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June 19, 2009
Antonio Anderson, Dionte Christmas and Jerel McNeal Video | 2009 Draft Workouts Gallery | 2009 Draft Central
The Bobcats concluded their 2009 NBA Draft workouts on Friday at the Presbyterian Hospital Training Center in Time Warner Cable Arena. Memphis' Antonio Anderson, St. Joseph's Tasheed Carr, Temple's Dionte Christmas, Virginia Military Institute's Chavis Holmes, Marquette's Jerel McNeal and Clemson's K.C. Rivers all worked out for Head Coach Larry Brown and his staff.
Antonio Anderson was named Conference USA Defensive Player of the Year as a senior and Conference USA Tournament MVP as a junior. He earned league All-Defensive Team honors his sophomore, junior season and senior seasons. Anderson was the first player in Tiger basketball history to finish with 1,000 points, 500 rebounds and 500 assists. He started all 37 games in 2008-09, leading the team in minutes (1,269) and assists (166) and was named to the All-Conference USA Second Team after finishing fourth on the team in scoring (10.2 ppg) and rebounding (4.8 rg), and second in steals (53).
Tasheed Carr was St. Joseph's second-leading scorer in his senior season, averaging 14.3 points and was second with 4.3 assists. He closed the season strong, finishing with 20-plus points in each of his last four games. Carr averaged 12.6 points in his two years at St. Joseph's after transferring from Iowa State following his sophomore season.
Dionte Christmas had an outstanding career at Temple where he was named to the Atlantic 10’s First Team after both his junior and senior seasons, and was a Second Team pick after his sophomore season. He led the conference in scoring during his sophomore, junior and senior seasons, becoming the first player in conference history to lead the Atlantic 10 in scoring in three seasons. Christmas led his team to the NCAA tournament in both his junior and senior seasons. He finished his career with 2,043 points, becoming Temple’s fourth player to pass 2,000 points.
Chavis Holmes, a Charlotte native, averaged 17.4 points, 3.7 rebounds, 2.6 assists and 2.6 steals in his four years at VMI. He was named First Team All-Big South Conference following his senior season in 2008-09 after leading the nation in steals (3.4), ranking ninth in 3-point field goal percentage (.441, 83-188) and 13th in scoring (22.0 points). Holmes finished his career as VMI's all-time leader in games played (119), 3-point field goals made (306) and 3-point field goals attempted (795).
Jerel McNeal was named Second Team All-America by The Associated Press as a senior, as well as being named to All-Big East First Team. He ranks first all-time at Marquette in points (1,985), steals (287) and games played (130) and became only the sixth player in school history to tally over 1,500 points and 500 rebounds. In his senior season at Marquette, he was one of 24 players named as a finalist for the John R. Wooden Award after leading the Golden Eagles in scoring (19.8 ppg), steals (71) and three-pointers made (86).
K.C. Rivers, a Charlotte native, won 91 games at Clemson during his career, the most of any player in the program’s history. He ranks first in program history with 281 three-point field goals made, sixth in points (1,684), and 11th in rebounds (721). Rivers was named Honorable Mention All-ACC as a senior, while finishing first on his team in three-point shooting percentage (39.2%) and second in scoring (14.2 ppg), rebounding (6.0 rpg), and three-pointers made (89).
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(On K.C. Rivers)
I liked him, you know we had him earlier and the kid gets things done. I’m really close to (Clemson Head Coach) Oliver (Purnell), and the things Oliver values I value and that is what K.C is about. He can tear them apart and help your win. I like him a lot. its fun having him back. He’s in better shape, he was in pretty good shape last time, but he looked a lot more relaxed and comfortable today.
(On reading into Rivers second workout)
No, he is a terrific college player and a pretty special kid, so it was fun having him back.
(On being done with workouts)
I would hope we could bring some kids back, but there’s 30 teams that I am sure are thinking the same thing. We recommended some kids that we would like to see again and hopefully we will be a little more clear on what the progress is.
(On the possibility of picking someone who hasn’t worked out for the Bobcats)
We did it last year. We’ve had a hard time - we wanted to get (Jonny) Flynn in, Jrue Holiday, we wanted to get (Ty) Lawson in -- and it wasn’t that the agents weren’t cooperating, there were scheduling problems with a lot of them. You hope that you’ve seen them enough, that our scouts have seen them enough and there’s ample film to watch on people.
(On how today went)
It was good. The two years I was out of coaching, I spent a lot of time with Marquette and a lot of time with Memphis. So I’ve been around Jerel (McNeal) and Antonio (Anderson), so that was kind of fun. And then we had two Philly kids, I spent two years in Philly so I got to see Dionte (Christmas) and Tasheed (Carr), so it's almost like old home week for me with these kids.
(On trading the first round pick for a veteran player)
If somebody comes up and gives us a guy that will make us better, I don’t think we will hesitate. But things will probably start to heat up starting on Monday.
(On Antonio Anderson)
You know I have always loved what he does; he reminds me a lot of Raja (Bell) when he was younger. He is long, athletic and been really well-coached. The things that John Calipari demands are things that we talk about all the time. I think he can be a lockdown defender. He is great kid and he is going to get better.
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(On today’s workout)
Things went well. Coach Brown is a great teacher. He told us before the workout that it was going to be more teaching than any of the other workouts we’ve been to in the past. It was a great experience to learn from a Hall-of-Fame coach like Coach Brown.
(On being a lock-down defender)
That’s what I was known for all through college. I played with some great players and played against some great players and took that challenge every night trying to defend the team’s best player. I did that in order for my team to win and we were successful.
(On if being a defensive player improves his stock to a coach like Coach Brown)
I hope so. I’m just trying to come in and do exactly what he asks me to do. He is teaching me how to play defense better than I already know how to play it, every little tip, every little example I can get I’m just listening and taking it in. Whatever he has to say and the rest of the coaching staff as well, because they’ve been there and know everything, so I’m just taking in all this information.
(On the challenge of playing against offense-based players)
Its definitely a tough workout, but at the same time it shows me where I am as a player offensively and defensively. Jerel (McNeal) scores a lot and so do Dionte (Christmas), Tasheed (Carr) and all the rest of those guys. It was a challenge for me, and I thought I held up and did pretty well against them.
(On Memphis experience preparing him for the NBA)
It prepared me a lot, despite the conference we played in, we play some tough out of conference teams and always made deep runs into the tournament. I've had the chance to play in the Final Four and played against guys in the NBA who are making an impact. I also played with some guys who made an impact on the NBA, so it benefited me a lot.
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(On today’s workout)
I thought it went smooth. There were a lot of great players out there and this is actually the first workout that I have had with a lot of hands on, like what Coach Brown did today. He did a lot of teaching instead on just letting us play. I think he did a great job of just teaching some of the things that we are going to have to know for the next level, so I thought it went great.
(On hearing about the workout beforehand)
I talked to Steph Curr, Gerald (Henderson) and a couple of other guys that had the workout before me and they just said that Coach Brown was going to do a lot of teaching and to get prepared. Actually, with all the teaching it ended up being one of the toughest workouts because it was kind of competitive. We did a couple of drills and went hard on every drill. It was great.
(On what he brings to the team)
I think I’m a great shooter and a great leader out there. I think if the Bobcats are fortunate enough to pick me, I think I can bring a lot of energy to this team. You know it’s a young team on the rise, and I think that I could be a great help to some of the great guards they already have like Raymond Felton, (D.J.) Augustin, (Gerald) Wallace. So I think it will be great here.
(On being from a smaller school)
It’s a great challenge. You’ve got guys from big time schools like Duke and North Carolina and guys like Steph and I coming for the draft from smaller schools and trying to get our name out there. It’s a great challenge, especially trying to compete with those guys on a higher level.
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(On today’s workout)
I think it went really well; we did a lot of skill work with Coach Brown, things like that. There was a lot of teaching involved. This is one of the most unique workouts that I’ve been at actually. But with somebody that has such a good feel for the game like Coach Brown, it is always good. He was making a lot of little teaching points; I know I learned a lot of stuff today just little things in games, a lot of little detail then toward the end we got a chance to play a little bit, so it was good.
(On being more of an offensive player)
You know it’s always good, but to give yourself the best chance to be successful in these workouts you’ve got to be a both-minded guy. You’ve got to be ready to defend and do something offensively as well if you want to have a good showing, so I think it’s something you just have to carry out through the process.
(On his strengths)
I think that first and foremost, offensively is just going to be my playmaking ability, my ability to get past my man, make plays with other people and knock down shots when I’m open and just bringing that defensive edge to the team and being able to come in night in, night out and give the team a lift defensively.
(On advantages of coming from Marquette)
I think it helped me a lot. Just coming from Marquette and playing in the Big East, I played in the best conference in America and was going against the top competition night in and night out. So I’m looking forward to the challenge of taking this next step.
(On being the final workout)
It is my last one, my 14th one. So I am happy to be done and take a few days off, sit back and wait for the draft.
(On the fun of workouts)
I think the most fun is always for me going to different cities and competing against different guys in each and every workout. It’s a different situation you are going up against guys with different skill sets and different match ups in each and every workout. Its something that if you are a competitor and you like that type of stuff, then you are always up for the challenge, and I think that is the most fun I have had throughout the whole experience.
(On where he might go in the draft)
I have no clue still. The closer we get in the upcoming week and next couple of days before the draft I’ll get a better feel for the range I might go in.
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