Notes on the Jazz's workout with Portis, Looney and Connaughton

SALT LAKE CITY — Today's Jazz workout was the most important one yet with two sure-fire first round selections. Here's a breakdown of Bobby Portis, Kevon Looney and Pat Connaughton's performance and their overall status in the draft.

Bobby Portis playing with passion

Bobby Portis, the power forward from Arkansas, isn't an incredibly explosive player athletically. But what he lacks in athleticism he makes up for with a solid frame, length, a good mid-range jumper and perhaps most notably, aggression.

Just look at his hustle when it comes to workout interviews: When I asked him for one NBA player he wanted to pattern his game after, he named three.

"I like Kevin Garnett because he has that certain edge that he needs. He always plays with that passion. I like Tristan Thompson because he's always motivated. That's something I feel like I can bring to a team, that relentless motor. And I like Chris Bosh because he always plays off the pick and roll really well."

The Jazz have talked to Portis already at the NBA Combine, "twice actually" according to Portis. By all accounts, he's the kind of player that would fit well with the Jazz's roster off the floor, with a background and demeanor similar to that of Derrick Favors and Rodney Hood.

His ultimate ceiling depends greatly on his development in two areas: his jump shot and his defense. Portis said he's working on his shot frequently this summer, knowing that "Shooting 46 percent from the 3-point line this year, that's not going to happen each and every year."

Walt Perrin, Jazz vice president of player personnel, still feels Portis "has got some work to do."

Regardless, the Jazz think he's a player with a relatively high floor. Even if he doesn't wildly impress, he'll still have a 10- to 15-year NBA career as an energy big man off the bench, just due to his numerous skills and will to win.

That energy can be infectious. As Portis says, "I'm always clapping, saying, 'Yeah, let's go,' just hyping myself up on defense."

And when a reporter asked him if he can trash talk like his idol Kevin Garnett, he answered boldly, "Yeah, all day."

Pat Connaughton, superhuman, loves Utah a suspicious amount

Pat Connaughton might be the only human in history with a 95 mile per hour fastball and a 44 inch vertical. But the Notre Dame product and fourth round pick of the 2014 MLB draft says that there's no doubt for him: He's chosen basketball.

"I'm going to be basketball 100 percent from here on out, until I get kicked out of the league," he said.

Slated to be drafted in the second round, Connaughton might be a logical fit for the Jazz at either of the 42nd or 54th slots. But if he weren't drafted, and didn't make the league immediately, Connaughton would rely on his four-year degree to make the smart choice.

"If someone was like 'Hey, maybe go back to Europe for a few years and try to come back in a little while,' I think that's where I kinda draw the line. Having a business degree from Notre Dame, it would probably be financially unsavvy of me to go over there when I could stay over here."

Connaughton, though, is keen on playing for the Jazz after talking to a former teammate, Jack Cooley, who's currently on the Jazz's roster with a nonguaranteed contract.

Cooley apparently was effusive about Utah. As Connaughton relayed, "He says it's the best city in all of America. Best team in all of America. He didn't have a bad word to say. He's loved it here. He's loved every second of it. He told me it's a great organization with great teammates, great people and it's been an amazing experience being a part of it." While Utah isn't a city, and he might say this at every workout, we'll let it slide.

And finally, Connaughton's comparison for himself was an interesting one, also with Jazz ties: "I think for me, it's Wesley Matthews. He kind of came up the ranks and even went undrafted. He was a guy that about a similar size as me, similar height, similar weight, and he's obviously developed his shooting, he's obviously been able to develop other things: defending, handling the ball, things of that nature."

Teams will like that sort of answer. A lot of second round fringe players want to become All-Stars through developing ball-dominant skills, but Connaughton's goal to become an excellent role player is probably more likely to take him to relative NBA success.

Kevon Looney and the UCLA bump

Going into the workout, the Jazz, like other teams, had some question marks about Kevon Looney's fitness level. He seemed to tire very easily at the end of games last year with UCLA and tailed off production-wise at the end of the season.

And worse, the Jazz famously play at altitude and run prospects through a fairly strenuous workout. Looney at UCLA played at the Hunstman Center at Utah this year, so was no stranger to the difficulty, saying, "It's always tough breathing here."

But Perrin felt Looney responded to the challenge.

"He did well. He did real well. Matter of fact, he did a couple of extra drills in terms of shooting and he got through them all, so he did real well."

Looney's hip has also been an issue for him since before his collegiate season at UCLA. When I asked him about it, he said, "It's doing better. It's something I had dealt with the whole season, something I dealt with a little today, but it's just, I just need a couple of weeks to rest."

The hip brings up an interesting question: If a player has been playing with an injury, do you dock him on account of it potentially getting worse over the course of an 82-game NBA schedule? Or do you give him the benefit of the doubt, hoping that with the benefit of a team of doctors, he can play significantly better? It's a question the Jazz will have to answer with their team of doctors before the draft.

Looney does have one thing going for him though. For whatever reason, prospects from UCLA have statistically overperformed in the NBA over their college translation, far more than other players do. ESPN analyst Kevin Pelton even once introduced a UCLA variable into his draft model, giving a small bump to UCLA point guards coming into the draft (Pelton has since removed the variable, though).

When I asked Looney to explain, he said the reason was simple: "I think they prepare us for the NBA at UCLA."

Fair enough. It'll be interesting to see if that UCLA trend continues under new head coach Steve Alford.

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