NBA Draft 2022: Johnny Davis will hold a solo workout for the Wizards on Thursday

The Wizards will host two workouts on Thursday. The first is a group workout featuring Virginia Tech’s Keve Aluma, Utah State’s Justin Bean, Michigan State’s Marcus Bingham Jr., Illinois’ Kofi Cockburn, Villanova’s Collin Gillespie, and Texas A&M’s Quenton Jackson. Following that, Wisconsin guard Johnny Davis will conduct a solo workout.

Davis, a 6-5 sophomore, averaged 19.7 points, 8.2 rebounds, 2.1 assists, and 1.2 steals. He shot 30.6% from three on 3.9 attempts after shooting 38.9% the year before on only 1.2 attempts. Davis is a 79.1% free throw shooter which is a popular indicator of long-term perimeter shooting success. And he was bothered by a leg injury which could have impacted the lift on his shot.

I think Davis would be an instant upgrade to the Wizards’ porous perimeter defense. Everyone focuses on the shooting percentages and that he’s not an elite athlete but the things he does well are certainly things the Wizards could use. He’s also an underrated, creative, and ambidextrous passer who should be able to create more open looks for better teammates than he had at Wisconsin.

Of the players participating in the group session, Cockburn and Gillespie are the two most noteworthy names. Both seem to have reasonable chances of going undrafted but would be appealing options to consider on two-way contracts. Gillespie was arguably the best pure point guard in college basketball and Cockburn was arguably the best center.

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You can certainly point out concerns about their ability to translate to the next level but at a certain point you have to consider their elite college production and whether that merits giving them a chance. As someone who watches more G League basketball than most, I would welcome seeing either or both of them start for the Capital City Go-Go next season.

Justin Bean, a 6-7 wing, is also somewhat intriguing to me. He averaged 17.4 points, 9.9 rebounds, and 2.6 assists per game for a good Utah State team. He made 46.5% of his threes this season on only 2.9 attempts per game and shot 80% from the free-throw line. It will be interesting to see if he can continue to extend his range enough to garner NBA consideration.

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We will be breaking these prospects down in more detail on Friday on the Bleav in Wizards podcast so if you have any specific questions about any of them that you’d like addressed on the show, please let me know that in the comments!