The Nets watched West Virginia small forward Joe Alexander make a lot of impressive moves during his workout yesterday. He even reminded some in attendance of Kiki Vandeweghe. Alexander admitted he was trying to show a lot.
“I’d love it if I landed here,” Alexander said of New Jersey. “And 10 is a high pick. So I would not be disappointed at all to come here.”
The Nets hope they could be so fortunate.
“My best asset is that I’m versatile. So if this team asks me to be a defensive stopper, I can do that,” he said. “If they ask me to sit in the corner and hit 3s, I think I can do that too. Whatever they need of me, I feel I can do.”
How about be available at No. 10?
Some things are beyond control. The Nets have picks 10, 21 and 40. Consensus league reports say Alexander doesn’t get past Milwaukee at No. 8.
So Nets GM Vandeweghe, along with Nets and Knicks personnel, watched Alexander at a combo workout at the Nets’ East Rutherford facility where 7-foot-2 Georgetown center Roy Hibbert, 6-9, 270-pound power forward Kentrell Grasenberry of South Florida, 6-1 point guard Maureece Rice of George Washington, 6-2 guard Mike Taylor of the NBDL Idaho Stampede and 6-10 Croatian small forward Damjan Rudez also auditioned. The Knicks pick sixth and the same reports indicate they favor UCLA point guard Russell Westbrook.
“We were joking, saying he looked like me coming out there when I was younger but I could never jump like that,” Vandeweghe said about Alexander, an athletic 6-8, was All-Big East First Team and honorable mention All-America.
“He is very talented athletically,” Vandeweghe said of Alexander. “He’s a good shooter. He’s just a very competitive hard-nosed kid. He’d done a lot of workouts. So you could tell he was tired, but he fought today. That’s probably one the best things about him, how competitive in how he works.”
The Nets have their short list and there’s always the chance of a trade. There is talk of the Nets even moving back from 10 and possibly ending up with Stanford center Robin Lopez – unless they can grab his twin brother Brook at No. 10 (although he seems set to go ninth).
Hibbert would enter the discussion for 21. Hibbert admitted he stayed in school an extra year because he felt he wasn’t mentally ready for the NBA and he wanted to fight a “soft” rap.
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Another opening on the Nets coaching staff became official yesterday when Bill Cartwright left and joined Terry Porter’s staff in Phoenix. Previously, Pat Sullivan returned to Detroit to join Michael Curry.