NBA Draft 2014: The pool for this year's NBA draft just got even more promising as Kansas' Star Joel Embiid reportedly will enter this year's draft.
This is no longer a big surprise as fans are expecting him to take the next step and turn pro after his freshman year in Kansas.
According to Yahoo Sports' Adrian Wojnarowski, He said that Embiid would soon declare: "Kansas star Joel Embiid - a possible No. 1 overall choice - has decided to enter the June NBA draft, sources told Yahoo Sports. A formal announcement on Embiid's decision is expected soon. In the past week, Embiid has progressed in settling on agent representation, but no final decision has been made, sources said."
Kansas head coach Bill Self also shared his thoughts with Rustin Dodd of The Kansas City Star: "He hasn't said anything to us," Self said via text message. Self previously said there was no timetable for Embiid's decision, while Embiid said he would consult with his family, coaches and mentor, Luc Richard Mbah a Moute, a veteran forward with the Minnesota Timberwolves.
Embiid began as an under the radar prospect and was overshadowed by much hyped prospects like Andrew Wiggins, who is his teammate in Kansas, Duke's Jabari Parker, Kentucky's Julius Randle, and Oklahoma State's Marcus Smart. But as the season progressed, Embiid has firmly established himself as a contender for the No. 1 overall pick in June after averaging 11.2 points, 8.1 rebounds, 1.4 assists, 2.6 blocks and 0.9 steals per contest on 62.6 percent shooting.
Although Wiggins is the favorite to be the Number one pick, critics say that Embiid is the only potential franchise player among the names mentioned above.
It is worth mentioning that Embiid only started playing basketball for three years, yet, his skills are rapidly improving by the day, even the moves he is putting on is quite impressive and as many says, resembles Hakeem "The Dream" Olajuwon.
Not to keep anyone's hope up, but there are project centers whose game did not translate to the NBA, best example would be Hasheem Thabeet, a physical specimen who was highly touted to be the next big thing, but it turned out his game cannot match the NBA competition. He and Embiid, has something in common, they only began playing basketball no longer than 5 years before making the jump to the NBA.
No one knows until we see Embiid step into an NBA arena. For now, we will leave you with a scouting video courtesy of Draftexpress.com:
