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As the Clippers start preparing for the June 21st NBA Draft, they're going to be working out a ton of guys. The team needs to evaluate prospects for their two mid-draft selections (25 and 33), as well as prepare to make informed decisions if they land elsewhere due to trade. Beyond that, they'll need to know which prospects to target as undrafted free agents for summer league invitations.
Recently, we've heard the first couple of names trickle in for draft workouts. Dozens more are to come, but so far we know that the Clippers are going to be working out Malik Pope from San Diego State University and Isaiah Briscoe from the University of Kentucky.
Pope is a sophomore forward from Sacramento who shot 37% from deep and averaged 7 points and 5 rebounds in 20 minutes per game last year. He's currently the #100 prospect on DraftExpress' big board, which isn't exactly a ringing endorsement. Unless he gets a promise from a team, he would seem to be a likely candidate to return to school for another year, but his athleticism could catch a team's eye. At the USA Basketball camp in 2015, Pope was measured at 6'9" with a 7'2" wingspan, which is tremendous size for a small forward. Still, unless the Clippers fall in love with him, he would likely be an undrafted FA target, which would likely land him back at SDSU.
Briscoe was a top recruit prior to his freshman season last year, and he averaged 9.6 points, 5.3 rebounds, and 3.1 assists per game. At 6'3" with a 6'8" wingspan, he has very good size and athleticism for a point guard, but his shooting is definitely of concern. He was a definite non-shooter in college (13.5% from deep), and his mechanics aren't great. That said, I was impressed with his vision and strength when I first saw him play four years ago when he was a high school sophomore, and that aspect of his game is almost definitely going to translate to the NBA. Combining those aspects with improvement in other areas will determine whether or not Briscoe has an NBA career.