Two Aztecs invited to pre-draft camp

SAN DIEGO -- Though a pair of old friends will reunite in Florida next week, there will be little time for catching up.

San Diego State men's basketball stars Brandon Heath and Mohamed Abukar both confirmed Monday that they have secured invitations to the NBA's pre-draft camp, which runs from May 29 to June 4 in Orlando.

"It will be good to get the chance to seeÝ(Heath) and some other guys I know, but it's going to be all business once I get down there," said Abukar, a Rancho Bernardo High graduate.

Said Heath: "Who knows, maybe we'll be on the same team out there. That would be pretty cool."

Both players will arrive in Orlando next Monday for the event, at which NBA brass assemble to evaluate draft-eligible talent.

Heath -- the leading scorer in the history of theÝAztecs and the Mountain West Conference -- said he has post-camp individual workouts scheduled with "about 12 teams," including the Los Angeles Clippers , Golden State Warriors, Washington Wizards, Los Angeles Lakers, Utah Jazz, San Antonio Spurs, Cleveland Cavaliers and New York Knicks.

A strong showing in Orlando could surely draw more interest.

Heath was not invited to last year's camp and said it was one of the factors that led him to withdraw from the draft and return to San Diego State for his senior year.

"I'm just focused on going out there and playing my game and not trying to do too much," Heath said. "If I let the game come to me and play my style of basketball, I'll be fine."

The 6-foot-4 guard has been working out at the Home Depot Center in Carson for the past eight weeks with the likes of Florida's Joakim Noah and Nevada's Nick Fazekas.

"I feel good and I feel like I've been playing my best basketball," Heath said. "I'm getting stronger and I want to go out there and prove to everybody that I can play."

Abukar, a Florida transfer whose outside touch helped him average 15 points per game in parts of two seasons at San Diego State, had hoped to earn an invitation since a strong showing at the Portsmouth (Va.) Invitational Tournament in April.

"It's definitely a great opportunity," he said. "San Diego State is a program on the rise, but it's not one that gets a whole lot of publicity and you don't get seen on TV very much around the country. This is really a chance to get in front of a lot of people who haven't seen what I can do."

After the camp, Abukar has individual workouts scheduled with the Wizards, Los Angeles Clippers , Warriors and Sacramento Kings.

Recently, the 6-foot-10 forward has been working out in Atlanta, participating in a rigorous workout regimen that includes yoga.

This is the third straight year the Aztecs have been represented at the pre-draft camp. Forward Marcus Slaughter participated the last two years. The last time an Aztecs player was taken in the NBA draft was Randy Holcomb, who was a second-round pick of the Spurs in 2002.

This year's draft is on June 28.

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