Dexter Pittman is a big body with soft hands. The Wizards could certainly use a post man who can take up space and Pittman, along with Derrick Caracter, might be options … perhaps not necessarily at 30 or 35, but a possibility should the Wizards acquire a late second round pick. Pittman worked out for the Wizards last Thursday, June 17th. Here’s a bullet point run-down on Dexter along with his post-workout media interview video:

• Pittman says he left high school for Texas weighing 388, dropped that to 366 before enrolling in June 2006, and got his weight down to a listed 290 by his senior year.
• Below I’ve embedded a video of a good ESPN feature that chronicles the transformation Pittman went through at UT, a school with a renowned strength and conditioning program.
• Pittman weighed in at 303 in Chicago, said he was “probably around 300″ on his day working out with the Wizards, and that his ideal playing weight is around 270-280.
• He had the highest percentage of body fat, 20.8%, of those measured in Chicago. DeMarcus Cousins was second at 16.4%.
• The website of Pittman’s foundation, DexterPittman.org, says that he once weight 402 pounds.
• His foundation sponsors the ‘Get Fit With Big Pitt Challenge‘ to help fight youth obesity.
• He had to unfortunately leave the Chicago pre-draft combine early because his younger brother was murdered.
• NBADraft.net compares him to Stanley Roberts.
• Pittman measures 6’9.5″ without shoes with a 7’6″ wingspan, almost six inches longer than Caracter’s wingspan.
• Pittman also had the biggest hands of the Chicago measurements with a length of 10.5 inches. Sure, these are just measurements, but I’m loving the new hand measurement stat. Some of the greatest players, Michael Jordan, Larry Bird, Rajon Rondo, and many that I’m surely missing, have had some of the biggest, strongest hands. Kwame Brown was said to have small hands. Enough said.
• Pittman made Academic All-Big 12 his sophomore and junior years.
• In an interview, he said one of his nicknames is “Sexy Dexy,” given to him by the Texas women’s basketball team his freshman year.
• He also said that he “loves phones like women love shoes” and that he’s a big fan of Wal-mart.
• His Twitter account is @Big_Pitt.
• Charles Barkley has noticed Pittman’s work ethic.
• He had an impressive workout with the Timberwolves, where he compared himself to DeJuan Blair and Big Baby Davis, but with 3 or 4 more inches in height, says T-Wolves GM David Khan.
• In the scouting report video embedded below, I was impressed by Pittman’s footwork/agility when guarding the pick-and-roll on the perimeter.
• Says he would’ve been disappointed if Texas went to the Pac-10 because the Big 12 stands for being “big and physical” while the Pac-10 is known for “premature point guards” who don’t want to get hit in the paint.

Post Wizards Workout Interview:

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It’s pretty rare to find someone from the DMV area, one who has played basketball at high levels, admit that they were a fan of the Washington Bullets growing up. It’s usually the Bulls, the Bulls, the Bulls, or whomever. Always a bridesmaid, never a bride … the Bullets/Wizards usually are.

Villanova’s Scottie Reynolds is the exception. Reynolds spent a good chunk of his life growing up in Virginia, playing for Herndon High School where he was named a McDonald’s All-American as a senior in 2006. Reynolds moved on to suit up for the Wildcats and after a stellar 4-year career, was named a 2010 AP 1st Team All-American.

As a combo guard, Reynolds doesn’t have the highest prospects for the NBA Draft. ESPN projects him as someone who could go in the second round or undrafted, and both DraftExpress and NBADraft.net do not list him in their respective two-round mocks. This past Tuesday, Reynolds worked out with his hometown Washington Wizards.

Which brings me to why, assuming you are a Wizards/Bullets fan, you should root for Scottie Reynolds … because he is a fan just like you. When asked how much he followed the Wizards (Bullets) growing up, Reynolds opened up the floodgates. He said he was at the very last game played at the USAir Arena, a loss to Michael Jordan and the Chicago Bulls on November 29, 1997; he kept both his ticket and t-shirt giveaway from the game. He also attended the second game at the MCI (now Verizon) Center, a win against Mitch Richmond and the Sacramento Kings. Reynolds then started running off names of players he rooted for — Tracy Murray, Chris Whitney, Ben Wallace, Rasheed Wallace, Tim Legler — saying it’d be a “dream come true” to play for the organization.

Below, check out Reynolds’ post workout interview video, where he talks about the Bullets and calls Randy Foye his “big brother,”  and footage from him on the Wizards practice court … courtesy of Adam Douglas.

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Thanks to TAI media guru Adam Douglas for shooting Wall’s interview footage.

Five players worked out for the Wizards on Tuesday, highlighted by former Iowa State standout Craig Brackins and Villanova star Scottie Reynolds.

When it comes to making the decision to turn pro, the media routinely hypes up two outcomes: when a kid stays in school and improves his draft status, and when a kid leaves too early and doesn’t get drafted, wasting his remaining college eligibility.  The third scenario, one the media often downplays, is when the player’s draft fortunes decline by staying in school an extra year, costing him NBA millions in the process. This is what transpired with Brackins.

During a monster sophomore campaign (2008-09) for the Cyclones, Brackins averaged 20.2 points and 9.5 rebounds per game. He was was named first team All-Big 12, honorable mention All-American and  tallied up a career-high 42 points in a contest against powerhouse Kansas. Mocks of the 2009 NBA Draft had Brackins going anywhere from late lottery to mid-20s. He was pretty much a lock for the first round and thus, awarding him the coveted financial security a second round selection does not provide.  Brackins tested the waters and ultimately decided to return for his junior year because he felt he was personally not ready yet.

The 2009-10 Cyclones opened the season with great expectations and some thought they could be a conference sleeper like 2008-9 Missouri. However, injuries, player defections and hard luck contributed to a disappointing 15-16 record. Brackins underachieved, struggled with consistency and his numbers dipped to 16.5 ppg and 8.5 rpg.

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[Editor's note: TAI media guy Adam Douglas attended the Wizards pre-draft workout on June 14th, his report is below.]

The Wizards worked out six players on Monday, highlighted by Luke Harangody from Notre Dame and Trevor Booker from Clemson, and including Marqus Blakley (Vermont), Marquis Gilstrap (Iowa State), Trevon Hughes (Wisconsin) and Jeremy Wise (D-League), as the entire coaching staff , several personnel employees and team president Ernie Grunfeld closely watched. Below are some video interviews, pertinent draft info and pictures from the “job interview”, a concept Flip Saunders drilled into the heads of these professional basketball applicants after the workout.

Trevor Booker – Clemson, Sr.

Chicago Measurements: 6’6.25″ without shoes, 236 lbs., 6’6.75″ wingspan
Age: 22 (11/25/1987)

Draft Express Profile (Feb. 19, 2010): Read more »

Magnum Rolle worked out with the Washington Wizards on June 2, 2010 along with Jerome Dyson, Devin Ebanks and Devin Sweetney. Below is a narrative of Rolle’s basketball career, scouting report, and video footage of his workout with the Wizards and media interview.

Magnum Rolle grew up a skinny kid riding his bike around the beaches of the Bahamas. He didn’t pick up a basketball until age 15 and turned 17 in February of his first season playing at the high school level. He quickly became a sensation, gaining attention of college coaches from big time programs who flew down to catch a glimpse of the island mystery.

To prepare himself for college, basketball-wise and academically, Rolle moved to the United States to play at Laurinberg Prep in North Carolina, a former prep school powerhouse which has since fallen on hard times.

Laurinberg is a historically all-black prep school that’s steeped basketball tradition. Past players include Celtics great and NBA Hall of Famer Sam Jones, 10-year NBA vet Charlie Scott (70-71 ABA Rookie ROY, multi-time all-star), Earl “the Goat” Manigault (the famed NY-bred Rucker Park baller who Don Cheadle played in a movie), and Chris Washburn. More recent players include Antonio Anderson, Renaldo Balkman, Joey Dorsey, Robert Dozier and Shawne Williams. Famed trumpeter Dizzy Gillespie also attended Laurinberg on a music scholarship.

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