Deng plans no workout encore

[dasox24]

I guess the bulls won't be able to see Deng again. This sux, I would've liked to see him work out against some other competition.

 

 

Deng plans no workout encore

 

By K.C. Johnson

Tribune staff reporter

 

June 18, 2004, 10:06 PM CDT

 

 

Barring an unexpected change, the Bulls will have to be content with one up-close-and-personal look at Luol Deng in advance of Thursday's NBA draft.

 

Deng, who worked out for Washington on Friday, has no plans to revisit the Bulls for a workout against competition.

 

 

The Bulls will bring back Arizona guard Andre Iguodala for a second workout Saturday. He previously worked out against projected second-round competition.

 

But Iguodala has dropped below Connecticut guard Ben Gordon on the Bulls' wish list, which still includes Deng and a possible trade down for a lower first-round pick and an established NBA player.

 

Gordon's strong workout at the Berto Center on Tuesday shouldn't be a surprise given the results of combine testing released to teams Friday.

 

Gordon bench-pressed 185 pounds 12 times, seven times more than Deng, who outweighs him by 28 pounds. Gordon also managed a vertical jump of 37½ inches, six more than Deng. Gordon's size—6 feet 2¼ inches in shoes—could be a deterrent. But general manager John Paxson went against the grain last year in drafting Kirk Hinrich.

 

Layups

 

Emeka Okafor worked out for Orlando on Friday and told Florida reporters afterward that he has no plans to visit other teams. Magic general manager John Weisbrod said he has seen nothing medically wrong with Okafor's back and that one unnamed team has offered three players and a first-round pick for his No. 1 pick. … Of the 53 early-entry candidates who withdrew from the draft by Thursday's deadline, 31 were either high school or international players. One—Croatian guard Roko Ukic—will be on plenty of teams' radar screens for next year's draft. … The Bulls worked out Brazilian forward Anderson Varejao in a Thursday afternoon session that originally was reported as being for Robert Morris product Brandon Bender. … Condolences to the family of Judy Lynch, a longtime assistant in the Bulls' ticket office who died earlier this week.