Later this week the NBA will release the official list of early-entry candidates who had until midnight Sunday to make themselves eligible for the June 26 NBA draft.
With that business done, some on the list can begin preparing for their senior proms.
This year’s crop of players attempting to make the no-longer-rare jump from high school to the pros doesn’t rival in size or stature that from last year, when a record six such players declared and four of them were drafted in the first eight picks.
But the four players who have forfeited their college eligibility speaks to the changing nature of the draft, not to mention the job of a general manager.
“It’s much harder,” Bulls GM Jerry Krause said. “When I took this job 17 years ago the hardship draft was used very sparingly and there were no high school kids, no junior college kids and only one or two foreign players in the league. You’re still looking for the same things. You’re just scouting more people.”
Duke point guard Jay Williams, Duke swingman Mike Dunleavy and Chinese center Yao Ming have been scouted by everybody and are early-entry candidates who are expected to be top picks.
The Bulls’ draft position will be determined Sunday at the league’s annual draft lottery in Secaucus, N.J. The Bulls have a 22.5 percent chance at landing the top pick, a 20.3 percent chance to pick No. 2 and a 17.63 percent chance to nab the third selection. They can draft no worse than fifth and also have two second-round picks.
Currently, 37 early-entry candidates have publicly declared their intentions to enter the draft. By the time the last-minute, postmarked letters are received and the league’s legal department work is done, that number will approach 50.
If they haven’t hired an agent, college underclassmen can retain eligibility by withdrawing from the draft by June 19. By then, the Bulls will have conducted individual draft workouts and scouted the NBA predraft camp June 4-7 at Moody Bible Institute.
Toe the line: Eddie Robinson received a second opinion on the sesamoid fracture in his big left toe that limited the forward to 29 games last season. Krause said Robinson’s doctor supported a Bulls physician’s prognosis that rest, not surgery, will have him fully healed for next season.
Uprooted Oak: Now that his one-year Bulls stint is over, Charles Oakley is telling friends and associates he’d most like to play for Orlando, Philadelphia or the Lakers next season. Magic swingman Tracy McGrady, a teammate of Oakley’s in Toronto, is already lobbying for the 38-year-old veteran free agent.
