Draft workouts: Questions on UCLA's Looney, UNLV's Vaughn impresses
SANTA MONICA, Calif. -- Over the weekend, I continued watching a number of top NBA draft prospects working out in California.
A large number of NBA scouts and general managers attended the workouts, which consisted mainly of ballhandling and shooting drills. Unfortunately, there were no 3-on-3 drills this time.
Here's a quick look at who stood out:
Kevon Looney, F, Fr., UCLA
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Looney might be the single hardest player in the draft to get a good read on right now. As I noted last week in my latest Big Board update, some teams have him ranked in the top 10, a few in the 30s.
Nothing myself or the NBA execs and scouts in the gym saw in L.A. on Friday afternoon will likely sway either camp. Looney went through a number of drills led by trainer Chris Farr (the same guy who put Damian Lillard through the single best pre-draft workout I've ever seen).
Looney's workout didn't look like Lillard's (though to be fair, I've never seen another workout that's come close). He shot the ball really well from NBA 3 in warm-ups, but less so in the actual workout. He showed off his versatility handling the ball and shooting off the bounce, which excited many scouts. But he also showed several characteristics that make other scouts leery. While the workout itself was fast-paced, Looney clearly was fatigued at the end.
"I didn't shoot it as good as I wanted to, but that's all right," Looney told ESPN.com. "In my first week, I did terrible [referring to his workouts with Farr] and I almost passed out. But since then, I've been getting better. I love Chris for that. He's getting me into the best shape of my life."
Looney's been focusing heavily on conditioning, including daily yoga sessions, to gain more flexibility, after drawing some criticism from NBA teams for sometimes seeming winded when he was out there. He has a better excuse than some. Last year, Looney injured his right hip flexor and was unable to practice with the UCLA team right up until the start of the 2014-15 season. The injury not only kept him from working out, but it also took away some of his flexibility, making him appear a little more stiff than he actually was. His agent also said Looney suffers from a form of "sports asthma" that requires him to use an inhaler before games (something easily treated in the NBA, several GMs told me). Considering all of that, perhaps Looney's perceived lack of energy and the criticism from scouts all season was a bit unwarranted.
"It affected me a lot," Looney said in reference to his hip injury. "When I got to UCLA, I couldn't practice with the team and learn a new system. And I couldn't come into the season in game shape. At the beginning of the season, it was still sore. I had to miss a lot of practice. I had to try to play my way into shape. I did extra running throughout the season, but it's hard when your body starts breaking down. As the season went on, I felt stronger and more confident."
Teams will take a close look at Looney's hip after receiving the results of the medical examinations at the NBA draft combine. While they refused to go into detail or to express how concerned they were until their doctors had more closely examined the details of the report, there was concern that the hip never fully healed. Looney's agent, Aaron Goodwin, said that the hip won't be an issue in the long run. "It's being treated and is getting better and stronger."
Interestingly, flexibility has proved to pose another issue for Looney and his draft stock.
Looney played point guard for his high school team and power forward in his only season at UCLA. That's quite a range and one of the questions that has followed him. What position, exactly, does Looney play?
His numbers this season suggest power forward is the way to go. He led all freshmen in the NCAA in double-doubles and nearly averaged a double-double for the season. But his thin frame and perimeter skills suggest maybe the 3 is his best position. That's partly why NBA teams are having a hard time getting their arms around him.
"It's always been hard for me to answer, too," Looney said. "In high school, I would've said small forward for sure. But since this year, I say power forward now. Especially since I've been playing power forward for the whole year and haven't had a chance to play against elite wings."
The one thing Looney does bring to the table now? Rebounding. And rebounding, it turns out, is one of the few stats that typically translates from college to the pros.
"I've always loved [rebounding]," Looney said. "Being a skinnier guy, in high school the bigs would always try to punk me. I took pride in going over them, getting rebounds and putting in putback dunks on them."
After the workouts, the opinions from multiple NBA folks I spoke to remained divided.
"What does he do that translates?" one NBA scout said. "He can't run, he can't shoot and he has no motor. No thanks."
"I think he's getting in a lot better shape," one NBA exec said. "He didn't hit a lot of his shots today, but I think with a little tweak on his form, he's going to be a good shooter. No one's going to be able to block it. He's a really good kid. Everyone raves about him. He'll be a hard worker, and in a couple of years, when he gets things figured out, people will regret letting him slide."
Rashad Vaughn, SG, Fr., UNLV
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Vaughn had the best workout I've seen the past few weeks on the road. Crammed into the Boys & Girls Club in Santa Monica along with 150 scouts lining the walls, he put on a shooting show, effortlessly knocking down shots from everywhere on the floor, outshooting two of the better shooters in the draft -- Notre Dame's Pat Connaughton and Stanford's Anthony Brown.
"The kid was on fire," one GM said. "I love the energy that he attacked the workout with. He's out to prove something. I saw him standing on the sidelines before it was his time to go in and he looked like a tiger stalking his prey. He was ready."
It wasn't only shooting that made Vaughn shine. Vaughn was in great shape, showed off more athletic explosion than he's shown in a while and quieted some concerns about the left knee he injured toward the end of the season.
Vaughn was the highest first-round riser on our Big Board after the NBA draft combine. And he continued that elevation here. While he doesn't have elite length or athleticism for the position and had an unusually high turnover rate, he's one of the best shooters among the 2-guards.
He shot 43 percent on 2-point jumpers and 38 percent from 3. He averaged nearly 18 PPG as a freshman in the Mountain West and put up 30-plus-point games against Utah State and Colorado State before the knee injury ended his season early.
With so few quality 2-guards in the draft (just Devin Booker and R.J. Hunter are ahead of him on the Big Board) he's got a great chance of going in the first round.
Rondae Hollis-Jefferson, G/F, So., Arizona
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The workout setting wasn't as kind to Hollis-Jefferson. While he was able to show off his explosive athletic ability and length, the focus on shooting highlighted his biggest weakness on Thursday night in Santa Monica.
Hollis-Jefferson did hit shots. A number of them. But he was matched up with Vaughn, Connaughton and Brown all night, and he just can't shoot it the same way they can.
I don't think the workout hurt him. Every scout already knew shooting is not one of Hollis-Jefferson's strengths and there were some improvements on the shot. Teams that draft him will take him because of his ability to guard three positions on the floor, his leadership (every team raves about his interviews and character) and his elite athletic ability.
Several teams picking in the teens told me that he's in the mix there.
"It's tough to put a non-shooter on the floor," one GM said. "But if you do it, you do it for a player like Hollis-Jefferson who does everything else. And you hope with a lot of coaching that he improves enough to keep the defense honest."
Alpha Kaba, F/C, France
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Kaba was the big surprise in workouts over the weekend. He drew a ton of buzz from scouts -- by far the most of any guy I saw. Very few in the gym had ever seen him play, but they came away impressed.
For those who aren't familiar with Kaba, he's an 18-year-old, 6-foot-10 big man from France with a 7-foot-3 wingspan who had scouts whispering "Clint Capela" to each other. He's big, super long and moves well for a player his size. He can play the pick-and-pop game, and his shot looked very solid in the workouts.
However, he's the definition of raw. He's extremely foul prone. He played in just eight games for Pau-Orthez in France this season, averaging four minutes per game. But he averaged 13 PPG and 8 RPG in the European Under-18 championships last year, and in a draft where there are few international players worth taking a risk on in the late first or early second round, Kaba is definitely good a draft-and-stash type of prospect.
The word among scouts is that Kaba is willing to stay in the draft if he can get a promise from a team.
"He's going to get one," one NBA scout told me after the workout. "He's the perfect draft-and-stash pick. Lots of upside there if he continues to develop in Europe. He'll end up going in the late first or somewhere early in the second round."
Norman Powell, SG, UCLA
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Powell rose up the draft boards after a terrific summer showing at LeBron's camp. His newfound jumper, complementing his elite explosive athletic ability, has led to a lot of talk that Powell could end up being a late-first-round pick.
His senior season at UCLA was a good one. He averaged career highs in points (16.4) rebounds (4.7) and steals (1.8). However, his jump shot still was a major work in progress; he hit just 32 percent from 3 as a senior. Combine that with Powell's lack of elite size for his position (he stands just 6-foot-4 in shoes) and his stock has hovered in the late second round. But there's been a bit of a Powell resurgence of late from NBA scouts who feel his elite athleticism and defensive abilities might make him worth a higher draft slot. Powell shot the ball much better at the draft combine and at the workout in L.A. on Friday. But that doesn't seem to be what is bringing scouts around.
"I think he's the type of guy who just will figure it out," one NBA scout said. "He's mentally tough, he's physically tough, and I love how hard he works. He's gotten better every year at UCLA, and I know he can come in and defend right now. He's the type of second-round guy who works his butt off until he sticks."
Here's a brief look at several other players I saw over the weekend in L.A.:
• Eastern Washington's Tyler Harvey bounced back from a rocky showing at the draft combine by shooting the ball much better at the workout Thursday evening. There are a lot of concerns about his ability to score on elite competition, but if he can do it in workouts, he'll move back up. Scouts want to like shooters right now.
• Tennessee's Josh Richardson drew praise from scouts at Thursday's workout in Santa Barbara. He's long, athletic and can really defend. Teams were really impressed with him in the 3-on-3 workouts.
"He should've been at the combine," one GM said. "I really feel like he's one of the top 60 players in this draft."
• Stanford's Brown also showed much better at the workout as well. He is the ideal size for an NBA wing and has shot better than 44 percent from 3 his last two seasons.
• Connaughton is now drawing much closer attention after a terrific draft combine. Scouts were watching his every movement in the workout on Thursday night. With his feathered hair and the short shorts and shamrock tank-top he was wearing, he's a bushy mustache away from being the prototypical player the Celtics should draft and watch rise to Brian Scalabrine-type popularity in Boston. This just has to happen.
• UTEP's Vince Hunter, another star at the combine, struggled in the drills. Mightily. But man, when the 3-on-3 started, he took over again and drew a lot of praise from scouts again. He's a game-changer defensively and keeps drawing comparisons to Gerald Wallace and Kenneth Faried. Hunter's draft stock has improved dramatically the past few weeks.
