Draft workout confidential: Inside look at Hield, Dunn, Chriss, more
Every year ESPN attends individual workouts for prospects as they prepare for the NBA draft.
Last Friday
I filed a report from Chicago and New York on
Brandon Ingram,
Jamal Murray,
Thon Maker,
Wade Baldwin and others.
This week, I saw
Buddy Hield,
Kris Dunn,
Marquese Chriss,
Henry Ellenson,
Jakob Poeltl and
Tyler Ulis and talked to NBA scouts and GMs.
Here's what I've learned so far.
Buddy Hield, SG, Sr., Oklahoma
Hield spent his entire senior season getting the biggest compliment any draft prospect could receive. College basketball analysts dubbed him the "Steph Curry" of NCAA hoops.
The two-time reigning MVP has big shoes to fill, and Hield doesn't seem shy about trying to fill them. His elite shooting with deep, deep range combined with a confidence that borders just on the right side of cocky make for obvious comparisons.
When these guys get rolling, there's little opposing defenses can do to stop them. And the work ethic of both players is legendary.
NBA draft workout confidentials
Get more inside looks at prospect workouts from Chad Ford.
In his workout in Anaheim, California, on Tuesday, Hield certainly looked the part as a shooter. He rarely missed shots, regardless of where he was on the floor. When the NBA 3-point line became boring (a line that is typically intimidating for college shooters, regardless of their skill), he was comfortable stepping back another five feet and hitting 20-of-25 from "Curry range" in one drill. And Hield did it with all the confidence that he showed at Oklahoma last season. He believes he can be special; great shooters need that level of confidence.
His confidence and quick release make him arguably the best shooter in this draft. In a league desperate for shooters, that only makes him a more attractive lottery pick.
He also knows that the Curry comparison isn't a perfect fit. Curry is an elite ball handler with crazy good court vision. Hield's handle and court vision have been criticized by scouts. And while Curry isn't an all-NBA defender, his effort on that end clearly surpasses Hield's right now.
Of course, when Curry entered the league, virtually every scout worried about similar things: Is he a point guard? Can he defend anyone?
Hield hears the criticism and has been spending most of the past six weeks tightening up his handle and working on his explosiveness in an effort to improve his lateral quickness. He has even received some on-court tutoring from
Kobe Bryant.
Both efforts are coming along nicely. Hield looked terrific in a number of ball handling drills, and while I didn't get to see him play defense (he was in a one-on-none workout), he seemed confident he was going to address his defensive deficiencies in the NBA.
"My freshman year I was a good defender," Hield said. "My sophomore, junior and senior year I turned into a scorer. I took a step back the last three years.
"But if you want something you go and get it. I know in the NBA there will be a lot of 2-guards coming at me. I know I have to stop them to stay on the court. Defense comes from your heart inside. ... I have a lot of heart.
"I'm not going to let anyone take advantage of me. That's how it's always been for me growing up. So I'm going to do what I have to do when I get there and I don't think defense will be a problem for me."
Kris Dunn, PG, Jr., Providence
Dunn went counter to conventional wisdom last year and decided to return to Providence, despite the fact that most teams had projected him as a late lottery pick.
Dunn said his motivation was primarily academic. He wanted to leave Providence with a college degree. Not only did he graduate last week, fulfilling a lifelong dream, his draft stock improved as well.
Dunn's elite size, quickness and power for a point guard are his primary draws. So is a fierce competitiveness, especially on the defensive end, that should make NBA head coaches drool. Few prospects compete as aggressively as Dunn does.
In one-on-one and two-on-two drills I saw on Monday and Wednesday, Dunn lived and died by every possession. He appeared incredulous every time he missed a shot or his team lost. And when his team won or even when he'd just win an individual match-up? The swagger showed.
And Dunn had plenty of opportunities to compete. I saw him go up against two NBA players,
Elfrid Payton and
Nick Johnson, and two other draft prospects, Tyler Ulis and
Ron Baker, in multiple one-on-one, two-on-two and three-on-three sessions.
To appreciate a guard like Dunn, you really need to see him in live action. He does well enough in the drills (and on Wednesday he was knocking a high percentage in shooting drills), but when the lights come on, he's a more focused and aggressive player.
Right now his defense is ahead of his offense. No one in the gym could score on him with any regularity. Blessed with size, strength, length, speed and aggressiveness, he has the potential to be an All-Defensive team member in the NBA someday. If he can avoid foul trouble, someday might not be that far away.
One of my favorite moments of the past few weeks came when Dunn got caught on a switch against
Guerschon Yabusele, a 6-foot-8, 270 pound power forward. As Yabusele banged away at Dunn, Dunn banged right back, refusing to cede an inch.
Offensively, his speed, court vision and strength allow him to get to wherever he wants on the floor. While at times I felt like he could be even more aggressive hunting for his own shot at both Providence and in the live scrimmages I saw, the fact that he's a "pure" point guard who plays unselfishly is a big part of his appeal to teams.
"I love to compete every day," Dunn said. "It's good to have those NBA players come in and test our capabilities against those type of guys and see if, you know, we can play at a high level like those guys. It's good for us. I was taught to not back down from nobody. That's the type of player I am."
Marquese Chriss, PF, Fr., Washington
Hield may be the best shooter in the draft and Dunn may be the best defender. Chriss' claim to fame: He is an absolute freaky athlete for a player his size.
During one of his drills, he almost knocked himself out, barely missing hitting his forehead on the rim during a powerful dunk. There aren't a lot of 6-foot-10 forwards with his combination of explosive leaping ability and agility. He moves as well as any big I've seen since
Andre Drummond.
But Chriss isn't just an athlete. He also comes with a sweet stroke that should allow him to be a stretch-4 in the league. And his leaping ability and aggressiveness on defense make him a terrific option as a rim protector.
He needs to get stronger, become a better rebounder and stay out of foul trouble, but he brings tools to the floor that make his ceiling as high as that of anyone in this draft not named Ben Simmons or Brandon Ingram. The fact that he's one of the youngest players in the draft also helps his cause.
While we have generally pegged him in the No. 7-10 range, teams as high as the Suns at No. 4 are considering him. They need a stretch floor, and the other options (
Dragan Bender, Henry Ellenson) don't have the athletic upside that Chriss does.
There is a risk factor with Chriss, though. He's far from a finished prospect and scouts have wrung their hands a bit about whether he's mature enough for the NBA. His body language at Washington could have been better. For Chriss, it's not a question they should worry about.
"I think the teams liked me," Chriss said about his interviews at the draft combine. "They were trying to figure out who I am.
"As a teammate off the court, I'm kind of the opposite of how I play. When I'm on the court I'm kind of mean and mad, but I'm never really mad. I feel like I smile a lot. ... I don't really have a lot friends when I play. My friends are my teammates really. On the court I like to be focused and keep my head straight."
Henry Ellenson, F/C, Fr., Marquette
Ellenson is right there with Chriss as a stretch-4. I saw him in a workout in Bel-Air on Tuesday morning and he was impressive as well.
Ellenson measured 6-foot-11.5 in shoes with a 7-foot-2.5 wingspan at the combine. That's the size of most centers in the NBA.
Yet Ellenson seems more comfortable playing away from the basket. He shot just 29 percent from 3-point territory in college, but you wouldn't know it by how well he shot the ball in workouts. While his release is a bit on the slow side, he has great shooting form and showed he could hit shots with regularity from anywhere on the floor.
He also possesses a crafty midrange game and excelled in a series of drills, where he specialized in the step-back jumper -- a
Dirk Nowitzki specialty.
Ellenson is bigger and a better rebounder than Chriss. He also has a more refined midrange game, too. But he lacks the elite athletic ability and rim protection that Chriss provides.
That lack of explosiveness may end up hurting him as teams in the mid-to-late lottery decide between the two. But Ellenson's floor seems significantly higher than Chriss' and a team wanting to go a safer route (especially a team that thinks they can play him as a stretch-5) might choose the more polished Ellenson.
Jakob Poeltl, C, So., Utah
Poeltl is the top center prospect on our
draft board and might be the only pure 5 man to go in the lottery. He has elite size for his position (standing 7-foot-1.25) and is a highly intelligent player who beats guys in the paint and on the boards.
The main knocks on Poeltl has been about his strength and his jump shot. Correcting those issues has been the focus of his workouts here.
He clearly has the frame to continue to add strength, but it's also toughness that scouts question. In workouts on Monday and Wednesday, he showed a lot of fight against the likes of
Karl-Anthony Towns,
Damian Jones and Yabusele. All of those players are stronger and more physical than Poeltl, but he held his own on both ends of the court. I think that's what scouts and GMs will want to see from him when he starts working out for teams.
His jump shot is coming along as well. He showed a really nice stroke from midrange and is working on extending it beyond the 3-point line. While his mechanics are a little awkward (he holds the ball out in front of his face as he shoots), the shot was going in during the workouts.
"I feel like I've improved my shot," Poeltl said. "We have a really good crew at Pro Active that do the strength part for us. We talked about it before I came here that they want to keep my agility while making me more athletic and more strong, not necessarily too heavy or slow.
"I want to stay the type of player I am right now, just get stronger in the process. I've noticed some improvements already."
