Robb: Jaylen Brown Reportedly Will Have Second Workout with Celtics Brass
BOSTON (CBS) – Crunch time is here for the Celtics as the team's brass conclude their preparations for the 2016 NBA Draft. With less than one week until draft night, Boston is looking to bring back a few prospects for a second look, and that includes Cal freshman Jaylen Brown.
According to Darren Wolfson of KSTP TV, Brown opted out of a workout with the Minnesota Timberwolves, who hold the No. 5 overall pick, in order to return to Boston for the second time in the past month.
Team director of player personnel Austin Ainge declined to confirm that Brown or any other player would get a second look from the Celtics this week, but he did indicate that the team has been influenced by second workouts in the past. One recent example: current reserve guard Marcus Smart back in 2014.
"Marcus, it was more like he was the guy we kinda wanted to take," Ainge said. "And we all liked him a lot. Then he was horrible in his workout. And so when we went back and we watched film, we were like, 'We do like this guy. Let's give him another chance.' So that was the instance with that.
"We've done callbacks in years past where we didn't end up taking the guy. There have been callbacks where the guy was banged up or tired and so we said, 'Alright, let's look at you again.' Or sometimes it's as much as we found some things out in their background check and we want to talk to them about it. Or our doctor wants to take another look. All of these are reasons to have a guy come back."
Brown is a swingman out of Cal who averaged 14.6 points and 5.4 rebounds per game. Despite playing a different position than Smart, the two share a lot of the same characteristics--like struggles with jump shot and defensive versatility.
With wing depth being a concern for Boston behind Jae Crowder (Evan Turner is a unrestricted free agent), Brown could be a candidate to come right in and contribute to the Celtics rotation if he's selected at No. 3.
The athletic 6-foot-7 forward won't be the only player getting a close look by Boston's braintrust in the next couple days, though. Dragan Bender is set to workout for Boston in Waltham on Tuesday, while Mark Murphy of the Boston Herald reports that Jamal Murray and Buddy Hield are candidates to get calls for second workouts as well.
With plenty of trade possibilities also in play for Boston, the team's front office has its work cut out for itself in the next week. In the meantime, they plan to keep honing in on players for each potential pick in the first round.
"We've been narrowing at this point," Ainge said. "We have them in groups more than specific [guys]. Maybe for our first pick (No. 3 overall) we have it narrowed to these three or four guys, the second group (for the 16th pick) a little bigger. Eight or 10, because you don't know whose going to be there. You do your best at guessing and debating the groups."
Brian Robb covers the Celtics for CBS Boston and contributes to NBA.com, among other media outlets. You can follow him on Twitter @CelticsHub.
