Former Dos Pueblos High basketball star Julyan Stone is expected to be taken in the late second round in Thursday’s NBA Draft, according to some mock drafts.
Stone, a 6-7 point guard, is Conference USA’s and Texas-El Paso’s all-time assists leader. He passed Tim Hardaway on UTEP’s assists chart and is the lone player in school history to compile more than 500 points, 500 rebounds and 500 assists.
Stone has made the rounds of working out for NBA clubs the last couple of weeks.
“I’ve worked out for Golden State, the Lakers, the Clippers, Washington, Charlotte and Miami lately,” Stone told the El Paso Times before heading off to workouts for Chicago, Sacramento and Detroit. “By the time I’ve finished, I will have worked out for about half the NBA teams. Overall, it’s been good.”
One report has Stone being drafted by the Los Angeles Lakers.
“That’s not true,” Stone told the Times. “The Lakers have seemed extremely interested, but they haven’t promised me anything.”
Stone feels his draft stock has improved from the all the workouts.
“Before all this, I might have thought my chances of getting drafted were at 40-50 percent,” he said. “Now, I feel like they are 65-75 percent. But nothing is certain. If it were a sure thing, I wouldn’t be working out these last three days. But the feedback my agent and I are getting has been encouraging. There are also some teams from overseas interested in giving me six figures if the NBA doesn’t happen.”
Here are links of two predraft stories on Stone:
http://www.ridiculousupside.com/2011/6/16/2226659/julyan-stone-lakers-nba-draft-2011
