Pre-draft workouts have taken a different turn this year, as NBA teams are combining resources (smart, in this economy) in an effort for everyone to see more players in less visits than in previous years (it works out better for the players as well, as it potentially cuts down on the travel for them too). The Hawks front office took in the Chicago combine in May, and also saw group workouts in Oakland, Minneapolis, and New Jersey.

Even with that though, Hawks GM Rick Sund and company decided to still bring in a few players that they hadn’t seen in the group scenarios, and are conducting workouts on the Hawks practice court over the next several days. Yesterday Pittsburgh's DaJuan Blair and Gonzaga's Josh Heytvelt came in, while today saw a much larger group of players hit the Hawks floor: BJ Mullens (Ohio State), Derrick Brown (Xavier), Garrett Siler (Augusta State), Jonesboro-native Toney Douglas (FSU), and Lewis Clinch (Georgia Tech).

I don't want to get too much into individual critiques, because personally I think these workouts don't do much to tell you about how good/bad a particular player is (and certainly way less than their college resumes), but I do have a few morsels to share:

- The highlight of the workout by far was when Siler, listed at 6'11" and 305 (but looking perhaps bigger), threw down a monster two-handed jam during a drill that broke the basket. He didn't go Darvin Ham or anything, but he knocked the basket's support loose and caused the whole thing to swing towards the ceiling. Siler's reaction: "My bad."

- Toney Douglas showed off the skills that made him the ACC Defensive Player of the Year in 3-on-3 play. He made it extremely hard for his man to get by him, and came up with several steals and deflections.

- BJ Mullens clearly has skills as a basketball player. He looked comfortable from the NBA 3-point range and had an impressive array of moves. The key for him will be his physical progress to be able to bang with the bigger bodies in the League. He and Siler were an interesting contrast of styles today: Mullens as the skilled finesse player, Siler as the bull-in-a-china-shop.

More to come tomorrow, as several players including North Carolina's Wayne Ellington make their way to the ATL.