--After bringing in mostly candidates for the second round in previous workouts at their Tualatin training facility, the Blazers auditioned three potential first-round picks Wednesday: forwards Tyler Hansbrough of North Carolina and Derrick Brown of Xavier and UCLA guard Darren Collison.
"There's been more attention on these guys than any of the guys we've had in before them," Portland coach Nate McMillan said. "Two of them played in the NCAA Championship game (Hansbrough in 2009, Collison in 2006). It was very competitive today -- a lot of scrapping, a lot of banging, some good basketball." The 6-9, 250-pound Hansbrough, who turns 24 in November, has worked out for Charlotte, Chicago, New Orleans and Utah and has visits scheduled for Indiana, Atlanta and New Jersey. Those teams own picks as high as No. 11 and as low as 21, so the Atlantic Coast Conference's career scoring leader could be gone by the time the Blazers pick -- unless they deal up in the draft.
"With Tyler, you know what you're going to get before he walks into the building," Pritchard said. "He is high intensity. He is a tough kid. He has won at a high level. There are a lot of teams interested in him."
Hansbrough believes he could step in and help the Blazers next season.
"I'd be kind of a banger, would bring a lot of defense and intensity in whatever I do," said the national college player of the year as a junior. "They have a lot of finesse players. They could use a guy like myself."
QUOTE TO NOTE: "It's hard for me to handicap that. Right now is the time you're getting into the deal flow. There are more and more conversations (with reps of other teams) as the days go by. We talk to everybody. That's part of the job, making sure you talk to everybody." -- Portland GM Kevin Pritchard, on the odds the Blazers will make a deal by draft day.
