CHICAGO –– During his time at the NBA Draft Combine last week, former Iona guard A.J. English couldn’t help but notice NBA decision-makers like Larry Bird, Danny Ainge and Jerry West sitting courtside.
“Of course I notice,” English told me at the Combine. “It’s great. I’ve been a fan of basketball for a long time, through my dad playing [in the NBA] and stuff like that. So I’m honored to be here, I just want to play as good as I can in front of those people.”
The 6-foot-4 English, who turns 24 in July, hopes to continue to impress during workouts this week and beyond. He worked out for Cleveland on Tuesday, just as the organization was preparing for Game 1 of the Eastern Conference finals against Toronto.
On Wednesday, English works out for Milwaukee and on Thursday he’s in New Orleans. Next week he has workouts with the Clippers, the Lakers and Dallas.
Before the Combine, English worked out for Utah, San Antonio and Houston.
At the Combine, he met with the Nets, Washington and New Orleans.
“A.J. is one of those guys who needs to have good workouts versus higher-rated guards when he travels around the country the next four weeks,” ESPN’s Fran Fraschilla told SNY.tv. “Teams wish he was a tad more athletic, but he really knows how to play and score.”
English played both the one and the two in Chicago, but several observers noted his more natural position is as a scoring two guard.
“Doesn’t matter to me,” English said, I just want to play and get on the team.”
English earned an invitation to Chicago by being named the MVP of the Portsmouth Invitational, where he averaged 17.3 points, 3.0 rebounds and a team-high 6.7 assists while shooting 58.1 percent and 64.7 precent (11-for-17) from beyond the arc.
In his first game at the Combine, he went for 22 points on 7-of-10 shooting, 4 assists, 3 rebounds and 6 turnovers in a 96-93 win. “I had a decent amount of turnovers,” he said. “Next game I gotta keep that at a minimum.” On Friday, he went for 9 points on 3-of-8 shooting, 6 assists and 3 turns. Being from Iona, the MAAC tournament champion, English was hoping to show that a player from a smaller school can still play with the big boys. “Yeah, of course,” he said. “I’m a from a small state, too, Delaware. Everywhere I go I try to make a statement just that major players can play.” NN