Workouts on the Horizon By Travis Heath for HOOPSWORLD.com Jun 13, 2007, 23:02 With the NBA Draft just around the corner, the Utah Jazz has started the process of setting up private workouts with draft prospects. The first workout the team has scheduled is with Major Wingate a 6-goot-10 prospect with an interesting story. That workout is scheduled to take place on Friday, June 22nd. Wingate started his collegiate career at the University of Tennessee where he played quite successfully for three years at which point in time he was kicked off the team by head coach Bruce Pearl for violating team rules. Wingate then made the trek to Turkey and played there professionally last season. At pre-draft in Orlando, Wingate exhibited toughness on the defensive end and on the glass. He also demonstrated the ability to face-up and hit the mid-range jumpshot when the defense didn't respect him. Your friendly neighborhood columnist had the chance to catch up with Wingate recently, and he discussed playing professionally overseas and whether or not he believes that will help him as he prepares to make the transition to the NBA. "Yeah, I think it gives me a big advantage," Wingate asserted. "I think coming to any NBA team, I'm used to those two-a-day three hour practices overseas. I'm used to waking up at 5:00 in the morning and lifting weights and then running after. Overseas, they work day in and day out. There's many days where we spend 12 hours in the gym and don't even go home. People think overseas is a joke, but they take what they do real serious. They take kids out of school at 12-years-old. It's tough. I played in Turkey and we had a 16-year-old. He was thinking of dropping out of school. He's a 6-foot-10 lefty, and he was real good. It's different over there. Overseas ain't no joke." While Wingate hit a bump in the road at Tennessee, he's not a bad kid. He's also a tireless worker, just the type Jerry Sloan and company typically take a liking to. And as Wingate himself noted, his professional experience is something likely to be viewed as a plus by NBA executives. Utah is looking at Wingate as a possibility with the 55th overall pick. Utah also has a workout scheduled with Dominic McGuire on Monday, June 25th. McGuire, a 6-foot-8 swingman from Fresno State, had a great final day at pre-draft in Orlando. His athleticism was quite impressive, and he showed a willingness to hit the glass at both ends of the floor. He also showed a willingness to get up in guys defensively and a good overall floor game offensively as evidence by a number of pinpoint passes in traffic. He no doubt increased his stock by playing so well to closeout the pre-draft camp. McGuire, an early entry candidate, announced last weekend he signed with agent Bouna Ndiaye of Comsport USA meaning he has now officially committed to going pro next season. NBA scouts currently project McGuire to be a late first round or early second round pick. The Jazz own the 25th overall pick in the first round and are said to be taking a long look at drafting McGuire with this pick. http://www.hoopsworld.com/article_22319.shtml --

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