Juancho Hernangomez

Suns Notes: Chandler, Workouts, J. Brown

The Suns are taking a closer look at candidates for that fourth overall pick, having hosted former California forward Jaylen Brown for a workout on Monday. We also heard yesterday that Phoenix has a workout lined up with Dragan Bender, who will be traveling stateside to meet with a handful of teams with top picks.

Here’s more on the Suns:

  • Veteran center Tyson Chandler isn’t getting any younger, and may not want to remain in Phoenix if the team plans to undergo a major rebuilding effort. For now though, Chandler is content to take a wait-and-see approach and won’t seek out a trade, as he tells ESPN’s The Jump with Rachel Nichols. “If there is a decision and they want to go young and stay young, then we’ll have that conversation. But we’re not there,” Chandler said. “I’m happy where I am. I feel like the Suns have a bright future if we continue to build and build the right way. It’s all about building the right way.”
  • The Suns have a six-man pre-draft workout group lined up for today, according to the team (Twitter link). The prospects participating in that session are Josh Adams (Wyoming), Gerry Blakes (Arizona State), Petr Cornelie (France), Juan Hernangomez (Spain), Mamadou Ndiaye (UC Irvine), and Georgios Papagiannis (Greece).
  • Former Syracuse guard Malachi Richardson is also scheduled to work out for the Suns this week, according to Keith Pompey of The Philadelphia Inquirer (Twitter link).
  • Paul Coro of The Arizona Republic takes a look at whether Jaylen Brown would be a fit in Phoenix, talking to Suns assistant GM Pat Connelly and Brown himself.

Spanish PF Juan Hernangomez Enters Draft

Spanish prospect Juan Hernangomez has declared for this year’s draft, agent Igor Crespo tells Jonathan Givony of DraftExpress (Twitter link). A wide gap exists in the projections for the 6’9″ 20-year-old, with Givony pegging him a late first-round pick at No. 29 in his prospect rankings while Chad Ford of ESPN.com has him outside draft range at No. 71. Givony lists Hernangomez as a combo forward in his profile but refers to him as a power forward in his tweet, while Ford’s profile shows him as a power forward.

Hernangomez, who is the younger brother of Knicks draft-and-stash prospect Guillermo (Willy) Hernangomez, has offensive versatility and is a competitive rebounder, but his decision-making and youthful mistakes on defense are his shortcomings, according to Givony. Ford points to his standout midrange game as well as his lack of strength and underdeveloped post-up game.

He averaged 9.4 points and 5.8 rebounds in 23.7 minutes per game with 33.8% 3-point shooting across 28 appearances this year for Movistar Estudiantes of Spain. The club gave him a starting role for the majority of the season, a breakout campaign for him after he saw just 10.0 per contest last year.

And-Ones: Borrego, Draft, Crawford

Walter Pitchford, a center from Nebraska, and Gardner-Webb combo forward Jerome Hill are the two U.S. players who withdrew from the draft in advance of Monday’s deadline to do so, the league announced. The deadline to withdraw while still maintaining college eligibility was more than two months ago, so neither is able to return to NCAA ball. Neither had much chance to be drafted this year, so the outcome of their respective decisions Monday, at least as far as next season is concerned, is likely the same, with either the D-League or overseas play probably in the future for them. Still, both will have the chance to go through the draft process again next year, when they’ll be automatically draft-eligible.

Here’s more from around the league:

  • Also withdrawing from the draft were Spanish small forward Alberto Abalde and Oriol Pauli, Ukrainian centers Vladislav Korenyuk and Sergiy Zagreba, Lebanese point guard Wael Arakji, Greek shooting guard Eleftherios Bochoridis, Georgian forward Beka Burjanadze, Senegalese center Moussa Diagne, Croatian shooting guard Ognjen Dobric, Spanish shooting guard Marc Garcia, Spanish forward Juan Alberto Hernangomez, Slovenian point guard Aleksej Nikolic and Kazakhstani power forward Alexandr Zhigulin, the league announced in the same press release. Several other overseas prospects also withdrew, according to Monday reports that the league confirmed.
  • Former University of Washington center Robert Upshaw has been cleared to resume workouts after his heart issue scare, Reid Forgrave of FOXSports.com relays (Twitter link). Upshaw has already worked out for the Mavericks, and will show his wares for the Rockets on Wednesday, Forgrave adds.
  • Clippers guard Jamal Crawford has hired Wasserman Media Group to represent him, Brad Turner of The Los Angeles Times reports (Twitter link). Crawford was previously with Andy Miller of ASM Sports.
  • Former Magic interim coach James Borrego is finalizing a deal with the Spurs to join coach Gregg Popovich‘s staff as an assistant, Shams Charania of RealGM reports (via Twitter).
  • The Hornets held workouts today for Treveon Graham (VCU), Alan Williams (Santa Barbara), Trevor Lacey (NC State), Sir’Dominic Pointer (St. John’s), Shannon Scott (Ohio State), and Seth Tuttle (Northern Iowa), the team announced (Twitter links).

Chuck Myron contributed to this post.