Phoenix Suns, NBA seeing more and more players opt for individual pre-draft workouts

PHOENIX — One may be the loneliest number, but it’s become the number of choice for several NBA draft prospects here in 2016.

Many of the top projected lottery candidates are choosing to hold individual pre-draft workouts for teams, bucking the traditional six-player group workouts.

To date, of the 18 Phoenix Suns workouts, a third have been solo.

“It’s a trend that’s happening league wide,” general manager Ryan McDonough said. “I was actually talking to T.J. Warren about it. I think when we worked him out there were multiple lottery picks in the workout. Devin Booker came in and competed last year.”

McDonough’s memory is a good one.

Warren’s visit to Phoenix ahead of the 2014 NBA Draft included Louisiana-Lafayette point guard Elfrid Payton, who after being selected 10^th overall by Philadelphia was traded to Orlando, where he earned first-team All-Rookie honors.

Booker, meanwhile, was the featured prospect in a 2015 pre-draft group that included Tennessee guard Josh Richardson, a second-round pick of Miami.

Three days after that workout, the Suns had Wisconsin forward Frank Kaminsky (Charlotte), Kentucky forward Trey Lyles (Utah) and Kansas forward Kelly Oubre (Atlanta) — three top-15 selections — on the Talking Stick Resort Arena practice court at the same time.

“It is something we value,” McDonough said, referring to the group workout. “I wish there were more of it, but this is unfortunately one of the few parts of the process that we don’t control.  Our kind of thought process on it is something is better than nothing and we’d rather see the guys come in and get to know them.”

Last Friday, Washington guard Dejounte Murray became the sixth player to work out individually for the Suns; following Cal forward Jaylen Brown, Marquette forward Henry Ellenson, Kentucky forward Skal Labissiere, Utah center Jakob Poeltl and Gonzaga forward Domantas Sabonis.

“We’ve done our heavy lifting, seeing these guys at different times over the course of a couple of years or, with different guys, even more time than that,” assistant general manager Pat Connelly said. “Ideally, you want to see them in a 3-on-3 so you can see them and simulate as much as you can in that setting, but we’re happy to get them in regardless. Even in 1-on-zero, we get some value of putting them through the different things we want to see as best as we can.”

The group workout, obviously, allows teams to match up players by position to see how they might do against one another.

Those prospects secure in their draft status, however, are often steered away from the group setting by their agent.

“For me, the interviews and spending some time with the player is important. The film watching is probably the most important — the film watching and in-person scouting, so this is a piece of the puzzle,” McDonough said. “Like I said, obviously we wish they’d come in and compete. With our pick range we’re able to get a number of guys in so we’d rather have them even in a 1-on-zero setting than not have them come in.”

The Suns own four picks in the top-34, including three first-round selections, two of which are in the lottery, Nos. 4 and 13.

Projected lottery picks Croatian forward Dragan Bender, Washington forward Marquese Chriss, Providence guard Kris Dunn, Oklahoma guard Buddy Hield, Kentucky guard Jamal Murray and Michigan State guard Denzel Valentine have yet to visit Phoenix.

Dunn, though, reportedly is staying away from the Suns, as well as Boston, which holds the third overall pick.

The draft is June 23, so there remains time for the Suns to get into town the players they want, according to McDonough.

“For the most part,” he said, not counting expected top picks LSU forward Ben Simmons and Duke forward Brandon Ingram. “I figure right now we’re probably 80-percent of the way there with the guys we want to get in. I think over the next week, week-and-a-a-half we’ll get up to 95-percent. I don’t know if it will be 100. But, I think we’ll get most of the guys we want to get in, if not all of them.”

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