We had coverage of the Brooklyn Nets’ Pre-NBA Draft workouts on Monday and Tuesday of this week, and the Nets held another workout session on Thursday, which featured Arkansas’ Rashad Madden, Georgetown’s Jabril Trawick and Josh Smith, Bowling Green’s Richaun Holmes, and Michigan State’s Travis Trice.
The Nets also had UNLV’s Rashad Vaughn working out, who replaced Arkansas’ Michael Qualls after he tore his ACL during draft workouts.
Trice, the Michigan State guard who earned Third Team All-Big Ten honors and was on the All-Big Ten Tournament Team this past season, had a chance to chat after his work out with the Nets. I asked Trice how playing for four years at Michigan State, in the Big Ten and under Tom Izzo, contributes to how his readiness for the next level,
“Especially in a work out today when I’m going against two bigger guards. Playing in the Big Ten has helped me tremendously. We talk about it all the time in the locker room at these different work outs. In the Big Ten every other night you’re going up against a guy that could be a pro and a guy that could really embarrass you, so it’s really prepared me…”
“And Coach Izzo, he’s one of the best coaches to ever do it. He still is to this day. What he really instills in you from day one is a winning mentality and going out and competing, and toughness. So I feel like I couldn’t have gone to a better school to prepare me for this process”.
I asked Travis what it was like to see his pal and former teammate Draymond Green have the kind of impact that he did on the NBA Finals. Trice was part of Izzo’s freshman class when Green was a senior.
‘It’s big. Draymond is one of those guys that’s getting what he deserves right now. He’s the ultimate team guy. He’s the type of guy that will give you the shirt off of his back. I’m just happy for him and proud of him, he’s just really reaping the benefits right now”.
On how Trice is looking to improve at the next level,
“That’s the question I ask every team when I go in, ‘what do you think I need to improve on to play in the NBA?’ Because that’s gotten me where I’m at now is asking people what I need to improve on and improving on it, and it’s really carried me through each level from high school, to college, and now to this level and that’s what I’m trying to do”.
In our mock draft, we have the Nets selecting point guard Terry Rozier out of Louisville and in Chad Ford’s latest Mock Draft projection he has the Nets selecting Chris McCullough, a 6-foot-10 prospect from Syracuse, with the 29th overall pick.
