NBA Draft: What Combine Results Mean

The NBA Draft Combine was last week and we finally have all the results from the testing that they did in Chicago. Pretty much all of the top prospects at least participated in the athletic testing and gave us some data to look at and overreact to.

Here's the full list of results from the combine.

Obviously we can't put too much stock in these results as ultimately these players will prove their worth on the court, not in simple drills, but we can learn a few things. As Chad Ford pointed out in his draft blog today, Harrison Barnes was the best notable athlete at the combine. Over his two years at UNC, Barnes has gained a reputation for being a pretty mediocre athlete. If these results are any indication, that judgment was way off base. Harrison Barnes put up a ridiculous 39.5 inch vertical leap and had the fastest 3/4 court sprint time. For comparison's sake, both of those results were better than Michael Kidd-Gilchrist, the guy who has been touted as an elite athlete.

Barnes was incredibly strong, fast, and explosive at the combine. That should answer a few questions that people had about him and might make his stock rise just a little bit. Similarly, Bradley Beal had an awesome combine. He measured just under 6-foot-5 and had a beastly 39 inch vertical. His lane agility and 3/4 court sprint times were also very good. Lots of people had been saying that Jeremy Lamb was the better SG athlete, but Beal showed that he's just as, if not more athletic than Lamb. In addition, Beal has an NBA ready body while Lamb will probably need to put on some muscle for the NBA.

Chad Ford noted that Jared Sullinger's results were pretty pathetic. We all knew he wasn't a good athlete, but apparently he's worse than we thought.

The rest of the results are pretty much what you'd expect. Andre Drummond is huge and extremely quick. Perry Jones is a freak. In the end, we can't get carried away with the results from a couple of days in June. That being said, I find it very encouraging that Beal and Barnes had such awesome numbers. Lots of reports have the Cavaliers linked to drafting Harrison Barnes and my dream scenario is that Bradley Beal falls to the Cavs at #4. The NBA Draft Combine made me feel a bit better about both of those potential outcomes.