California Basketball: Jorge Gutierrez at NBA Combine

Former California Golden Bears star guard Jorge Gutierrez will be in East Rutherford, New Jersey today to participate in the NBA Combine. The 2012 Pac-12 Player of the Year and Pac-12 Defensive Player of the Year will be in group one and is set to play at 9:30 PM ET, which is right around the corner.

Two groups of 11 players will be playing today, while the other two groups will be going at it tomorrow. Gutierrez and the others will be put through a series of drills and will then showcase their talents in a 5-on-5 scrimmage game.

Gutierrez and the other NBA Draft prospects will be interviewed by not only the media, but also by scouts, agents, and front office workers.

Other Pac-12 players at the NBA Combine are Stanford star Josh Owens and Arizona star Kyle Fogg. Owens led the NIT winners last season with great defense and was the team’s biggest threat on offense. Fogg helped lead the Wildcats late season charge and solid showing in the Pac-12 tournament, while Gutierrez was the best player on the best team in the conference.

Last season, Jorge Gutierrez averaged 13-5-4 with a solid 18.7 PER and a terrific .93 opponents points per play. Although Andre Roberson was the best defensive player in the conference, Gutierrez was the best defensive guard in the Pac-12, with only Tony Wroten having a comparable season defensively.

Although there was much argument as to whether or not Gutierrez deserved to win the award, he did have an efficient season offensively and took off defensively. He turned into a great rebounding guard, and he took his defense another step further last season. Let’s see if he can boost his stock at the combine, as most analysts believe that he is a late second-rounder at best.