A funky center gets picked with last of Nets first rounders.
The Brooklyn Nets selected Danny Wolf, a legitimate point center from Michigan and before that Yale with their last first round pick, the 27th.
Wolf, at 21 the oldest of the five firsts, averaged 13.2 points on 50/37/39 to go along with 9.2 and 3.6 assists (but 3.2 turnovers) at Michigan, making All-Big 10 second team. A year ago, while playing for Yale, he averaged almost identical numbers: 14.1 points on 41/35/72 shooting splits to go along with 9.7 rebounds as well as 2.4 assists (but again a high turnover rate of 2.3 per game.) He was first team All-Ivy.
Those turnovers were mostly due ro his role as a playmaker for both the Bulldogs and Wolverines. Jeremy Woo of ESPN in explaining why Wolf could go as high as No. 16, had this to say about him on Wednesday morning.
Wolf has one of the wider ranges in the first round, with interest from several teams in the back half of the lottery as well as several potential landing spots in the top 20, including Memphis, Minnesota and Brooklyn. Washington is another team that could take a chance on him, with his playmaking ability at 7 feet a particularly intriguing experiment on a team that would have minutes to offer him immediately.
Wolf’s uncommon mix of size and skill set has been a polarizing evaluation for many around the NBA, but he has received strong reviews in private workouts, which has seemingly helped to stabilize his draft status.
Wolf was the last Green Room prospect taken Wednesday night.
Like Ben Saraf, Wolf played for Israeli youth teams. He holds dual U.S./Israeli citizenship. Wolf’s Jewish background and heritage allowed him to compete for team Israel as a naturalized citizen. While playing for Israel’s national U20 team, he averaged 17.7 points (second in the tournament), a tournament-high 12.0 rebounds, 2.7 assists and 1.3 blocks per game (ninth); leading team Israel to a second-place silver medal, It was the first time two players with Israeli citizenship were taken in the first round of any NBA Draft.
Most of his highlights feature his passing skills and footwork.