These are busy times for St. John’s coach Steve Lavin.
On Thursday, his former player, Moe Harkless, will likely be selected in the first round of the NBA Draft at The Prudential Center in Newark.
“Looking forward to hearing @moe_harkless name called by NBA’s David Stern [Thursday] night,” Lavin Tweeted Wednesday before he left California for New York.
As reported by SNY.tv this week, Harkless finished up his workouts this week with a pair of tryouts in Golden State on Sunday and Sacramento on Monday.
Having already locked up a strong recruiting class for 2012, Lavin is apparently not done.
St. John’s this week is hosting Christian Jones, a 6-foot-8 2012 power forward from Bradenton (Fla.) IMG Academies who played for their post-graduate team last year.
Originally from Arlington (TX) Bowie High, Jones knows St. John’s guard Phil Greene from his time at IMG and is friendly with Jamal Branch and D’Angelo Harrison from Texas. Branch is a Texas A&M transfer who becomes eligible in December.
Harkless has also been working out at IMG in recent weeks.
Should Jones end up committing, he would fortify a frontcourt that is adding JaKarr Sampson, Orlando Sanchez and Chris Obekpa to a thin front line that returns only God’sgift Achiuwa after Harkless departed.
Chris McCullough, a top 2014 prospect from the Salisbury (Conn.) School, was also on the St. John’s campus Wednesday, although his AAU coach, Terrance “Munch” Williams, said it was “not an unofficial visit.”
As reported here earlier, McCullough will trim his list to five or six at the end of July. Louisville coach Rick Pitino called Williams Wednesday to reaffirm his scholarship offer to McCullough.
Despite reports to the contrary, McCullough has not decided to transfer to Brewster (N.H.) Academy, both Williams and Brewster coach Jason Smith told SNY.tv.
