TMBSL 2020 Draft Combine and Camp (176 views)

[👨🏼‍⚕️delapandemic🚑]

TMBSL 2020 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 6th 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

Vertical Max: Standing jump, adjusted for height.

1. Dorell Wright - 41"

2. Andre Iguodala - 40.5"

3. Josh Smith - 39.5"

3. Shaun Livingston - 39.5"

5. Dwight Howard - 39"

Shuttle Run + Lane Agility + 3/4 Sprint: Cone drill, while dribbling. Lane agility without the ball. Finishing on a sprint and layup at the basket. Measured in seconds.

1. Devin Harris - 15.14

2. Sebastian Telfair - 15.46

3. Ben Gordon -16.01

4. Royal Ivey - 16.95

5. Tim Pickett - 16.99

The Scrimmages

The Bigs:

Long thought to be the two names at the top of the draft boards, the young Howard and experience Okafor squared off on opposite teams throughout the day.  The physical tools are there for Howard, clearly, but Okafor showed a more polished approach and was able to goad Howard into silly fouls and generally outrebounded the younger player by virtue of positioning and anticipation.  In transition, however, Howard showed the ability to run the floor and finish at quite easily with thunderous dunks.  His game stalled out more in the halfcourt, as he has not developed a face-up game or any reliable jumpshot.  The other bigs that flashed something during the scrimmage were Al Jefferson, the high schooler from Missississississippi.  He has a silky touch around the basket, a rarity among high schoolers, that let him finish on/around Howard and Okafor regularly.  He's pretty slow, though... he needs improvement in his conditioning in a major way.  The collection of international centers (Varejao, Araujo, Antic, Biedrins) all had their moments defensively and on the boards, but none of them seem poised to break out as offensive stars.

The Wings:

Rangy athletic SFs and under-sized sniper SGs litter this class... with little variation.  Iguodala and Deng can both score and have decent jumpers, despite their comically long arms.  Neither of them has deep range, though.  When matched up on anyone else in the class, Deng and Iguodala swallowed them up defensively.  Josh Smith, out of Oak Hill, and Dorell Wright, from South Kent (CT), can absolutely fly through the air and rise up over even the biggest of bigs... but the rest of their game needs a great deal of work.  Those looking for immediate production may find it in the low-usage Childress or Jackson out of the Pac-10.  They both have well-developed games and bring a real strength (rebounding and 3-pt shooting, respectively) that is already at TMBSL level.  Jackson, notably, hit 5 3s in a single game over the outstretched arms of Smith. Among the traditional 2-guards, Ben Gordon is clearly the most accomplished.  However, he is very undersized and the cheese-heads of TMBSL are already upset that he can't be moved to PG.  He controlled the ball on offense and called his own number often, much to the chagrin of teammates.  Sleepers to watch at this spot would be Tony Allen, an absolute defensive stopper, who was even able to guard up to some of the PFs and wreak havoc swiping the ball before they could even get the ball above their shoulders... and Tim Pickett, a bomber that has the best range in the class and has no qualms with shooting often, getting up 11 3s in a single game during the combine.

The Points:

More established players, like Nelson and Harris, showed that they could step in and compete immediately.  They are more traditional passing guards, but each has enough offensive flair to take their own shot on occasion. In the scrimmages, neither of them looked like stars... but they also didn't commit many errors or give GMs reasons to doubt their abilities. Telfair and Livingston, the high school prodigies, can be taken by a GM with a longer-view of the process.  Telfair has the most flash and the highest offensive ceiling, as he showed with a variety of dribble moves, spins, and high-velocity passes... but he is not likely ever to be anything close to a good defender. Livingston is an interesting case, though, his offensive game resembles the players of yesteryear... with a deadly midrange and post-up game, yet no range whatsoever.  Whenever he could, he took the smaller PGs into the post and operated from there. His length at the PG position is a rarity and could make him a solid defender in future years based on that alone. Other guards had real issues getting past him because of that wingspan.  The only other PGs in the class, Ivey and Duhon, underwhelmed given their age.  Neither showed the leadership and control that you would expect from senior guards and both were quite sloppy with the ball all day long.