Workout reports on Myles Turner, Jarell Martin and more from Vegas
LAS VEGAS -- A plethora of NBA execs and scouts swooped down on Las Vegas on Friday to see the first and only workout for Latvian forward and potential top-5 pick
Kristaps Porzingis. We'll tackle the Porzingis workout on Tuesday. Until then, here's a look at a number of other top prospects who worked out on Friday.
Myles Turner, F/C, Fr., Texas
Turner was the other major highlight of the Vegas workout. The Texas one-and-done forward ended his high school career ranked the No. 2 player in the country. An up-and-down freshman season hurt his draft stock quite a bit, and since declaring for the draft, Turner has been working hard to reignite it.
He took a big step toward doing so on Friday. For starters, teams have been concerned about the way Turner ran and moved in college. He often ran like a 50-year-old YMCA rec player suffering from arthritis. Teams openly speculated whether he had knee injuries and many awaited his medical testing at the NBA draft combine with bated breath.
The good news is that not only are Turner's knees fine medically, but he's also dramatically improved both his running and explosiveness. While he's still not the most fluid player in the world, he moved much better up and down the floor as well as laterally. Turner flew around the court, participating in a number of drills that showed off terrific lateral quickness for a player his size, and looked to be in great condition. While he's not necessarily an explosive athlete, he got off the floor much better than he did at Texas. There still are concerns from teams (some worry he'll revert back to his old running style once he starts getting fatigued), but the workout went a long way toward alleviating them.
Turner also went out to prove he can be a stretch 4. He clearly showed an ability to stretch the floor at Texas, but he shot just 27 percent from deep on 17-for-62 shooting. During Friday's workout, Turner looked very comfortable shooting the ball with range. While he's not the elite shooter Porzingis is, that should be a major area of his game going forward.
Factor in that Turner is young (he just turned 19 in late March), huge (6-foot-11, 240 pounds with a 7-4 wingspan) and a proven rim protector in college (2.6 blocks per game in 22 MPG), and he's going to be a serious temptation for teams that miss out on
Karl-Anthony Towns and
Jahlil Okafor. His range looks like it's No. 7 to 12 right now. His current workouts started on Saturday at Utah and Sunday at Indiana. Those spots are the two most likely landing places for him. The Jazz and Pacers both have serious interest. He also has workouts with Denver, Detroit, Charlotte and Miami.
Jarell Martin, F, So., LSU
Martin also had a strong workout. He's in terrific shape and showed off very good athleticism. Martin's measurements at the draft combine (6-9 in shoes with an 8-11 standing reach) are solid for a NBA power forward, and I think that's what he's going to have to be, for now, in the NBA.
While he showed off an improved jump shot at the workout, it's still a work in progress. He's much stronger at finishing at the basket.
"If he just embraces who he is instead of trying to sell us that he's something he's not, he'll do fine in the NBA. If he tries to be a small forward, I don't think he'll make it. He needs to be Draymond Green," said one NBA general manager.
Christian Wood, F/C, So., UNLV
Wood continues to be an enigma for everyone. He can really shoot the ball and even handle it (he was a 6-2 point guard until a junior-year growth spurt in high school shot him up to 6-9). He's the classic guy who looks very tempting at workouts. That was all evident on Friday.
The issue for Wood is convincing teams he'll work hard in the long run. There have been ongoing concerns about his work ethic and stamina.
Nevertheless, he looked the part of a first-rounder on Friday. His skill set and size are both very intriguing. The question is whether teams will be convinced he can play the part in the NBA.
Rakeem Christmas, F/C, Sr., Syracuse
Christmas helped himself more than anyone in the draft at the combine, and a number of sources suggest that his strong play has carried over into workouts. Christmas, 23, looked the part on Friday as well, showing that he belonged with Porzingis, Turner and Martin every step of the way. Despite Christmas' age, I keep hearing rumblings he's moved into the first round.
"He's a really safe pick," one GM told me. "I think he's a 5 in the NBA. I think he'll work hard. I think he'll be mobile. I think he's underrated as a rotation guy. Once you get past 20 or so, those guys are very valuable."
Two teams to watch in the late first round for Christmas are the Spurs and Warriors.
News and notes
• The buzz in Vegas on Friday centered on
D'Angelo Russell's decision to cancel his workout with the Sixers. A Sixers source played off the decision and acted confident that they'd see him work out sometime before the draft.
Word then leaked that Russell was sick and will reschedule.
But other executives speculated that perhaps the Knicks had persuaded Russell's agent to shut him down before the draft in hopes that the Sixers would pass on him at No. 3 and he'd end up in New York.
There are two problems with that scenario, however. One, the Lakers might take him at No. 2. It sounds as if the team is torn between Russell and Okafor at No. 2, assuming Towns is off the board. Both players have worked out for Los Angeles. A Lakers source described both workouts as "good, but neither blew us away."
Second, I don't think there's any way Sixers GM Sam Hinkie will be deterred from taking Russell if he's the Sixers' guy. They don't need him to come in for workouts.
• Speaking of the Sixers, as I've noted over the past few weeks, there's a growing feeling that Porzingis could be their target if he's still on the board at No. 3. He certainly played well enough on Friday to warrant the pick. Yes, the Sixers are already loaded with bigs, but Hinkie's plan always has been to take the best talent. If he believes that's Porzingis, he'll take him and deal with the log jam later.
• Sources say the Knicks are entertaining trading down in the draft if Towns, Okafor and Russell are all taken in the top three picks. It sounds as if they remain on the fence about both
Emmanuel Mudiay and Porzingis. That's why they've been looking at players such as
Cameron Payne and
Frank Kaminsky in recent workouts. If the Knicks can get a valuable veteran and still land somewhere in the back end of the lottery, it might make more sense for them than taking a player they aren't sold on at No. 4. We know several teams, including the Nuggets and Pacers, are trying to move up in the draft.
• The Nuggets continue to aggressively pursue a trade to get another pick in the top 5. They are offering anyone on their roster but haven't had much luck. Ty Lawson seems especially hard for them to get rid of right now. "He's talented," a rival GM said, "but there's a reason the Nuggets are letting him go. I don't think he has the leadership abilities to be an elite point guard in the league."
There seems to be a consensus among NBA folks that there's a major drop-off in the draft that starts in the mid 20s. "There isn't a lot of value left in the draft after pick 20 or 21," one GM said. Said another, "I liked guys in the 30s and 40s in last year's draft more than I like guys in the mid to late 20s in this one." That's bad news for teams like the Grizzlies, Spurs, Lakers, Celtics, Nets and Warriors. "Do you think anyone would be willing to buy our pick?" one GM asked me on Friday. "Tell them we're selling."
The annual Eurocamp took place last weekend in Treviso, Italy. It was an unmitigated disaster by most accounts. The Eurocamp used to bring in a few elite players for both this year's draft and future drafts. Texted one longtime scout who has been attending for years: "Just finished Day 3 at the worst Eurocamp of all 13. Sad. Very sad. Not one draftable guy here."
That sentiment was echoed by a number of people in Vegas on Friday. They were especially harsh on Brazilian point guard
George de Paula, who some have trumpeted as a first-round prospect.
That's one of the reasons the draft is so weak in the back end. Typically there are four to five draft-and-stash international players in the late 20s and early 30s. This year, teams are struggling to find one.
The only international player at the Eurocamp that teams genuinely seemed excited about was Croatian
Dragan Bender. But Bender, a 7-foot, skilled stretch 4, isn't eligible until the 2016 NBA draft. And even Bender was "only" solid, according to several NBA guys. "He was OK," said one scout. "But OK looks great when paired with the talent that's over there right now." Expect Bender to be a potential top-10 pick in 2016.
- There was one international player at the workout on Friday who generated some modest buzz. Slovenian big man Ziga Dimec had a solid workout. He has excellent size for his position, a nice body and shot pretty well in workouts. Several teams told me he could end up being a second-round draft-and-stash player.
