Tarris Reed & Aiden Tobiason Kick Off 2026 NBA Draft Workout SZN | Behind the Scenes Impressions
No Ceilings' Corey Tulaba headed out to Tom’s River, NJ to check out UConn's Tarris Reed and Syracuse-bound Aiden Tobiason during a 2026 NBA Draft workout session
I recently had the opportunity to head out to Toms River, New Jersey, to get eyes on UConn big man Tarris Reed and Syracuse-bound wing Aiden Tobiason, who is heading into his junior season after transferring after playing two seasons at Temple. Reed is a potential first-round pick who dragged UConn to the National Championship game before falling to Michigan. Tobiason is going through the pre-draft process but plans to return to college for his junior campaign.
Here’s everything I learned and observed from my in-person viewing of their training session:
Tarris Reed, UConn - Center
Tarris Reed is a big ass dude. Listed at 6’11”, 265 pounds with a rumored 7’4” wingspan, you’d expect a plodder, but that simply isn’t the case. Whether you’re looking at his statistical profile—three stocks per game, a 2.0 STL% and 8.7 BLK% over his UConn career—or just watching him move on film or in person, Reed possesses a rare combination: the fluidity of a modern big with the strength of an old-school bruiser. He’s got slick footwork and quick hands, and he shows both on both ends of the floor.
Offensively, Reed was more of a traditional big man throughout his college career, particularly during his two years at Michigan—a place where, by his own admission, he struggled when given a larger role as a sophomore. Then came Juwan Howard’s firing and his transfer to UConn, where he looked like a different player under Dan Hurley, turning raw production into tangible winning impact.
But it wasn’t easy. Reed told me that Hurley will tear you down to the ground before building you back up, and not everyone can handle it. At times, Reed said he hated being there, and he couldn’t yet see the bigger picture. When I brought up how the transfer portal would have given him the option to pick his school, I asked why he’d stayed if he hated being there at times. He told me he’d thought about leaving, but ultimately had to look inward and ask himself who he wanted to be as a player and whether quitting when things got hard was something he could live with. He decided it wasn’t. Facing that adversity head-on was what allowed him to grow into the player he always knew he could be. Now Reed feels ready to tackle the next challenge.
Reed is working with Allen Watson of A-Game Training during his pre-draft process. The session started with some stretching before transitioning into ball handling. Reed performed competently through the drills, even flashing some innate creativity, though these aren’t skills you’ll necessarily see translate to the next level.
The bulk of the session focused on shooting—an area Reed told me he’s most eager to show teams. He said he thought he’d get more opportunity to display it in college, but wound up attempting just seven total threes across his four-year career. His 58.2% free throw shooting over that span doesn’t help the cause either. Still, there may be some room for optimism. Reed shot the cover off the ball during the workout—spot-ups, dribble jumpers, step-backs—all fluid, mostly cash. This is an open gym setting, and some of those combo dribble jumpers are shots he’ll probably never take in a real game unless he’s gifted a grenade. But the form, the touch, the fluidity—those were the things that intrigued me, and they give me genuine reason to believe he can add shooting to his game in pick-and-pop scenarios over time. Reed himself framed it as a long-term project: prove he can do the big man stuff first, earn his coaches’ trust, and carve out space to grow from there. The fact that I’ve already fielded calls from NBA scouts about the footage I took tells me teams believe it too.
Given his playmaking development at UConn, Reed brings an enticing two-way package for a league that has moved away from hunting for the next Draymond and toward searching for the next Ivica Zubac—a player Reed told me he studies, along with Isiah Hartenstein and Joel Embiid.
The last thing worth mentioning—Reed has the personality to be a great locker room guy. He’s upbeat, funny, self-aware, and physically and mentally mature, reflecting everything he’s been through. He broke out during March Madness with literal Wilt-like numbers, yet he remains a legitimate sleeper in the 2026 class. That won’t last. As we get closer to draft night, expect Reed to be one of the bigger risers.
Aiden Tobiason, Syracuse - Wing
If Tarris Reed is a sleeper, Aiden Tobiason is a coma.
Tobiason has been training alongside Reed, and while he’s only going through the process with the intention of returning to school, there’s a lot to like. He’s a long, rangy wing with bounce and fluidity who made a significant leap in role and production from his freshman to sophomore year at Temple.
His feel for moving off the ball stands out immediately. He’s excellent at selling his defender on moving in one direction before hard-planting and cutting to the rim. His jumper took a step back during his sophomore campaign as he was asked to handle more volume and attention, but he doesn’t need to recapture the 40%-plus mark he hit on limited attempts as a freshman. Getting into the 37-38% range from three next year at Syracuse would go a long way. When I asked where he was most focused on improving, he pointed to his overall balance, as he’d sometimes feel unsteady in his base. You can see it in his stance, with a narrow, pencil-like base that creates instability. That said, you could present a glass-half-full case as Tobiason was 80% from the free-throw line, 36% on 77 dribble jumpers, and 35% on catch-and-shoot threes. He’s also a strong rim finisher who has the midair flexibility and touch to convert in traffic with either hand, and he threw down 25 dunks this past season, showing real bounce. When I asked who he modeled his game after, he mentioned Mikal Bridges for his versatility and CJ McCollum as the guy he studies to sharpen his on-ball skills.
Tobiason is still a raw ball of clay who isn’t ready for the league yet. But going through the pre-draft process and getting in front of NBA teams will serve him well—it puts him on radars heading into a junior campaign in the ACC, where he’ll be on national television regularly against high-level competition.
Pre-draft workouts aren’t always the most revealing setting, but they do offer access to data points that can sharpen an evaluation. Last year, I came away fully bought in on Egor Demin’s shooting projection after seeing him up close and matching it to his encouraging statistical indicators. This year, I leave more confident than before that there’s a version of Tarris Reed who develops into a guy who can be a situational floor spacer at some point.
I just returned from Los Angeles, where I met up with Albert to get eyes on several other 2026 NBA Draft prospects. We’ll be sharing all the insights we observed for ya’ll in Cali in a similar format, so keep your head on a swivel.
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