This workout was held at St. Mary's University and was run by their trainer, former San Antonio Spurs head Coach Bob Hill. It was by far the most intense, physical and competitive workout I have been to thus far, NBA run or not. It started off with ball-handling drills, mostly dribbling two balls at the same time and going from one end of the court to another and then through cones. After that, the players moved on to show off their mid-range game, using sharp cuts and shooting while moving off the dribble. There were some game simulated drills done through curls coming off screens. This was pretty standard stuff up until this point. After that was a one on one game played strictly inside the paint, where ball was thrown inside for a quick one on one matchup and the three then rotated offense/defense depending on whether they managed to stop or score on their man.
After that was a very interesting two on two full court matchup (first team to five wins), designed to show off ball-handling skills, man to man defense and one on one skills. That followed with another two on two matchup, this time in a half-court setting, starting with a player rotating over to stop an open man on the perimeter. Some drills designed to show off the Graham twins' phenomenal athletic ability were conducted after that, and the workout ended with a drill where the players had to knock down as many NBA threes as they could from straight on in 90 seconds. Free throw shots were done in between most drills, which is when the players rested a bit.
All three players are being trained every single day by a former NBA head coach, which gives them a huge advantage over their competition in the draft as he not only knows what NBA teams do and look for in workouts, but he also knows exactly what these guys need in order to succeed in the NBA. As noted already, this was an extremely competitive workout, with the players' strengths and weaknesses on full display for all to see through the very intense one and one and two on two drills, which is very rare for an agent run workout.
Player Observations from the Workout
Joey Graham, 6-7, 6-9 wingspan
Joey is probably the player who has seen his stock rise the most since workouts started about 3 weeks ago. All the feedback I've received from teams he's worked out for, players he's gone up against and other people in the know has been incredibly positive, to the point that he is now virtually guaranteed to be a top 20 pick, highly likely to go in the lottery and potentially even a top 10 selection on draft night if he keeps working out the way he did here in San Antonio, especially if players ranked above him continue to fall, which has clearly been the case lately. These workouts are tailor made to Joey's strengths, as he is ridiculously athletic and strong, can handle the ball, shoot it, and has that type of toughness that is extremely impressive to watch in person. Graham appears to be the type of player who takes great pleasure in dishing out pain, while having no problem taking it himself. NBA teams absolutely love that, and the buzz around his name as soon as workouts started has indeed been very strong as of late.
Joey is a player that I thought I knew fairly well coming into this workout, as I watched him play at least a dozen times this past year for Oklahoma State and about half a dozen times last year. There was actually a lot to be learned from this workout setting, though, about his skills as a player and things that were perceived to be weaknesses of his that look a lot better in person than they did on tape.
The biggest reason for that has to be the highly structured environment he played in at OSU. Not only was he played out of position for the last two years at the 4 spot, but he was also given very little freedom to be creative and show off his perimeter skills extensively the way NBA players do in OSU's rugged half-court setting. I was constantly comparing the skills he was showing with what I had seen over the season, which was firmly engraved in my mind as I had already prepared myself beforehand by doing my homework. It was indeed very hard not to come away with the feeling that Joey was somewhat pigeon-holed into what OSU needed him to be, instead of letting his play to his many strengths. He is a much more fluid player than I initially gave him credit for, and that aspect of his game which I was previously unaware of adds a completely new dimension to his game.
The workout started with some challenging ball-handling drills, and this was a great test for Joey since this is considered possibly his #1 weakness. Not only does he have all these drills mastered, he does them fluidly and with the greatest of ease, not really looking like he could have performed them any better to be honest, just flat out acing them. When asked about this the next day (we were on the same plane to Orlando, with me connecting to South Florida and Joey staying for a workout the next day with Danny Granger [who eventually did not make it], Antoine Wright and Kennedy Winston) he had this to say: that was something that I always knew I needed to improve on, because of the role I played for my team over the past two seasons. In high school I was played at the 1, 2 and the 3 spots, but because of my size and athletic ability and the fact that we were undersized I was played mostly in the post at OSU. I had no problem making that sacrifice for my team, because it made me more versatile as I can now play and guard the 4 spot too if needed. Since the day the season ended, though, I've been working non-stop on my ball-handling skills. You weren't the only one lately that came away a little bit surprised. Joey talks a lot like he plays: calm, but extremely confident. A no-nonsense, all business type guy. He knows he's good, but he doesn't flaunt it or force the issue to prove that he's something he's not.
The mid-range drills were a piece of cake for Joey, as this is easily the best part of his game. He must have taken at least 150 mid-range shots in this entire workout, and I would be shocked if he missed more than 10 of them. He is simply automatic from 16-18 feet out, not just from around the key but also from the sides, corners and everywhere in between, even with the glass. His footwork is outstanding and this combined with his incredible strength and athletic ability make him a potent threat to use his quickness to make sharp cuts to catch the ball from his comfort zone and elevate smoothly and confidently for a jumpshot, which is almost always going to be money in the bank. The only flaw you can really find here is the fact that he releases the ball from his chest, not unlike a player that he very much reminds of, Shawn Marion. He doesn't flip or heave the ball at the basket nearly as violently though. That's just the way he shoots it, and it works for him so there appears to be no reason to mess with it as he releases it quick enough for it not to be a major problem.
The one on one and two on two drills gave Joey another opportunity to show off his highly improved ball-handling skills and perimeter defense, another part of his game which I always considered a weaknesses of his. OSU's system was structured around their team defense, which was not something that could be measured in a workout like this. In the man to man defensive drills that were done here, though, he was very impressive for the most part. Because he is such an excellent athlete, he is obviously going to have a big advantage in the lateral quickness department. His footwork helps him out here, as does his strength, toughness, wingspan and humongous hands. All this combined made it very hard for the player he was guarding to get around him, forcing them into taking jump shots instead. There is probably going to be a transition period he will need to go through initially in the NBA to adapt to guarding players like Tracy McGrady, Rashard Lewis and Antawn Jamison, but he's got a ton of potential in this area.
The only opportunity I had to evaluate his long range shooting was a little bit in the informal games and one drill where the players were asked to hit as many NBA threes as they could from straight on in 90 seconds. In the games, Joey was stroking NCAA threes from different parts of the court and looked very good doing so. In the 90 second drill, he hit 25 NBA three pointers in that span, which is an excellent number for him and helps him a lot. NBA teams usually do more shooting drills than this in their private workouts (but sometimes they don't), and this is something I would love to see more of as I never considered him much of a shooter at OSU, despite his excellent shooting percentage, because of the fact that he was played at the PF position and just did not attempt all that many threes this past season. Considering what an outstanding mid-range shooter he is, though, it wouldn't be a huge surprise if he's managed to expand his game through all the work he's put in since the season ended.
In terms of creating his own shot, he is way ahead of where I thought he would be, mainly because of his improved ball-handling skills and the fact that he appears to be more fluid and natural looking outside of OSU's highly structured grind it out half-court offense. The fact that his strides are so powerful really help him get to the basket, and he obviously has the athletic ability and strength to elevate and finish strong when he gets to the hoop. There are still some rough edges that need to be smoothed out, things like pulling up and knocking down shots off the dribble and just gaining experience through playing on the wing, but he's got all the tools, the attitude and a big upside to continue to improve. That's probably not going to be his role in the league anyway unless they try to convert him to the 2 eventually. He surely has the athletic ability to do that; he'll just have to continue to really polish his ball-handling skills and outside shooting in the league in his first season or two first. He already plays and guards two positions effectively, adding a third would put him in an elite class in terms of versatility.
Graham is in the draft in just the right year, as the NBA, just like every other professional league, is a copycat league that looks at successful teams and tries to emulate what they are doing in order to succeed. This year's team to emulate is the Phoenix Suns, who play in a unique fashion because they have a 6-7 guy in Shawn Marion who plays both the 3 and the 4 for them. The fact that guys like Graham and Danny Granger have that experience playing both forward spots in this years draft no longer makes them a tweener as it would in the past, it makes them and their future team that much more flexible in the style of play that they can utilize. If his team wants to go small and run, Graham is most certainly capable of playing that utility power spot that is going to be in style next season.
One team that I heard is going to try to structure their team around playing that way is Golden State. They have all the horses to do that, except for their combo forward. Graham had a phenomenal workout just last week. An NBA executive who was at this particular workout said off the record that he personally thinks that Graham will get snatched up at #8 by the Knicks, though. Besides the Magic last Tuesday who are picking #11, the Raptors (#7, 16) brought him in later in the week as well before workouts shut down in preparation for the Chicago pre-draft camp. That indeed appears to be his range at the moment, from 7-16. With so many teams looking for wing players in that range (and you can probably lump New Orleans, Charlotte and Utah in that bunch too at 4-6), and so few players to fill them, Graham's stock moves up almost automatically because of the fact that it's a seller's market we have here.