
UCLA's Kobe Johnson projected as top-80 prospect for 2025 NBA draft
The big story of draft week is not Kobe Johnson, but Rutgers prospect Ace Bailey dropping on everyone's draft board, as For The Win reports:
"There is a lot to unpack about why Ace Bailey's draft stock is apparently plummeting lately, especially after he measured a bit shorter than expected at the 2025 NBA Draft Combine.
"While this is much lower than where he was projected in our latest consensus rankings at No. 3 overall earlier this month, fans shouldn't expect him to fall much lower than this (No. 8). It's possible that Bailey's representation wants him to land in a big market where he can get a lot of playing time, and the Nets would provide exactly that."
Kobe Johnson will almost certainly get his big chance to impress an NBA team at summer league ball. One team is likely to take a chance on him with a contract after the conclusion of the draft this Friday. Stay tuned.

Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Yahoo
11 minutes ago
- Yahoo
Damian Lillard talks time in Milwaukee, return home to Portland
Damian Lillard was always going to retire and enter the Hall of Fame as a Portland Trail Blazer, but his return to the city ended up happening much sooner than expected. After Lillard tore his Achilles in an April playoff game, and with rumors of Giannis Antetokounmpo's frustration growing, Milwaukee shocked the league by agreeing to waive and stretch Lillard, buying him out and making him a free agent. That cleared his path to a return to Portland. In recent interviews, Lillard spoke about all of it. When discussing his tenure with the Bucks, injuries were the main topic — Antetokounmpo missing Lillard's first playoffs with the team, then this year with his Achilles — with Jim Owczarski of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. "I think you gotta be a little bit lucky to win big. You gotta be healthy and you gotta be playing your best at the right time and I think we just had bad luck." He also talked about loving the experience of playing alongside Antetokounmpo, despite some criticism of his production and play. "But I think Giannis and I, we was the highest-scoring duo during that time. We won a [NBA] Cup. I think a lot of people for me personally was like, we want to see Dame do this and Dame do that, but I'm playing with a 30-plus point per game scorer, a guy who plays with the ball in his hands the same way I've done my whole career. He's aggressive and attacking and I still managed to score 25 points per game and seven assists over my two years pretty much. So I think it's kind of unfair how people was like Dame (isn't the same) because of the way I played in Portland. I had the ball all the time, so it just looked different. But I think for how productive I actually was I think it's been viewed unfairly." Now, Lillard is just happy to be home, as he told Anne M. Peterson of the Associated Press. "Just knowing that I'm going to be back home for all parts of my life, with my kids, playing for the Trail Blazers, driving on the same streets that I've driven on pretty much my entire adulthood, my whole family being here, my mom, my brother, my sisters, all my friends around the city of Portland," he said. "All of those things count. I wasn't expecting it to happen so soon." It did. He is going to spend this season more as an assistant coach working with young guards like Scoot Henderson, Shaedon Sharpe and Toumani Camara. He will join them in the rotation in a year. For now, he's just happy to be home.


USA Today
12 minutes ago
- USA Today
Carmelo Anthony on what Shai Gilgeous-Alexander's ring means to mid-range truthers
Watching the Oklahoma City Thunder complete one of the greatest seasons ever with an NBA championship, Carmelo Anthony and DeMar DeRozan were secretly rooting for Shai Gilgeous-Alexander to win a ring to push their agendas. For years now, Anthony and DeRozan have seen the mid-range jumper on the brink of extinction. It's an endangered shot attempt. Most front offices are analytically savvy enough to understand it's a bad shot for most of the league. Instead, volume increases on layups and 3-pointers have taken over the NBA. But there are always exceptions to the rules. The three players above fit in that category for mid-range jumpers. Gilgeous-Alexander had one of the greatest individual seasons ever because of his mid-range jumper. The MVP, Conference Finals MVP and NBA Finals MVP brought home a scoring title because of his heavy within-the-perimeter scoring attack. Gilgeous-Alexander averaged 32.7 points on 51.9% shooting. It was his third straight superb-efficient 30-plus point campaign. What makes it even more impressive is how he got to those numbers. If you look at his shot chart, it's all drives to the basket and mid-range jumpers. His outside shot has always looked pedestrian, but that's irrelevant for the NBA's best shot-creator. Anthony sees the value in that. He feels vindicated for vouching for the mid-range jumper his entire life after carving out a Hall of Fame career out of taking those types of shots to be known as one of the greatest scorers of his era. He talked about Gilgeous-Alexander's championship and what it means for mid-range truthers on his "7PM in Brooklyn" podcast. "Any championship team, they win the game in the mid-range. I don't give a f--- who it is. I don't care how many threes you shoot. When it comes down to it, you have to get a bucket," Anthony said. "Your three ain't always going to be there. You ain't always going to be able to get to the rack. If you have a middy, you're dangerous. Shai is dangerous because he plays for taking the best shot." Anthony argued that the mid-range jumper is the most reliable shot to take. The outside shot is naturally volatile and defenses can eliminate driving lanes to the basket with either active perimeter defenders that stay in front of you or gigantic rim-protectors who will go up and contest your shot. "It ain't about numbers or shooting the trey. It's about taking the best shot. If you back off, I'm pulling. If I'm in the paint, I get here and this shot is wide open, I'm taking this shot," Anthony said. "And just so happened, he started to master that mid-range when it comes to using his body, knowing his space, knowing where to get at, knowing angles. He's playing off of angles." Anthony then discussed the science of the mid-range jumper. He broke down how relevant geometry is to hunting out mid-range shots. It's always fascinating to hear an expert break down what they know best in their field. For Anthony, it's the art of taking a contested jumper. "The middy is all about angles," Anthony said. "If I get this angle and I get this shoulder on it, there's nothing you can do about it. If you bite back, I'm gonna shot fake and you're done." While the rest of the NBA has taken a layups-or-3-pointers approach, Gilgeous-Alexander has zagged with the mid-range jumper. Being able to knock down tough shots despite defenders all over him is what's separated him from being a good scorer to one of the best all-time players. Now, it's won him an NBA championship with plenty more room to grow.


USA Today
12 minutes ago
- USA Today
ESPN analyst believes Lamar Jackson is getting closer to a legacy few will ever match
Longtime ESPN voice believes Ravens star Lamar Jackson is on the cusp of immortality They just don't make them like that anymore... Oh yeah! You remember hearing that a time or two. That's one of those nuggets you probably heard while hanging out with dad (or maybe grandad). It was a phrase meant to show appreciation for the 'good old days, when cars were better built and sofas didn't tear up because you sat on them. They don't make them like Baltimore Ravens star Lamar Jackson either. He's a walking evolution at the quarterback position. He's this generation's Randall Cunningham, a right-handed Steve Young or Michael Vick. 'Action Jackson' is special, and he can still play at a high level for several more years. That's good news for Ravens fans everywhere. But, is Lamar Jackson approaching immortality? Jackson's story is still being written, and it's too early to make determinations about when and how it ends. All we can guarantee is this. If he adds another MVP trophy and wins a Super Bowl or two, we'll be talking about Canton and his Pro Football Hall of Fame argument. Recently, the most unique and compelling of words was attached to his name: immortal. Hmmm... It sounds interesting. Don't blame us. Blame ESPN's Mike Greenberg. He's the one who brought this up. Here's what he said on the subject. "For Lamar and Josh Allen, what they're playing for is immortality. Both of them could retire tomorrow, and they'd be in the Hall of Fame. But, if either of them, and we'll use Lamar in this case because that's who we're talking about, wins a championship, all of a sudden he vaults into that place where the conversation on shows like this one are, 'Where does he belong on the list with the great quarterbacks of all time?' Two regular-season MVPs and a Super Bowl starts that conversation." It's interesting... We'll tell you that. Still, nothing says 'immortal' like having one's bust carved and having it placed in the hallowed football shrine in Canton. Jackson has a chance at having that happen. Winning a Lombardi Trophy will certainly help his argument. There are Super Bowl winners who were never enshrined. There are HOF enshrinees who never won 'the chip'. The AFC is loaded, but this season represents Jackson's best opportunity to win a ring. Let that be his and the Ravens' goal this season. Immortality can wait, even if we can make successful arguments for why he's on his way to arriving there.