Best Impression Vince Carter Ja Morant almost throws a crazy dump on Kevin Love: Ja Morant almost kills Kevin Love just minutes from his Quicken Loans Arena bout Friday.

However, fortunately for the 12-year-old veteran, Morant's dump was misplaced.

Best impression Vince Carter Ja Morant

Morant, halfway through the first quarter of the Memphis Grizzlies' game against the Cleveland Cavaliers, hooked a lost ball and made a direct move into the ring. Once just one step inside the free throw line, Morant took off, almost completely flying over Love as he tried to overthrow what would have been a strong contender for the best dump of the year.

Unfortunately, Morant couldn't throw him away.

The near-collapse is another example of Morant's potential in the league, one that caused the Grizzlies to secure his second overall pick in the NBA draft in June. The former Murray State star has averaged 18.9 points and 6.5 assists so far this season, also an extremely impressive start to a struggling Grizzlies team.

Memphis had a slight 55-51 lead over the Cavaliers at half-time.
James Wiseman leaving Memphis early 'complicates' the NBA draft

An out-of-league matchup between Oregon and Memphis last month in Portland likely attracted more interest from NBA executives than from college basketball fans.

More than 50 NBA scouts and staff came to Center Moda because they feared it might be their last chance to rate potential No 1 overall, James Wiseman, for a while.

At that point, Wiseman was playing his second game challenging a NCAA decision that made him ineligible to play college basketball. The Memphis freshman dropped his pending litigation the next day and began serving a 12-game suspension due to moving expenses that his family incorrectly accepted while still in high school.

"The word was out that this was their last game and they all went massively to Oregon," an NBA seeker told Yahoo Sports. "Most head offices probably had this game in circles anyway, but because of their situation many more people attended."

It turns out to be longer than the NBA scouts feared before Wiseman played significant basketball again. The 7-foot-tall announced on Thursday that he is leaving Memphis with five games remaining to prepare for the upcoming NBA Draft.

While Wiseman's departure is a blow to Memphis's hopes of reaching the Final Four, it also further complicates the decision of NBA teams trying to decipher the hierarchical order at the top of the. 2020 draft.Wiseman is one of half a dozen projected lotteries that do not enter the NBA through college basketball, which means that scouts will have less opportunity to rate them compared to high competition. level.

In addition to Wiseman, U.S. guards Lamelo Ball and R.J. Hampton also avoided college basketball by playing a year of professional ball in the Australian-based National Basketball League. There are also at least three prospectes based in Europe viewed as potential lottery 2020 elections: Israeli striker Deni Avdija, French guard Théo Maledon and guard Killian Hayes who was born in Florida but raised in France. .

When asked if comparing players to the top of the 2020 draft was unusually difficult, an NBA general manager who spoke on condition of anonymity said it was "fair to say". The general manager regretted that NBA staff couldn't explore American high school players in person, except for some star events each year.

"This year, it complicates things because you have a pretty strong international class and college students are out," said the general manager. "Smaller sample formats for sure. That's why high school events are so critical."

Before the NCAA eligibility issues derailed his freshman season at Memphis, Wiseman was widely regarded as the top center prospect in the 2020 draft class. He validated his actions in three pre-college appearances. the suspension, averaging 19.7 points, 10.7 rebounds, and 3.0 blocks despite only playing 23 minutes per game.

The scouts who spoke to Yahoo Sports do not see Wiseman leaving the top five in the 2020 NBA Draft despite limited opportunities to evaluate in the face of top-ranked competition. Whether the 7-footer becomes No 1 or not will depend on the recruiting team's needs.