NBA Private Workouts Kick Off

NBA teams were allowed to start working players out on the 5th of June...DraftExpress has been burning up the phones to find out who is working out where:

DraftExpress Workout Page

Interesting workouts from June 5th...

-Houston's mega 12-player workout which was attended by as many as 12 NBA teams (including the Mavs, Pacers, Kings and others). Since teams are only allowed to have four players on the court at one time, the 12 players were split into three different sessions:

Guards: Bobby Brown, Dominic James, Jeremy Hunt, Brandon Heath

Wings: Morris Almond, Brad Newley, Reyshawn Terry, Jared Dudley

Bigs: Devon Hardin, Aaron Gray, Nick Fazekas, Jason Smith


-Sacramento's super small forward workout that fizzled...also conducted in Orlando. Originally scheduled to attend were Corey Brewer, Al Thornton, Jeff Green and Julian Wright..except the later two reportedly canceled, which gave Ron Lewis and Sun Yue a chance to attend instead.

-New York and New Jersey interestingly joining forces to take a look at a few wing players, including Demetris Nichols, Derrick Byars, Curtis Sumpter and Sammy Mejia.

-The Miami Heat working out their two biggest positions of need-- a tall, long point guard and an athletic wing player. Javaris Crittenton and Zabian Dowdell against D.J. Strawberry and Nick Young.

-Speaking of Javaris Crittenton,, it's interesting to note that he's scheduled to work out with the Portland Trailblazers the day before the draft, June 27th. He obviously won't be working out for the #1 pick, and can't be planning on Portland's next pick at #37 either. So what does that mean? Deductive reasoning tells us that his people have almost certainly been convinced that there is a very good chance that the Trailblazers will have a draft pick in his range, AND will have a need for another point guard besides the two very good ones they already have in Jarrett Jack and Sergio Rodríguez. It goes without saying that the day before the draft is a VERY valuable spot on the calendar of a player like Crittenton.

A couple of quick calls made indicate that Crittenton isn't the only one who might feel that way. Two agents with draft prospects in the 5-15 draft range conveyed to DraftExpress that they feel that Portland is sending out messages implying that they may already have a late lottery pick locked up. The rumor emerging is that Portland can secure the #11 pick belonging to Atlanta, in return for Jarrett Jack if they so desire.

Portland will also (tentatively) be hosting Nick Young and Al Thornton two days before the draft, on the 26th. The Young and Crittenton workout dates were released by a Portland beat writer, Jason Quick.