The long wait for prospects and teams ends with the arrival of the NBA Draft

No one danced on the court after the March Madness victory. No bounding on stage in the Sfifi suit to meet the commissioner in June.

The coronavirus epidemic destroyed the traditional end of a college ledger career and the normal beginning of a pro-individual. Players like Anthony Edwards, Lamelo Ball and James Wiseman should have been on their rookie for about a month, but their plans were put on hold.

After multiple delays, the NBA draft comes on Wednesday. Like everyone else in 2020, these players who will be selected have tried to make the best of their difficult circumstances.

“I think it was good for me,” Edwards said. “I did not complain. I didn’t trip about it at all. I thought it was good for me because there was more time for me to get better and prepare for the NBA. “

Georgia’s new defender, Minnesota, is one of the leading candidates first elected by the Timberwolves. Ball, a defender who left the college ledge to play abroad, and other headliners in the 7-foot-1 Memphis Fresh Center Wiseman class.

The draft usually takes place in June in New York, where Adam Silver announces the first round of elections. The top players sit at the table in front of the arena and, when their names are called, wear hats with the team logo that picks them up and walk on stage for a handshake and photo with the commissioner.

This time, Silver will announce the election from the ESPN campus at Bristol, Conn. Box boxes of hats have been sent to players wherever they call their name to keep an eye on the selection they want.

It’s not the Draft Night he wants, but the excitement of being a pro player won’t diminish. Not when they had been waiting since March, when the NCAA tournament field selection was stopped a few days before the games, when the ball would start playing again.

“I mean, playing sports, I missed him a lot. “But at the same time, this extra time, it just helps me,” said forward Obaid Toppi, the national college ledge player of the year from Dayton.

“I think I’m more prepared and mentally prepared when the time comes, and I think when I’m on the court and it jumps off, I think I’ve been waiting so long that he knows. Will run. Be a beautiful feeling. ”

The Warriors have a No. 2 pick, a chance to add a top young player to the team that Stephen Curry and Clay Thompson reached the straight five NBA finals before hitting the bottom of the league with injuries. Charlotte is in third place, followed by Chicago and Cleveland.

Without the ability to combine general drafts in Chicago or invite players to their facilities for meetings and workouts, teams lacked some resources to evaluate players. Part of not liking Consent No. 1 this year. There is a reason. Zion Williamson was the top choice of consensus in 2019.

“I would say that the analysis is correct. There is no one who has distanced himself from the pack, from the public or from the outside, ”said Gerson Rosas, president of Timberwolves.

In preparation for the No. 1 draft, Timberwolves told the Minneapolis Star-Tribune that they conducted more than 1,000 interviews – with many draft prospects and coaches and people from different walks of life who know them best.

Edwards believes the lack of NCAA tournaments hurts players. Unlike Ja Morant, he could not make a final team statement when he became a triple-double in an upset victory for Murray State in the first round of the 2019 NCAA Tournament. That gave him the security of picking No. 2 behind Williamson and he was a runaway winner of the Rookie of the Year award after he led Memphis to the playoffs.

Wisman would not have had that opportunity, though. He averaged 19.7 points and 10.7 rebounds in three games after being recruited as the country’s No. 1, then suspended by the NCAA for eligibility reasons and announced he was leaving the program to prepare for the draft.

“Of course, I wanted to win the national championship. Of course, I wanted to establish that situation with my fellow players, ”he said. “I love my teammates, I really text them every day. But you know how life works. Like, stuff hits you anywhere, but I think I’ve been given a lot of mental hardship because of being there, I’ve got a lot of maturity as a person. “

He only worked for the Warriors and Hornets, suggesting that the Wolves could choose between Edwards and Ball with the 2015 No. 1, with Carl-Anthony Towns making his man in the middle.

If he has the ball, he finishes 10 one-and-a-half runs to be the No. 1 pick. Black Griffin is the last non-college ledge freshman to be elected top in 2009.

He did not play ball, but played professionally in Lithuania and Australia. It certainly wasn’t the easiest way for the NBA to move forward with everything else about the draft process, probably making him the perfect player to handle for a year.

“I think I’m just the right man for him,” Ball said. “Like I said, I think I was born to continue this whole thing.”

Briefly: Cave was one of four pre-draft workouts with Minnesota, Charlotte and New York, said Toppin, a candidate for the 5th Cavaliers, in a zoom interview conducted by the league. … In the last six years, at least one Duke player has been selected in three elections. That streak is sure to end this season, reports Raleigh News & Observer.