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In Non-Musselman News...

By Tom Ziller

In offseasons past, I never paid much attention to pre-draft workouts. Things happen so rapidly on draft night that after the top 15 picks, it seems like everyone takes the best player available. So the whole dog-and-pony show seemed like a facade to me.

But apparently these workouts do matter, a lot. David Thorpe - the guy who turned a raw beanpole named Kevin Martin into the #26 pick of the 2004 draft - says these workouts are very important to team executives and scouts:

In 2004, one of my players, Kevin Martin, was considered a longshot for the 2nd round.  None other than Marty Blake, the NBA guru, called Martin's decision to pull out of the Chicago pre-draft camp "a horrific mistake".  But we knew something he did not know; Martin was wowing NBA execs, who were telling us that he is a definite first round talent.  The only question was-who would pull the trigger and make him the only mid-major player to go in round 1.  After the pre-draft camp, Kevin flew to Sacramento to work out for the Kings.  That night, we got the word that Kevin was phenomenal in the workout.  GM Geoff Petrie loved his talent and upside.  After the draft, when Kevin became the 26th pick of the first round for the Kings, we found out just how phenomenal he was.  Petrie told me that they chart every shot a player shoots, from warm-ups to the 1 on 1 games.  Kevin shot an eye-popping 83%!!  Even better than the previous record holder for Kings' workouts, some guy named Peja.  Add Kevin's amazing quickness and 42 inch vertical, and you've got yourself a first round draft pick.

So obviously, Petrie cares about these workouts - that level of statkeeping during warmups and 1-on-1 games is astounding. (Kevin's shooting was also astounding.) So in order to know what's going to happen June 28, we should probably pay attention to all this, right?

Well then, here are the players that have worked out for the Kings:

Hilton Armstrong
J.P. Batista
Dee Brown
Taquan Dean
Jordan Farmar
Nick Fazekas
Matt Haryasz
Yemi Nicholson
Leon Powe
Chris Quinn
C.J. Watson

Also, Saer Sene - the 7-footer from Senegal with a wingspan of 7'8 and allegedly remarkable shot-blocking and rebounding talent - will reportedly be working out for the team in the next week (if he didn't over the weekend).

According to DraftExpress - the best draft site out there - these are the guys likely to be working out in Orlando:

Kenny Adeleke
Morris Almond
Rashad Anderson
James Augustine
Renaldo Balkman
Will Blalock
Josh Boone
Denham Brown
Bobby Brown
Nik Caner-Medley
Keydren Clark
Taquan Dean
Terence Dials
Sean Dockery
Jordan Farmar
Nick George
Daniel Gibson
Taj Gray
Dan Grunfeld
Tedric Hill
Daniel Horton
Bobby Jones
Solomon Jones
Coby Karl
Viktor Keirou
Tarence Kinsey
Dwayne Mitchell
Brad Newley
Yemi Nicholson
David Noel
Steve Novak
Danilo Pinnock
Chris Quinn
Allan Ray
Blake Schilb
Mustafa Shakur
Marcus Slaughter
Steven Smith
Michael Southall
Frans Steyn
Curtis Stinson
Joah Tucker
Ian Vouyoukas
Darius Washington
Justin Williams
Curtis Withers

I'll be eager to find out if Petrie works out any of the other top point guard prospects with a possibility of falling to #19 - Guillermo Diaz, Sergio Rodriguez, Quincy Douby. Guys like that won't be in Orlando (except for a physical), and Farmar may end up skipping the meat market, as well. If Diaz, Douby, and Rodriguez don't end up working out for Petrie, it could mean the Kings are either looking strongly at taking a big man (Armstrong and Sene would be the logical options) or Farmar.

Keep an eye on this.

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