-4 Junior
Dominique Archie South Carolina 6-7 Junior
DeJuan Blair Pittsburgh 6-7 Sophomore
Derrick Brown Xavier 6-8 Junior
Chase Budinger Arizona 6-7 Junior
Nick Calathes Florida 6-6 Sophomore
Earl Clark Louisville 6-9 Junior
Dwayne Collins Miami 6-8 Junior
Kareem Cooper Texas-El Paso 7-0 Junior
Kenneth Cooper Louisiana Tech 6-10 Junior
Brandon Costner North Carolina State 6-9 Junior
Stephen Curry Davidson 6-1 Junior
Bryan Davis Texas A&M 6-9 Junior
Austin Daye Gonzaga 6-10 Sophomore
DeMar DeRozan Southern California 6-7 Freshman
Eric Devendorf Syracuse 6-4 Junior
Devan Downey South Carolina 5-9 Junior
Osiris Eldridge Illinois State 6-3 Junior
Wayne Ellington North Carolina 6-4 Junior
Chinemelu Elonu Texas A&M 6-10 Junior
Tyreke Evans Memphis 6-6 Freshman
Gary Flowers Chipola JC (FL) 6-8 Sophomore
Jonny Flynn Syracuse 6-0 Sophomore
Jonathan Gibson New Mexico State 6-2 Junior
Kyle Gibson Louisiana Tech 6-5 Junior
Taj Gibson Southern California 6-9 Junior
Blake Griffin Oklahoma 6-10 Sophomore
D’mond Grismore Huston-Tillotson (TX) 6-6 Junior
Rogér Guignard Texas-Arlington 5-11 Junior
Daniel Hackett Southern California 6-5 Junior
Luke Harangody Notre Dame 6-8 Junior
James Harden Arizona State 6-4 Sophomore
Kevin Harris Northwest Mississippi CC 5-11 Sophomore
Paul Harris Syracuse 6-5 Junior
Gerald Henderson Duke 6-5 Junior
Jordan Hill Arizona 6-9 Junior
Jrue Holiday UCLA 6-4 Freshman
Damion James Texas 6-7 Junior
James Johnson Wake Forest 6-9 Sophomore
Mac Koshwal DePaul 6-10 Sophomore
Gani Lawal Georgia Tech 6-9 Sophomore
Ty Lawson North Carolina 5-11 Junior
James Lewis Fresno Pacific 6-4 Junior
Darnell Lindsay Tennessee Tech 6-4 Junior
Dior Lowhorn San Francisco 6-7 Junior
Ater Majok Connecticut 6-10 Freshman
Jodie Meeks Kentucky 6-4 Junior
Nate Miles Southern Idaho 6-7 Freshman
Patrick Mills St. Mary’s 6-0 Sophomore
Tasmin Mitchell LSU 6-7 Junior
B.J. Mullens Ohio State 7-0 Freshman
Ronald Ogoke Paul Quinn College (TX) 7-0 Junior
Patrick Patterson Kentucky 6-9 Sophomore
Scottie Reynolds Villanova 6-2 Junior
D.J. Rivera Binghamton 6-4 Junior
Terrence Roderick Alabama-Birmingham 6-6 Sophomore
Magnum Rolle Louisiana Tech 6-11 Junior
Junior Salters Wofford 6-1 Junior
Donald Sloan Texas A&M 6-3 Junior
Tyler Smith Tennessee 6-7 Junior
DaJuan Summers Georgetown 6-8 Junior
Shawn Taggart Memphis 6-10 Junior
Jonathan Tavernari BYU 6-6 Junior
Jeff Teague Wake Forest 6-2 Sophomore
Hasheem Thabeet Connecticut 7-3 Junior
Malcolm Thomas San Diego City College 6-9 Sophomore
Dar Tucker DePaul 6-5 Sophomore
Jarvis Varnado Mississippi State 6-9 Junior
Greivis Vasquez Maryland 6-6 Junior
Martez Walker Riverside CC (CA) 6-6 Freshman
Michael Washington Arkansas 6-9 Junior
Jeremy Wise Southern Mississippi 6-2 Junior
Nic Wise Arizona 5-10 Junior

International

Amadou Aboubakar Zaki Nancy (France) 7-1 1988 DOB
Rodrigue Beaubois Cholet (France) 6-0 1988 DOB
Nemanja Bjelica Crvena Zvezda (Serbia) 6-10 1988 DOB
Georgios Bogris Ilysiakos (Greece) 6-10 1989 DOB
Omri Casspi Maccabi Elite (Israel) 6-9 1988 DOB
Victor Claver Pamesa Valencia (Spain) 6-9 1988 DOB
Vladimir Dasic Buducnost (Montenegro) 6-10 1988 DOB
Christian Eyenga DKV Joventut (Spain) 6-5 1989 DOB
Vitor Faverani Unicaja Malaga (Spain) 6-10 1988 DOB
Sergey Gladyr Mykolaiv (Ukraine) 6-5 1989 DOB
Adam Hanga Albacomp (Hungary) 6-7 1989 DOB
Bariş Hersek Efes Pilsen (Turkey) 6-9 1988 DOB
Rudy Jomby Le Havre (France) 6-6 1988 DOB
Tanel Kurbas Kalev/Cramo (Estonia) 6-6 1988 DOB
Milan Macvan Hemofarm (Serbia) 6-9 1989 DOB
Boban Marjanovic Hemofarm (Serbia) 7-4 1988 DOB
Tim Ohlbrecht Bamberg (Germany) 6-11 1988 DOB
Carl Ona Embo Biella (Italy) 6-1 1989 DOB
Nikolaos Pappas Real Madrid II (Spain) 6-5 1990 DOB
Anton Ponomarev Astana Tigers (Kazakhstan) 6-10 1988 DOB
Paulo Prestes Unicaja Malaga (Spain) 6-11 1988 DOB
Miroslav Raduljica FMP Zeleznik (Serbia) 7-0 1988 DOB
Fernando Raposo Pau Orthez (France) 6-9 1989 DOB
Ricky Rubio DKV Joventut (Spain) 6-4 1990 DOB
Evangelos Sakellariou Pagrati (Greece) 6-5 1989 DOB
Alexandros Sigkounas Olimpia Larissa (Greece) 6-7 1988 DOB
Ludovic Vaty Pau Orthez (France) 6-9 1988 DOB
Ibrahim Yildirim Banvit (Turkey) 6-3 1990 DOB
Artem Zabelin CSKA Moscow (Russia) 7-1 1988 DOB

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  • http://slamonline.com/ Ryne Nelson

    thanks Jeff. I’m not sure why people are calling this a weak draft class. There may not be a franchise stud in the bunch, but there’s so many gems waiting to be picked with a mid- to late-first rounder.

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  • http://ittakesanationofmillionstoholdthissac.blogspot.com ciolkstar

    Totally cosign that Ryne. There aren’t many I would consider top 10 locks, but it looks like there will be a lot of solid mid-late first round value picks. I really need the Spurs to figure out a way to pick up another mid-first round pick this season, we gotta build though the draft.

  • ciroqobama

    Free Mark Titus

  • Coach Master

    I’ll hold judgment on draft weak or strong until after 6-15. One quick note is that there are some sleepers in the list but no one knows for sure who they are.

  • Coach Master

    More, you won’t find depth at center in this draft. BJ is still unproven. Thabeet’s potential in the League is suspect by some.

  • http://www.collegehoopsnet.com Jeff Fox

    Coach Master – that is precisely why big men get picked alot earlier in the draft than they should some times – a quality big man is a rare thing.

  • http://www.shawn-kemps-offspring.blogspot.com/ TADOne

    Ryne, I was actually having that exact conversation at the sports bar last night while watching the Bulls game. I think this draft class isn’t as weak as everyone keeps saying it is. There are a ton of very good players who could become great role players in the league. I don’t see too many stars, but I see a lot of complimentary pieces.

  • Tavoris

    TADOne, wasn’t last year’s draft considered weak as well? I thought everybody thought Beas and Mayo were the only “pro-ready” players in the draft.

  • http://basketball-reference.com nbk

    how can you say that tavoris Derrick Rose has been in NBA conversations since high school. As well as Kevin Love. Last years draft was not supposed to be superstar heavy, which most drafts aren’t but it might turn out to be after all, which is what is surprising.

  • John

    Has Brandon Jennings entered the NBA draft?

  • http://www.collegehoops.net Jeff Fox

    Yes, Jennings is in the draft.

  • rocky lobs

    not many freshmans there at all

  • http://www.hibachi20.blogspot.com Hursty

    Ater Majok. Freshman. Uconn. 6’10. He’ll pull out, but I like what he’s doing. His game is more suited to a faster pace like the NBA’s, rather than college, but he’ll do great regardless. Good luck big fella. Friends and family all around are supporting you. Best wishes.
    Thanks Jeff. Much appreciated.

  • http://www.slamonline.com Cub Buenning

    Louisiana Tech’s program is taking a big hit, here….

    A&M’s Elonu is a sleeper.

    DePaul has two guys here?!?!? Huh?

  • Twin Paradox

    Greivis Vasquez is entering the draft! Won’t expect him to go high but being a miserable Terps fan…I can only with him the best. Has Lance committed to Marland yet? cause if he isn’t goin to maryland, it’ll be a pain watching them next season

  • Someone

    What happened to Tyler Hansbrough?

  • http://www.hibachi20.blogspot.com Hursty

    The key word being EARLY entry ‘Someone’. TH is a senior….

  • TwinParadox

    The A&M guys are really kidding themselves around…

  • Quail

    if the thunder get the 1st pick, they’ll pick Thabeet rather than Blake.

  • http://thatwillneverhappenquailyourretarted.com nbk

    thats ubsurd, are you crazy?

  • http://www.myspace.com/linkstigatorkevin Kevin Wilson

    I think Ryne’s got a point about there being some steals in this draft … but a draft is measured by the quality of its lottery picks, and it doesn’t look like there’s deep quality after Rubio and Griffin. What’s the advantage of being in the lottery if New Orleans gets the same quality of player that Milwaukee does?

  • Alan

    Still hope Rubio will pull his name out… my hometown team has saved from relegation but this year he was injuried, so I coulnd’t get to see him. Hope I’ll have another year. I have my SlamMag cover with him ready to be signed.

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  • Will Ram

    This is getting out of hand…First Devendorf and Harris think they have a shot at going to the EL and now this unproven cat that they bent over backwards (no homo) to get into UConn wants to sidestep the collegiate experience and weigh his pro stock?

    Come on man…This is one of the two guys that UConn allegedly broke the rules for…Nate Miles was the other one and he didn’t even last a month on campus (he was expelled for harassing a girl and then violating the terms of his restraining order). Ajok needs to stick it out no team is going to want him.

    Here’s an article on ZSmart Sports about how slim is tryna jump to the EL without being put to the test yet

    http://zsmart.blogspot.com/2009/04/unproven-majok-declares-for-nba-draft.html

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