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Whether you bleed Ute red or Cougar blue, there's a good chance you have booed Domantas Sabonis recently.
The 6-foot-10 big man caused plenty of trouble for the Cougars in two seasons at Gonzaga and, last March, Sabonis helped boot the Utes from the NCAA tournament. But, right now, Sabonis can envision a future in which basketball fans across the state actually cheer him.
"That'd be nice for once," Sabonis said with a laugh after working out for the Utah Jazz on Monday afternoon.
The Jazz own the 12th pick in this month's NBA draft and the 20-year-old Sabonis can picture himself playing in Salt Lake City next season. The big man said his visit to Utah was the fourth and final workout he had scheduled before the June 23 draft.
"I'm just looking for a good fit," Sabonis said. "… I just know they're a great organization. They're a very young team with a lot of potential. They're rising very high and it's going to come soon."
Sabonis, who has also made stops in Toronto, Boston and Phoenix, completed a solo workout on Monday morning. Still, the event was an opportunity for Jazz scouts to get an up-close look at an intriguing prospect.
"We had him shoot a couple threes and he looked comfortable shooting them," Jazz vice president of player personnel Walt Perrin said. "He's pretty crafty around the basket with his footwork and his shot-making. He had a pretty good workout going against himself."
The Jazz currently have six big men on their roster. But forward Trevor Booker will be an unrestricted free agent come July and a young talent like Sabonis could potentially help plug that spot.
"I think he's a rotational guy [in the NBA]," Perrin said. "He could probably start in certain situations at times and I think he's going to help some team win."
The son of basketball legend Arvydas Sabonis, the younger Sabonis said he's been able to lean on his father as he's learned the game.
"I'm really proud of my dad," he said. "Just knowing I'm his son and having his name on the back of my jersey, it gives me that extra motivation."
But Sabonis knows his game can't match his father's.
"To me, he's the best there was," the son said. "There's nobody like him ever again."
Still, the younger Sabonis offers plenty to like. The Lithuanian jumped from averaging 9 points a game as a freshman at Gonzaga to scoring more than 17 a game last season as a sophomore. Jazz officials, meanwhile, believe he has room to grow and should be able to add 3-point shooting to his repertoire eventually. In the meantime, Sabonis can already impress with his skills as a passer and, more importantly, his motor.
"He naturally plays hard," Perrin said. "You would think everybody plays hard, but that's not necessarily the case. When you see a player that naturally plays hard, especially a big guy, you take notice of it."
Twitter: @aaronfalk