Another individual prospect will work out for the Knicks today, and this time it'll be DeMar DeRozan, USC's freshman bird of prey. Aside from exhausting your "shift" key, DeRozan is known for his otherwordly vertical, solid mid-range game, and overall good-guy mindset. He's a bit raw, though, with questions about his outside shot and defensive chops likely knocking him into the lower end of the lottery. If you do click that link above, check out his media availability interview. Basketball IQ aside, DeRozan seems like a likeable, self-aware cat, which I think goes a long way. As we've learned, I put way too much stock in interviews. I probably wouldn't have drafted Derrick Rose last year. Yeah. Anyway, here's a little more on DeRozan from Zag's Blog:
The 6-foot-7 DeRozan averaged 13.9 points and 5.6 rebounds last year for the Trojans and is projected as a Top 10 pick. He worked out solo on Wednesday for Toronto and will do the same for Knicks GM Donnie Walsh and head coach Mike D’Antoni.
"I felt like coaches get the chance to see everything I’ve improved on without paying attention to other players, their whole focus is on me," DeRozan told The Canadian Press.
"It’s not (easy), but you get in good reps, it gets you in better shape, prepared for how the NBA life is, playing one night, travel, play again."
Toronto assistant GM Masai Ujiri told The Canadian Press DeRozan needs to work on his shooting and compared him to Philadelphia’s Andre Iguodala, Portland’s Travis Outlaw or Charlotte’s Gerald Wallace.
"Those are guys we kind of compare him to, athletic guys in the beginning, they were crazy athletes, but the game was yet to be put together," Ujiri said. "I think those guys have put their games together. He has to work on a couple of things, but I think he’s a great athlete, a great kid.
Meanwhile, the initial word was that today's date with DeRozan would wrap up Knick workouts before next week's draft. Not the case, says Marc Berman. Turns out Jrue Holiday of UCLA is going to get called back. Holiday didn't think his June 9th workout with Stephen Curry was the best, and Donnie Walsh is apparently more than happy to give him a second look. Given that Curry's stock has since taken off, it's probably wise to get a better feel for the other point guard prospects. Also, anybody else suspicious that this extra workout date might be making room for a ♥Ricky Rubio♥ visit? Is that silly?
More on the workouts as it comes. For now, scroll down and read either my post on "The Eddy Curry Show" or the thread for said show below it. If you weren't here late last night (which the vast majority of you weren't), you missed something surreal.