Catching up with Patricio Garino

Calendar

No Upcoming Events

Patricio Garino has worked out for a number of NBA teams leading up to the draft on Thursday

June 21, 2016

The 2016 NBA Draft takes place on June 23 in Brooklyn, N.Y., and former GW guard/forward Patricio Garino has been involved in a number of pre-draft workouts with NBA teams. As the native of Mar del Plata, Argentina, looks to make his NBA dream come true, GWsports.com recently caught up with him to get his thoughts on the process.

What does a typical draft workout entail?

First they start with measurements - weight, height, wingspan. Some do body fat, some don't. Then they do testing, similar to what you see at the combine. So it's vertical jumps, regular jumps, the four corner sprint, full court sprint. Some teams add a few tests, depending on what they want. After that it's a basketball workout, but again it depends on the team; for example with Boston it was all 1-on-1, 2-on-2, 3-on-3, and at the end of the workout it was just a three-minute sprint to see how many full courts you can get. With other teams, you do more shooting drills, ball handling, situational plays like a pick-and-roll. So it really just depends on each team and what they want to see.

What are you hoping to show teams?

Definitely my defense and my ability to knock down open shots. I think that's what teams are looking at me for, to contribute in that way. I'm pretty sure they aren't looking at me to be a 20-points-per-game scorer, but mostly for defense and shooting. What are you learning? A lot of different things, but obviously how intense everything is. Even though everything is up in the air, everyone takes this very seriously and the competition is always high, so you have to bring your best game to the workout. You learn about each team in what they're looking for in a player, what they need next season, the draft picks they have and what they do with their evaluation. You get to see a little closer how each team works with different players and personnel, what their style is, so that's been pretty cool.

What kind of feedback have you received?

It's been fairly early in the process. I'm getting really good feedback from my workouts and I've been happy with everything, the way I've shot it and the way I've played. I've had good workouts and that's the feedback I've received from the teams. It hasn't gotten to the point yet where they're having in-depth conversations with my agent, but that will come soon.

Are you enjoying the process?

Of course. To travel, stay in nice hotels, and wake up and play basketball at a high level in an NBA facility, that's pretty special and not everybody gets to do that. I'm definitely enjoying every moment of it.

Are you getting excited that you're this close to realizing one of your dreams?

Oh yeah. I'm getting anxious because I want to see what's going to happen. Of course there are a lot of different possibilities but being able to be part of this process is very unique and something I'm very thankful for.

The Olympics also aren't far off (Aug. 6-21 in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil). When do you start preparing with the Argentina National Team?

Training camp starts July 1. That's a conversation I'll have to have with my agent when the time comes, to see if my team wants me to play a summer league. The national team plays exhibition games in the U.S. in July also. So it's going to be a discussion of whether they want me to play in the summer league or not.