Greenwood and McCarron undertake early NBA workouts
There were a record 7 Australians in the NBA in the 2014/15 season, with two set to play off for the title. The next wave of Australian stars are vying to join them, with a number of players working out for NBA teams ahead of the draft.
While there is no comprehensive listing of which players are working out where as the schedule is quite fluid with many players not yet having anything set in concrete, we have tried our best to put together a list of Aussies who have commenced working out for NBA teams.
Two such players are New Mexico's Hugh Greenwood and Metro State's Division II Player of the Year Mitchell McCarron.
Hugh GREENWOOD | New Mexico
Already boasting two Aussies in Dante Exum and Joe Ingles, the Utah Jazz invited Greenwood to workout. By all accounts his workout went very well both on and off the court.
Hugh Greenwood // Pre-Draft Workout 5.27.15 Interview: http://t.co/d8oiymlbvN pic.twitter.com/Bb7AXq0Ipv
— Utah Jazz (@utahjazz) May 27, 2015
What did stand out was that Greenwood connected on an impressive 62% from beyond the arc during his workout (62/100 3PT) which is the second best output at a Jazz workout to date.
Walt Perrin, Utah’s vice president of player personnel on Greenwood's performance at the workout for the Jazz (source):
“Hugh had a pretty good day today. He’s a very smart player, a good basketball IQ for a point guard. He was helping the other players in our workout. It was good to bring him in.”
According to his agent, Greenwood has further workouts planned but no dates locked in just yet. Greenwood is a long shot at being selected in the second round of the NBA Draft, however could work his way onto a roster much in the same way Matthew Dellavedova did with the Cleveland Cavaliers,
Mitch MCCARRON | Metropolitan State Denver (D2)
Has completed a workout with the Nuggets, his local NBA team after attending school in Denver.
"You walk across the road and watch them play, and then you get to play in their facility. It's awesome." #Nuggets pic.twitter.com/MvO8jAfm2G
— Denver Nuggets (@nuggets) May 27, 2015
McCarron had this to say after working out for the Nuggets (source, plus more here):
“I am just so excited to be here, it was a great opportunity."
As 2015 Division II Player of the Year McCarron has gained a lot of interested and is expected to workout for a number of NBA teams over the coming weeks. Like Greenwood, he is not likely to be selected in the NBA Draft but could impress during training camp if given an opportunity.
While no other player has yet confirmed any dates for NBA workouts, a number of other Australians could yet be involved. They could include Chris Goulding (CAI Zaragoza, Spain), Brock Moutm (Adelaide, NBL), Ryan Broekhoff (Besiktas Integral Forex Istanbul, Turkey) and Julian Khazzouh (ex-Sagesse, Lebanon) to name just a few.
Goulding and Motum performed well in NBA workouts in 2014, with Goulding impressing with Dallas while Motum went close to making the Jazz roster.
With the success of Matthew Dellavedova and Andrew Bogut in progressing to the 2015 NBA finals and the media attention they have attracted, more NBA teams may be willing to take a chance on an Aussie.