Prospects are OK with this “traveling”
Jacob Wiley already had worked out with six NBA teams before he arrived at the Pepsi Center on Monday to play in front of the Nuggets’ staff.
The 6-foot-7 forward from Eastern Washington was only getting started. On Tuesday, he was off to Chicago for workout No. 8. In the span of a couple of weeks, Wiley had been to Los Angeles, Oklahoma City, Milwaukee, Minnesota and Boston before the Denver-toChicago swing. And there will surely be more miles logged by Wiley ahead of the NBA draft June 22.
For prospects making a frenzied push toward an NBA dream, a taste of the league’s constant travel schedule can be eye-opening. It’s just one way predraft workouts can prepare prospects for the rigors of a professional basketball career.
“You try to get as much rest as you can and be as fresh as you can for these workouts,” Wiley said. “I’m just trying to soak it all in. I’m not trying to complain about the travel and everything, because this is a short time in your life and you have to be appreciative.”
Not all prospects have an itinerary as jam-packed as the one Wiley and his agent put together over the last month. Isaac Humphries, a 7-foot center from Kentucky who worked out with the Nuggets on Tuesday, is taking a different approach.
“My agent didn’t want me rushing into workouts, so I had a couple of weeks working out and getting in shape and things like that,” said Humphries, who played in front of the Milwaukee staff before coming to Denver. “Just so that I could come here and I could give my best, not just come here and go halfway into it. So I took a couple weeks to get into the head space that it’s going to be full on.”
For many of the players who worked out at the Pepsi Center the past two days, the sessions double as research. The deadline for college underclassmen to withdraw from draft consideration, adopted in 2015, is Wednesday, or 10 days after the end of the NBA combine. The NCAA moved two years ago to increase opportunities for athletes to gain a better evaluation of their professional prospects. It was no-brainer to advocates of young athletes. If an 18-, 19- or 20-year-old is faced with a major life decision, why not arm him with as much information as possible?
Chris Clemons, a 5-8 guard from Campbell, was third among Division I players in scoring last season at 24.5 points per game. After a workout with Boston this month, Clemons left his mark Tuesday by closing his practice at the Pepsi Center with an eye-popping 360degree dunk. Clearly, the explosiveness is there for Clemons. But with the minutes until Wednesday’s withdrawal deadline counting time, Clemons was still trying decide whether it was time for him to leap to the NBA.
“I have a big decision to make,” Clemons said, echoing the statement Jonathan Williams, a 6-9 junior forward from Gonzaga, made about his future after Tuesday’s workout. “I’ll be talking to my coaches, my family, and see what I want to do. Everybody has got to get on the same page. Some of the questions I asked (at workouts) were, ‘How can I make my team better?’ They’ve seen all the film, and it’s great for me to get some knowledge from high-level guys. To take this knowledge from NBA guys would help improve the guys at my level dramatically.”