In advance of the June 25 NBA Draft, it’s common practice for prospects to go through a series of workouts with various teams that have the potential to select them.
But that’s not always true for guys slotted into one of the top two picks.
Karl-Anthony Towns and Jahlil Okafor are widely expected to go one and two (in some order) in this summer’s draft. While the Timberwolves will have the ultimate say (and they reportedly like Okafor), even if Towns doesn’t go No. 1 overall, it’s highly unlikely that he slides past the Lakers at two.
Perhaps because of this, Towns reportedly won’t be working out for any NBA teams.
From Adam Zagoria of ZagsBlog.com:Projected No. 1 draft pick Karl-Anthony Towns will interview with the top two teams in the NBA Draft lottery — the Minnesota Timberwolves and Los Angeles Lakers — but won’t workout for any teams, sources told SNY.tv. ...
Towns is working out in Los Angeles with former UCLA star Don MacLean, who raved to SNY.tv about Towns’ potential and work ethic.
“I’ve been doing this for 11 or 12 years pre-draft,” MacLean, the leading scorer in Pac-12 and UCLA history, previously told SNY.tv. “Because I had a lot of top 10 picks and a lot of really good players, I’m not really impressed or blown away. I had Towns all last week and I was blown away. Blown away.”The interview is more important anyway at this point, because there is plenty of film on guys showing how they perform in live-game situations. Things like desire, work ethic, intelligence and attention to detail are what teams want to measure in person, and those qualities go well beyond a potential draftee’s physical capabilities.