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Adam Zagoria covers basketball at all levels. He is the author of two books and an award-winning journalist whose articles have appeared in ESPN The Magazine, SLAM, Sheridan Hoops, Sports Illustrated, Basketball Times and in newspapers nationwide.
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Wednesday / December 25.
  • RandleNEW YORK — With Kentucky set to be absolutely loaded in the frontcourt next season, Julius Randle says he’s glad he doesn’t have to make substitution decisions.

    “I think they can be really good,” the 6-foot-9 Randle said Wednesday in advance of the NBA Draft..

    “Luckily, I’m not the coach so finding minutes for those guys is not my problem.”

    While Randle and fellow freshman James Young turned pro, sophomores Alex Poythress and Willie Cauley-Stein and freshmen Dakari Johnson, Andrew and Aaron Harrison all opted to remain on campus.

    Coach John Calipari next season will have plenty of depth up front with Poythress, Cauley-Stein, Johnson, sophomore Marcus Lee and incoming freshman Karl-Anthony Towns and Trey Lyles.

    James Young was in a minor car accident a “couple weeks ago,” a source confirmed to SNY.tv.

    Chad Ford of ESPN first Tweeted Thursday morning that the 6-foot-7 Kentucky freshman “was in a minor car accident” that caused him to “miss [his] last 5 workouts. He’s OK. But may explain his recent draft slide.”

    After peaking as a projected lottery pick, DraftExpress.com has the Michigan native going No. 24 to the Charlotte Bobcats in tonight’s NBA Draft but not because of the car accident.

    Diallo

    Cheick Diallo

    By JOHN PAVIA

    Special to ZAGSBLOG

    UNION, N.J. —  Highly coveted forward Cheick Diallo will visit Kentucky this weekend, sources confirmed to SNY.tv.

    The news was first reported by Alex Kline of The Recruit Scoop.

    Diallo has a very long list of schools chasing him at the moment, but said he has no clear favorite. His list includes Kentucky, Syracuse, Louisville, Arizona, Kansas, St. John’s, Pittsburgh, Florida, Iowa State and many more. He has visited Pittsburgh twice and Iowa State once so far and will take more visits down the road.

    As far as making a decision, Diallo mentioned December as a very tentative possibility for when he might pick a school, but for right now he is very focused on continuing to improve his game as more summer tournaments come up for him and Team Scan.

    Dario SaricBy JOSH NEWMAN
    Special to ZAGSBLOG

    NEW YORK – Whichever team drafts Dario Saric on Thursday evening is going to have to wait until 2016 for the payoff on its investment.

    The 20-year old Croatian phenom has inked a three-year deal, €6 million deal with Turkish League power Anadolu Efes. There is a player option for the third year, which means Saric is essentially out of the NBA mix for the next two seasons.

    With the player option potentially delaying Saric’s NBA debut even further, he says he intends to only play the first two years of Turkish contract before finally coming over to the United States.

    http://web.sny.tv/media/video.jsp?content_id=34052729


    NEW YORK
    —  Former Syracuse point guard Tyler Ennis says he believes he could land with the Orlando Magic or Toronto Raptors in Thursday’s NBA Draft.

    The 6-foot-3 Ennis gave ESPN’s Andy Katz that information during a sit-down on Tuesday before meeting with the rest of the media Wednesday.

    The Magic pick at No. 4 and No. 12 in the Draft, while the Raptors hold the No. 20 pick.

    “I worked out for Orlando twice so they got to look at me in different situations, they got to look at me more than once but as far as workouts I think every team that called me in knows my background, knows what I can do in a game situation so it’s just going to come down to the whole draft nigth really,” Ennis said Wednesday.

    Dante ExumBy JOSH NEWMAN
    Special to ZAGSBLOG

    NEW YORK – On his way to earning Most Outstanding Player honors at the Final Four in April, Shabazz Napier had at least one curious observer wanting to pick his brain about the experience.

    It wasn’t until weeks after watching Napier win a national championship at AT&T Stadium that Australian sensation Dante Exum could finally ask Napier about what it was like to play in college, something Exum will never do.

    Exum bypassed college, signed with power agent Rob Pelinka while the college season was still going on and as luck would have it, Napier signed with Pelinka as well.

    “I went to the Final Four and Shabazz Napier signed with my agency, so I got to talk to him about how it was to play in the Final Four and see it,” Exum said at NBA Draft media day on Wednesday. “He said it was one of the best experiences. It’s unfortunate to not have that experience but I’m looking at the bigger picture and i’m going to be in the NBA.”

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