By Mike Cranston
Associated Press
CHARLOTTE ó Larry Brown has a message for the agents who tell their players to decline pre-draft workout invitations from his Charlotte Bobcats: His team might draft their client anyway.
Brown isn’t bluffing. He’s done it before in his nomadic NBA coaching career.
After working out six players on Monday destined to be second-round picks or go undrafted, Brown confirmed that several players who are candidates for the Bobcats with the No. 9 pick in the June 26 draft have refused to work out.
“It’s agents trying to control the draft, saying they don’t want a kid at a certain spot,” Brown said. “I don’t worry about that. If we think a kid can play, I don’t care what the agent thinks. I know they’re looking out for him, but hopefully we’ve seen them enough. If they don’t come here and they’re available and we think they can help our club, I’m sure Michael will pull the trigger.”
Brown and part-owner and basketball operations chief Michael Jordan, who was in attendance Monday, are working together on their first draft. It’s Brown’s first since returning from a two-year absence to coach his NBA record ninth team.
The group on Monday included guards Leemire Goldwire of Charlotte, Rudy Mbemba of Sweden, Brian Roberts of Dayton, Russell Robinson of Kansas, Ronald Steele of Alabama and Mike Taylor, formerly of Iowa State.
Of the 22 players who have auditioned for Charlotte so far, only DeAndre Jordan of Texas A&M, Donte Greene of Syracuse and Joe Alexander of West Virginia are considered potential candidates for the ninth pick.
“Probably three or four guys have declined to come in because they think they’re a little ahead of where we’re going to draft at nine,” said general manager Rod Higgins, who declined to name the players.
While it’s frustrating for teams, it’s nothing new.
Brown recalled when he was in Philadelphia holding the No. 2 pick in 1997, he got a call from Keith Van Horn’s agent David Falk, who was best known for representing Jordan. The message: Van Horn wouldn’t play for the 76ers.
“He had a deal with a shoe company if he played in New Jersey or Boston,” Brown said. “He was trying to control the draft.”
The 76ers did take Van Horn, but then packaged him in an eight-player deal with the Nets.
Charlotte is also familiar with draft-pick posturing. The Hornets selected Kobe Bryant with the 13th pick in 1996, knowing Bryant didn’t want to play in Charlotte. The Hornets then traded Bryant to the Los Angeles Lakers for center Vlade Divac.
There are numerous reasons for players not working out, from believing they’ll go higher than the team’s draft position, to the location to not wanting to compete for a job.
“For instance, maybe we have Raymond Felton and somebody doesn’t want to have a young point guard coming to Charlotte, or going to New Orleans, or going to Utah,” Brown said. “And that’s not the way to do it. Coaches have a way of playing the best players.”
The Bobcats will continue workouts almost daily until the draft. Brown hopes the agents relent and let players show their worth.
“They all tell the kids, ‘We’re going to get you drafted,’ ” Brown said. “I always figured the player’s ability gets them drafted.”