Washington Pre-Draft Workout Notes - June 5, 2008

Published by Rashad Mobley on June 6, 2008

Whereas Hoops Addict editor Ryan McNeill marvelled at the access granted to him and fellow Toronto Raptors reporters at pre-draft workouts in the ACC on Wednesday, in Washington on Thursday it was a different ball game all together. Like kids on Christmas morning waiting for the chance to open up their presents, myself and those covering the workouts were asked to wait until the last 10 minutes of the planned Wizards workout.

The players invited were: center C.J. Giles (Oregon State), guard Lester Hudson (Tennessee-Martin), forward Darnell Jackson (Kansas), guard Jeremy Pargo (Gonzaga), forward-center Marreese Speights (Florida) and forward Jason Thompson (Rider). Here are some of my observations:

-Lester Hudson has the ability to get anywhere he wants on the floor under control. He frequently took Jeremy Pargo off the dribble, and even when he was seemingly cut off at the baseline, he consistently maneuvered his way out of trouble. He also showed good range on his outside shot. On the defensive end of the floor, he picked Pargo’s pocket at least two times, and quickly turned those steals into points. Considering the buzz Hudson generated at the Orlando camp, the brief bit of him I saw certainly has to increase his stock. He definitely showed he can run the point in the NBA.

-Jeremy Pargo was not quite as confident with the ball, but his jumper was definitely on target. He has the quickness to play in the NBA, but he will need to bulk up a bit. Hudson was able to body him on defense and throw him off his game just a bit.

- Darnell Jackson was billed as a tweener in many of the draft reports I have read, but based on the limited action I saw, he is small forward material. He reminded me a bit of James Posey without the long range jumper. He got loose balls, he was active on the boards and he played good defense. Still, I don’t think he has enough bulk to guard power forwards, and he doesn’t have enough post moves to play power forward himself.

-I didn’t really get good looks at the games of Jason Thompson and Marreese Speights. They both got the ball twice in the post, but they ended up passing rather than taking the ball to the basket. Speights was listed at 245 pounds, but up close he looked much lighter than that. Thompson’s body definitely looks NBA ready, although he seemed to take too long to get into his rhythm while on the block. I wouldn’t mind seeing these two at another workout, so I could get a better feel.

-C.J. Giles was the player with the most to prove during these workouts, given his checkered past and his minimal experience on the collegiate level. Unfortunately, Giles did nothing to improve his stock. He missed several point blank shots, he was stripped a couple of times on the block, and after the last time he was stripped, he seemed to sulk a bit, until his teammates encouraged him to keep his head up and play through it.

-At the conclusion of the workout I was able to score some solid quotes from Jackson, Pargo and Speights which you will see up on the site over the next few days in the Audio section.

- On Monday, June 9th, forward D.J. White (Indiana), guard Ty Lawson (North Carolina) and other players to be named later will workout for the Wizards brass. I’ll be attendance again so look for some more workout notes and audio clips to be posted early next week.

This article was written by:

Rashad Mobley - who has written 76 posts on Hoops Addict.

Rashad Mobley graduated with a B.S. in English Education, from Hampton University in Hampton, VA in 1996. He is a government consultant for the Department of Justice in Washington D.C., where he currently resides. Rashad will be covering the Washington Wizards for HoopsAddict.com during the upcoming NBA season.

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