The Portland Trail Blazers held their third known pre-NBA draft workout Tuesday, May 27 featuring a mix of veteran guards and utility-type forwards.

Headlining the group was Arizona fifth-year senior Caleb Love. The 23-year-old guard is listed at 6-foot-4 and has had a notable college career both at North Carolina and Arizona.

The other five include forward Zach Hicks out of Penn State, wing Chris Manon out of Vanderbilt, guard Wade Taylor IV out of Texas A&M, wing Zack Austin out of Pittsburgh and guard Money Williams out of Montana.

For his college career, Love averaged 15.9 points per game while handing out 3.4 assists and grabbing 3.8 boards. He shot 38% from the field, 32.6% from 3-point range and 83.5% from the free throw line.

While Love was able to display his offensive prowess in spurts during college, he’s coming into the NBA Draft workout schedule looking to prove he can get it done on defense too with a career average of 1.1 steals per game in college.

“Mainly just my defense,” Love said on what he’s trying to show in workouts. “That’s something that a lot of scouts and a lot of my coaches have been saying, that I need to be great at it to get on the floor. That’s mainly what I’m trying to show, but I’m pretty versatile, whatever role you put me in I feel like I can succeed.”

Being a guard, Love also highlighted that he wants to improve on his shot selection and continue to show NBA scouts that he can be an elite playmaker as well.

Love would be 24 before he steps onto an NBA floor this fall, which isn’t always a negative, especially at the guard spot.

Having played at two different schools over five years, Love believes his experience can help elevate his game and any team that might draft him come June.

“I’ve grown so much on the court and off the court, I’m so much more mature than I was as an 18-year-old coming into college,” Love said. “I think that’s definitely going to be to my advantage.”

The shortest of the crew is Taylor, who knows his 6-foot frame will give NBA scouts pause on using a draft pick on him.

But it’s nothing the Aggie isn’t used to as he averaged 14.6 points per game in his four years with Texas A&M. He also averaged 3.5 assists and 2.7 rebounds per game while shooting 36.6% from the floor, 32.3% from deep and 85.1% at the free throw line.

Taylor said he is trying to model his game after Chris Paul and Trae Young, so he’s already on a good path there.

“Just be myself, don’t try to be anything that I’m not,” Taylor said of overcoming his height. “Play to my strengths, do the things that other people want to do. That’s picking up full-court, getting the ball down hill and making plays for others. Things that are needed to win.”

Williams also met with the media and all but said the workout schedule is more testing than waters of the draft than anything.

However, as the youngest guy in the gym by three years, Williams picked up plenty of lessons that he can take back to college and keep working on.

“One word: consistency. If you want to be on the court, you gotta be consistent,” Williams said on what he learned from the workout. “All the guys that play in the NBA, they’re consistent at what they do. This is their job, it’s their profession so just that consistency.”

Williams went to Oakland High School in Oakland, California, the same high school as Blazers legend Damian Lillard. Williams did something there that even Lillard didn’t, which was win a state championship.

At nearly 20 years old, Williams could be an under the radar guard for next year’s draft or beyond.

The 2025 NBA Draft is set for June 25-26 where the Blazers currently have only one pick at No. 11 in the first round.