Day 9 Workouts: Gray, Hill, Jordan, and Koponen

by Matt McQueeny, NJNets.com

The Nets and Knicks continued their pre-draft workouts today in East Rutherford with a couple of Big East big men in Aaron Gray of Pittsburgh and Herbert Hill of Providence, a pass-first point guard in Jared Jordan of Marist, and Finland’s Petteri Koponen, who also worked out on Tuesday.

Nets General Manager Ed Stefanski today simply called Aaron Gray “a big, big man.” At seven feet tall and 270 pounds, he definitely has the size to battle down low in the pros. Gray went back to Pitt for his senior season, after withdrawing his name from consideration last summer, looking to improve his draft stock and finish what he started with the Panthers. Unfortunately, in a game against Washington, he stepped on the foot of another draft-notable big man, Spencer Hawes.

“Did some pretty bad stuff to my ankle,” said Gray.

He was never the same the rest of the season and with the inactivity between playing games, he gained weight.

Once the season ended, he dedicated himself to getting in peak shape, losing 20 pounds along the way. Thought to be a first round pick, the question with Gray centers on his overall athleticism.

“I feel I can come in and contribute right away,” said Gray, who worked out three times a day in Las Vegas after his senior season to get back in tip-top shape.

“Especially with my physical mentality, my rebounding, I play defense on the low block. I feel there are a lot of positives.”

Herbert Hill from Providence – thought to be more of a second round pick – is a power forward with good length.

“He’s a very good mid-range pull up kind of guy,” said Stefanski.

Selected to the All-Big East First Team and Big East Most Improved Player, Hill averaged 18.1 points, 9.8 rebounds, and 2.9 blocks per game in his senior season.

“I think I just got better over the year, stronger, I worked on my body in the off-season, and I played a lot more minutes,” said the 6’10” forward who thinks adding some quality weight will help his game tremendously at the next level.

6’2” point guard Jared Jordan – yes, his father’s name actually is Michael – finished his college career as Marist’s all-time leader in assists (813). Over the past two seasons, Jordan led the nation in assists both years, 8.5 per game as a junior and 8.7 as a senior.

He went to Marist, though, a small mid-major college program. Does being the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference Player of the Year – as Jordan was this past season - have any translation to even a sniff in the NBA?

Stefanski said that while the Knicks and Nets like to bring in local guys to work out sometimes, to give them a taste of the pro game, as a favor, Jordan was absolutely not a charity case.

"This kid was not brought in as a favor of any sort; this kid can play. He showed that in Orlando,” said Stefanski, alluding to Jordan’s performance at the pre-draft camp in central Florida.

The knock on Jordan is whether he can consistently knock down shots, but “this kid is a terrific passer of the basketball,” said Stefanski.

“He is a flat-out good passer. Got a great basketball IQ. Will he be able to do it? There’s no question he will have no problem on the offensive end, assist wise. Will he be able to guard on the other end? He’s going to have to be clever, because of his size.”

Being in Jersey, the pass-first point guard was asked about the Nets starting point guard. Jordan said of Kidd that he respects the way he can dominate the game without scoring.

On being a “pure” point, Jared concluded, “I don’t really care if I score or not, it’s not a big deal. If I score two points or 20 points, I don’t really care. I enjoy passing the basketball. That’s what a pure point guard is, he passes first and he gets other people involved. For a point guard, you like to hear people say ‘I like playing with you,’ and that’s what my teammates said in Orlando. So that was nice to hear.”

In a case of mistaken identity, the Nets will be back in Tarrytown tomorrow to work out Marcus Williams – this one, a 6’7” forward out of Arizona – and Dominic McGuire of Fresno State.

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