Initial Phoenix Suns pre-draft workouts focus on 2nd round, future potential talent

PHOENIX — The third six-pack of prospects to walk through the doors at US Airways Center need only to look at the person running the pre-draft workout to find an example of a successful second-round pick.

Phoenix Suns head coach Jeff Hornacek was the 46th overall pick in 1986 and played 14 seasons, twice earning trips to the NBA Finals.

The Suns have also found second-round hidden gems in Cedric Ceballos, Richard Dumas, Steve Kerr, Andrew Lang and most recently Goran Dragic, whose draft rights were acquired from San Antonio in 2008.

Lately though, the Suns’ second-round selections have discovered Taylor Griffin, Gani Lawal, Dwayne Collins, Alex Oriakhi and Alec Brown, all of whom have a combined nine games on their NBA résumés.

In other words, round two of the draft is a very inexact science.

The Suns, in addition to their lottery pick (13th overall), own the 44th pick in the June 25 NBA Draft.

“We’re always looking to get a good player,” assistant general manager Pat Connelly said. “There might be different roster ramifications when you’re looking at 44. But, it’s not really determined now. Right now, we’re just trying to see — we all do our rankings and there’s guys around there that might be there at 44 that we have ranked very highly. Obviously, the talent wins out most of the time. We’re in a position where you just want to add good players.”

Thursday’s workout, the third in as many days, featured Duke guard Quinn Cook, BYU guard Tyler Haws, Penn State guard D.J. Newbill, Xavier center Matt Stainbrook, Florida State guard Aaron Thomas and Georgia forward Marcus Thornton.

All played four years in college except Thomas, who left after a junior season in which he averaged a team-best 14.5 points per game and was named honorable mention All-ACC.

Cook, meanwhile, had the best ending to his collegiate career with six points, four rebounds and two assists in 35 minutes to help Duke win the NCAA National Championship.

Connelly remembers watching Cook on TV when he played at DeMatha High School while Connelly worked for the Washington Wizards.

“Seen him mature as a player,” he said. “As a person, it makes me feel old after seeing him as a young kid and now, it’s like ‘golly, you’re a senior, you just went through (and) won a championship.’ I’m happy for him. He’s a good kid, and it’s fun to see him going through this process right now.”

Cook is projected to be a late second-round pick.

The 17 other prospects in town this week shared a similar range that also included going undrafted.

Still, the Suns see value in those players whether it be for their entry into the upcoming Las Vegas Summer League or filling out the roster for the Bakersfield Jam, their NBA Development League affiliate in which they oversee and fund all aspects of basketball operations.

Connelly travels countless miles crisscrossing the country and overseas — “Too many. I think I’m already right about platinum at Delta this year,” he said, adding with a laugh, “I’m a lifetime platinum at Marriott which is an accomplishment and very depressing at the same time at 34 years old.” — evaluating and scouting NBA-ready or NBA-potential talent.

He finds himself looking for many different attributes.

“A lot of it is do you have a certain NBA skill that you can sell, whether you’re a shooter or a defender or playing hard, that’s a great skill, or you have some potential that you can fulfill. There’s a few different ways to look at it,” he said. “Each guy has their different appeals at that second-round pick. It just might not be as concrete because as you do down in the second round, it’s not as kind of segmented as maybe in the first round.”

From his position, often seeing these players for the first time, Hornacek is watching for something specific.

“Watching to see which guys want to compete, which guys want to push themselves,” he said. “There’s obviously different levels of guys; sometimes there’s really good players, other times there’s good players who are laying it all out there. You’re just trying to see those guys that want to push themselves to the next level.”