Draft Combine Results

#1
COMBINE RESULTS

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........11.48.....3.36
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

(sorry about the formatting, it wouldn't copy over from the article so I did a rough job. First column is no step vertical, second is max vertical, third is bench press, fourth is lane agility and the last is the 3/4 sprint)

http://insider.espn.go.com/espn/blog/index?entryID=2893057&name=ford_chad


Some things of note: Greg Oden is almost as quick in the lane agility drill as Mike Conley. WOW. Also, check out Jason Smith's agility number -- crazy to have a seven footer as the quickest player in the draft. Plus a 37.5" vertical.

Julian Wright -- not so athletic, at least not in this combine. 33" vertical is a disappointment.
 

Bricklayer

Don't Make Me Use The Bat
#3
Ha! I feel special. When I was 19 my vertical was better than Spenser Hawes. :p Of course I was starting a lot closer to the ground...



These things though...never sure what they show. the verticals are probably pretty pure, but on the bench its pretty clear that some guys tried, some did not. I doubt anybody really maxed it out. Not as determinative as it is in football. And the "lane agility drill", what the hell is that? Is everybody going full speed?

I would guess Durant was not at least. Or if he was then I would suggest that the colelctive value of these numbers in predicating NBA success would be roughly zero.
 
#4
The "lane agility drill" is a shuttle drill they test how you move around the lane. If recall correctly from PE class in high school, that was the one where you had to move between cones, which tested how fast you could keep moving changing direction.

If you have ESPN Insider you can click around to see results from previous years, and they're actually a pretty good barometer of quickness. For example, Ray Felton, Deron Williams and Chris Paul blows this draft class out of the water when it comes to quickness, which seems a bit right to me.

Conley has a high vertical, but he's not as quick as those guys, as I suspected. I mean, he's barely quicker than Oden. He is very fast down the court though.

And I'm not all that surprised about Durant -- the key with him isn't that he's the most athletic guy in the world, he's just got game. That's the thing about the numbers -- they are good for raw athleticism, but they're not going to tell you who's the better player.
 
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#6
Jeff Green really did better than I thought he would(almost as tall as Brandan Wright/Horford, weighs about 230, WAY more athletic than I thought, and his wingspan is pretty long also). Julian Wright dissapointed me.

At this point I really like Noah, Conley, Green, Yi, maybe Hawes, and if a miracle happened B. Wright/Horford. 1 of those guys should be ours considering Julian Wright is a top 10 pick(atleast IMO still) and so is Brewer(who should go higher than Wright). So we'll see.
 
#7
The Wright brothers both disappointed. Sub-par verticals and puny bench press numbers. They both just earned themselves the "project" tag. At least Florida has a weight training program. We knew Horford was a beast, but I'm surprised with the bench numbers for Noah and Brewer. I may need to rethink my whole "Noah has no work ethic" theory. His game still hasn't developed in two years though. However, he wouldn't be a travesty at #10 like I used to think. I'd be happy with sticking him at center and just running all day. At least we'd be fun to watch. We're going to end up with mulitiple firsts though, I'm convinced of it, and can't wait to see how Petrie attacks this draft.

I still think that Thaddeus Young and Jeff Green provide good value at #10. The more I see and hear of Hawes the less I like. He's rapidly entering Jon Koncak territory for me.
 
#8
The Wright brothers both disappointed. Sub-par verticals and puny bench press numbers. They both just earned themselves the "project" tag. At least Florida has a weight training program. We knew Horford was a beast, but I'm surprised with the bench numbers for Noah and Brewer. I may need to rethink my whole "Noah has no work ethic" theory. His game still hasn't developed in two years though. However, he wouldn't be a travesty at #10 like I used to think. I'd be happy with sticking him at center and just running all day. At least we'd be fun to watch. We're going to end up with mulitiple firsts though, I'm convinced of it, and can't wait to see how Petrie attacks this draft.

I still think that Thaddeus Young and Jeff Green provide good value at #10. The more I see and hear of Hawes the less I like. He's rapidly entering Jon Koncak territory for me.
I think B. Wright was already considered a project. Hopefully teams sour enough on him so where he falls to us. He's the high ceiling big we need, risky yes but it's worth the risk at 10.
 

Bricklayer

Don't Make Me Use The Bat
#9
Curious about what the bench press number was (reps of how much -- in the NFL its 225 I think) I went out searching. Found my answer in this interesting post at another forum: its only 185 lbs. More reasonable for basketball players, but also makes you wonder about those guys who could only do 2. Was that really all they could do? 185 isn't much weight. A warmup set for somebody with any real strength, although maybe a tad harder for guys with such long arms.

In any case, the rest of the post was quite interesting. Was about the results in the draft two years ago:

http://forum.athletes.com/showthread.php?t=735

Again throws into a little question how predictive these sorts of things are. Joey Graham had the best overall numbers of any of the 75 guys. Will Bynum was 2nd. Monta Ellis finished 70th. Cisco 51st. Our own Luke Schenscher dead last. Not sure there was much correlation between scoring well on the test and doing well in the NBA, although both Deron and Paul were Top 20.
 

Mr. S£im Citrus

Doryphore of KingsFans.com
Staff member
#10
Wow, my standing vertical at 19 was better than Joakim Noah! Of course, he's a foot closer to the rim than I am...

And, aside from Oden and Durant, who probably didn't attempt to bench because they feel pretty secure in their draft postion, there shouldn't be any excuse for any of those guys not to be able to push a buck eighty-five...
 
#12
COMBINE RESULTS

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........11.48.....3.36
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
Oden has a 0 bench press.:eek:
 
#14
Noah did suprisingly well for not being as athletic as some had said. If Noah falls to 10 I see the Kings taking him.
 
#18
There are several startling revelations in the numbers, and the one that immediately pops out is the bench press. Players were rated on how many times they could bench press 185 pounds. Oden didn't attempt the bench press in order to prevent an injury to his right wrist, which has recently recovered from injury.
But get this: Only one player was unable to bench press 185 even once - Kevin Durant.
http://blog.oregonlive.com/behindblazersbeat/2007/06/greg_oden_is_a_freak_of_nature.html

Kevin Durant is weak
 
#19
It's a combo of multiple factors. For starters, he's thin. You can tell if you see him. He needs to bulk up more but from all indications that will take time. Look at guys like KG, T-Mac, etc.. when they first came into the league. They all looked like Durant.

Second, and something that shouldn't be overlooked. Guys with huge wingspans tend to do terrible with the bench press because they have to lift the weight much higher than the average person. Just like at combine results for longer armed individuals and you'll start to see a pattern.
 

Kingster

Hall of Famer
#20
It's totally shocking to me that Oden is faster than Noah. I'd never have guessed that in a million years after seeing them go head to head. The only reason I come up with for Noah looking so much faster is that he has (or had) much better endurance, and he could keep up that fast pace much longer than Oden. I thought Noah was very fast for a power forward, but doesn't look that way.

Can anyone explain the lane agility test?

Also, I put just as much weight on jumping quickness as I do on height.

Also, I don't see a measurement of quickness, which is certainly very important for a basketball player.
 
#21
It's a combo of multiple factors. For starters, he's thin. You can tell if you see him. He needs to bulk up more but from all indications that will take time. Look at guys like KG, T-Mac, etc.. when they first came into the league. They all looked like Durant.

Second, and something that shouldn't be overlooked. Guys with huge wingspans tend to do terrible with the bench press because they have to lift the weight much higher than the average person. Just like at combine results for longer armed individuals and you'll start to see a pattern.
I'd still want him, but he is weak. Those other guys have big wingspans too. His standing vertical is also a surprise to me - tied for least of all those guys. Maybe his heart just wasn't in any of this since he knows he's the #2 pick
 

Kingster

Hall of Famer
#23
The "lane agility drill" is a shuttle drill they test how you move around the lane. If recall correctly from PE class in high school, that was the one where you had to move between cones, which tested how fast you could keep moving changing direction.

If you have ESPN Insider you can click around to see results from previous years, and they're actually a pretty good barometer of quickness. For example, Ray Felton, Deron Williams and Chris Paul blows this draft class out of the water when it comes to quickness, which seems a bit right to me.

Conley has a high vertical, but he's not as quick as those guys, as I suspected. I mean, he's barely quicker than Oden. He is very fast down the court though.

And I'm not all that surprised about Durant -- the key with him isn't that he's the most athletic guy in the world, he's just got game. That's the thing about the numbers -- they are good for raw athleticism, but they're not going to tell you who's the better player.
Thanks for the info. I'd like to know what Martin would have done in the lane agility test. Conley didn't seem very quick when I was watching him, so I guess that's accurate. If he's not that quick, I find it hard to believe that he's going in the top 5. Quckness has got to the be the most important quality for a guard.
 
#24
Thanks for the info. I'd like to know what Martin would have done in the lane agility test. Conley didn't seem very quick when I was watching him, so I guess that's accurate. If he's not that quick, I find it hard to believe that he's going in the top 5. Quckness has got to the be the most important quality for a guard.
I haven't been able to find Kevin Martin, but here are some comparisons:

Mike Conley: 11.63
Francisco Garcia: 10.63
Devin Harris: 11.03
Jameer Nelson: 10.95
Deron Williams: 10.83
Ray Felton: 10.5
Chris Paul: 11.09
Marcus Williams: 11.3
Monta Ellis: 12.13

Monta Ellis was the one point guard I saw who tested out slower. Maybe Conley just had an off-measurement, but it's a pretty slow measurement for a guard.



http://insider.espn.go.com/nba/draft2004/columns/story?columnist=ford_chad&id=1824242
http://insider.espn.go.com/nba/draft2005/columns/story?columnist=ford_chad&id=2087396
 
#25
I think that this article at DraftExpress tells the story of how much of an indicator the combine results are.

http://draftexpress.com/viewarticle.php?a=2096


In THE draft (2003), Troy Bell tested the most athletic with Brandon Hunter coming in 2nd. DWade finished 14th, Bosh 51st. TJ Ford measured being slower than Chris Kaman and Melo in the various footspeed drills.

2005 - Monta Ellis measured as being the worst athlete (slow and weak).

BTW Oden's 0 bench press was because he didn't participate to prevent furthering an injury to his right wrist. Durant's 0, however was valid.
 
#26
TJ Ford measured being slower than Chris Kaman and Melo in the various footspeed drills.
Yeah, something tells me there's some advantage in this drill to being big since Jason Smith had the quickest time and he's 7'0". But if you compare bigs to bigs and smalls to smalls I find that it's actually somewhat useful.
 
#27
Bigs can get across the key with 2 steps and smaller players need 3 thus the difference in times and why big guys have such an advantage. The test is flawed.