Combine results, weights & measurements

[FLCeltsFan]

Just posted over on Loy's place. I have to go somewhere but will post more later.

[FLCeltsFan]

Combine results: Best athletesposted: Monday, June 4, 2007 | Feedback | Print Entry
filed under: Insider NBA

The NBA released the testing results from the Orlando pre-draft camp on Monday. For the fifth straight year Insider has obtained this confidential report from a league source.

Maryland guard D.J. Strawberry ranked as the draft's best athlete followed by Notre Dame's Russell Carter and Marquette's Dominic James. Ohio State's Mike Conley ranked fourth, Purdue's Carl Landry ranked fifth, Temple's Dustin Salisbery was sixth, Georgia Tech's Thaddeus Young was seventh, Colorado State's Jason Smith was eighth, Ohio State's Ron Lewis was ninth and Eastern Washington's Rodney Stuckey ranked 10th.

In individual stats, Carter bench pressed 185 pounds the most times with 25 reps. Thaddeus Young had the highest maximum vertical with 41.5 inches. Syracuse forward Demetris Nichols had the fastest lane agility drill at 10.39 seconds. And Conley finished with the fastest sprint time of 3.09 seconds.

Here's a look at how the top prospects in the draft fared (note that Yi Jianlian didn't participate):

HEIGHT AND WEIGHT MEASUREMENTS
PLAYER HEIGHT
(w/o shoes) HEIGHT (w/shoes) WEIGHT WINGSPAN STANDING REACH
Corey Brewer 6-6¾ 6-7¾ 185 6-8¾ 8-7
Mike Conley 5-11¾ 6-0¾ 175 6-5¾ 7-10½
Daequan Cook 6-3¾ 6-5¾ 203 6-8¼ 8-5½
Javaris Crittenton 6-3 6-4¾ 194 6-5½ 8-2
Kevin Durant 6-9 6-10¼ 215 7-4¾ 9-2
Jeff Green 6-7¾ 6-9½ 228 7-1¼ 8-7
Spencer Hawes 6-10½ 7-0¾ 244 7-0½ 9-2
Al Horford 6-8¾ 6-9¾ 244 7-0¾ 8-11
Acie Law 6-2 6-3½ 186 6-6½ 8-2
Josh McRoberts 6-8¾ 6-10 240 7-1 8-10½
Greg Oden 6-11 7-0 257 7-4¼ 9-4
Joakim Noah 6-10½ 7-0 223 7-1¾ 8-10½
Jason Smith 6-10¾ 6-11½ 233 6-10¾ 8-10
Rodney Stuckey 6-3¾ 6-4½ 207 6-7½ 8-4½
Al Thornton 6-5¾ 6-7 221 7-1 8-8
Brandan Wright 6-8¾ 6-10 200 7-3¾ 9-0
Julian Wright 6-6½ 6-8½ 211 7-2¼ 9-0
Nick Young 6-5 6-6¾ 206 7-0 8-4½
Thaddeus Young 6-5¾ 6-7½ 210 6-11½ 8-10


COMBINE RESULTS
PLAYER NO STEP VERTICAL MAX VERTICAL BENCH PRESS LANE AGILITY 3/4 COURT SPRINT
Corey Brewer 30.5 36.5 11 11.69 3.22
Mike Conley 35.5 40.5 13 11.63 3.09
Daequan Cook 30 34.5 4 11.12 3.22
Javaris Crittenton 32.5 38 11 11.6 3.32
Kevin Durant 26 33 0 12.33 3.45
Jeff Green 33.5 38 17 12.0 3.34
Spencer Hawes 26 29 9 11.88 3.51
Al Horford 31 35.5 20 12.15 3.37
Acie Law 29 34 8 11.0 3.22
Josh McRoberts 27.5 31.5 12 11.7 3.47
Greg Oden 32 34 0 11.67 3.27
Joakim Noah 32.5 37.5 12 11.79 3.47
Jason Smith 33.5 37.5 15 10.96 3.29
Rodney Stuckey 30.5 35 14 11.34 3.11
Al Thornton 35 41.5 9 11.96 3.16
Brandan Wright 30.5 35.5 2 11.76 3.31
Julian Wright 28.5 33.5 2 11.48 3.36
Nick Young 39.5 40.5 6 11.0 3.25
Thaddeus Young 34.5 37 13 11.06 3.19


A number of interesting things stand out from the testing results.

The big winner here seems to be Greg Oden, who tested off the charts in agility and speed for a big man. He didn't take the bench press test because of concerns about his wrist. But if he had he may have been in the Top 10 for best athletes in the draft. That's huge for a center.

Conversely, Kevin Durant tested much worse than anticipated. His vertical jump, strength and lane agility drills were all poor for a prospect of his magnitude. Will it affect his draft stock? According to one NBA executive, "No one will care, he's a basketball player. But if you're comparing him to Oden, then yes, Oden is the big winner."

Oden's teammate, Conley, did well, too. He has great length for his size, an amazing vertical and great speed. His 13 reps on the bench press were also very impressive for someone his size.

Colorado State 's Jason Smith is the other guy that really jumps out. As we wrote in our review of his workout, Smith is much more athletic than you think. His lane agility and sprint tests are off the charts. And his strength and vertical jump aren't too shabby either. He does have short arms, but everything else turned out great.

Nick Young came out looking good, and I think that standing reach number must be a typo. His no step vertical of 39.5 inches was flat out amazing.

And Eastern Washington 's Rodney Stuckey also came out smelling sweet. He didn't dominate in any one category, but tested well enough in each one to dismiss talk that he wasn't a good enough athlete.

Here's a couple of other interesting notes:

• What's the difference between Al Horford and Brandan Wright?

They are both roughly the same height. They both have a 35.5-inch maximum vertical. And their standing reach is within one inch of each other. But that's where the comparisons end. Horford has 44 pounds on Wright. He benched 185 pounds 18 more times. And he's much more skilled as a post player right now. I think this may put more GMs in the Horford corner.

• A lot has also been made of the quality of small forwards in the draft. So how did Corey Brewer, Julian Wright, Jeff Green, Al Thornton and Thaddeus Young compare?

Green was the tallest of the group, standing 6-9½ in shoes. Brewer, Thornton, Wright and Young all measured shorter than expected.

Wright has the longest wingspan at 7-2¼ feet. Green was a close second with 7-1¼. Brewer's wingspan was significantly shorter than reported.

Wright also had the tallest standing reach at 9 feet.

Thornton has the best max vertical at 41.5 inches. Green was second with 38 inches. Wright was the only disappointment here with just 33.5 inches.

In the lane agility drills, Young was the quickest at 11.09 seconds. Wright was second.

In a flat-out sprint, Thornton would win with Young a close second.

The strongest was easily Green with 17 reps of 185 pounds. Wright was the only one to do poorly with just two reps.

If you were just going to rank them on their physical testing and size, it might look something like this:

1. Green
2. Young
3. Thornton
4. Wright
5. Brewer

That's a big loss for Brewer, whose rep in almost every category was better than he tested.

• Brewer wasn't the only guy to take a hit in the testing. As we mentioned, Durant's tests weren't impressive. Neither were Spencer Hawes' (no big surprise there) or Josh McRoberts'. And Brandan Wright also was a mild disappointment -- he was not nearly as athletic as advertised.

• One final note, in the ongoing Jared Jordan debate. I pulled his numbers as well. Close your eyes Jordan fans:

HT. (w/o shoes) HT. (w/shoes) WEIGHT WINGSPAN REACH
6-0 6-1¾ 183 6-0 7-10
NO STEP VERT. MAX VERTICAL BENCH PRESS LANE AGILITY SPRINT
14.5 28.5 6 11.02 3.39


Actually this isn't terrible. No, he can't jump, but his lane agility drills were better than Conley, Stuckey, Crittenton, Zabian Dowdell and Taurean Green, and on par with Law. His 3/4 court sprint was a 10th of a second behind most of the competition.

I wonder if this will change the minds of all the GMs who said Jordan wasn't quick enough to play in the pros. His numbers are virtually identical to the Nets' Marcus Williams from last year's combine. Considering that Williams was a first-round pick and productive this year, is Jordan really that far off?

[Roadrunner]

I would like the Celtics to consider Landry w/ the 2nd round selection. He was a beast in the tournament.

[BCHISTORIAN]

jeff green is my new favourite for the celts' pick

[DERRENMATTS]

Jeff Green is actually a pretty good player. I don't think we've seen his total game while he played for Georgetown. He's a good combination of a lot of things (offense, defense, leadership, etc.). I don't think I'd take him with the 5th pick, but if Ainge moves down in the draft (say between 7 - 11), I may take him at those spots.

Al Thornton also is impressing me. I still don't know much about him, but I'm getting a better idea and feel for his game, and he's better than I thought. He's also a guy I'd consider taking if we get a pick between 7 - 11.

[celticfan]

for me Green is kinda like Battier. He's kinda reached his peak in college and will at best get marginally better in the pro's
that's nice for the #12 pick and on.. no so nice in the lottery.
Of course I could be wrong.. I've been it so many times before. It's just a feeling I got watching him in the NCAA's

actually this draft has me quite pessimisstic.
Wright feels like the 2nd coming of Marvin Williams especially after seeing his stats (2 benches of 185 pounds?!?! how's he gonna rebound in the L)
Yi scares me because he's played against scrubs in China.
Green (see above)
Noah can you say chicken with his head cut off? What does he exel at?
we just don't need Conley Jr if Rondo is the future...

I do like Horford and Corey Brewer. Off the 2 we need a big man like Horford more. Drafting Brewer = needing to trade some other swingmen from the team.

[eddietours]

call me crazy but am starting to think we should pick yi the player l like is brewer but if we pick him that means we are trading PP l know video highlight are nothing compare to the real game but you can't denied that yi has size and speed l know is the china league but something is telling me this kid can play in the nba l haven't seen too many big with does move and again l know the competition is inferior.

[DERRENMATTS]

This is a good read for those who put too much stock on these combine stats:

www.draftexpress.com/viewarticle.php?a=2096

[eja117]

eddietours said:

call me crazy but am starting to think we should pick yi the player l like is brewer but if we pick him that means we are trading PP l know video highlight are nothing compare to the real game but you can't denied that yi has size and speed l know is the china league but something is telling me this kid can play in the nba l haven't seen too many big with does move and again l know the competition is inferior.

I don't deny Yi has speed and size. I just say Darko had it too. So did Planninic and Tskiedqepweuili...I am NOT spelling that name.

[freshnthehouse]

celticfan said:

Wright feels like the 2nd coming of Marvin Williams especially after seeing his stats (2 benches of 185 pounds?!?! how's he gonna rebound in the L)

One thing to remember is that Al was only able to bench 185 once or twice as well.

[Deleted]

Durant had 0 reps... i'm sure his stock isn't going down anytime soon.

[celticfan]

both of those are true. Durant is an obvious player, there's not denying it.

Al was weak and look how long it took him to develop into a consistent player.
can we wait that long for the #5 pick??

I'd rather not wait 3-4 years this time around.

[Roadrunner]

Unfortunately, due to the past draft history of the Celtics, #5 will need to be a starter, and produce right away.

[freshnthehouse]

celticfan said:

I'd rather not wait 3-4 years this time around.

I'd have no problem waiting 3-4 years for a player that can become something special. It's not like we are going to be competing for a title anytime soon.

[eja117]

freshnthehouse said:

celticfan said:

I'd rather not wait 3-4 years this time around.

I'd have no problem waiting 3-4 years for a player that can become something special. It's not like we are going to be competing for a title anytime soon.

I'd definitely rather wait 3-4 years for something good than find out right away what I have is no good or ok. I could definitely handle drafting another AL J. Cause then in 3 years we'd have TWO of the best big men in the league. Way better than drafting some guy who can't play.