Today’s Nets workout hints further at Nets draft strategy

The Brooklyn Nets will host another group workout today at their practice center in Rutherford, New Jersey, but this one’s a little different from past workouts: while all of their previous workouts contained at least one projected first-round pick, all six of today’s scheduled prospects are projected to go late in the second round. That would indicate the Nets, today, are looking at possible players they could buy with a second-round pick. The Nets currently own just the 22nd pick in the first round.

Today’s prospects are Trevin Parks (6’0″ PG, Johnson C. Smith), Lamont Jones (6’0″ PG, Iona), Kevin Parrom (6’6″ SF, Arizona), Jordan Aboudou (6’6″ SF, Chalon-Sur Saone of France), Richard Howell (6’8″ PF, N.C. State), and Vander Joaquim (6’11” C, Hawaii). All of today’s scheduled prospects are seniors at least 22 years old, falling in line with Jason Kidd’s statements yesterday that the Nets are looking for players with experience.

Though it’s not confirmed, expect Kidd at the workout.

Some notes on today’s prospects:

  • Parks is an All-American at the Division II level, who was 3rd in Division II in scoring with 22.7 points per game.
  • Jones was born in Harlem, one of two prospects at today’s workout from New York, and averaged 22.6 points per game in his last season at Iona.
  • Howell is an undersized power forward at 6’8″, but averaged a double-double at N.C. State. Rebounding big men in the NCAA tend to carve a niche in the NBA, though the Nets aren’t exactly strapped for rebounding — they finished third in the NBA in offensive rebounding percentage and 12th in defensive rebounding percentage.
  • Parrom, born in the Bronx, averaged 8.3 points per game, converting threes at a 39.6% clip in his senior season at Arizona. Last year, Parrom was shot in the leg while in the Bronx while visiting his sick mother. He made a full recovery.
  • Aboudou is the lone non-college prospect scheduled for today’s workout, a 6’6″ French forward that averaged 15.3 points per game in 45 games with Chalon across two leagues. He did most of his work inside the arc.
  • Joaquim was born in Luanda, Angola, the largest city in the South African country, and averaged 13.9 points and 8.2 rebounds per game in his last season in Hawaii. He also shot college three-pointers at a 40.6% clip this season, shooting one per game. Nets director of player personnel Gregg Polinsky said at Jeff Withey’s workout that he was looking at big men who could step out and shoot the NBA three, so I’d expect them to run Joaquim through some pick-and-pop shooting drills today.