Montrezl Harrell, Christian Wood headline Blazers first pre-draft workout
The Portland Trail Blazers held their first open pre-draft workout Wednesday morning at their practice facility in Tualatin. They had six participants including a pair of projected first round picks.
Among the participants were projected first round picks Montrezl Harrell of Louisville and Christian Wood of UNLV.
6-8 guard Luis Montero of Weschester Community college and the Domincan Republic, Stefan Nastic, a 6-11 center from Stanford, Kenneth Smith, a 6-3 guard from Louisiana Tech and Corey Hawkins, a 6-3 guard from UC Davis were rounded out the other participants.
Harrell and Wood have both been connected with the Blazers in many mock drafts. DraftExpress.com currently has the Blazers taking Harrell.
Harrell played three seasons at Louisville, averaging 11.6 points, 7 rebounds and one block per games. Harrell was given the Karl Malone Award as the nation’s top power forward this past season. Harrell was a freshman on Louisville’s 2013 National Title team.
Harrell is only listed at 6-8 but has a 7-4.25 wingspan according to DraftExpress.com
Wood had very comparable numbers in his two seasons at UNLV, averaging 10 points, seven rebounds and nearly two blocks per game. Wood has three inches on Harrell but has a short wingspan by an inch.
If the Hawkins name sounds familiar, that’s because it is. Corey is the son of former NBA All-Star and current Blazers Director of Player Personnel Hersey. Hawkins played three seasons at UC Davis after transferring from Arizona State.
Nastic is a citizen of both Serbia and Canada but most recently played for Serbia in the 2010 U-18 European Championships. As a senior he was named to the Postseason NIT All-Tournament team.
Smith, whose nickname is “Speedy,” was the Conference USA Player of the Year in the 2014-15 season.
Montero played Community College last season after coming to the United States from the Dominican Republic in 2012. Wednesday was his fourth workout with an NBA team.
Erik Gundersen
Erik Gundersen is the Trail Blazers beat reporter for The Columbian. He's a graduate of the Allen School of Journalism and Communication at the University of Oregon in addition earning a degree in Spanish. He's covered the NBA for four seasons. You can also occasionally find his work on ESPN.com's NBA section for their TrueCities series. He also fist-bumped with Kanye West once. Follow @BlazerBanter on twitter for more Blazers and NBA news.