The first thing I found out, which was a little disappointing but not surprising, was that the media doesn't get to watch any of the workouts. Instead, we all sat around in the press room of the Jazz's practice facility, (which is very nice by the way) and waited until the players finished. There were six players working out, but only two that mattered, Jimmer and Kemba Walker. Jimmer and Kemba battled each other all year for the National Player of Year title and now they're battling for the title of best point guard in the draft behind Kyrie Irving and Brandon Knight. (Knight was supposed to be at the workout, but unfortunately backed out at the last minute. He'll work out with the Jazz tomorrow.)
The Jazz told us the players would be ready for interviews at 10:45, but they kept us waiting for about half an hour. Finally, they opened the gym doors and let us take pictures of tired and sweaty players shooting free throws. After a couple of minutes of this, Jimmer was whisked away for exclusive interviews with KJZZ and KFAN, while Kemba was left to the swarming media mob. I was too slow getting over there, and didn't get good enough position to record him. This part really frustrated me. There's about 30 of us media people, all wanting to talk to the same guy at the same time. We all have the same questions and we'll all use the same quotes. Why couldn't we have Kemba come into the press room and sit at a table with a microphone while we all recorded and asked questions. I know why. Because it's boring on TV. They want to show the sweaty player still on the court, surrounding by tons of microphones and recorders to show how popular he is.
Anyway, Kemba was a terrible interview. I couldn't hear a word he said and I heard someone describe him as a dog with peanut butter on the roof of its mouth. Kemba slouched and mumbled and didn't really seem that happy to be there. Who could blame him? Almost every question he got was about Jimmer. However, Kemba did say all the right things, but everybody only says the right things nowadays, thanks to all the PR handlers everyone has.
So Kemba left and everybody pounced on Dave Rose while we waited for the Jimmer. Coach Rose really didn't have anything interesting to say. But it was kind of neat to see him there, as well as Frank and Scott Layden, Jeff Hornacek, Tyrone Corbin, etc. There are also some "luxury suites" above the gym that were filled with season ticket holders who did get to see the whole workout. Pretty much anyone who was anyone was there. The gym is pretty cool, too. It has two side-by-side courts painted just like the court in the ESA, and all the banners that hang in the ESA are painted on the gym's walls. The halls in the facility are also filled with neat decorations, like real jerseys for Stockton, Malone, Hornacek, etc., and some iconic pictures of famous Jazzmen, like Malone posting up on Larry Bird and Mark Eaton guarding Hakeem Olajuwan.
Finally, The Jimmer appeared. I was standing right next to the door when he walked in, and followed him closely, as his handler moved him toward center court. I was less than two feet away from him, but his handler said, "Give him room," which I did, but then was quickly shoved out of position. A pushy reporter from FOX 13 kept shoving my arm into someone else's throat. I felt bad and kept apologizing, but there was nothing I could do. I came here for Jimmer and Jimmer only, and I was not going to get shoved away completely. Fortunately, my recorder is powerful and caught everything just fine.
Comparing Jimmer to Kemba was night and day. Jimmer kept his head up, projected so everyone could hear him, tried to always answer in complete sentences, and laughed and joked a bit. He was incredibly confident and relaxed, even though he said pre-draft workouts are more intense than NCAA Tournament games. Everyone came there for him, he knew it, and he delivered.
So what's next for Jimmer? He goes back to his hometown of Glens Falls, N.Y., tomorrow to rest for a few days before the draft on June 23. He didn't say, but I'm guessing ESPN will want to shoot him in a few promos and that sort of thing. So he does have some work to do, but the meat of it is behind him. He's done working out and interviewing with teams, and now has to wait to see which team calls his name.
After Jimmer left, we got to talk to Tyrone Corbin for a bit, and he only had good things to say about Jimmer. He was impressed with his quickness and competitiveness. When someone asked Coach Corbin what he thought of Jimmer's defense, he answered, "It's a lot better than what we saw in the films!" He also said that almost every college kid has to improve their defense before they can join the NBA. This helps debunk the myth that Jimmer can't make it in the NBA because he can't play defense. It's not that he can't play defense, he just didn't play defense his last year at BYU. Most likely because Dave Rose told him not to, so he'd stay out of foul trouble and save his energy for offense. Also, how many point guards in the NBA really play defense. Rajon Rondo, Jason Kidd, maybe Derrick Rose, and ... that's about it. Chris Paul gets a lot of steals because he plays off his man and stays in the passing lane. (Remember, Jimmer averaged 1.3 steals per game last year.) NBA point guards can be pretty good without playing any D — just look at Deron Williams.
My final take from this is that Jimmer's stock is on the rise. He's had five workouts and has been impressive in all of them. Today, he reportedly outshout and outplayed his biggest competition, Kemba Walker. Although Kemba's team won the national championship, NBA teams can't draft the whole UCONN team. Meanwhile, Jimmer was the national player of the year, and some people are speculating that another team will take Jimmer before the Jazz can grab him at No. 12. No matter how good he's looked so far, it still seems highly unlikely for Utah to take him with the third pick.
Now, this may be the BYU fan in me, but I really believe Jimmer can succeed in the NBA and would help out any team that takes him, especially the Jazz. Depending on where he ends up next week, The Jimmer could be considered the big steal of 2011.
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