Rumors

AFTER BEING PICKED in the second round of the 2014 draft by the Nuggets, Jokic went to the P3 Applied Sports Science lab in Santa Barbara, California, for testing. The then-20-year-old's athleticism results were bleak. Most glaringly, Jokic did a standing vertical leap and only got 17 inches off the ground; the worst recording for any of the 1,000-plus NBA players the lab has ever tested. It'd be an obvious concern for any player, let alone a center who would be tasked with protecting the rim. On top of that, when looking at rotation players who log an average of 2 miles of distance each game, Jokic ranks third-to-last this season in the NBA in terms of how often he's running "fast," doing so just 2.9% of the time, according to Second Spectrum. It would mark the sixth time in a seven-season span that he ranks in the NBA's bottom 10 in speed.

ESPN

Dan Woike: In a 2022 podcast interview with JJ Redick, Luka Doncic said his first trip to California was to workout at P3 in Santa Barbara. He stayed there during the week and went to Los Angeles on the weekend --- to go to Six Flags.

Twitter

Adam Zagoria: The Knicks today worked out this group, per sources: Tyler Thomas (Hofstra) David Jones (Memphis) Spencer Jones (Stanford) Ajay Mitchell (Santa Barbara) Antonio Reeves (Kentucky) pic.twitter.com/qxyP8J0w7x

Twitter

Adam Wexler: #Rockets GM Rafael Stone on Cam Whitmore - "He came in & looked great. He worked out in Santa Barbara, looked great." Again, said he's not sure where the reports (on his medicals) came from, but the team is not concerned at all.

Twitter

Tony East: The draft workouts for the Pacers continue. The group for tomorrow: Toumani Camara, Dayton Tosan Evbuomwan, Princeton Jaylen Martin, Overtime Elite Landers Nolley, II, Cincinnati Miles Norris, California-Santa Barbara Julian Strawther, Gonzaga

Twitter

Adrian Wojnarowski: U of Houston F Jarace Walker - No. 5 in ESPN’s Mock Draft - will sit out WME’s Pro Day in Santa Barbara today w/ a sore right elbow, his agents tell ESPN. He hurt his elbow in Sweet 16 game and recently re-aggravated it. He’s expected to be 100 percent again for upcoming team workouts.

Twitter

A major emphasis during training camp last week in Santa Barbara, California, Simons said, was having all five positions be able to switch on defense. That means Simons could find himself on bigger players as he did with Leonard. Simons passed that test. “I surprised myself, honestly,” Simons said with a laugh. “I mean, you see Kawhi moving centers. And I was able to take at least three bumps from him and be OK.” Adding muscle clearly paid off. “I guess the weight room helped,” Simons said with a smile. “That’s something they can’t take away from me. I got a couple of stops on Kawhi, a little bit.”

Oregonian

The Portland Trail Blazers will hold training camp in preparation for the 2022-23 season in Santa Barbara, California, an NBA source has told The Oregonian/OregonLive. Extensive details were not available but according to the source, media day will take place on Sept. 26 in Portland followed by the start of training camp on Sept. 27 in Santa Barbara.

Oregonian

I’m writing a book about P3 called BALLISTIC. This week, that has meant spending quality time in P3’s sports science-infused headquarters in Santa Barbara, where a huge number of NBA prospects (Bill Duffy clients like Chet Holmgren, E.J. Liddell, Leonard Miller, Christian Braun, Jalen Williams, and many others) have been intensively preparing for next month’s draft. Draft experts have had plenty of smart things to say about Arizona’s Bennedict Mathurin. The Athletic’s John Hollinger calls Mathurin the fifth-best prospect in the draft. He raves about his shooting, and highlights a play where Mathurin entirely denies a pass to a smaller guard desperate to receive the ball. Hollinger also notes that Mathurin has good size and “plus athleticism.” It’s that last thing that stands out in this building. If he had competed, I imagine Mathurin would have done well on the vertical jump and sprint tests at the combine in Chicago, but tests like those would miss his Jimmy Butleresque solidity. P3 founder Marcus Elliott uses the phrase “damn strong” to describe Mathurin. It’s obviously true.

TrueHoop

According to Barnes, he and Kobe played two-on-two with the kids while in Santa Barbara. In classic Mamba fashion, he didn’t give a rats hat that they were kids and played with the same burning desire to win he showed when playing in an NBA game, swatting away their shots and dunking on their heads. Barnes, as competitive and feisty as he is on the court himself, asked the 5-time NBA champion to chill out with these kids, but Kobe didn’t care. This story only makes the legend of Kobe Bryant grow and just how passionate he is with his craft. There are probably a lot more untold, yet, similar stories detailing Bryant’s competitive nature. His work ethic is unmatched and his passion has only inspired so many others.

Clutch Points

Milwaukee Bucks forward Kyle Korver is looking to pass his Santa Barbara, CA, home to a new owner for $3,995,000. The SoCal native purchased the retreat in 2012 for $1.5 million. The “incredibly renovated” hillside home has four bedrooms, 3.5 bathrooms, and 3,960 square feet of living space. The contemporary home features muted tones of gray and beige.

Realtor

Darren Wolfson: A few #NBA teams will head to Santa Barbara this week to see Minnesota natives and draft prospects Tre Jones and Daniel Oturu workout. No on the #Timberwolves being there this week. They're expected to be elsewhere. Limit of being able to see 10 guys in person.

Twitter

Daniel Oturu, who is 6-foot-10 and 240 pounds, shot 67.5 percent from three-point range (104 for 154) and 87 percent from the free throw line (87 for 100) at the P3 Sports Science facility in Santa Barbara, Calif. P3 Sports Science runs combine drills for the NBA Draft, which is scheduled to be held virtually Nov. 18. In other testing results, Oturu’s box lane agility drill (11.37 seconds), 3/4 court sprint (3.28 seconds), standing vertical jump (29.5 inches) and max vertical (35.5 inches) topped averages at his position from the 2019 NBA Draft combine in Chicago.

Minneapolis Star-Tribune

Trail Blazers back-up point guard Anfernee Simons worked out with long-time NBA point guard Darren Collison in Santa Barbara, California this week. Collison, who played 10 seasons in the league before retiring in 2019, earned NBA All-Rookie Team honors in 2009 with the New Orleans Hornets. And now he’s advising the young Simons.

Yahoo! Sports