Jazz still looking at point guards

Even though the Jazz have budding All-Star Deron Williams as their point guard, they still wanted to look at this year's crop of draft-eligible points in preparation for this evening's NBA Draft, in which they are scheduled to pick 25th and 55th.

Several young points were willing to come in and audition Wednesday, the day before the biggest day of their lives.

The agent for one of them, though, Jeff Schwartz, wasn't sure he wanted USC early entry Gabe Pruitt to go to Salt Lake City.

The Jazz really wanted to get a closer look at the Trojan junior, though, and player personnel director Walt Perrin changed Schwartz's mind by saying the Jazz could use Pruitt as a combo guard.

They have looked at a number of shooting and combo guards the past 10 days, and on Wednesday they brought in Pruitt, three points (Taurean Green of Florida, Jared Jordan of Marist and Tre' Kelley of South Carolina) as well as 6-foot-7 wing Marcus Williams of Arizona and 7-0 center Kyrylo Fesenko of the Ukraine.

"After we had a conversation with him, he decided to see it my way," said Perrin, laughing loudly at the thought of being persuasive with an agent. "We wanted to bring (Pruitt) in. We think he's one of the better point guard prospects in the draft.

"He and Deron can play together. He and Derek Fisher can play together, or he and Gira (Gordan Giricek) or Ronnie Brewer."

Pruitt seemed quite happy to be in the Zions Bank Basketball Center on Wednesday for his "eighth or ninth" pre-draft workout.

"For me, being able to play two positions helps me out," he said, adding that, should the Jazz pick him today, he would like to be able to practice against Williams "every day and build myself better and better."

He was quite aware of the Jazz's trek to the NBA Western Conference Finals last month and of their personnel, though he knew less of the city itself.

"Utah made a nice little run in the playoffs," said Pruitt. "This is my first time here. Seems like it's a real laid-back city, and I fit right in.

"Watching the (Jazz) guys, how they really jelled together, and all the guys seemed like they cared about each other, I feel like I fit right in, personality-wise and being able to play with guys like (Carlos) Boozer and Williams and (Andrei) Kirilenko. It's a good opportunity for me."