Workout Report: White in the House
The Grizzlies held another draft workout at FedExForum this morning, bringing in a trio of power-forward prospects: Indiana’s D.J. White, Wisconsin’s Brian Butch, and Clemson’s James Mays.
White, a rugged 6’9” forward who finished second in the Big Ten in scoring (17.4) and first in rebounding (10.3) during a difficult senior season at Indiana, was the feature attraction today and acquitted himself very well.
After seeing Alabama’s Richard Hendrix yesterday, it’s easy to compare two players who play the same position and are considered in the roughly the same tier of draft prospects. Hendrix was probably a little bit stronger, but White looked like the better prospect in every other way: a little longer, much more fluid and explosive, and with better skills away from the paint.
White showed a very nice mid-range jumper (though struggled a bit on free-throws), ran the floor well, and was an active presence around the rim — blocking shots, taking contact, and finishing plays.
I don’t think he’ll be much of a scorer at the next level, but he’s an active body who can rebound and defend, knock down an open jumper, and finish in transition. I doubt he’ll be a starting-quality power forward in the NBA, but White absolutely looks like a rotation-quality player.
White also seemed like a gregarious, grounded guy in conversations after the workout, eagerly asking about how other prospects have performed and expressing a lot of interest in coming to Memphis, citing his family down the road in Alabama and a friendship with Rudy Gay dating to their AAU days.
Of the five candidates for the #28 pick the Grizzlies have had in so far — following Hendrix, Joey Dorsey, Kyle Weaver, and Omri Casspi — White looks the most promising. I suspect he’ll go somewhere in the 25-35 range in the draft. If the Grizzlies feel like they have a need for a physical back-up power forward and White is on the board at #28, I think he should — and probably will — get strong consideration.
As for Butch and Mays, both had decent workouts but don’t look like strong NBA candidates, at least for next season. Butch is a big man with a decent jumper but seemed to lack the requisite all-around athleticism and skill-level. Mays was a live athlete but didn’t seems to have a combination of size and skill-set to play an NBA position.
Other workout news: Grizzlies brass now heads out to Oakland for a massive, multi-team workout of mid-range draft prospects. There’s a good chance the eventual pick at #28 comes out of this group. While out West, the team is hoping to conduct individual workouts with Brook Lopez and Danilio Gallinari. There was also talk today of possibly going to Chicago to work out O.J. Mayo. If all of that gets accomplished, then Eric Gordon and Russell Westbrook would be the only #5 contenders still needing to be seen. The Grizzlies are still working to schedule workouts with those players.
There are still a couple of significant workouts scheduled for next week: On Monday, Anthony Randolph, Darrell Arthur, Courtney Lee, and Will Daniels will be in. On Wednesday, a trio of wing prospects — Bill Walker, J.R. Giddens, and Sonny Weems — will be in. And there’s a good chance that an additional workout will be scheduled for next Thursday.
