The group was athletic, tough and competitive. But there was one other quality Memphis forward Chris Douglas-Roberts brought to his Nets workout Saturday.
“Deceptive,” said general manager Kiki Vandeweghe.
“He doesn’t look great when he walks out on the court. Everyone has seen him play a lot and he just gets the job done,” said Vandeweghe who oversaw another workout group that included two centers – 7-0 Alexis Ajinca from France and 6-11 Cal product Devon Hardin – plus local Seton Hall product Brian Laing, forward Shan Foster of Vanderbilt and Washington State guard Kyle Weaver.
“He’s more of a throwback player, he just knows how to play,” Vandeweghe said of Douglas-Roberts, projected as a late first rounder in a draft where the Nets hold picks 10 and 21 on the first round and 40 in the second. “He’s a little unorthodox but he’s very effective. Great mid-range game. He’s a little better shooter than you would think. I liked him.”
No surprise, said Douglas-Roberts, who stressed his strive-to-be-the-best-in-everything mentality. Also, the 6-7 member of the NCAA runner-up team said all the tough, pressure-cooker games he went through had him fully prepared.
“I understand the game well. The NBA is all about having basketball IQ. It’s not who can jump the highest or score the most off the bench,” said Douglas-Roberts an 18.1 scorer for Memphis last season. “It’s about basketball IQ, a feel for the game. And I consider myself having a very high basketball IQ.
“When I’m out there I’m trying to be the best. Every workout I’ve been to, my goal has been to be the best out there. And that’s how I came into today. I just try to be the best player on the floor.”
Vandeweghe said Douglas-Roberts impressed in drills and situations that were meant to be tough and show as much about character as skill.
“You try to put them in tough situations where he has to fight through screens and play when tired,” Vandeweghe said.
Douglas-Roberts insisted a lot of it was daily routine at Memphis.
“The workout is meant to beat you. It’s meant for you to be tired and show fatigue, and I feel like I beat the workout ,and when we started the competitive portions I feel I really stood out,” Douglas-Roberts said.
And with the Nets holding that 21 pick, Douglas-Roberts said just maybe there could be a Net address in his future.
“I could bring a new way of scoring. They have a lot of great players, great athletes but I feel every team needs a player with a good feel for the game and I feel that’s what I add to the mix,” he said, stressing the winner’s mentality gained at Memphis. “Being at Memphis, I only lost 10 games in three years. That gave me the mentality I should win every game. So I went into the workout thinking just that: try to win every drill.”
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Vandeweghe stressed Ajinca’s surprising shooting ability. “Extremely long. Very good shooter. Surprisingly. He hadn’t shown that much,” the GM said. .ñ.ñ. Hardin, Vandeweghe said, was “unbelievably athletic. This guy is a real physical specimen. And he played very hard, did not shy away from contact.” .ñ.ñ. Laing, from Seton Hall by way of St. Raymond’s in The Bronx, was satisfied.
“I shot the ball well and got to show them my athletic ability,” he said. “I played well against other guys so I thought I did pretty well.”
Vandeweghe concurred: “He really can jump. He had a 39-inch vertical, was a good shooter. He was better than I thought.”