Post by 👨🏼⚕️delapandemic🚑 on May 15, 2019 18:21:53 GMT
TMBSL 2018 Draft Combine and Camp
Monroe Square Garden – On June 1st all of the profile players, plus a select group of other invitees showed off their skills at the 4th TMBSL Draft Combine and Camp, which mixes scrimmages, contests, and other skills events to give GMs a better idea of what kind of players are coming into the league this year.
Skills Contests:
Bench Press: While not as sexy as the NFL’s bench press section of the combine… and where IRL Kevin Durant famously failed to do a single rep at 185lbs… something can be gleaned about player strength. Before mocking these guys, remember that their arms are much longer than yours and their WAGs are much hotter.
3-Pt Shooting: Standard 3pt shooting contest, 5 racks of 5 balls, all around the arc. Timed.
The Scrimmages:
The Bigs: An odd assortment of players with diverse skills, we saw Reed, Silas, and Cunningham really show out during the scrimmages. Reed and Silas in the more traditional sense, battling for position and scoring with unique post-moves and brute strength. On the other side of the coin, Cunningham put on a shooting display like no other we've seen from a PF or C since the inception of the Combine. He was automatic from midrange, knocking down elbow jumper after elbow jumper. He also managed to drag his man out to the corner for some beautiful high-arcing 3 pointers. Outside of the top 3 bigs, we saw a flash of what could be from Clyde Lee, as he went coast-to-coast on multiple occasions... but we also saw his rawness and lack of IQ as he fumbled away passes and got himself out of position regularly. The upside is high there, but the floor is low. One surprise was Walt Wesley out of Kansas, who managed to be consistent in scoring with a big sweeping hookshot and proved himself to be a capable defender against Silas on multiple occasions.
The Wings: Rick Barry could revolutionize the 2-guard position in TMBSL. He could also be a cancerous teammate who turns into a black hole... and scouts are pretty sure it is a very fine line between the two. Barry showed no remorse in taking every shot available to him, but... hit a good number of them. He didn't get into the dirty work of defense or rebounding, but gladly reaped the benefits of every outlet pass and turned his attention to scoring immediately. The rest of the wings on his team, unfortunately, never got the chance to shine... which makes both Van Arsdale's interesting prospects... as we know just as much about them now as we did coming in. Bill Bradley out of Princeton showed poorly in all the pre-draft measurements... but in the game his shooting stroke was smooth and accurate. It will be interesting to see if his development can be accelerated by a team with a good training staff. Jerry Sloan and Bob Love flashed defensive skills, but the real wildcard on the wing will be Cazzie Russell. The Michigan-Man exploded with a surprising array of dribble-drive moves that let him get to the rack with ease, which was a surprise to many in attendance. He may have played himself into the draft after being considered a fringe player.
The Points: Hazzard, Goodrich, Bing, and Melchionni were the only PGs of note today. Melchionni is very small-framed (she-shoulders), but ran circles around everyone else on the court. His mechanics on his shot are still odd, though, so the small sample of a single-day may be obfuscating his true offensive potential. No one else really separated themselves from the others, as all 3 of the marquee guards performed well and up to expectations. Hazzard and Goodrich lag behind Bing in natural scoring output, but are probably slightly better at everything else.
Monroe Square Garden – On June 1st all of the profile players, plus a select group of other invitees showed off their skills at the 4th TMBSL Draft Combine and Camp, which mixes scrimmages, contests, and other skills events to give GMs a better idea of what kind of players are coming into the league this year.
Skills Contests:
Bench Press: While not as sexy as the NFL’s bench press section of the combine… and where IRL Kevin Durant famously failed to do a single rep at 185lbs… something can be gleaned about player strength. Before mocking these guys, remember that their arms are much longer than yours and their WAGs are much hotter.
1. Hank Finkel - 22
2. Willis Reed - 19
3. Gail Goodrich - 18
4. Lucious Jackson - 16
5. Paul Silas - 11
1. Billy Cunningham - 20
2. Dave Bing - 18
2. Bill Bradley - 18
4. Mel Counts - 16
5. Rick Barry - 10
The Bigs: An odd assortment of players with diverse skills, we saw Reed, Silas, and Cunningham really show out during the scrimmages. Reed and Silas in the more traditional sense, battling for position and scoring with unique post-moves and brute strength. On the other side of the coin, Cunningham put on a shooting display like no other we've seen from a PF or C since the inception of the Combine. He was automatic from midrange, knocking down elbow jumper after elbow jumper. He also managed to drag his man out to the corner for some beautiful high-arcing 3 pointers. Outside of the top 3 bigs, we saw a flash of what could be from Clyde Lee, as he went coast-to-coast on multiple occasions... but we also saw his rawness and lack of IQ as he fumbled away passes and got himself out of position regularly. The upside is high there, but the floor is low. One surprise was Walt Wesley out of Kansas, who managed to be consistent in scoring with a big sweeping hookshot and proved himself to be a capable defender against Silas on multiple occasions.
The Wings: Rick Barry could revolutionize the 2-guard position in TMBSL. He could also be a cancerous teammate who turns into a black hole... and scouts are pretty sure it is a very fine line between the two. Barry showed no remorse in taking every shot available to him, but... hit a good number of them. He didn't get into the dirty work of defense or rebounding, but gladly reaped the benefits of every outlet pass and turned his attention to scoring immediately. The rest of the wings on his team, unfortunately, never got the chance to shine... which makes both Van Arsdale's interesting prospects... as we know just as much about them now as we did coming in. Bill Bradley out of Princeton showed poorly in all the pre-draft measurements... but in the game his shooting stroke was smooth and accurate. It will be interesting to see if his development can be accelerated by a team with a good training staff. Jerry Sloan and Bob Love flashed defensive skills, but the real wildcard on the wing will be Cazzie Russell. The Michigan-Man exploded with a surprising array of dribble-drive moves that let him get to the rack with ease, which was a surprise to many in attendance. He may have played himself into the draft after being considered a fringe player.
The Points: Hazzard, Goodrich, Bing, and Melchionni were the only PGs of note today. Melchionni is very small-framed (she-shoulders), but ran circles around everyone else on the court. His mechanics on his shot are still odd, though, so the small sample of a single-day may be obfuscating his true offensive potential. No one else really separated themselves from the others, as all 3 of the marquee guards performed well and up to expectations. Hazzard and Goodrich lag behind Bing in natural scoring output, but are probably slightly better at everything else.