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I already gave you a bunch of disclaimers about the NBA Draft Combine. So if you need to go back and read my article this morning about that, go ahead and do it. With all of that in mind, here are some quick takeaways from Day 1 of the combine.
- This was the first time that I have seen Rudy Gobert standing next to other NBA center prospects. He looks like a cartoon character. His arms are ridiculously long. And when I say ridiculously, I mean ridiculously. We only saw a little bit of him shooting the ball, but he made a lot of midrange shots. His mechanics aren't beautiful and the release is pretty slow, but it was better than I expected. And apparently he was a monster on defense in the drills.
No one can score on Rudy Gobert inside the paint. Block, deflections, steals. Changing everything around the rim. #nbacombine
— Jonathan Givony (@DraftExpress) May 16, 2013
- Shabazz Muhammad apparently shot the ball pretty poorly. His mechanics were never great and we knew that shooting off the dribble was one of his major weaknesses. Now, I didn't get to see his shooting drills but the Twitters seemed pretty down on Shabazz's performance. Give him credit for participating in these drills in the first place when many top picks elect to sit them out and just do the athletic testing. We already knew that he was a fierce competitor, so it shouldn't come as much of a surprise that he was running hard in sprints, etc. But then again, the fact that he's here may be an indication that he and his agent know that his stock isn't as high as they'd like it to be.
- Victor Oladipo was apparently measured at 6-4 in shoes. We don't get official measurements until the end of the combine, but we were obviously hoping that he would be taller than that. Nerlens Noel was apparently measured at 6-11 3/4 in shoes. That would be significant because most people assumed he was around 6-10. If he's a legit 7-feet, that'd be great. Again, we have to wait until tomorrow to find out everybody's official height and wingspan.
Victor Oladipo said he measured at 6-4 1/4 with shoes. Ben McLemore told me he was 6-3 without shoes.
— Jeff Goodman (@GoodmanCBS) May 16, 2013
Nerlens Noel just told me he measured at 6-11 and 3/4 with shoes here in Chicago.
— Jeff Goodman (@GoodmanCBS) May 16, 2013
- Steven Adams looked pretty good from what we saw. His coach at Pittsburgh said that people would be surprised by how well he shot the ball. The ESPN guys mocked him for that and said that every coach or agent says we'll be surprised by how well their guy shoots. Well guess what, we were all surprised by how well Adams shot the ball.
- Otto Porter said that he does not have an interview with the Cavaliers scheduled at the combine. It's a little bizarre, but likely means nothing. The Cavs have plenty of time to talk to and workout all the prospects that they want before the NBA Draft in late June.
- According to ESPN's Chad Ford, Giannis Antetokounmpo and Dennis Schroeder received first round guarantees. We have no idea what teams gave these promises and I guess there's a chance one of them was the Cavs.
Hearing first 2 promises of 2013 Draft: Dennis Schroeder & Giannis Antetokounmpo both given 1st round guarantees sources say.
— Chad Ford (@chadfordinsider) May 16, 2013
There will be more coverage of the NBA Draft Combine on ESPNU tomorrow from 10 am to 2 pm. It's fun to watch and, if you can't watch, I'll be sure to give you my thoughts from tomorrow.