Jazz To Bring In USU’s Neemias Queta For Pre-Draft Workout

SALT LAKE CITY, Utah – Potentially former Utah State center Neemias Queta will highlight the next group of players that the Utah Jazz will bring in for pre-draft workouts.

Queta will compete along with five other prospects, four of which are underclassmen testing the NBA waters, at the team’s next pre-draft workout on Saturday at the team’s practice facility.

The Aggie big man also received an invite to the NBA Draft Combine next week and it appears that his draft stock is continuing to rise, thus complicating the possibility of his return to play another year in Logan.

Utah Jazz Announce Pre-Draft Workouts pic.twitter.com/XYtdlYbXQZ

— Utah Jazz PR (@UtahJazzPR) May 10, 2019

The NBA Draft will take place on June 20. Early entrants have until June 10 to withdraw from the draft.

Here’s a bit more on Queta and the other players in the next group of prospect that the Jazz will take a look at:

Neemias Queta

The 6’11” big man from Portugal was a vital piece of Utah State’s Mountain West Champion and NCAA Tournament team last season. For his efforts, he was honored as the conference’s Freshman of the Year and Defensive Player of the Year. He’s an outstanding rim-protector and averaged 11.8 points, 8.9 rebounds and 2.4 blocks per game last season.

In April he announced his intention to pursue an NBA evaluation while leaving open the possibility of returning to Utah State. He was invited to next week’s NBA Draft Combine, an indicator of high interest among NBA scouts, which could force him to make a difficult decision about his basketball future quite soon.

Payton Pritchard

Like Queta, Pritchard, who starred at Oregon, will be giving it a shot in front of NBA scouts. Following the Ducks’ loss to eventual national champion Virginia in the Sweet 16 of the NCAA Tournament, Pritchard was candid when asked if he would test the NBA waters, saying “That will definitely be an option.” It seems he’s following through on that option.

As a junior for the Ducks, he averaged 12.9 points and 4.6 per game. Some experts see similarities between his game and the game of Philadelphia 76ers point guard T.J. McConnell.

The Utah Jazz announced today the front office promotions of Dennis Lindsey to executive vice president of basketball operations and Justin Zanik to general manager.

» https://t.co/nCAVVCHSIP

— Utah Jazz (@utahjazz) May 10, 2019

Devon Dotson

Another early entry into the NBA Draft, Dotson has thrown his hat into the ring after just one season at Kansas. As the Jayhawks’ starting point guard, he averaged 12.3 points, 3.7 rebounds and 3.5 assists per game. He was also named a McDonald’s All-American back in his high school days.

Silvio De Sousa

De Sousa was sort of a teammate of Dotson’s at Kansas. He did not play last season for the Jayhawks as his NCAA eligibility was under review after it was alleged that he received improper benefits to switch his commitment from Maryland to Kansas. He would have likely been suspended for next season as well.

As a freshman in 2017-18, he averaged 4.0 points in 8.4 minutes per game.

Zylan Cheatham

The former Arizona State Sun Devil announced his intention of declaring for the NBA Draft in an interesting way back in March. During a Instagram Story that he posted, a fan asked him on the question feature if he was planning on entering the draft. Cheatham responded by saying, “Yea,” in the answer to that question.

Last season, as a redshirt senior for Arizona State, he averaged a double-double with 12.1 points and 10.3 rebounds per game.

Harry Froling

A 6’11” big man from Australia, Froling has entered the NBA Draft after completing his redshirt sophomore year at Marquette. He has closed the door on the possibility of returning to the program regardless of how his professional evaluation turns out.

In a half season of work with the Golden Eagles, Froling averaged 2.8 points, 3 rebounds and 1 assist.