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Nate Ament has committed to Tennessee basketball and Rick Barnes on Sunday as the highest-rated prospect in Vols history. The 6-foot-9, 185-pound forward is a five-star recruit and the No. 4 prospect in the 247Sports Composite.
NBA exec: Dalton Knecht is a lottery pick
“Dalton Knecht is a lottery pick,” a longtime NBA executive told HoopsHype. “He put up big numbers this year. I think it helped him by going to Tennessee, where Rick Barnes has tried to instill some defensive abilities. He can shoot and score in a multitude of ways.”
TJ Ford: I came into college with this health condition, spinal stenosis, the narrowing of the spinal cord. So, I was seeing doctors right away; I was having some symptoms, but you know, after a little period of months, I felt those symptoms went away and, you know, I was scared to have surgery going into my freshman year that summer. But I decided at the last couple of hours before it was time for me to go in. I asked my Coach Rick Barnes that I felt healthy and that I didn’t need the surgery, more out of fear. And he was like ‘Okay,’ which I wasn’t really expecting a successful career. And then to not have any problems in college… I took some, I took more nasty falls in college than I did in the NBA, but just being able to overcome it, I mean, I had to prove to myself that I could be one of the best basketball players in the world.
Tennessee freshman wing Julian Phillips and senior wing Josiah-Jordan James are testing NBA waters while maintaining their college eligibility, Vols’ coach Rick Barnes announced at the Big Orange Caravan in Nashville Wednesday night. “Both Josiah and Julian are gong through the NBA process,” Barnes said. “That’s why they have to do and it’s a process they have to go through. They’re certainly training for it. We want what’s best for them. That’s just a process they have to go through.”
Jeff Goodman: Providence has come to an agreement with George Mason's Kim English, source told @stadium. English, 34, played prep ball at nearby Notre Dame Prep, starred at Missouri and played briefly in NBA. Was also an assistant for former Providence coach Rick Barnes at Tennessee.
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On Thursday, ESPN overnighted a package to the Bone home in Nashville, sending it to his older brother, Josh Bone, that included a mortarboard and tassel from Tennessee. Sportscenter then rolled a video from Pratt Pavilion showing University of Tennessee Chancellor Donde Plowman and basketball coach Rick Barnes in cap and gown, holding a virtual ceremony for Bone. Underneath the cap and gown, Plowman wore Bone’s Tennessee jersey, while Barnes sported Bone’s No. 18 Detroit Pistons jersey.
Grant Ramsey: Rick Barnes says Admiral Schofield has had three workouts with NBA teams: Brooklyn, Milwaukee, OKC. Sounds like Charlotte is next.
In his newly posted YouTube documentary, "Still KD: Through the Noise," Durant, along with current Warriors general manager/president Bob Myers, plus former coaches Rick Barnes and Scott Brooks, talk about the time leading up to his July 4 decision and respond to critics who believe the forward took the easy way out. "There is no doubt in my mind it was a crushing day for him when he knew the decision he would have to make was to go to Golden State because he would not want anybody there to think he didn't appreciate them." Barnes said. "That he didn't mean every word he had ever spoken when he was there." "Kevin gave nine years to OKC," Brooks said. "It's a long time. And he gave everything he had. The tough decision was made and you grow from it, you learn from it. We had a lot of great moments together."
Presti has been studying Durant, and those questions, for more than a decade. "I don't know if anyone could've done more due diligence on Kevin Durant than Sam Presti did," says Rick Barnes, Durant's coach for his one season at Texas. "I'll never forget him saying to me, 'I've got to get this right. I've got to be right.' "
The Spurs were said to be meeting Aldridge this morning, with Popovich himself joining Duncan and Tony Parker in the group making the pitch. All of this is an amazing show of faith in Aldridge by the Spurs, who generally don't chase big-time free agents, a tactic that seems to go against their culture. Add the fact that one of Aldridge's sons lives in San Antonio, and he has ties to nearby Austin, where he went to the University of Texas (although the school did fire his former coach, Rick Barnes), and you can see why the word "front-runner" gets thrown around about the Spurs in the Aldridge derby.
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Myles Turner, the 6-foot-11 Texas freshman who had a solid-but-unspectacular season in Austin, has declared for the NBA draft via YouYube. Yes, he created a YouTube video to declare he’s leaving Texas early, and he thanked fans, the school, but not Rick Barnes, his coach who just “parted ways” with the school.
Both categories were in question by his own doing, as his two seasons with the Longhorns were riddled with reports that he struggled with poor shot-selection and bad body language. He lost even more ground in that public relations game on draft night, when he reportedly accused Texas coach Rick Barnes of telling NBA teams that he wasn't coachable when asked about the plummeting of his stock. "When it came out on ESPN and things like that, that's not what I said," Hamilton said of his Barnes-related comments. "I said that word probably got out to other teams and other coaches that I probably wasn't coachable, and the writer put out that I said that Rick Barnes said I wasn't coachable and that he called NBA teams and something like that. It was something I wanted to clear up." So does he think Barnes did that deed? "No, not at all," he said. "He knows I wouldn't say anything like that because coach Barnes knows me as a person who wouldn't go and say something about the program."
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