Showing his hand

Louisville's Terrence Williams expressed a specific desired result for the NBA draft -- the Bulls

May 28, 2009, 9:36 PM

By: Nick Friedell

Thursday morning's media session with the 2009 NBA rookies can be described as cliché heaven. No matter what table I ventured over to, all I kept hearing were phrases like, "My workout went great." "I really like the [fill in team name] coaches" and my favorite, "I don't care where I get drafted, I'm just happy to get the chance to play in the NBA." I understand that none of these guys wants to say anything that will make him look bad, and I can appreciate that; I'd just love for somebody to answer a reporter's question and where they'd like to play by saying, "Anywhere but Minnesota, who the heck would want to play there?"

In the meantime, here are a few more interesting notes I picked up during my time around a room full of future NBA millionaires...

T-Will could become a star: Former Louisville star Terrence Williams could become a media darling in whichever city he lands in, but he may also become a headache for some of the writers that cover the team. He seemed disinterested throughout most of the proceedings, but he did open up a little more once we started talking about the prospect of him playing for the Bulls.

Terrence Williams

Andy Lyons/Getty Images

Louisville's Terrence Williams was unique in expressing a specific desired result for the NBA Draft -- he likes the Bulls.

"I would love to play for the Bulls," he told me. "I told them that in the meeting. I told [Vinny] Del Negro that I would love to play for him 'cause I love their style and I love how Derrick Rose distributes the ball as a young point guard. I love Ben Gordon, I love their young players with [Joakim] Noah, [John] Salmons, I love everybody on their team and I love the way they play. It fits my style. I'd love to play there."

When I asked Williams if anything about the entire process surprised him, he responded with yet another direct answer.

"Some [players] don't really work out because they feel that they already have a spot secure in a certain [city] so they don't work out against other guys," Williams said. "That kind of surprised me, 'cause you'd think people that love basketball would play regardless."

Top 10 not all it's cracked up to be? Jonny Flynn offered up an interesting answer when asked if being selected in the top ten was a big deal to him.

"I think people get caught up on that too much," said Flynn, a point guard out of Syracuse. "You can go in the top 10, but if it's not the right situation, not the right fit for your style of game or your personality, it'll be a long three years."

There can't be a lot of guys who share those sentiments. Most guys wouldn't care which team they went to, as long as the cracked the top ten -- there's a lot more money to be had in those slots, of course.

Mr. Smith goes to Wrigley: Tennessee alum Tyler Smith wants to go to Wrigley Field to catch a Cubs game this week, but he isn't sure his schedule will allow him to get there. "I heard it's way better live," Smith said of the Wrigley experience. "That's why I want to go."

"The people watching," I said. "The girls."

"Oh yeah," he said laughing "[Gotta] find one."

Friends with benefits: Former Arizona star Chase Budinger had the line of the day when asked if there was a particularly wacky question that he had received from a team during his stay in Chicago: "One team asked me if I had a girlfriend," Budinger said. "And I was like, no. And then they asked me if I had any friends with benefits, so that was kind of a wacky question."

"What was your answer?" a quick thinking reporter asked.

"I said, 'No comment,'" said Budinger, laughing.

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