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SALT LAKE CITY — The longest portion of the year for one Jazz employee comes after Utah’s NBA team is done for the season.
Jazz vice president of player personnel Walt Perrin has coordinated more than 90 players at various workouts at Zions Bank Basketball Center so far, and he still has five days to help the team decide who to select with the No. 12 pick in the 2016 NBA draft.
That’s a lot of players for one pick, as well as three second-round picks that the Jazz will have, as well.
Perrin took some time out of his busy schedule to join KSL SportsBeat for a candid chat on the nature of this year’s workouts, the prospects available in this year’s draft, and give a few clues as to who the Jazz may be looking to pick up who will make an impact on the second-youngest roster in the NBA.
Of course there is one prospect who spent two years at college down the road from the Jazz: Runnin’ Utes big man Jakob Poeltl. The 7-foot, 245-pound Austrian is projected to go somewhere in the range of the Jazz’s No. 12 pick by multiple mock draft insiders, but he hasn’t worked out in Utah. Does Perrin think Poeltl would be a good fit to remain in the Beehive State?
"He's come a long way since he was here in Utah," Perrin said. "They got a player they didn't know a lot about, and he surprised htem and I think he surprised a lot of us.
"He's a really good offensive player with soft hands, runs the court really well and rebounds well."
Click the video to find out, as well as Perrin’s opinion on previous workout invitees Domantas Sabonis of Gonzaga, Malachi Richardson of Syracuse, Denzel Valentine and Deyonta Davis of Michigan State, Dejounte Murray of Washington, Furkan Kormaz of Turkey, and the enigmatic Sudanese-Australian big man Thon Maker.
We also got Perrin’s thoughts on former Weber State rebounder Joel Bolomboy, who has not worked out with the Jazz per an agent’s decision, and top-two rated picks Brandon Ingram of Duke and Ben Simmons of Louisiana State, as well as an update on 2015 first-round pick Trey Lyles.
