UNLV’s Wood, Vaughn appear headed opposite ways
One way or another, Chris Wood’s day will be memorable. He is prepared to fulfill a dream by hearing his name called in the NBA Draft.
He expects to hear it in the first round. But if he has to wait until the second round, he’s not going to consider it a nightmare.
Two months ago, Wood gambled by leaving UNLV early and entering the draft. If he could do it all over again, the 6-foot-11-inch sophomore forward would play his cards the same way.
“I don’t have any regrets,” Wood said. “I took my time with the decision, thought it through and did what was best for me.”
Wood said he will gather with family and friends in Las Vegas to watch Thursday’s draft at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, N.Y. He is not allowing rumor and speculation to enter his inner circle. There are rumors that his stock is slipping, and speculation is that he’s falling into the middle of the second round. Once a first-round fixture in mock drafts in the media, it’s now hard to find one that projects him there.
Rashad Vaughn, the Rebels’ 6-6 freshman guard, is experiencing the opposite sensation. Once buried in the second round in mock drafts, Vaughn is rising into the first.
“You never know what can happen on draft night,” Vaughn said recently, while making one of several stops around the league for team workouts.
Kentucky center Karl-Anthony Towns is the consensus guess to go No. 1 to the Minnesota Timberwolves, but after that the draft truly is a guessing game full of smoke screens and trade possibilities.
“Vaughn is going up, and Wood is dropping,” a scout for an Eastern Conference team said on the eve of the draft.
Wood has heard the rumors but claims he’s not studying mock drafts and sweating it out.
“I’m not even looking at that. It’s crazy,” Wood said. “I listen to what the GMs and scouts tell me. I got great feedback from teams.”
After working out for about 12 teams, Wood said he’s “very confident” he will be a first-round pick, even “more confident” than he was two months ago.
Wood was the Rebels’ No. 2 scorer (15.7) and leading rebounder (10.0) last season, when he improved his jump shooting and finished with 90 blocked shots in 33 games. His wingspan was measured at 7-3 at the NBA’s draft combine.
The scout, who watched Wood and Vaughn at several UNLV games last season, said he thinks some teams question Wood’s intensity and work ethic in addition to his obvious lack of strength.
“But his potential is there,” the scout said. “The NBA is all about length, and Wood definitely has that, so you have to take that into consideration.”
With two potential first-round picks, UNLV finished 18-15 and missed the postseason. An injury to Vaughn played a part in the Rebels’ demise.
At the high point of the season, Wood scored 24 points and Vaughn 21 in UNLV’s 71-67 victory over No. 3 Arizona on Dec. 23 at the Thomas & Mack Center. The low point for Vaughn came Feb. 10, when he suffered a torn meniscus in his left knee. He still was voted Freshman of the Year by the Mountain West coaches despite missing seven conference games.
Vaughn, a former McDonald’s All-American from Findlay Prep, averaged 17.8 points in 23 games for the Rebels, shooting 38.3 percent (54 of 141) from 3-point range. He is rated as high as the third-best shooting guard in the draft.
Age is working in his favor. Vaughn, who turns 19 in August, is one of the youngest players in the draft. Lingering concerns about his knee might be working against him.
“A bunch of teams have red-flagged Vaughn for his knee,” the scout said. “Some teams will red-flag a kid and take him off the board, but I think Vaughn is definitely a first-round pick.”
Vaughn has been linked to Milwaukee (No. 17), Chicago (No. 22), Cleveland (No. 24), San Antonio (No. 26) and the Los Angeles Lakers (No. 27) in the second half of the first round.
Wood remains confident he helped his cause the past two months.
“I feel like I had great workouts,” he said. “I tried to show everybody I give 100 percent effort. I left it all out there on the floor. I’m not worried at all.”
Contact reporter Matt Youmans at myoumans@reviewjournal.com or 702-387-2907. Follow him on Twitter: @mattyoumans247.
