The Grizzlies held their second major draft workout Friday morning with former Arizona State swingman James Harden, considered a darkhorse candidate for the #2 pick.
Harden had, frankly, a terrible workout, missing an avalanche of jumpshots while dealing with the stifling defense of small orange cones. Arguably worse than all the missed shots was how clearly frustrated Harden got.
Afterward, a team official pulled me aside and said ‘Look, we both know that was one of the worst workouts we’ve seen, but we’ve seen this kid enough to know what he can do.”
Harden, who shot 50% from the floor and 38% from three last year at Arizona State, is clearly a better shooter than he showed. (And he did find his rhythm toward the end, hitting 19 of 25 going around the horn on long two-point shots and a somewhat less impressive but still respectable 13-25 from three in the same drill.) And he may have been hobbled slightly by recovering from a minor ankle injury and recent sickness.
Still, after his poor performance in the NCAA tournament and his easy frustration at Friday’s workout, I would tend to worry about his nerves.
The interesting comparison right now is Harden and Tyreke Evans, who worked out for the team on Wednesday. Harden and Evans are similar physically (height, weight, and wingspan), play essentially the same position, and are both thought to be pushing Ricky Rubio and Hasheem Thabeet as draft options for the Grizzlies.
