Update from Chad Ford:
Now hearing Jazz will spend all day with Enes Kanter on June 2nd in Chicago. Will see him workout + interview. He's not dodging Jazz.
Noooooo! Now what will we complain about?
According to ESPN's Andy Katz, Enes Kanter missed interviews today with representatives from the Jazz, Raptors, and Bucks.
That's quite a shock given that he's within the range of all of those teams, especially the Jazz and Raptors who pick in the top 5. He's stated that his first choice is to play in Washington with friend and fellow Wildcat John Wall. The Wizards don't pick until 6, so he could still be there as well. I don't know if he falls past the Cavaliers though at #4.
Yesterday when asked what teams he would like to play for, he listed Toronto, Washington, and Cleveland, but not Utah. I didn't think too much of it at the time, but this news brings a little bit of light to the situation yesterday.
Ryan Feldman from The Hoops Report asked him why he doesn't prefer the Jazz and he just said that he likes every team. Very odd.
This isn't the first time that a player in the draft has stated that he wants to play for a specific team. It is odd though that he wouldn't at least interview with them. Ross Siler points out that not interviewing is a pretty extreme thing to do in the combine. Does he have assurances from Cleveland or Minnesota? Is he just trying to dissuade all the teams above Washington from drafting him?
I don't want this to sound like a "good, we didn't like you anyway" kind of statement, but I would be relieved if the Jazz didn't draft him. Short of landing Derrick Williams, they're leaning towards a point guard anyway. To me, Kanter seems to have the biggest bust potential.
I also wonder if there's mutual interest from Washington. If there is, you can bet that they're going to have to pay to get Kanter. In a way Kanter's statements may have hurt the Wizards. If teams know that he'll only play for Washington, someone above could pick him for them but require the 6th pick and some other asset in return. They may have had to do that anyway if they were after him, but this almost assures it.