Utah Jazz GM Dennis Lindsey was in LA . . . to watch Joel Embiid work out?

Last week the Utah Jazz were reported to be interested in Head Coaching candidate Alvin Gentry. The Jazz General Manager, Dennis Lindsey was in Los Angeles late last week. The understanding was that, "Hey, he's in LA, so maybe he's there to meet with Gentry, as Gentry is currently an assistant coach with the Los Angeles Clippers?"

Perhaps that meeting happened. Perhaps it did not. What ALSO went down in LA this weekend was that Joel Embiid had an invitation only workout in front of some team bigwigs.

Watching Joel Embiid in workout for league executives in Santa Monica. Impossible to imagine passing on him at No. 1.

— Adrian Wojnarowski (@WojYahooNBA) May 23, 2014

This happened at the same time that DL was in LA. Sure, the Jazz are currently selecting at the #5 spot, but since Lindsey has been the man who can pull the trigger, he has made a trade involving every draft pick he had. Last season he traded the #14 and #21 for the #9 -- Trey Burke. He traded the #46 and cash for the #27 -- Rudy Gobert.  He then made another trade to get the #47 -- Raul Neto. It's not out of the realm of possibility that DL is scouting players with the target approach to player acquisition. He doesn't do the KOC method of drafting a player at your spot, he targets a player and moves up (or down, or in) to get him.

If Embiid is worth it, and he seems like the only bigman to be a potential upgrade to Derrick Favors, Enes Kanter, or Gobert, then I think Dennis will make an attempt to get him.

The Gentry talk may not have been smokescreen, but it still obscured some of the other reasons why Lindsey was in Los Angeles last week / weekend.