Wolverine TV podcast: Borton and Crawford make sense of Caleb Houstan's draft process, more
TheWolverine.com’s John Borton is joined by guest Tom Crawford to discuss Caleb Houstan‘s NBA Combine declined invite and other Michigan basketball storylines. The guys also dive into a discussion of Juwan Howard’s recruiting and then the football team.
Watch or listen to the full Michigan discussion below.
What ESPN said about the NBA Combine storylines
For the first time in memory, the NBA has been able to secure full attendance from all of the top prospects currently projected to be drafted, including Chet Holmgren, Jabari Smith and Paolo Banchero, as well as several international players.
Only four draftable players declined invites to Chicago: Yannick Nzosa, whose season ended Sunday in Spain; Kris Murray, who appears to be headed back to Iowa for his junior year; USC’s Isaiah Mobley, whose agency typically has its own draft strategy outside of the combine; and Michigan’s Caleb Houstan, who some NBA teams speculate already has a promise in the first round.
The G League and NBA combines will help provide valuable feedback to the many college players “testing the waters” before deciding whether to keep their names in the June 23 NBA draft or return to school by the June 1 deadline.
On Caleb Houstan and Moussa Diabate’s backgrounds
Houstan, who was a five-star signee and No. 10 prospect in the 2021 recruiting class, started every game at Michigan this season. He averaged 10.1 points, four rebounds and 1.4 assists per game. Houstan shot 38.4% from the field with a 35.5% mark from three-point range. He came into the season as a potential NBA lottery pick but did not appear on draft boards at year’s end.
Diabate was Michigan’s other five-star addition in 2021 and started 26 of 32 games for the Wolverines. He averaged nine points and six rebounds per game while shooting 52.4% from the floor. Like Houstan, Diabate was also considered a potential lottery prospect. He is not present on prospect boards as of this posting.
The NBA Combine takes place from May 16-17 at WinTrust Arena in Chicago. Early entrants have until June 1 to remove themselves from the draft process and return to school.
