NBA draft: Aussie Alex Toohey ready ‘to surprise some people’
Alex Toohey is planning on turning some heads ahead of the NBA draft.
It’s something the rising Australian star has made a habit of lately. Rewind back to a pre-Olympic training camp in Los Angeles, when head coach Brian Goorjian walked into the gym, laid eyes on Toohey, and said, “holy s—, you’re way bigger than I thought you were.”
Fast forward to the most recent NBL Blitz — the league’s annual preseason tournament — where a barrage of three-point shooting and an explosive poster dunk had the NBA scouts in attendance stunned at Toohey’s athleticism and development leap.
With a second NBL season with the Sydney Kings in the books and the draft drawing nearer, Toohey is set to take part in a plethora of workouts with NBA teams, and is among the 75 prospects invited to the 2025 NBA Draft Combine. Multiple NBA teams travelled to Australia over the course of the NBL season to lay eyes on Toohey, but he really believes those who’ve been evaluating his game have only scratched the surface.
“Pretty much every area a basketball player can show, I feel like I’m gonna surprise some people over there,” Toohey told ESPN.
Toohey already has a lot going for him as a prospect.
He’s a long, 6’8 wing who’s shown the ability to compete effectively in a professional league, demonstrating himself as a high-level multi-positional defender, an improving catch-and-shoot threat from beyond the three-point line, a real force in transition, and creative finisher around the basket. Throw in a high-IQ and unimpeachable off-court intel, and it’s no surprise most draft evaluators have him hovering around a late-first, early-second round projection.
Toohey has already begun conducting workouts with NBA teams – in what’s expected to be a busy schedule for the Canberra-native – and is highly-regarded enough to have been among the potential draftees invited to participate in the draft combine in Chicago from May 11-18. During the event, players will take part in athletic testing and measurements, shooting drills, and five-on-five scrimmages, in front of an audience of NBA executives, coaches, and scouts, and Toohey is aiming to surprise.
“Athleticism is probably gonna be the biggest one,” Toohey said, on some of the preconceptions he’s looking to change.
“Something I think about is, all these college guys in America, the [NBA] guys are constantly on them 24/7, so there’s not much the combine’s gonna show these coaches when they’ve watched all these trainings and practices and all the games.
“For me, it’s gonna be a big area for me to kind of separate myself. I’ve heard a few question marks on my athleticism, so I’m excited to try to prove that wrong. Even the vertical jump, the lane agility, the slides, I think that’s gonna be a big area for me, and I’m ready to show that off.
“And then, I think honestly my creation, and being able to create plays for my teammates. That’s something I pride myself on: being an all-round basketball player, being able to play multiple positions, definitely being able to create for my teammates, create shots for my teammates, and that aspect of my game. I think that’s something that developed from the first year to my second year. My shot as well. Whether it’s drills or games, I feel like my shot, I’m much more confident in it; got more rhythm, got more arc, and not hesitating, not second-guessing.
“I’m excited. It definitely motivates me to turn those heads and change peoples’ perspectives.”
Toohey is coming off his second season with the Kings as part of the NBL’s Next Stars program, averaging 10.5 points and 3.9 rebounds per game under new head coach Goorjian, showing off an improved offensive package and more refined athletic frame. The season was impressive enough that the now-21-year-old won the league’s Next Generation Award – given to the best player under the age of 25 – and set himself up to declare for the NBA draft.
“In terms of my game, it’s just having that confidence in myself,” Toohey said.
“I definitely took a jump from the first year to the second year; my body developed, my athleticism, my shooting, I think all these areas improved. I feel like I kind of had that in me in the first year, and it’s figuring out how to get there, and how to develop that trust with the coach and the system to make them put [you] in that position…
“Coming into the Blitz, one thing I kept talking about was: how do I want to fail? That’s something that Pat Cummins, the Australian cricket captain, speaks about… if I’m gonna not make it to where I want to be, I don’t want it to be because I turned down opportunities or didn’t put the work in. I wanted to make sure that, if I was gonna fail, I’m gonna fail prepared and go down swinging. Having that mentality, of trying not to have any regrets on the court, kind of allowed me to clear my mind a little bit and trust my instincts and play off feel instead of trying to overthink things.
“Goorj was a big reason for that; he just tried to instil confidence in me and the team, and I think that’s definitely paid off… Everything improved, but just my ability and belief in myself was probably one of the biggest jumps as well.”
Shortly after the NBL season came to an end, Toohey returned home to Canberra, where he would work out at the Australian Institute of Sport – where he was once a member of the NBA Global Academy – and scrimmage against some of the program’s current cohort.
Toohey recently touched down in Los Angeles, which will be home base for his pre-draft process. In between traveling to workouts with NBA teams and participating in the Draft Combine, Toohey is working out with esteemed trainer Jordan Lawley, who’s played a key role in the development of the likes of Klay Thompson, Josh Giddey, Zach LaVine, and Dyson Daniels, to name a few.
“I’m trying to work on everything I can,” Toohey said.
“I’ve been doing Pilates… getting a bunch of massages, trying to unlock my core a little bit. I think that’s a big area for me, is my defensive versatility; I think that’s something I’m very good at. Being able to slide my feet more efficiently, I can really feel the difference in the last three weeks of doing Pilates, really focusing on my core; I feel like that’s unlocked a whole other level of my defensive game.
“I’m excited to turn some heads with that.”
NBA teams are intrigued by Toohey.
For whatever concerns may exists on whether to trust the jump-shot – he was a 30.2% three-point shooter over his past NBL season, on 2.9 attempts a game – or ability to consistently guard at an effective level on the perimeter, there are more than enough positive indicators that he can, at the very least, develop into an extremely functional NBA player.
The most promising indicator, according to most NBA scouts who’ve seen Toohey play in person, is a simple one: he’s demonstrated the ability to develop. Toohey’s growth, as a player and from an athletic standpoint, from the end of his first season in Sydney to the start of his second, was profound and noticeable; the NBA personnel who laid eyes on him in the Gold Coast said as much. All of a sudden, the sentiment became that this big, smart wing who plays both ends and has impeccable off-court intel is someone who can be trusted to make material improvements in his game.
The deep thought in his development processes — both as an athlete and human — is noticeable when speaking with Toohey, and ultimately the trait that makes the Australian a safe bet for an NBA team to make come the draft on June 25 and 26.
“One of the quotes I like to use is: where you are now is a testament to what you were doing six months ago,” Toohey said.
“That was a motto for me in the last off-season, and the time I spent in California working out there with my trainer and the people surrounding me; iron sharpens iron, so being out there… Klay Thompson coming into the gym was super cool for me to see. I kind of have that little checkpoint of seeing where he’s at, where I’m at; things that he’s better at and areas I think I can definitely catch him. He’s someone I idolised growing up. His ability to score off the dribble but, more effectively, he can score without having the ball in his hands.
“That’s an area that, when I get to the NBA, will be a key role for me. I’m probably not gonna have the ball in my hands to be much of a creator, because every team has those star players, so being able to fill that role and be able to help the team and be efficient with what I’ve got.
“Playing this year with the Kings kind of set me up to be used to playing off the catch, and having that shorter leash and understanding ways to get myself going, and find my own, whether it’s getting steals or crashing the offensive glass.
“The offseason was cool… obviously, it’s a turbulent season, and there are gonna be ups and downs no matter what, but I feel like having that good off-season and seeing my body develop… now it’s kind of just trusting the process and understanding that whatever I was doing there, it definitely worked.
“It’s never gonna be the same offseason twice, but I’m trying to keep a lot of those things the same, and change certain areas where I think it’s gonna be best to take that next step.”
Source: espn.com