Reports are slowly rolling in from the LeBron James Skill Academy out in Las Vegas, where Tony Mitchell is playing — and apparently really helping his stock in next year’s draft.
UNT’s old friend Fran Fraschilla, who interviewed for the job that went to Tony Benford, weighed in with the following on Twitter in the last day:
Fran Fraschilla@franfraschilla
UNT’s Tony Mitchell has helped his stock with NBA people here at LeBron James. His rebounding alone make him 1st rounder but will go higher.
Mitchell had a layer of rust on him that would rival a junkyard Studebaker when he first started playing for UNT last season, but he keeps getting better and better.
And that isn’t going to change. He’s just that talented. And it hasn’t hurt that he has had some good influences from summers spent with USA basketball to working with Johnny Jones and his staff to now working with Tony Benford and his crew.
It sounds more and more like Mitchell could end up being a lottery pick, especially if he shows a good mid-range game and improves his post play this season.
A little good publicity never hurts, especially for a program like UNT.