2010 NBA Draft Early Entry List Excitingly Expansive

by Scott Schroeder on Apr 30, 2025 7:01 PM EDT in NBA Draft 2010 Comment 25 comments

This is John Wall pondering if he should become an NBA Draft Early Entry candidate. He decided yes.

The 2010 NBA Draft early entry candidate list came out Thursday, but we just switched over to draft coverage today.

As you probably know, the NBA Draft allows for sixty players to be drafted.

As you probably didn't know, there are 117 early-entry candidates ranging from the can't miss to the can't play to the can't pronounce:

John Wall, the all-but-consensus number one overall pick from Kentucky
John Sloan, a player from Huntingdon College who didn't start a single game
Donatas Motiejunas, seemingly the only European that has first round prospects
Sarra Camara, a big man from France I know nothing about - but I say his name like it rhymes
Tyler Smith, former Tennessee Vol who was dismissed from the program in January
Alex Pledger, the tallest athlete in New Zealand sport (he's been on my radar for awhile)
D-Leaguer Latavious Williams, who had to rocket up big boards after last week's Finals
Jeremy Wise, the forgotten NBA Draft prospect from the D-League (Lots of coverage planned for him)

Hopefully 60% of these guys pull out or they're in for some rude awakenings.

After the jump, the complete list from NBA.com as well as the also-rans from Draft Express! I also went through and provided links for the non-college players, just in case you were curious.

COLLEGE

Player	School	Height	Status
Solomon Alabi	Florida St.	7-1	Sophomore
Cole Aldrich	Kansas	6-11	Junior
Lavoy Allen	Temple	6-9	Junior
Al-Farouq Aminu	Wake Forest	6-9	Sophomore
James Anderson	Oklahoma St.	6-6	Junior
Kevin Anderson	Richmond	6-0	Junior
Luke Babbitt	Nevada	6-9	Sophomore
Armon Bassett	Ohio	6-2	Junior
Talor Battle	Penn St.	6-0	Junior
Keith Benson	Oakland	6-11	Junior
Eric Bledsoe	Kentucky	6-1	Freshman
Anatoly Bose	Nicholls St.	6-6	Junior
Dee Bost	Mississippi St.	6-2	Sophomore
Craig Brackins	Iowa St.	6-10	Junior
Avery Bradley	Texas	6-2	Freshman
Carlon Brown	Utah	6-5	Junior
Derrick Caracter	UTEP	6-9	Junior
DeMarcus Cousins	Kentucky	6-11	Freshman
Jordan Crawford	Xavier	6-4	Sophomore
Ed Davis	North Carolina	6-10 Sophomore
Mike Davis	Illinois	6-9	Junior
Paul Davis	Winston-Salem St.	6-9	Junior
Malcolm Delaney	Virginia Tech	6-3	Junior
Devin Ebanks	West Virginia	6-9	Sophomore
Kenneth Faried	Morehead St.	6-8	Junior
Derrick Favors	Georgia Tech	6-10	Freshman
Courtney Fortson	Arkansas	5-11	Sophomore
Jimmer Fredette	BYU	6-2	Junior
Keith Tiny Gallon	Oklahoma	6-9	Freshman
Charles Garcia	Seattle	6-10	Junior
Paul George	Fresno State	6-8	Sophomore
Anthony Gurley	Massachusetts	6-3	Junior
Manny Harris	Michigan	6-5	Junior
Gordon Hayward	Butler	6-9	Sophomore
Jeremy Hazell	Seton Hall	6-5	Junior
Xavier Henry	Kansas	6-6	Freshman
Darington Hobson	New Mexico	6-7	Junior
Adnan Hodzic	Lipscomb	6-8	Junior
Armon Johnson	Nevada	6-3	Junior
JaJuan Johnson	Purdue	6-10	Junior
Ravern Johnson	Mississippi St.	6-7	Junior
Wesley Johnson	Syracuse	6-7	Junior
Cameron Jones	Northern Arizona	6-4	Junior
Dominique Jones	South Florida	6-4	Junior
Mac Koshwal	DePaul	6-10	Junior
Sylven Landesberg	Virginia	6-6	Sophomore
Gani Lawal	Georgia Tech	6-9	Junior
Kenny Lawson	Creighton	6-9	Junior
Tommy Mason-Griffin	Oklahoma	5-11	Freshman
Demetri McCamey	Illinois	6-3	Junior
Elijah Millsap	UAB	6-6	Junior
Greg Monroe	Georgetown	6-10	Sophomore
ETwaun Moore	Purdue	6-4	Junior
Arnett Moultrie	UTEP	6-11	Sophomore
A.J. Ogilvy	Vanderbilt	6-11	Junior
Daniel Orton	Kentucky	6-10	Freshman
Patrick Patterson	Kentucky	6-9	Junior
Rico Pickett	Manhattan	6-4	Junior
Eniel Polynice	Mississippi	6-5	Junior
Herb Pope	Seton Hall	6-8	Sophomore
Jeff Robinson	Seton Hall	6-6	Junior
Samardo Samuels	Louisville	6-9	Sophomore
Larry Sanders	VCU	6-11	Junior
John Sloan	Huntingdon (AL)	5-11	Junior
Tracy Smith	N.C. State	6-8	Junior
Lance Stephenson	Cincinnati	6-5	Freshman
Lazar Trifunovic	Radford	6-8	Junior
Evan Turner	Ohio St.	6-7	Junior
Alex Tyus	Florida	6-8	Junior
Ekpe Udoh	Baylor	6-10	Junior
John Wall	Kentucky	6-4	Freshman
Willie Warren	Oklahoma	6-4	Sophomore
Quinton Watkins	San Diego St.	6-3	Freshman
C.J. Webster	San Jose St.	6-9	Junior
Terrico White	Mississippi	6-5	Sophomore
Hassan Whiteside	Marshall	7-0	Freshman
Elliot Williams	Memphis	6-5	Sophomore
Stevy Worah-Ozimo	Slippery Rock	6-8	Junior
Chris Wright	Dayton	6-8	Junior
Jahmar Young	New Mexico St.	6-5	Junior

INTERNATIONAL

Player	Team (Country*)	Height	Year of Birth
Pablo Aguilar	Granada (Spain)	6-8	1989
Andrew Albicy	Paris-Levallois (France)	5-10	1990
Robin Benzing	Ratiopharm Ulm (Germany)	6-10	1989
Stefan Bircevic	Metalac (Serbia)	6-10	1989
Bojan Bogdanovic	Cibona (Croatia)	6-8	1989
Sarra Camara	Le Havre (France)	6-9	1989
Antoine Diot	Le Mans (France)	6-3	1989
Bangaly Fofana	ASVEL (France)	7-0	1989
Miralem Halilovic	Sloboda Dita (Bosnia)	6-9	1991
Thomas Heurtel	Strasbourg (France)	6-2	1989
Edwin Jackson	Rouen (France)	6-3	1989
Dusan Korac	Centar (Montenegro)	6-11	1991
Mindaugas Kuzminskas	Siauliai (Lithuania)	6-9	1989
Luc Louves	Maurienne (France)	6-10	1989
Uros Lukovic	Radnicki Basket (Serbia)	7-0	1989
Donatas Motiejunas	Benetton Treviso (Italy)	7-0	1990
Tomasz Nowakowski	Luka Koper (Slovenia)	6-10	1990
Tibor Pleiss	Brose Baskets (Germany)	7-0	1989
Xavier Rabaseda	FC Barcelona (Spain)	6-7	1989
Fernando Raposo	Pau Orthez (France)	6-9	1989
Ryan Richards	Gran Canaria (Spain)	7-0	1991
Kevin Sraphin	Cholet (France)	6-9	1989
Semen Shashkov	Ural Ekaterinburg (Russia)	6-7	1989

"Also-Eligible" Prospects (From DraftExpress.com)

Player	College	Height	Professional Team
Jason Bennett	Kansas State / Detroit Mercy	7-3	Neptune Cork (Ireland)
Brandon Brown	Cal State-San Bernardino	6-7	SKK Kotwica (Poland)
Kyle Dodd	Eastern Michigan	6-11	Essex Pirates (UK)
Josh Dollard	Auburn / South Carolina-Aiken	6-8	Geneva Devils (Switzerland)
Jerrell Houston	Mississippi State / Tennessee State	6-8	Iserlohn Kangaroos (Germany)
Troy Jackson	Alcorn State	6-4	Vermont Frost Heaves (PBL)
Terrence Oglesby	Clemson	6-4	C.B Tarragona 2016 (Spain)
Karolis Petrukonis	Clemson	6-11	Techasas (Lithuania)
Alex Pledger	Belmont Abbey	7-1	New Zealand Breakers
Martynas Pocius	Duke	6-5	Zalgiris Kaunas (Lithuania)
Tyler Smith	Tennessee	6-7	Bornova BLD (Turkey)
Lucca Staiger	Iowa State	6-5	ALBA Berlin (Germany)
Latavious Williams	Christian Life Academy (High School)	6-8	Tulsa 66ers (D-League)
Jeremy Wise	Southern Miss	6-1	Bakersfield Jam (D-League)

0 recs | Comment 25 comments | Add comment | Share

Story-email Email Printer Print

Comments

Really surprised Moultrie is coming out — he’s a fringe first rounder at best, but if he hung around he could’ve been lottery if he shined without Caracter and Culpepper.

Also, Kevin Seraphin has an outside shot at the first round too, in terms of international guys. Some guys that are leaving early (Mike Davis, Tracy Smith, Elijah Millsap) area doing it just to go overseas or the D-League because they need the money now — there’s no chance they think they’re draftable.

Kenneth Faried is a guy I’d really like to see succeed, for more than just because it rhymes.

Liberty Ballers / Ridiculous Upside / TAFKAMikeBourn

by TheArtistFormerlyKnownAsMichaelBourn on Apr 30, 2025 7:33 PM EDT reply actions

Millsap might have a chance

He’s planning on working out with Bob Hill, one of my favorite development coaches.
I forgot about Seraphin - mostly because I’ve never watched him.
I don’t know about Faried… I think he’ll end up pulling out. Right now, he seems like a call-up guy from the D-League to me.

I blog at Ridiculous Upside. I know you'll love it.

by Scott Schroeder on Apr 30, 2025 8:07 PM EDT up reply actions

That is a long list of humans

Beadlemaniacs - Award winning* college basketball blog (new and improved!)
College Hockey!

by fetch9 on Apr 30, 2025 7:42 PM EDT reply actions

Hopefully

For their sake, it gets pared down quite a bit in the next week and a half.

I blog at Ridiculous Upside. I know you'll love it.

by Scott Schroeder on Apr 30, 2025 8:08 PM EDT up reply actions

Aliens would have a better shot making it in the pros. Wingspan and all that.

Liberty Ballers / Ridiculous Upside / TAFKAMikeBourn

by TheArtistFormerlyKnownAsMichaelBourn on Apr 30, 2025 8:32 PM EDT up reply actions

Basketball IQ?

I blog at Ridiculous Upside. I know you'll love it.

by Scott Schroeder on Apr 30, 2025 9:10 PM EDT up reply actions

Artificial Intelligence > IQ

Liberty Ballers / Ridiculous Upside / TAFKAMikeBourn

by TheArtistFormerlyKnownAsMichaelBourn on Apr 30, 2025 9:21 PM EDT up reply actions

more than 2 arms > both of those

Beadlemaniacs - Award winning* college basketball blog (new and improved!)
College Hockey!

by fetch9 on Apr 30, 2025 9:27 PM EDT up reply actions

I understand

wanting to come out now if there’s going to be a lockout but some of these guys couldn’t hack it in Europe

Beadlemaniacs - Award winning* college basketball blog (new and improved!)
College Hockey!

by fetch9 on Apr 30, 2025 9:28 PM EDT reply actions

But seriously

What’s the point of leaving college early, even if you can hack it in Europe?
I understand the lockout talk, but I don’t think it should affect their decision-making this much.

I blog at Ridiculous Upside. I know you'll love it.

by Scott Schroeder on Apr 30, 2025 9:43 PM EDT up reply actions

money.

Liberty Ballers / Ridiculous Upside / TAFKAMikeBourn

by TheArtistFormerlyKnownAsMichaelBourn on May 1, 2025 9:22 AM EDT up reply actions

STAY IN SCHOOL

I really think that most of the guys on the list need to stay in college because they aren’t ready to play in the NBA yet. I think getting a FREE education and gaining the maturity and skills that they need to be sucessful in the NBA is what they should be worrying about. When I read that Ebanks wanted to declare for the draft as a sophomore I thought that was crazy. He’s good but not ready. I am also SICK of college being used as a Minor League for athletes. I am going to be paying back student loans forever and they can’t even finish something offered to them for Free.

by WVUFan20 on May 1, 2025 12:21 PM EDT up reply actions

As a Nuggets fan who's team has numerous headcases...

I agree that NBA players should get a college degree before going to the league, but many other fans and many of the players would disagree with me.

"Left hand, right hand, it doesn't matter. I'm amphibious." - Charles Shackleford
"He’s a stiff." - The Legendary Doug Moe
"We have a great bunch of outside shooters. Unfortunately, all our games are played indoors." - Weldon Drew
"I really didn't want it, but now that I've won it, it's nice. It's an honor. It's nice to know people don't think you're a total idiot. ... It must have been a poor year for coaches." - Doug Moe...talking about winning 1987-88 Coach of the Year award.
"Keep your head up and don't let anything get to you." - Dante Bichette Jr.
#3 + #6 + #15 + #1 = #25

by LACK on May 1, 2025 7:17 PM EDT up reply actions

As someone who runs a college basketball blog (shameless plug) I agree, but

college is always going to be there. If the average player can only play pro ball (even European ball) until he’s 30 (obviously for some people it’s more and some less, but we’ll say 30) then it makes total sense to come out and make money while you can. You can always go back to finish.

Beadlemaniacs - Award winning* college basketball blog (new and improved!)
College Hockey!

by fetch9 on May 1, 2025 8:26 PM EDT up reply actions

I'm assuming money

and not money for them, as they obviously have a free ride, but for their family. The only reason (pretty much) that Cole Aldrich came out is cause his family is dirt poor.

Then again, Cole is leaving for millions of dollars while most of these people are leaving for thousands, but good European players get a lot of money too right?

Beadlemaniacs - Award winning* college basketball blog (new and improved!)
College Hockey!

by fetch9 on May 1, 2025 12:56 PM EDT up reply actions

Good European players

But I don’t think that many rookies that aren’t in the top 60 of their draft class are considered good Euro players.
For instance, Brandon Jennings made $1.2 million with salary and endorsements - and I have to assume a large portion of that was endorsements.
Jeremy Tyler got paid $140k this season and he was probably on par with the underclassmen going to Europe.
I guess that’s (assumedly) a lot more than they’re making in college but still think the prospects of waiting a year with the possibility of being drafted is more appealing.

I blog at Ridiculous Upside. I know you'll love it.

by Scott Schroeder on May 1, 2025 1:24 PM EDT up reply actions

Fair enough

I really had no idea how much guys who go to Europe get paid.

On the other hand though, if you’re a guy on that list who won’t get drafted after your Senior year, another year or two of 100k is probably worth it to come out early.

Beadlemaniacs - Award winning* college basketball blog (new and improved!)
College Hockey!

by fetch9 on May 1, 2025 1:35 PM EDT up reply actions

That's a good point

If you really don’t think you’re going to get drafted (even with a year or two extra in college), you’re probably better off hitting the European ranks - or even the D-League for a transitional season.

I blog at Ridiculous Upside. I know you'll love it.

by Scott Schroeder on May 1, 2025 1:47 PM EDT up reply actions

DLeague has tougher players that play a more similar system to the NBA than Euro ball

But Euro ball pays much better. Both have their plusses and minuses

by LACK on May 1, 2025 7:16 PM EDT up reply actions

That's what I was going for with the transitional season

Play a year in the D-League and hope for a call-up. If it doesn’t happen, head to Europe and make your money.

I write about basketball players with Ridiculous Upside. I know you'll love it.

by Scott Schroeder on May 1, 2025 7:17 PM EDT up reply actions

Yep

I just hate how so many people see the DLeague as the crap league. So many people were laughing at Hasheem Thabeet and the Grizzlies when they sent him down for a week because he’s the highest draft pick ever to go to the Developmental League, but it really helped him, and since the Grizzlies are set for the short term at center another month or two of DLeague ball would be really good for him. The DLeague is to the NBA like Triple-A baseball is to the MLB. It shouldn’t be a shame being sent to the DLeague if you’re a raw rookie, but many people that I know are making seem like it is.

by LACK on May 1, 2025 7:20 PM EDT up reply actions