Links: Embiid out 4-6 months, unlikely to go No. 1
Published on Sunday, 6/22/14, at 4:52 p.m. Eastern.
By Brian Edwards
–I’m just going to jump around with thoughts/links and tidbits from multiple sports here today…
–We passed on a picture of Joel Embiid in favor of….Heidi Klum! That’s what I call a no-brainer.
If BE Sports had to pick a No. 1 all-time SI Swimsuit model, Heidi Klum would be a serious candidate.
–Gary Parrish of CBS Sports has dropped Embiid from the top pick in his last mock draft to fourth in his latest. Word leaked out this past week that Embiid recently suffered a foot injury that will prevent him from working out with any more teams before the draft. He already worked out for the Cavs, who own the No. 1 pick. Embiid is expected to be out for the next 4-6 months. The Kansas product, who demonstrated incredible shot-blocking skills as a freshman in Lawrence, missed the NCAA Tournament due to a back injury.
–Good SEC hoops breakdown & info from Parrish again here.
–Frank Isola of the New York Daily News reported earlier today that Carmelo Anthony will inform the Knicks tomorrow that he’s opting out of his contract to become an unrestricted free agent.
–Former Florida center Patric Young is currently listed as the No. 42 overall pick in the latest mock draft at NBADraftExpress.com. However, Young has dropped out of the latest mock at NBADraft.net, which previously had him in the mid-to-late 40s in recent installments. Based on his great attitude, ability to run the floor and muscle/physicality, I’m confident Young is going to be able to carve out a decent career as a back-up ‘big.’ He’s never going to be a polished offensive player, but he has developed a nice touch with his jump hook in the paint that he can execute with both hands. Another big plus for Young is that after being a completely inept free-throw shooter for nearly his entire collegiate career, he caught fire from the charity stripe for the Gators during the last three months of his senior campaign.
–Embiid has dropped to the No. 3 selection in the latest mock at NBADraft.net.
–Multiple reports over the weekend indicated Cleveland is ‘leaning’ toward taking Duke’s Jabari Parker with the draft’s No. 1 pick.
–Multiple reports are also indicating that the Houston Rockets are geared to go all-out in an effort to sign LeBron James if he opts to become an unrestricted free agent. This explains why they allowed Chandler Parsons to become a restricted free agent. Since I’m a long-suffering Hawks fan, my ideal scenario would be James joining Dwight Howard and James Harden in H-town to get him out of the East. Moreover, with James going to the Rockets, Atlanta could sign Parsons and a Hawks starting lineup could look like this: Jeff Teague, Kyle Korver, Parsons, Al Horford and Paul Millsap. Doubt it happens, but would love it!
–Just brutal news for Baylor’s Isaiah Austin coming out this morning. He has been diagnosed with a career-ending medical condition known as Marfan syndrome. Austin was expected to be a second-round pick in the upcoming draft. Best wishes to him and his family…
–Erin Rynning of Sports Memo thinks Chicago (12/1) and Houston (20/1) have the best value in terms of NBA futures for the 2014-2015 season. (Those numbers are courtesy of the LVH SuperBook.) If you have an ESPN Insider ($$) subscription, you can check out ER’s explanations at this link.
–For all the Bellator news from this past week’s big shake-up in the organization and all the latest MMA info, check out my man Jason Floyd’s website, The MMA Report.
—5Dimes has Stefan ‘Skyscraper’ Struve listed as a -150 favorite for his long-awaited return to the Octagon at UFC 175 against Matt Mitrione in a heavyweight showdown.
–Former NBA head coach Eric Musselman (with both the Warriors and Kings) has joined Johnny Jones’ LSU coaching staff as an assistant. Musselman spent the last two seasons on Herb Sendek’s staff at Arizona St.
–Darnell Dockett has been acting like a dumbass since his days at FSU (& probably beforehand) when he cost Florida a great shot at a national title by clearly twisting Earnest Graham’s knee at the bottom of a pile in a Gator beatdown of the ‘Noles in 2001. (Tennessee beat Florida the following week b/c UF couldn’t generate a ground attack w/o Graham & with Robert Gillespie as the featured RB against the Vols.) Dockett showed his ignorance again over the weekend with a series of tweets about O.J. Simpson.
–5Dimes currently has Kentucky as the +375 ‘chalk’ to win the 2014-2015 national championship in college hoops. My Gators own 18/1 odds.
–Samford transfer Tim Williams, who averaged 17.6 points and 7.3 rebounds per game last year in the Southern Conference, will decide between Dayton, Iowa and New Mexico by tomorrow (if not today).
–Just a few days after his lawyers requested that he be moved to a different jail for safety measures, disgraced former Gators and Patriots tight end Aaron Hernandez was taken to a hospital for an hour yesterday, according to the Associated Press. The nature of the hospital visit has been undisclosed at this point, but something tells me AH might have received some payback yesterday via eye dots. Whether this potentially came from another inmate(s?) or jail employee(s?) is anyone’s guess. He’s threatened employees and beaten another inmate during his year in jail while awaiting trial for multiple murder charges.
–In conclusion, if we’re breaking out the Heidi Klum pictures, let’s break ’em out!
