SALT LAKE CITY — The Jazz worked out 12 prospects Saturday, six of whom are currently projected to be drafted by most experts. That means that today's was the biggest workout yet for the Jazz, who have less than two weeks until draft day.

The team was most excited today to see the matchup of Myles Turner and Trey Lyles, as an interesting test in the strengths and weaknesses of both. One question with Turner is if he can play both the 4 and the 5 position, and in particular, whether he has the speed to stay with 4s. Lyles was a good foil for that, as a quicker 4. Likewise, one big question for Lyles is post defense, and Turner's stronger frame could also cause him problems. The Jazz wouldn't comment publicly much on how that matchup went, nor would either player, so we're left to hypothesize a little. Still, I learned a little bit about each player today, so let's examine that more deeply:

Myles Turner

Today was Turner's first workout with an NBA team, as he's been holding off to in order to maximize his time to improve before showing off his abilities to teams. Friday, like fellow ASM client Kristaps Porzingis, he was in Las Vegas for a crowd of executives from nearly every team, though not against other players in the draft.

Turner was funny: he's a likable guy, but it was clear that he was well-coached by his agent about how to handle these interviews. He almost seemed like he was here in Utah to attend a networking conference, not a pre-draft workout. From saying "You want to go out here with all of these teams, build great relationships and show what you got," to saying that the best part about possibly being picked by Utah was "the fact that they're so young" to again mentioning how important it was to "get in a good relationship with the coaching staff."

Then, after the workout, he tweeted this:

Just wanted to say Thank U to the @utahjazz for having me in for a workout today great organization and really enjoyed my time in Salt Lake! — Myles Turner (@Original_Turner) June 13, 2015

Which reminded me about his tweet earlier this month, featuring a Vine with a cat getting a brain freeze:

'Cat gets Brain Freeze' (Vine by @UNILAD) https://t.co/ZCaoAmh9Bm — Myles Turner (@Original_Turner) June 4, 2015

Here's my big question: Myles Turner is fun, likable and huge. He posts cat videos on his Twitter profile. It's awesome. But is he a basketball player because he loves the sport, and is truly willing to get work incredibly hard to get better at it? Or is he more of a Kyrylo Fesenko type (one of my favorite players ever), who just wants to be everybody's friend and hang out in the NBA, where he'll be good enough to play because he's big? I don't know.

That's an important question for any prospect, because so much of success is the ability to improve your own game at the next level. For what it's worth, Turner has been interviewed by the Jazz at the NBA Combine, Friday at the Las Vegas workout and again Saturday.

Turner also stacks up well analytically and is ranked anywhere from 6th to 12th in the models I've seen.

Trey Lyles

Trey Lyles, on the other hand, is just so vanilla to me that it defies explanation. I struggle with his game: DraftExpress describes him as a "jack of all trades, master of none" player, which doesn't help.

He's got good feel for the game, is fluid, has size, and has been on winning teams his whole life, which are all very good things. In a lot of ways, he feels like a good role player on a winning team at the NBA level.

But then you see his limited athleticism and finishing ability, and poor defense, and think that it might not work out for him at all. For a player on a remarkably stellar team, he's a mystery box, and I'm really struggling to find an identity for him, some skill or type that my brain can latch on to with him.

I was hoping that would be fixed by talking to him today at the pre-draft workout, but instead that feeling only magnified. His quote about Quin Snyder's influence at the workout: "He came out on the court and was telling me things and was talking to me." His quote about Salt Lake City: "Small, but it's nice." His quote about his journey from Indiana to Kentucky to the draft: "It's been a whirlwind the last couple of years, and I'm thankful, and I've been blessed, and I just try to go out there and work hard and try to make it to where I want to be." Those couldn't be more generic quotes.

Finally, I asked him to try to compare himself to an NBA player. Lyles wouldn't, saying, "I want to set myself apart and be different. There's not one guy that I want to be like." Disappointment.

Maybe Lyles is counting on the power of imagination; there are rumblings that even the Knicks, drafting at No. 4, have fallen in love with him. After all, you can project anything onto a blank slate.

Contributing: Jeremiah Jensen

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