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Ford's Combine Writeup

Sorry for the shitty layout. I'm being lazy and not going to edit. Here is the entire write up from what went on at the combine. Ford said he will be doing another and I will post that as well.

CHICAGO -- The 2017 NBA draft combine made its way onto the court on Thursday. Hundreds of NBA general managers, scouts and coaches sat courtside as 38 prospects played 5-on-5 and a handful of higher-ranked prospects went through shooting drills and athletic testing.

I spent time both watching what was happening and talking to as many people as I could.

Here's what I heard:

• Of the players who decided to play in the 5-on-5 games, a handful stood out.

Oregon's Jordan Bell continued his rise up draft boards with another dominant performance here. After excelling in the NCAA tournament, Bell put together the most well-rounded game in Chicago: 13 points, seven boards, five blocks and five assists.

His measurements aren't ideal (6-foot-7 in socks and 6-8½ in shoes, with a 6-11 wingspan and 8-8½ standing reach), but he has the highest-running motor of anyone here.

"He impacts the game in so many ways defensively," one GM said. "His ability to switch and guard four, maybe five positions is his real value in the league. And I think he knows who he is. He doesn't try to force things offensively. He's going to earn his way onto a roster."

• Utah's Kyle Kuzma also had a strong game, scoring 20 points, going 4-for-5 from 3-point territory, grabbing five boards and blocking a shot. He fared better than expected in the athletic testing, ranking fourth among all the players on Thursday at the shuttle run and showing off a 34-inch vertical.

He has solid size, length and reach for his position as well.

"I didn't really see Kuzma as much of a prospect before this," one GM said. "But he'll force us to go watch more tape. What he did today is exactly the thing we are asking 4s to do in our league now. I really liked him."

• There were a number of other strong performances in the 5-on-5 on Thursday, though I don't think any of them made a significant dent in draft stock. Arizona's Rawle Alkins (17 points, five rebounds), UNC's Isaiah Hicks (13 points, six boards), Duke's Frank Jackson (13 points, four assists), Oregon's Tyler Dorsey (15 points, six assists, 3-for-5 from 3), Michigan's Moritz Wagner (13 points, four rebounds, three steals), North Carolina State's Omer Yurtseven (14 points, six rebounds, two blocks) and Miami's Davon Reed (eight points, eight rebounds, three assists) all drew praise from scouts.

• Who didn't help themselves? It's pretty hard to do damage in a camp like this. But there was some negativity about the performance of Maryland's Melo Trimble for the second straight year.

Trimble shot 0-for-5 from the field and had just one assist and a combine-high five turnovers. His draft stock has been devastated by his play here.

Iowa's Peter Jok also really struggled, shooting 0-for-6 from the field and racking up four quick fouls.

• In the shooting drills, Oregon's Dillon Brooks and Tyler Dorsey, Wake Forest's John Collins, Syracuse's Tyler Lydon and KU's Svi Mykhailiuk stood out. South Carolina's P.J. Dozier was a disappointing 9-for-25 from NBA 3-point range.

• The NBA began the athletic testing portion of the event on Thursday.

Of the players tested (about half the combine) Kentucky's Hamidou Diallo wowed with a 44½-inch maximum vertical leap. Florida's Devin Robinson (41½ inches), KU's Frank Mason (41 inches), Alkins (41 inches) and Louisville's Donovan Mitchell (40½ inches) also posted great scores.

Colorado's Derrick White (3.08 seconds), Diallo (3.11 seconds) and Houston's Damyean Dotson (3.16 seconds) posted the fastest three-quarter-court sprint scores.

Gonzaga's Nigel Williams-Goss (10.42 seconds), Bell (10.63 seconds) and Kuzma (10.72 seconds) posted the fastest lane agility scores.

We'll have a full report over the weekend once the rest of the players test on Friday, but for right now the big winner looks like Diallo, who is testing as the best athlete in the early going.

• In addition to the on-the-court buzz, there was plenty of off-the-court buzz as well. Here are some tidbits that I gleaned from the past few days:

It seems like the majority of teams still have Washington's Markelle Fultz ranked ahead of UCLA's Lonzo Ball for the No. 1 pick. There also seems to be a growing movement among teams to rank Kentucky's De'Aaron Fox ahead of Ball. No one helped himself more in March than Fox did. He has a chance to go as high as No. 2 or No. 3 in this draft.

There also seems to be some growing appreciation for North Carolina State's Dennis Smith. It's possible that Fultz, Ball, Fox and Smith could be the first four players taken in the draft. That's how strong the point guard group is this year.

Teams are waiting with a lot of anticipation for Harry Giles' medical reports to come back. I talked to a number of NBA executives who said if he's totally cleared by their medical staff, he could move in the Nos. 5-10 range of the draft.

"He's the best prospect in the entire draft if he can fully recover and stay healthy," one NBA executive said. "He's just a freaky talent."

Those are big ifs, but talk of him sliding out of the lottery doesn't seem realistic unless he gets red-flagged during the Saturday medicals.

Louisville's Mitchell didn't play 5-on-5, but he drew significant buzz anyway. He put up freaky measurements (6-1¼ in socks with a crazy 6-10 wingspan), posted a 40½-inch vertical and shot the ball well in drills. Some NBA scouts told me he may end up somewhere in the late lottery or just after, battling the likes of Luke Kennard and Terrance Ferguson to be the second 2-guard off the board (after Malik Monk).

Said one NBA executive: "He's undersized, but he's got incredible length. He's one of the most explosive athletes you'll find in the draft and I think he has the skills to play some point in our league. I could see him rising once he gets into workouts with guys like Kennard and Ferguson."

A few weeks ago, no one in the league thought Diallo was that serious about staying in the draft. But a number of GMs said that if he were to stay in, he'd be a likely first-round pick. He's raw, but the elite athleticism and length make him an intriguing prospect in the 20s.

He could be a top-10 pick in 2018 after a true freshman season at Kentucky -- Diallo is eligible for the draft after spending a year at prep school -- but if he does stay in, he has a real shot at landing in the first round.

Several guys who are supposedly still on the fence about the draft look close to getting off it. Multiple league and agent sources expect North Carolina's Tony Bradley and Duke's Frank Jackson to hire agents and stay in the draft.

"They haven't announced it yet," one NBA executive said. "But barring some last-minute change of heart, they're staying in the draft."

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