[kikikikiParticipant]

Curious to hear everyones thoughts regarding the NBA Draft combine performances who stood out to you! who improved their stock Rising or who drops and who will stay in the draft and who will go back college?

[HitsterParticipant]

N’Faly Dante had one of the biggest wingspans after Edey and Clingan I noticed. DaRon Holmes had a good wingspan too I thought.

Rob Dillingham one of the Kentucky Benchwarmers likely to go high looked smaller and lighter than I would have hoped but if he can get his shot off and be a quick guy looking for a steal then I don’t think this impacts him.

[NorrinRaddParticipant]

A few prospects I think improved their stock.
Trentyn Flowers and AJ Johnson have more upside potential than a lot of the familiar college prospects. Baylor Scheierman, Antonio Reeves for me did for sure… Enrique Freeman proved me right… Bronny James, if you only go by combine did pretty well. KJ Simpson probably improved his stock a little. I’m not quite sure about the hype of Adem Bona, but he’s been getting rave reviews – so he might get drafted… Oh yeah and Zach Edey is a big winner. Oh and I don’t get the headline hype of ESPN’s Karaban take… garbage time stats.

[ZouldiersParticipant]

Bronny James would probably get drafted now. KJ Simpson to Minnesota at 27 looking good. Adem Bona look like a 1st round pick.

[BothTeamsPlayedHard-Participant]

Enrique Freeman did about as much a guy can do to be seen and merit a chance. His story is remarkable, and there are quite a few good ones in this draft class. He went from an unrecruited walk-on who was on an academic scholarship to Mid-American Conference Player of the Year. He is just building on it. He measured out at 6’7.25” with a 7’2” wingspan and 35-inch vertical jump. Typically, when a guy is listed at 6’7” at his school, you think at best 6’6” without shoes. After attempting 6 three pointers in his first four years at Akron, he went 6-13 over the four combine scrimmages this week. He played well in all four games with scoring outputs of 12, 16, 17 and 12. I do not know if it is enough to get him drafted, but certainly will be of more interest now.

I think Nikola Djurisic helped himself by coming over. His season just ended in the ABA semis. He really took off once Nikola Topic returned to Red Star in mid-season. In the final 18 games of the ABA season: 33 minutes, 19 PPG (48 FG%, 36 3FG%, 77 FT%) 4.1 APG, and 3.1 RPG. He took a team where everyone who played in their semifinal playoff series with Red Star was born in 2001 or later. He measured out well at 6’7” without shoes, and having lost 10 lbs since last year. He moved and jumped well in the drills and did well in the scrimmages, which is always good for an international player coming from a lesser European league. A guy like him typically goes in the first.

Ulrich Chomche struggling in the scrimmages but also measuring out as a prototype feels like par for the course. I am unsure as to whether he would still be eligible to play college ball, but certainly the 1st round buzz has fade a bit. If a team takes him in the 2nd to give him a two-way contract, there is no harm.

One of the things I noticed was that there were quite a few big men who leaped really well. Now, let me get this out first, I like PJ Hall and Oso Ighodaro as players. That said, I feel pretty strong in my belief they short-armed their standing reach to aid their vertical jumps (Reed Sheppard is another one). Guys with the same height and wingspan should have pretty similar standing reaches. This is not the case with numerous guys. Still, those two, Adem Bona, and Trevon Brazile all jumped 39.5 inches or better. This is rare, especially for guys with skill. Ighodaro and Bona are not shooters, but are far from guys who could not contribute. Hall is coming off a great year, though his perimeter shot was not falling late in the year. Brazile had a rough year off his knee injury, but has showed promise. These guys are not Jericho Sims, Greg Brown, Yves Pons, or Udoka Azubuike. Yves Missi came in just behind them, though he is more in the latter category of athletes who are projects. It does also somewhat deflate the fact that Alex Sarr and Kel’el Ware measured out quite well by historical standards for center prospects, but just behind quite a few guys this year. While this is not a great draft class, it is a class with a large number of guys with projectable traits. You do have a lot of athletic bigs. There are a lot of wings and forwards who have the length and athleticism to fit how teams want to play. Some of them can even shoot, more cannot but still. Tyler Smith might not walk into a rotation, almost certainly won’t, but a guy with his profile typically gets scouts excited.

I kind of feel bad for Reece Beekman and Hunter Sallis. Bronny is getting all the media people pretending he is a better prospect than he is, and those two have better physical makeups, coming off better seasons, and have the same “intangibles” as any definition that is not a polite term for “nepotism.” This class has a lot of talented small guards, but only one has a media core apologizing for him. Mark Sears probably needs to go back to college. KJ Simpson has a tough decision. He is tiny, and as such might go undrafted, but Colorado is not really returning anyone. He played well, jumped well, but the size make it dicey. If there are so many guards available who are good, why take the smallest one? The week did not go well for Payton Sandfort. I would think he will hear from the league he might be better off returning to college and work on his movement skills. David Jones measured out to be too small, and will probably be better off returning to Memphis. With how well a lot of the big men measured and tested, Coleman Hawkins might have a difficult time getting the assurances he needs to stay in the draft. If he slots in behind Kyle Filipowski, Hall, DaRon Holmes, Brazile, Izan Almansa, Tristan da Silva, and maybe Oso Ighodaro, then the math gets difficult to think everybody is getting taken.

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