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Nuggets Work Out Colorado College Stars Including Booker, Avila

DENVER (CBS4) - The NBA Draft is only a month away, and the Denver Nuggets are starting to evaluate potential draft picks.

On Wednesday they brought out some familiar players to Colorado college basketball fans.

Askia Booker from the CU Buffaloes, J.J. Avila from the CSU Rams and Metro State Roadrunners Mitch McCarron were among the players who worked out at the Pepsi Center with powder blue Denver Nuggets Basketball jerseys on.

J.J. Avila Aski Booker
J.J. Avila, left, Askia Booker, right (credit: CBS)

None of the players on the court on Wednesday are sure they will be among those who are picked in the draft June 25 in New York, but the Nuggets thought they were worth a look.

"It's fun. It's kind of like studying for a test," said Avila, the former Ram forward who earned Mountain West Conference first team honors. "You know, if you study right then you have no problem. And I think we all put the right work in and we all came in and showed them that we aren't taking any days off. We just came in to play hard."

Booker said he's hungry to prove he can succeed as a pro.

"I have something to prove, especially at this level," he said.

"At the college level everybody kind of knew who I was, I was kind of respected, but not at this level. There is no respect -- everybody has to fight for a job and it's every man for himself."

Booker also took a moment to talk with reporters about his decision to skip the third-tier College Basketball Invitational postseason tournament CU played in, which raised some eyebrows.

"I just talked to Coach Boyle this morning. There's no bad blood there. I see why people think there would be," he said. "I was working out with Dominique Collier before I left to L.A. to prepare for these workouts, so there's no bad blood at all. We've all talked it out. They knew my reasons behind what I did and everybody's comfortable with the decision."

On Thursday Daniel Bejarano from CSU and DU Pioneers players Brett Olson and Cam Griffin were spotted at workouts.

The Nuggets have the No. 7 pick in the draft next month.

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