Ousmane Drame

Southeast Notes: Griffin, Heat, Hornets

The Magic and Bulls assistant coach Adrian Griffin have agreed to a deal that will make Griffin the lead assistant on Orlando’s bench, reports Josh Robbins of the Orlando Sentinel. K.C. Johnson of the Chicago Tribune first reported that the Magic were considering Griffin.

Here’s more from the Southeast Division:

  • Myles Turner of Texas worked out for the Heat, owner of the 10th overall pick, Barry Jackson of the Miami Herald writes.
  • The Hornets worked out Shane Heyward of Columbus State, instead of Jonathan Holmes of Texas, as had been reported, in their six-man workout today, the team detailed via press release.
  • Jorge Castillo of The Washington Post adds Bobby Portis to the list of players working out for the Hawks (Twitter link). Portis will do so on Friday, according to Chris Vivlamore of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution (on Twitter).
  • Sam Dekker worked out for the Hawks today, reports Alex Kennedy of Basketball Insiders (Twitter link).
  • Quinnipiac forward Ousmane Drame replaced LSU’s Jarell Martin in a workout for the Wizards today, as reflected in a team announcement that showed Drame’s name, and not Martin’s among today’s workout participants for Washington. Martin’s name appeared on the list the team posted on Friday, as we noted. That lends credence to a report this weekend from Kennedy that Martin is shutting down all of his workouts after receiving a promise from a team picking in the middle of the first round that they’ll draft him.

Will Joseph contributed to this post.

Draft Notes: Hornets, Looney, Jazz, Turner

The Hornets will work out Kevon Looney, according to Rick Bonnell of the Charlotte Observer (Twitter links). The team owns the No. 9 selection in the upcoming draft. Looney’s agents believe his range is anywhere from No. 7 to No. 20, as the UCLA product tells Zach Links of Hoops Rumors. Looney is represented by both Aaron Goodwin of Goodwin Sports Management and Todd Ramasar of Stealth Sports, as our agency database indicates.

Here’s more news on player workouts:

  • The Hornets are also scheduled to work out Jonathan Holmes, Jay Hook, Cady Lalanne, Josh Richardson and LeBryan Nash, as Bonnell reports in the same set of tweets.
  • Myles Turner has worked out for the Jazz, Aaron Falk of Salt Lake Tribune reports (Twitter link).  Falk notes that this was Turner’s first workout with any team. Chad Ford of ESPN.com ranks the Texas product as the ninth best prospect, while Jonathan Givony of DraftExpress ranks him as the 13th. Eddie Scarito of Hoops Rumors has Kelly Oubre Jr. going to the Jazz with the No. 12 selection, but he mentions Turner as a possible alternative.
  • The Jazz will conduct workouts for Will Cummings, Rakeem Christmas, Kelly Oubre Jr., Keifer Sykes, Chris Walker and K.T. Harrell, according to the team’s Twitter feed.
  • Utah will also work out George de Paula, Royce O’Neale, Ousmane Drame, Levi Randolph, Derrick Marks and Jarvis Williams, according to the team’s Twitter feed.

Pacific Notes: D’Alessandro, Lakers, Suns

With former GM Pete D’Alessandro on his way to a front office post with the Nuggets, Kings executive Vlade Divac is interested in Ryan West, the Lakers‘ assistant director of scouting, Sam Amick of USA Today relays (Twitter links). West is the son of former Lakers great Jerry West, and the younger West has been close with Divac since the big man’s playing days in Los Angeles, Amick notes. The Lakers have been grooming West as a potential replacement for GM Mitch Kupchak, so the Kings may have competition for his services, tweets Eric Pincus of Basketball Insiders.

Here’s more out of the NBA’s Pacific Division:

  • The L.A. D-Fenders, the Lakers‘ D-League affiliate, have named Conner Henry as the team’s new head coach, Pincus tweets.
  • The Suns held pre-draft workouts today for Ousmane Drame (Quinnipiac), Michael Frazier (Florida), Phil Greene (St. John’s), Jonathan Holmes (Texas), Cady Lalanne (Massachusetts), and Aaron White (Iowa), Paul Coro of The Arizona Republic reports (Twitter link).
  • In discussing the Lakers‘ options with the No. 2 overall pick this June, Kupchak indicated that the team still hasn’t decided on a big man or a guard as its preference, Joey Ramirez of NBA.com relays. “You go back to the [Hakeem] Olajuwon, [Sam] Bowie, Michael Jordan draft. And in years past and maybe even today, it makes sense to build around a big,” Kupchak said. “But you don’t want to take a big because it’s a big and pass up on the No. 3 pick, which turned out to be Michael Jordan. So we’re going to look at the bigs and the guards and see if there’s a guard there that — despite being just a guard — you don’t want to pass on him.
  • Kupchak also indicated that Lakers star Kobe Bryant won’t have any impact on who the team selects in the Draft, Ramirez adds. “I don’t think it’s that big a factor,” Kupchak said. “Kobe is going to have a presence in training camp, and I’m sure he’ll try to impart his approach to the game on the players in camp. He’s never been great with rookies, and rookies have come to expect Kobe’s glare and ignoring them in the locker room and saying things.