A day of scouting for the Jazz

SALT LAKE CITY — The Jazz spent the day working out players both for the draft and to fill roster spots for the coming season.

The pre-draft workout was the more exciting of the day as the Jazz brought in another high profile point guard, C.J. McCollum, as well as a local player, Scott Bamforth, to take a look at in person.

McCollum is expected to be a top-10 pick in the upcoming draft so the Jazz might have to make a move or keep their fingers crossed. He has been around for quite a while, but is still fairly young.

McCollum, a senior from small Lehigh college, is only 21 but has a lot of games under his belt. McCollum came to this workout both to show who he is on and off the court.

"They've got 111 games, so I think this is more about getting to know me as a person," McCollum said. "The dinners, the lunches, getting to sit down with the personnel staff and getting to talk to me a little bit. They already know what I can do."

Like most other players that came in McCollum talked about the difference in the altitude and how tough it can be. Jazz V.P. of Player Personnel Walt Perrin talked about McCollum fighting through the altitude.

"He struggled but he fought," Perrin said. "He started shooting the ball a little bit better later in the workout, so that's what we like to see."

McCollum is a shooter who had his biggest splash while he was in college in a tournament game against Duke. He scored 30 points against the No. 2 seed Blue Devils with the 15-seed Lehigh Mountain Hawks in a 75-70 upset in 2012.

McCollum compared himself to Steph Curry, a shooter who played at a small school in Davidson, and another comparison that is made is Damian Lillard from Weber State.

"I watch a lot of Steph Curry," McCollum said. "I'd say that's a pretty solid comparison. In terms of I've been in college a little bit longer, kind of being made by the tournament. A lot of people didn't know who I was until we beat Duke. So I say, just his ability to knock down shots off the ball and on the ball. I think there are a lot of similarities in that. He shoots the ball better than me and I'm more athletic."

The Lillard comparison could be accurate as well. Both were overlooked coming into college and their colleges got an absolute steal of a player. McCollum went through a big growth spurt to hit 6-3 and so the small school got a big-time player.

McCollum talked about how every player will go through a a bit of a learning curve going into the NBA and nothing players do in college will matter anymore. Perrin talked about how NBA teams don't care where a player comes from in college.

"A player is a player is a player wherever he plays," Perrin said.

The other player the Jazz brought in was Scott Bamforth from Weber State. Bamforth had a problem with the altitude just like any other player despite playing in Utah. He went home to New Mexico for a couple weeks and had trouble re-adjusting to the altitude. Both players are shooters, of course McCollum is expected to be a top pick while Bamforth isn't sure where he will play.

"Two very good shooters in today's practice," Perrin said. "They both struggled naturally with their air, trying to get some air into their lungs as they shot the ball. But they both shot it extremely well. They both were competitive in the one-on-ones that we do. I thought it was a pretty good workout for both of them."

Bamforth can make a comparison McCollum to Lillard having played against Lillard in practice at college.

"They're kind of similar a little bit," Bamforth said. "Dame, playing with him, I knew he was going to be something special because I've seen his work ethic off the court. I've seen what kind of person he was. Just the kind of player he made himself to be. They have similar games, I think Dame handles the ball a little bit more, but they have similar games."

High praise comparing a player even to a small degree to the Rookie of the Year. The two players are on the opposite ends of the draft spectrum, but both wanted to prove that they could work through the altitude and could shoot the ball.

The Jazz also kicked off their training camp for free agents today. They brought in 24 free agents to watch from June 11-13, The 11th was just physicals, to see how they handle themselves and try to find a diamond in the rough. Head scout for the Jazz David Fredman talked about why they were doing this event.

"They had some success doing it in San Antonio and Dennis [Lindsey] had the idea when he came here to do it," Fredman said. "The Miller family, it's a tribute to them, because this is not an inexpensive proposition to be able to do this."

The Miller's flew these guys in and allowed the Jazz to hire more scouts across the world to get to see a lot more of these players. Fredman said that players like Danny Green, Gary Neal and Joel Anthony, all playing in the Finals, participated to a certain extent in these type of camps.

The Jazz have at least six spots to fill and have nine players to sign to reach the max. They have video, scouting reports and experience regarding these players, but want to see them in different capacities.

"We're basically scouting guys," Fredman said. "So now when you go out and you're scouting you have different categories. So you say 'Okay this is a possible mini-camp guy, this is a Summer-league guy, a possible ten-day guy in the season.'"

They brought in different coaches from colleges including Gonazaga, Kentucky and BYU to help coach and discuss what they see in these all these players. Ultimately they are doing something that other teams have already started doing and Fredman said a few times that it is only because the Miller's are allowing it that they have the resources to make it happen.

Fredman said he isn't sure if this will be an every year thing, but would like it to be. It will be up to the Millers to decide if it is financially possible.

Is the next Gary Neal in this group? Maybe, if so the Jazz will have a chance to sign him and let them develop with the young core. Fredman said that a lot of these players will be on rosters opening day, he's not sure which roster, but he expects them to be playing somewhere in the league.

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