Jazz to audition 5 prospects

0 Comments | Deseret News (Salt Lake City), Jun 11, 2008 | by Tim Buckley Deseret News

Five NBA Draft candidates will audition for the Jazz this morning, including University of California center DeVon Hardin.

Hardin will work out with three other big men: Russia native Sasha Kaun of 2008 NCAA national-champion Kansas, Wisconsin's Brian Butch and Australian Nathan Jawai.

Also scheduled today are two guards, Western Kentucky's Tyrone Brazelton and Butler's Mike Green.

Hardin, who averaged 9.3 points per game as a senior at Cal, and Jawai, an unheralded 21-year-old power forward who played last season for Cairns of the Australian League, both are potential first- round picks in the June 26 draft; the others are second-round or free-agent hopefuls.

The Jazz started draft workouts last Wednesday by bringing in Georgetown center Roy Hibbert, a possible choice with their No. 23 overall first-round selection.

HARPRING ELECTED: Jazz backup small forward Matt Harpring has been elected to the Georgia Tech Sports Hall of Fame.

He will be inducted as part of a five-member class on Sept. 19 and honored at halftime of Tech's Sept. 20 football game against Mississippi State.

A 10-year NBA veteran who has played the past six seasons in Utah, Harpring was a first-team All-American at Georgia Tech in 1998 and a three-time first-team All-Atlantic Coast Conference selection.

FISHER HONORED: Former Jazz guard Derek Fisher of the Los Angeles Lakers has won the Magic Johnson Award, presented annually by the Pro Basketball Writers Association "to a player who combines on- court performance with steady cooperation with the media, in the tradition of Johnson's Hall-of-Fame career."

Fisher, who spent the 2006-07 season in Utah, beat out fellow nominees Chauncey Billups of Detroit, Manu Ginobili of San Antonio, Brandon Roy of Portland and Yao Ming of Houston.

LOPEZ SELECTED: Ex-Jazz point guard Raul Lopez has been named to Spain's preliminary 15-man Olympic team roster and is expected to serve as one of two backups behind Jose Calderon of the Toronto Raptors for the upcoming Summer Games in China.

Selected in the first round (24th overall) of the 2001 NBA Draft, Lopez's Jazz career was plagued by major knee injuries. But he did play 113 games over two seasons in Utah, including all 82 games of the 2003-04 season.

Lopez returned to his native Spain in 2005, and in the past two seasons the 28-year-old has played there for Real Madrid.

Lopez's return to the Spanish roster -- he also played for Spain in the 2000 Olympics -- comes partly at the expense of Sergio Rodriguez, who has spent the past two seasons with the Portland Trail Blazers

"The quality of Raul cannot be disputed," Spain's new national- team coach, Aito Garcia Reneses, said according to FIBA.com.

"This year (at Real Madrid) has been positive for (Lopez)," added Garcia Reneses, who recently replaced the fired Pepu Hernandez. "He is a player that can read the game very well, with a very good shot."

Lopez is one of multiple players with Jazz ties who may, or will, play in this year's Olympics.

Current starting small forward Andrei Kirilenko stars for Russia, starting power forward Carlos Boozer and starting point guard Deron Williams are candidates for the Team USA roster that will be named later this month, and ex-Jazz center/BYU product Rafael Araujo is with the Brazilian national team that hopes to qualify for the Games.

BOOZER SPOTTED: According to a Miami Herald gossip column, Boozer was seen at Lucky Strike -- a Miami Beach bowling alley -- watching last Sunday's NBA finals game with fellow NBA players Ben Gordon, Michael Finley and Shawn Marion.

Boozer lives in Miami during the offseason.

HORNACEK CONSIDERED: According to the Phoenix area's suburban East Valley Tribune, former Jazz and Suns shooting guard Jeff Hornacek "is a candidate" for the staff of new Phoenix head coach Terry Porter. The Arizona Republic newspaper, however, did not mention Hornacek.

Hornacek -- a part-time Jazz assistant during the 2007-08 season - - interviewed for Phoenix's head coaching vacancy, as well as for the Chicago Bulls head coaching job reportedly landed this week by Suns assistant general manager Vinny Del Negro.

The East Valley newspaper also mentioned Alvin Gentry and Jerome Kersey as candidates for Porter's staff, while the Arizona Republic dropped the names of Paul Silas, Dan Majerle and Mike Schuler.

Jazz assistant coach Tyrone Corbin was a finalist for the Phoenix job that went to Porter, and also interviewed in Chicago. Along with Seattle last offseason, a post for which he was a finalist, that makes three head coaching jobs in two years that Corbin has pursued but failed to land.

E-mail: tbuckley@desnews.com