Nba Draft

SYRACUSE CENTER Fab Melo is entering the NBA draft after a breakout season in which he twice got held out because of eligibility issues. The 7-foot sophomore from Brazil made the announcement Thursday. He averaged 7.8 points and 5.8 rebounds for Syracuse (34-3) this past season. He led the Big East in blocks per game and was named the conference's defensive player of the year. Melo missed three games in late January due to an academic issue, was reinstated, and just before the start of the NCAA Tournament was ruled ineligible again and did not play another game.

AS ANTICIPATED by most, including Villanova coach Jay Wright, Wildcats junior lead guard Maalik Wayns is indeed going to put his name into the pool of available candidates for the NBA draft. "I want to test the waters at this point to see where I stand," the 6-2 Roman Catholic High product said in a statement released by the university. "I think this is a smart decision for Maalik at this stage of his career," Wright said. "I look forward to working with him as we go through this process.

Gene Shipley, one of the most enigmatic basketball players in the area from the time he was a 6-foot-8 eighth grader, has declared himself eligible for the NBA draft one year after his injury-shortened senior season at Plymouth-Whitemarsh High School. Shipley, who is now 6-9 and says he weighs 245 pounds, wrote a letter to NBA commissioner David Stern, expressing his decision to forgo college for the professional league. "It was a matter of basketball getting too easy for me," Shipley said last night.

We have to admit we'd rather be in New Orleans dealing with late interviews and overhyped fans and crazy deadlines and the fact that CBS can't be on time for a first-game tipoff that the network itself scheduled for 6:09 p.m. but actually happened at 6:14 (did you really have to run a commercial between the national anthem and the player introductions?). But if you have to be home watching game action sprinkled among the ads, there's nothing better than following along on Twitter as Kentucky's Anthony Davis shows in no uncertain terms why he is college basketball's player of the year and the absolute mortal lock No. 1 pick in the next NBA draft.

NEWARK, N.J. — After a long and controversial offseason, Dion Waiters is a member of the Cleveland Cavaliers. Although Waiters never started a game during his 2-year career at Syracuse, the Cavaliers selected the Philadelphia native with the fourth pick of the NBA draft Thursday night. The 6-4 guard averaged 12.6 points per game for the Orange last season. Waiters became one of the hot topics for NBA draft gurus this year after he left the NBA draft combine without working out and canceled the remainder of his private workouts and interviews.

Sources have confirmed Internet rumblings that junior swingman Dominic Cheek could be leaving Villanova early for the NBA draft. The Wildcats are already losing junior lead guard Maalik Wayns, their leading scorer at 17-plus points a game and a second-team all-Big East selection. Neither Cheek nor coach Jay Wright, who was out of town recruiting, could be reached for comment. The 6-foot-6 Cheek averaged 12.5 points in 30 minutes per game, both second-best on a team that finished 13-19 and missed the NCAA tournament for the first time since 2004.

Kentucky's starting lineup of three freshmen and two sophomores all declared for the NBA draft in a news conference on Tuesday night. Freshmen Anthony Davis, Michael Kidd-Gilchrist (Somerdale) and Marquis Teague , and sophomores Terrence Jones and Doron Lamb all will enter the NBA together. The group came into the season largely untested before ascending to No. 1, winning the Southeastern Conference, and capping an NCAA tournament run with a 67-59 victory over Kansas in the title game.

NEW YORK - There was the one time, around the holidays, when Brandon Jennings said he thought about coming home. He had defied the college basketball world and defied convention by jumping from high school to European professional basketball, spending his required year of pre-NBA apprenticeship out of earshot of Dick Vitale. He said he was fine with it, positive about it, until Christmas in Italy. "I was on the verge of saying, 'I've had enough of this, I want to go home,' " Jennings said yesterday, on the day before the NBA draft that college coaches everywhere will be watching very carefully.

ORLANDO — Dionte Christmas is a pretty happy soul, with an infectious smile, a hearty laugh and a zest for life that endears many to him. If you want to change that sunny disposition, just mention the date June 25, 2009, to the Temple graduate and he snarls menacingly. That was the date of the NBA draft. Christmas, whom many predicted to be a second-round selection, waited in his Olney home in vain. His name was never called and his road trip to reach his dream job started. There was a training-camp session with the Sixers after his draft snub, but he didn't latch on with the team.

The Cleveland Cavaliers are on top of the NBA draft yet again, only this time there is no LeBron James waiting to save them. There may not even be a Kyrie Irving. The first big NBA draft question was answered Tuesday night when the Cavaliers won the lottery for the second time in three years. But there are still plenty of questions left with a draft that many talent evaluators believe lacks the star power of previous years. And they start right at the top. There is no consensus No. 1 selection.

CHICAGO - There's a thought that Indiana post player Cody Zeller would have gone in the top five of last year's NBA draft. Maybe the 7-footer will still end up as a lottery pick in next month's draft. But choosing to remain in Bloomington for one more year has affected his draft stock. That could entice the 76ers, who will likely have the 11th pick, into drafting him. At least that's what ESPN draft analyst Chad Ford believes. Ford predicts in his mock draft that the franchise, in desperate need of a big man, will select the 230-pounder.

TWO LIKELY lottery picks announced they will give up their college eligibility and enter the NBA draft. Kentucky freshman forward Nerlens Noel and Georgetown sophomore forward Otto Porter Jr. declared their intentions on Monday. The 6-10 Noel is projected by some to be the likely top pick despite sustaining a season-ending torn ACL on Feb. 12. He led the nation with 4.4 blocks per game, and averaged 10.5 points and 9.5 rebounds. Noel also had 50 steals for Kentucky (21-12)

Trey Burke , the Associated Press men's player of the year, is leaving Michigan early for the NBA draft. Burke led Michigan to the NCAA title game as a sophomore. The 6-foot point guard averaged 18.6 points and 6.7 assists per game this season. He made perhaps the most memorable shot of the NCAA tournament, a long three-pointer in the final seconds against Kansas that sent the regional semifinal to overtime. Connecticut's latest victory parade had a French Quarter feel to it. About 10,000 fans lined Hartford's Bushnell Park on a cold and windy Sunday afternoon to cheer the national champion UConn women as they passed by on the top of a double-decker bus, tossing Mardi Gras beads to the crowd.

PHOENIX - It took less than 5 seconds after the Phoenix Suns' practice ended before Markieff Morris was approached by a media member and had to say the five words he has repeated all his life. "I'm not Marcus," he said, shaking his head. "Try again. " But there wasn't a hint of anger, or even annoyance, in his response. The mistake was honest, and the reason was awesome - because "The Twins" are back together once more. Fraternal twins, close friends and basketball teammates from grade school to Prep Charter to Kansas University, Philadelphia's Marcus and Markieff Morris were forced by the 2011 NBA draft to do what no one had done to them before - separate.

Sixers coach Collins knows adversity The Sixers were a wretched 9-73 in 1973, which earned them the very first pick in the NBA draft. On merit. They wound up with Doug Collins. But first they tried to swap him to Chicago. The deal unraveled because of X-rays. Not Doug's. Somebody else's. That was 40 years ago. Collins tells the melancholy story as only he can, names, places, numbers, all recalled with painful accuracy. He lived it, he learned from it, it shaped his core beliefs.

KWAME BROWN was taken with the first overall pick in the 2001 NBA draft with the anticipation and hope that the 6-11, multitalented center could help make the Washington Wizards a prominent member of the Eastern Conference. This edition of Kwame Brown, now 30 years old and with 11 NBA seasons tucked under his various uniforms, isn't the one that brought out fierce emotions with Wizards owner/teammate Michael Jordan. The Brown that the 76ers and coach Doug Collins brought in this summer is one the organization wants to be a premier interior defender, perhaps score some points down low and provide a much-needed physical presence in the paint.

A few years ago, Kwame Brown let go of all the pressure that went along with being the top pick in the NBA draft and never living up to expectations. It has worked out quite well for the burliest member of the 76ers. "You don't survive 12 years thinking about that," said Brown, who in 2001 became the first high-school player ever selected with the first pick in the draft. "I realized that I had outlived guys that were high picks. There were 50th picks that came in that were just solid.

Lavoy Allen 6-foot-9, 255, F-C, Temple, second NBA season, age 23. Allen came on strong late in his rookie season and averaged 6.3 points and 4.9 rebounds in 19.7 minutes during the postseason. He might be the strongest player on the team and can keep defenses honest with a solid medium-range game. Allen is expected to start at center while Andrew Bynum recovers from knee problems. Kwame Brown 6-11, 290, C, Glynn Academy (H.S.), 12th NBA season, age 30. Injuries limited Brown to nine games with Golden State, but he figures to get backup minutes at center.