NBA Draft 2014: Chicago Predraft Combine Schedule

Okay, so the NBA Draft is still on June 26th, and the Draft Lotto is still May 20th. Right now in Chicago we have the NBA Draft Combine happening. Today was internal NBA meetings, orientation, light workouts and practice, and fluff (pictures, video interviews, etc). Tomorrow and the day after are the big events where these guys actually go at one another.

Some notes here:

• Because the plan for 75 didn't even come close (59 people are suiting up) they've done the thing I felt like they would not do, and they are having four workouts per day / four sections, instead of five
• Another dude is now no longer suiting up, Michigan's bigman Mitch McGary.
• Because they are now doing four groups some guys are mixed in different groups -- and it is very interesting
  

THURSDAY:

This is the big people watching day -- so I'm going to stay mostly in the main gym watching the Utah Jazz people, and the players, and watching the Utah Jazz people watch the players. I am not crazy about any of the bigmen, so that will let me go with the SFs into the media room and do interviews there. As it stands, if we draft a bigman it's not going to be about something he does at the combine. There are no Rudy Gobert 's this year.

FRIDAY:

Friday is a little different, there's the lane agility test, and sprints among others. This can be rewarding to watch, but no need to go all crazy on the scores. Carlos Boozer, who rarely rotates on defense, has one of the best lane agility scores of all bigmen all-time. You'll get more media interviews on this day -- especially because a) most people will have gone HAM on interviews for day 1, b) the players will be more tired and relieved to be done, and thus, c) be willing to joke around more and reveal more.

That's my plan, anyway. Things may change if one guy or another really shows up on day one and we need more data to see if he's for reals -- like Tony Snell last year.

Other stuff:

I kind of like how they've split Smart and Exum here, either their agents got involved or the NBA is doing their best to keep things interesting. So they'll never go head-to-head unless it's in a closed workout for a team leading up to the draft. Russ Smith also going down with the PGs is going to be interesting as I had him as a SG earlier.

The Day 1 shooting tests are always fun to watch, particularly because some agents force bigs to shoot the NBA three instead of the NCAA three in the set shots (untimed). It's hilarious to watch, they split this with the Morris twins a few seasons ago. The other more engaging thing is the timed shooting tests. Here you see the difference between a real shooter, and an opportunistic one. A few years ago Jimmer showed the world that he was a shooter's shooter in this drill.

And of course, watching who the Jazz bring, and who are running the drills is always fun for me. You'll get the straight dope from me on all of this -- after all, this is one of the reasons why you visit SLC Dunk -- the premier source for Utah Jazz draft information. No other Jazz blog goes to as many draft events as we do.