Day 2 Workouts: Lasme, Wallace, Wood, and Wilson

by Matt McQueeny, NJNets.com

The scene shifted to East Rutherford this morning as the Nets-Knicks joint workouts continued for the second straight day. Participating in the workouts were two smallish guards, in DeShaun Wood of Wright State and Jamar Wilson of Albany, and two defensive-oriented and athletic big men, in Stephane Lasme of UMass and Brandon Wallace of South Carolina.

Because of New Jersey’s need for an athletic big man and the fact that Jason Kidd and Marcus Williams currently hold down the Nets’ point guard position, it would be unlikely that the Nets would take Wood or Wilson with the number 17th pick.

“From our standpoint, we’re not looking at point guards right now,” said Nets General Manager Ed Stefanski.

“Our interest was more up front.”

Up front today were Lasme and Wallace. Lasme was actually second in the nation in blocked shots per game (5.1) playing for the University of Massachusetts. He has really long arms and boasts a definite defensive presence; he blocked 10 or more shots four times this past season. From Gabon in Africa, Lasme is 24 years old and started playing basketball at 14 or 15 years of age.

“Lasme is a very interesting character,” said Stefanski. “He did a good job in Orlando (pre-draft camp) and I know that he is a guy who most teams in the latter part of the first round are going to want to see this kid in there. He’s one of the top shot blocking guys in the nation.”

On his ability to block shots, Lasme said that it just came naturally and his success comes from “just hunting for the ball. I just keep my eyes on the ball.”

“You can’t teach his length, and his skill and timing are excellent at the rim,” said Stefanski.

On what he will bring to a team looking to draft him he said, “I work hard. I can do anything. I don’t mind doing the dirty jobs. You can just tell me to do something and I will do it for you. I’ll work as hard as I can.”

While he is advanced defensively, his offensive game will need work. Lasme admitted that he needs to be able to “knock down the mid-range shot and just improve my range.”

Brandon Wallace from South Carolina is in a similar boat: very good defensively but needs to work on his offensive game. Wallace also needs to put some weight on his 6’9”, 203 pound frame- “but I’ve been fighting that all my life,” he said.

A player the Nets would be looking at “as a free-agent type of situation,” Wallace brings shot blocking skills, good size, and good length.

“Can you get him bigger and stronger is going to be the factor,” said Stefanski.

On today’s workout, Wallace said that he shot the ball pretty well and showed skills that teams watching University of South Carolina’s games might not have seen from him, like shooting and handling the ball.

Asked about the players he tried to mimic growing up, Wallace said “I’ve always been a fan of players who play the whole court. You know, rebound, block shots, make jump shots. So Magic Johson, naturally. And Scottie Pippen, guys like that. I wore 33 actually because of Scottie Pippen.”

As a team looking to bolster their front court with an athletic big man who is a presence on the defensive end, seeing Lasme and Wallace for the Nets and Stefanski “was a nice match up because both kids play over the rim.”

>>Back to Nets Draft Central