from draftexpress: Top Point Guards Work Out for Houston The Houston Rockets had an interesting point guard only workout on Friday that has been generating plenty of buzz. The four players in attendance were Sophomores Rajon Rondo, Darius Washington and Daniel Gibson and Senior Randy Foye. Houston’s workouts have earned the reputation of being amongst the most grueling and physical in the NBA, and this one was apparently no exception. This was the first workout for all the players here except Randy Foye. Here are some of things we heard about coming out of the workout. All opinions expressed are those of the NBA sources we spoke with and not DraftExpress. Randy Foye: The most “polished” of the bunch, Randy Foye probably had the best all-around workout when taking everything into consideration including outside shooting, defense, aggressiveness, physical attributes, ball-handling, rebounding and experience. Foye shot the ball very well, particularly off the dribble, and appears to be enjoying the fact that he is no longer the sole focus of every defense he goes up against like he was at Villanova. He measured out at 6-3 (down from the 6-4 he was listed at) with an NBA ready body. The biggest concern to come out of this workout was the fact that he showed that he is almost exclusively a shooting guard in terms of the skills he possesses, not a combo guard, and certainly not a point guard. This raises legitimate concerns about his potential to be a starter in the NBA, but no one doubts the fact that he will be a terrific rotation player. Teams drafting from 8-19 looking for an immediate scoring impact player will look very hard at Foye. Daniel Gibson: There was not a significant gap between the best player in this workout and the 4th best, but Gibson is probably the one who would land in this spot if someone would be forced to rank them. Gibson’s biggest problem was the fact that he was extremely nervous to start things off, and therefore shot the ball poorly by his standards in the shooting drills. Defensively, he struggled a bit guarding the pick and roll, showing his inexperience in this area as well as his lack of defensive technique. Once the two on two matchups kicked off, his nerves began to wore off and he did a better job in the remainder of the workout, particularly on the defensive end. How impressive Gibson will look likely depends on how well he manages to shoot the ball. Indecisiveness has been a problem for him throughout the season, so he must continue to stay aggressive. Rajon Rondo: Of the four players in attendance, Rondo showed the most potential of anyone as an NBA point guard. His athleticism measured out off the charts both in the agility testing and in the two on twos, where absolutely no one could stay in front of him defensively. His shooting was “much better than advertised” in the drills, something that comes as a big surprise to his detractors. Once the two on twos kicked off his shot reverted back to “the old Rondo,” and quickly lost confidence when forced to execute his shot off the dribble. The way he penetrated the lane and either finished creatively or found the open man makes up for this, though. Defensively, he was very good as expected. Despite his frail appearance at the moment, he has wiry strength and knows how to use it well. Measuring out at 6-2 was important for him, and his body looks like it will be grown into once he does some work on it and continues to mature physically. All in all he had an impressive workout, especially considering that this was only his first. Darius Washington Washington was the biggest revelation of this workout relative to the expectations coming from the players coming in. He is clearly not in very good shape at the moment and needs to lose at least 10 pounds to help him out athletically, but still did a good job showing off his all-around talent. Washington was physical and extremely aggressive, competing very hard and giving everyone he matched up with a hard time. His shooting from the college 3-point line was excellent, and he showed very nice ball-handling skills throughout. He also did a good job getting his own shot in the two on twos, and knocked down almost every look he got. Towards the end of the competitive portion of the workout he injured his calf after landing on Gibson following an impressive dunk. He was not seriously hurt, but did not get to participate in the agility testing at the end. He measured out a bit shorter than expected, only 6-1. Top Two Rebounders Collide in Los Angeles The Los Angeles Lakers scheduled an interesting workout this past Friday pitting Louisiana Tech Junior Paul Millsap against Hartford fifth-year Senior Kenny Adeleke. Also joining them were Seniors Maurice Ager of Michigan State and Bobby Jones of Washington. What made this workout interesting is the fact that Millsap and Adeleke were neck and neck all season long in the NCAA’s rebounding statistic category, with Millsap edging Adeleke out eventually and winning the rebounding crown for the 3rd straight season. Adeleke had his revenge on Friday, though. According to multiple sources who were in the gym, he got the better of Millsap by far and left the Lakers wondering which of the two power forwards has better potential at the NBA level both now and down the road. Adeleke measured out an inch taller (6-9 opposed to 6-8) and shot the ball better both from mid-range and the college 3-point line. Millsap did not show up out of shape, but at a whopping 264 pounds on his 6-8 frame, his body has a long ways to go and will probably need to be overhauled completely (ala Udonis Haslem) to reach his full potential as an athlete. He currently struggles to get off the ground on his first and second bounce and noticeably lacks quickness defending in and out of the post, which Adeleke exploited. A series of power and finesse moves were too much for Millsap to handle, particularly when being stretched outside of the paint. The Lakers run a lot of sets that are pulled straight from their Triangle offense to see how players might react. Their full-court ball-handling drills are also more geared towards the full-court rather than the half-court like most teams run. In terms of the Swingmen, it was Maurice Ager who had the best showing. Ager might be “leading” all draft prospects so far in terms of the amount of workouts he’s scheduled--six--with this being the second time we’ve heard of him playing extremely well. Ager is testing out as both a freak athlete and a killer scoring threat, jumping extremely well and shooting the ball with great confidence from the college and NBA 3-point range. Being away from Michigan State’s rigid offensive system appears to be allowing him more freedom to show off his individual skills. The Lakers oddly tested the players from just a step inside the NBA 3-point line, and Ager hit an impressive 18 of his 20 shots in the drills. He is measuring out a legit 6-5 with good length, which is important for him since some have speculated that he might be shorter. His quick feet and experience under Tom Izzo make him a very capable defender in these type of settings. His matchup Bobby Jones does not seem to have anywhere near the same polish on the offensive end, particularly in terms of his perimeter shooting and ball-handling ability, but still managed to flash excellent potential as an NBA player. He is measuring out a legit 6-7 with excellent size and good strength, and doing extremely well in the agility testing. Defensively, he is as usual terrific, but he might be even more impressive off the court with his focus and attitude. He did a good job keeping Maurice Ager in front of him for almost the entire workout, but Ager still hit a number of tough, contested jump-shots with a hand in his face. Flight White Skying up the Charts If Marcus Williams of UConn was (and still somewhat is) the talk of the town last week, James White is the player who is generating the most amount of discussion these past few days. Most everyone we’ve spoken to--from all different camps and backgrounds—seem to be thinking that his stock is shooting up the charts at the moment, to the point that they could see him end up in the 1st round, if he’s not there already. Blessed with a fantastic 6-7 frame, super long arms and possibly the most explosive vertical leap in this draft crop, White is a player who was always going to turn some heads once he enters workouts. What’s standing out and surprising everyone who has seen him is how well he is shooting the ball from distance from the perimeter, as well as just how mature he is off the court. White has been dominant everywhere he’s been so far and was invited back to every single NBA team he has worked out for, which is not very common. With the buzz he’s generating he would be able to work out for the next 20 days straight if he pleased, but of course will not so in order to not break down towards the home stretch. White is currently training for a few days with IMG's Joe Abunassar and Dan Barto at the Home Depot Center in Los Angeles, where he is again drawing rave reviews for his skills and attitude. What’s scary is that the staff there claims he is nowhere near his full potential in terms of his where his body is at strength-wise, which means he might even test out better once his core strength and lower body are worked on. Based off the feedback he’s getting, White is considering passing on the Orlando pre-draft camp altogether and focusing on a select number of teams drafting in the 1st round.
hi. i already putted the link to this article in this thread http://bbs.clutchfans.net/showthread.php?t=111961&page=5 i hope they'll not take Foye by the way, too short for a SG, no PG abilities, nooooooooo lol
All these players as talented as they might be are on the short side, especially for NBA Shooting Guards. I note that there wasn't much mention of their playmaking skills so I assume none were pure Point Guards.
Arenas was not a pure PG and was totally underrated in the draft. Foye can reach that level if he will be in a right team.
According to DraftExpress, Jay Williams (former Duke and Bulls) is working out with Marcus Williams and looks pretty good. http://www.draftexpress.com/viewarticle.php?a=1321 The Magic (#11 in the draft) is looking to trade up for Gay or Shelden Williams and has talked to Rockets and Celtics. I reckon it is worth signing Jay Williams with the 1.8m exception we got from the D. Anderson-G. Fitch trade, and trade down to get JJ Redick, as well as some players or draft picks, which we can use to trade for JR Smith. Rodney Carney's consistency is very poor even at college level, and I believe JR Smith is a better option to improve perimeter atheleticism. Kevin Pittsnogle would be a great 2nd round pick for Houston.
Jay Williams's greatest achievement in the NBA to date was putting the Bulls into a situation where they had to draft Kirk Hinrich.
Orlando has the right idea, but Gay will not be available at 8. Gay, however, will be available at Charlotte's pick (#3). If Charlotte is projected to take Thomas, Houston should offer Swift and (Head or #8) for #3.
If I understand correctly, you can't sign a player with an exception. The exception must be traded to another team in return for a player who already has a contract.
Yeah I think that's true, but I say we still sign Jay Williams beacuse it's not a bad risk to take, we can use 1.4 mil of our mle and then maybe the rest on one other player.
From what I read at draftexpress, Jay Williams is comparing very well with Marcus Williams. They say Jay Williams is not as explosive as he use to be but his shot and passing skills have gotten better since he has worked so much on them. They also said he ran his team real well (3 on 3) and would be great for some team in a limited role early on and depending on durability, eventually be a major contributor. I think the Jay Williams of today if he was to be in this draft would be a top 10 pick so if we can sign him, then do so. He is only 24 years old still. He has said he is more interested in a good fit then just money, and with Yao and T-mac, Houston is a hot destination. If we could get Williams, and then draft two solid players who can help right away (Roy, S. Williams, Redick, Novak), not just players with the dreaded "potential" (gay, carney) things would be much better. Bring over V-span and potentially add 4 decent players to a healthy yao and tracy, things would look pretty nice. Since two guys will be on first year rookie pay, Williams probably wont get too much, we might still have money to add another piece, especially if we could somehow package howard or swift away assuming we get a PF in the draft. As for carney or gay, both could be great or could be the "talented guy who doesnt live up to all his potential." my concern with both is that there are issues with their mentality and dedication and that rarely improves once the millions start coming in. I like a guy like James White from Cinncinati. He is also a long athletic freak, but can be had for much less.
We used a 2m exception to sign D Anderson and the middle-class exception to sign S Swift. Both are free agents without a contract. I reckon exception means that you can sign a free agent whose salary does not count towards the salary cap. It can be involved in trades though.
Nah, those were the LLE (lower-level exception) and the MLE (mid-level exception) used in those acquisitions. Trade exceptions are a different animal.
I heard somewhere this week that Toronto was very interested in J-Will and was his most likley new home. May have been halftime at one of the games or on sports radio, can't remember.
