Duke and the NBA Draft Combine

[Jaymf7]

ESPN has this insider article on the results of athletic testing at the NBA combine:

http://insider.espn.go.com/nba/draft2010/insider/columns/story?columnist=ford_chad&page=Draftchart-100526

Scheyer is listed as NA on all tests and Zoubek is not listed at all (even though there are over 50 names here, some of which I'd think would not get drafted). I was interested to see how Jon compared to JJ coming out.

Anyone know if there is a story behind this?

[dball]

Thought Jon had mono and wasn't at the combine.

[CameronBlue]

Thought Jon had mono and wasn't at the combine.

Well he has at the W.H. today. Wonder if he had a chance to kiss the Prez?

[SCMatt33]

Thought Jon had mono and wasn't at the combine.

He does have mono, but was still at the combine to participate in the measurements and interviews. He just didn't take part in any drills or basketball activities. As is turns out, he didn't do so well in the measurement department. Despite measuring 6-4.75 without shoes, he only has a wingspan of 6-3.25. Compare that to Sherron Collins, who only measured in at 5-10.25 (6.5 inches shorter) but has a wingspan of 6-2.5 (only .75 inches shorter). That is a much bigger boost to Collins than it is a detriment to Scheyer, however, since Scheyer is considered a big pg anyway.

Also interesting were the body fat measurement. It turns out that "sexy Dexy" isn't so sexy unless you like the sound of 6-9.5, 303 lbs, and 20.8% body fat. For reference he was the "fattest" guy at the combine by a wide margin, with DeMarcus Cousins next at 16.4% and Tiny Gallon next at 15.1%. Among guards, Sylven Landesberg was unusually high at 11.6%. For a guy who didn't take academics too seriously and basically had no other choice, you would think he would be in better shape (nearly every other guard came in under 8%)

I was surprised at the wide range of added height due to shoes. For most of the players, shoes added 1-1.5 inches, but some guys had really big shoes. For example, Cole Aldrich went from 6-9 barefoot to 6-11.25 with shoes. Pittman went from 6-9.5 to 6-11.5. I'm a hair under 6ft tall, but maybe I should start saying that I'm 6-2 when people ask!

Related to the shoes is how player's listed height compares to their actual height. It's well known that teams usually add height to players. They round up fractions of an inch or use height with shoes, but in some cases it's pretty ridiculous. Scheyer was listed by Duke at 6-5, which is pretty reasonable since he measures 6-4.75 without shoes, and 6-6 with them. Luke Harangody stands at 6-6 without shoes (just 1.25 inches taller than Scheyer) but was listed by Notre Dame at 6-8. Even on the same team there is no consistency. Sherron Collins stood at 5-10.25 without shoes and was listed at 5-11 and Xavier Henry was 6-5.25 and listed at 6-6, not unreasonable, but Cole Aldrich stood 6-9 and was listed at 6-11.

BTW, the ESPN stuff is insider only, but NBAdraft.net released the measurements for free here (http://www.nbadraft.net/2010-nba-draft-combine-official-measurements).

[rotogod00]

He does have mono, but was still at the combine to participate in the measurements and interviews. He just didn't take part in any drills or basketball activities. As is turns out, he didn't do so well in the measurement department. Despite measuring 6-4.75 without shoes, he only has a wingspan of 6-3.25. Compare that to Sherron Collins, who only measured in at 5-10.25 (6.5 inches shorter) but has a wingspan of 6-2.5 (only .75 inches shorter). That is a much bigger boost to Collins than it is a detriment to Scheyer, however, since Scheyer is considered a big pg anyway.

Also interesting were the body fat measurement. It turns out that "sexy Dexy" isn't so sexy unless you like the sound of 6-9.5, 303 lbs, and 20.8% body fat. For reference he was the "fattest" guy at the combine by a wide margin, with DeMarcus Cousins next at 16.4% and Tiny Gallon next at 15.1%. Among guards, Sylven Landesberg was unusually high at 11.6%. For a guy who didn't take academics too seriously and basically had no other choice, you would think he would be in better shape (nearly every other guard came in under 8%)

I was surprised at the wide range of added height due to shoes. For most of the players, shoes added 1-1.5 inches, but some guys had really big shoes. For example, Cole Aldrich went from 6-9 barefoot to 6-11.25 with shoes. Pittman went from 6-9.5 to 6-11.5. I'm a hair under 6ft tall, but maybe I should start saying that I'm 6-2 when people ask!

Related to the shoes is how player's listed height compares to their actual height. It's well known that teams usually add height to players. They round up fractions of an inch or use height with shoes, but in some cases it's pretty ridiculous. Scheyer was listed by Duke at 6-5, which is pretty reasonable since he measures 6-4.75 without shoes, and 6-6 with them. Luke Harangody stands at 6-6 without shoes (just 1.25 inches taller than Scheyer) but was listed by Notre Dame at 6-8. Even on the same team there is no consistency. Sherron Collins stood at 5-10.25 without shoes and was listed at 5-11 and Xavier Henry was 6-5.25 and listed at 6-6, not unreasonable, but Cole Aldrich stood 6-9 and was listed at 6-11.

BTW, the ESPN stuff is insider only, but NBAdraft.net released the measurements for free here (http://www.nbadraft.net/2010-nba-draft-combine-official-measurements).

scheyer was the only one whose wingspan was less than his height. never heard of such a thing actually.

[Greg_Newton]

scheyer was the only one whose wingspan was less than his height. never heard of such a thing actually.

It's not uncommon at all in the general population, but it's true you almost never see it in the NBA. Long arms are sooooo important for basketball, probably even more so than height. Kind of funny how most players that get credit for being great athletes are really just guys with normal athleticism but incredibly long arms.

I've always thought the worst body to have would be a freakishly tall person with very short arms. You're awkwardly tall and have all the health issues that go with that, but your short arms prevent you from being much of a basketball player. Not mention everyone thinks you should be better than you are because they don't realize the importance of arm length!

[Jaymf7]

He does have mono, but was still at the combine to participate in the measurements and interviews.

Thanks for the explanation. Had not heard about the mono.

[basket1544]

Okay, so that answers why Jon's not working out in the combine. Why is Z not there?

[PumpkinFunk]

Why is Z not there?

He didn't get an invite. Just like with the NFL combine, you need an invite to go.

[UrinalCake]

Thanks for the link and analysis, SCMatt. The same site has the results of the agility tests here (http://www.nbadraft.net/nba-draft-combine-athleticism-test-results). John Wall's numbers look pretty impressive, as expected. The guy who did the most reps benching 185 was Luke Harangody at 23... I noticed that Greivis Vasquez is also a N/A, anyone know what's up with that?

[SMO]

Thanks for the link and analysis, SCMatt. The same site has the results of the agility tests here (http://www.nbadraft.net/nba-draft-combine-athleticism-test-results). John Wall's numbers look pretty impressive, as expected. The guy who did the most reps benching 185 was Luke Harangody at 23... I noticed that Greivis Vasquez is also a N/A, anyone know what's up with that?

Thanks for posting the stats. Any time I need an ego boost I look at how many future professional athletes I can out-bench:) Not that long arms has anything to do with it.

Anyone know if the N/A's on the bench indicate they couldn't do it once?

[UrinalCake]

Anyone know if the N/A's on the bench indicate they couldn't do it once?

I'm not positive, but I would think that they would list it as a "0" if they couldn't do it. If you wanted to be sure you could go back a couple years and see how they listed Kevin Durant's results (it was widely reported that he couldn't do any).

And yes, long arms do make it harder to bench press. At least that's my excuse :)

[ElSid]

It's not uncommon at all in the general population, but it's true you almost never see it in the NBA. Long arms are sooooo important for basketball, probably even more so than height. Kind of funny how most players that get credit for being great athletes are really just guys with normal athleticism but incredibly long arms.

I've always thought the worst body to have would be a freakishly tall person with very short arms. You're awkwardly tall and have all the health issues that go with that, but your short arms prevent you from being much of a basketball player. Not mention everyone thinks you should be better than you are because they don't realize the importance of arm length!

Yes, you're describing the "T-Rex". I know several people like this. They're horrible at basketball. But excellent at ripping flesh from bone.

[cptnflash]

If you want to see a combination of speed, agility, and power, check out Trevor Booker's numbers. Wow. I won't be surprised if he goes higher than most current mock drafts have him.

[gofurman]

If you want to see a combination of speed, agility, and power, check out Trevor Booker's numbers. Wow. I won't be surprised if he goes higher than most current mock drafts have him.

Yep - seen him in person haven't we... whew, Clemson found a beast in Booker

[Cockabeau]

scheyer was the only one whose wingspan was less than his height. never heard of such a thing actually.

Actually this makes Jon's college career all the more amazing. Not have amazing speed or hops is one thing but combined with little to no length is unbelievable considering the the fact that he scored on so many midrange and inside shots. I have never seen a player like Jon. Ever.

[Double DD]

Thanks for posting the stats. Any time I need an ego boost I look at how many future professional athletes I can out-bench:) Not that long arms has anything to do with it.

Anyone know if the N/A's on the bench indicate they couldn't do it once?

They also use a metronome when they count the reps at the combine. If they fall off the pace set by the metronome, then they stop counting, which is why the numbers will often seem low.

As for Scheyer's relatively short wingspan, if you look through DraftExpress's measurement archive, you'll notice that there are certain similarities in skin tone between quite a few of the players at the bottom end of the wingspan to height ratio.