Suns draft workout round up

by Seth Pollack on Jun 21, 2009 9:43 AM MDT in Phoenix Suns News

The Suns held their one and only open draft work out of the season on Saturday. Dave Griffin actually apologized to the media about not having a more open process this season but said they've relied more on the group workouts and have brought less people in.

Unfortunately for me, the one open workout the team held fell on a day that I was unavailable. The good news is that the team and other media have provided us plenty of draft coverage to ponder. I have to say that this entire draft coverage process while important isn't really that interesting to me. The bottom line is that teams are going to do what they do. Our coverage is really all about trying to predict who might do what and of course to get a better look at the kids. But the real opportunity to see our picks comes in a few weeks in Vegas. That's where I will be watching the Suns new rookies play ball and spending some time with them off the court.

As for yesterday, I've gone over the various reports and watched about 20 minutes of video provided by Suns.com and here's what stood out:

This is an unusual year in that the top 10 isn't clear cut and there's not large distinctions between groupings of players as in the past
The Suns "room" is split right now. Unlike in the past at this point, there's no obvious pecking order on the Suns draft board
The Suns are grouping guys into those that they think are solid "10 year" NBA players and those that are higher risk but might have bigger upside
Last year the Suns over hyped expectations for both Lopez and Dragic. This year they are down playing the role they expect any rookies to play on the team. I think that has as much to do with PR development as player development
James Johnson was the star of yesterday's workout showing great effort, fantastic leadership and good ball handling for his size. Kerr compared him to Rodney Rogers. His video interview is impressive and he seems to be impressing people during the work out and interview process
Earl Clark was the best defender both in the post and on the wing. A few times he got switched on to the speedy Jennings and was able to stay in front of him and deny penetration which is very impressive
Jennings was fast. I am guessing he's a guy that falls into the high risk, high reward category. He didn't play enough in Italy for anyone to have a really good idea of what he's about as a basketball player beyond his individual skills

Links to the Suns.com video and other media recaps after the jump

Predraft Workout - June 20, 2009 - NBA Videos and Highlights
20 minutes of video from Suns.com. Looking on of course is Kerr and Griffin. Also there is Robert Sarver. So much for him being less involved.

Suns draft options remain wide open
"There's really a split camp in our room for the first time in a long time." Recap from Paul

azcentral.com blogs - Coro's Suns dish: Griff talks Suns draft
Write up from the D Griff portion of the media scrum. You can see this interview on the video at Suns.com. To me, D Griff is the main guy to be listening to if you want to know what's going on in the Suns draft mind

Suns Draft: The final workout| Valley of the Suns
Draft workout from VotS

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Comments

JJ?

looks like if Brandon jennings is there Kerr will gamble and take him if not it sounds like James Johnson is our guy.

Phoenix Stan: which two players would you draft with our 2 second round picks?

by phxuk: Ap on Jun 21, 2009 11:04 AM MDT reply actions

I have no idea

I really am not a “draft” guy. I don’t watch college ball (no time + it is 90% boring).

For the first round I just read Draft Xpress, NBAdraft.net etc and guess. For the 2nd round, I don’t even bother.

What I have heard is that the Suns like the Swedish kid (he was born in the US btw and has duel citizenship) Jonas Jerebko but he will go higher then the Suns picks so perhaps they could package two 2nd round picks to get a higher 2nd round pick as some suggested.

The only other name I’ve heard (and this was on the radio) was Taj Gibson who also won’t likely fall to the Suns.

So, basically you aren’t going to get very good pre-draft coverage out of me but I promise I will be in Vegas watching our new picks play very closely and will interview them at length :)

Blogging Suns Basketball

by Seth Pollack on Jun 21, 2009 11:17 AM MDT up reply actions

Btw - don't be shocked

if the Suns manage to move up and get a later pick in the 1st round. If you look at the various mock drafts there are guys all over the place. This really is a crazy draft. Jrue Holiday is going 18th at NBAdraft.net, #8 at DraftExpress and Chad Ford has him going #7.

The T-Wolves have 3 1st rd picks in this draft: #6, #18 and #28. Since 1st rd picks get guaranteed contracts it is likely that they would sell one of those later picks fairly cheap. Other teams are rumored to be looking to get out of the draft as well like Detroit.

So, if the Suns really like two players like JJ and Lawson or if they really want Jerebko late in the 1st rd they could probably do that fairly inexpensively.

I think they wouldn’t get another 1st rd pick if they plan on keeping Shaq, Amare, Nash and JRich though but if they are determined to get rid of one of those guys and save some money then moving up to get another pick if they like a guy is an option.

Blogging Suns Basketball

by Seth Pollack on Jun 21, 2009 11:27 AM MDT reply actions