Hall of Famer Pau Gasol says that he didn’t have any workouts or team meetings before the 2001 NBA Draft due to being with FC Barcelona at the time (selected by the Hawks 3rd overall and traded to the Grizzlies along with Brevin Knight and Lorenzen Wright for Shareef Abdur-Rahim and 27th pick Jamaal Tinsley).
(via Knuckleheads with Quentin Richardson and Darius Miles):
“Spanish league ends like second week of June, and the draft was June 23rd or something. It had been like a week that I finished playing, so there wasn’t really a possibility to do it. So I guess they (the Grizzlies) liked what they saw and they took a chance, and it ended up panning out.”
