but anonymously? i can’t see what the rationale would be.

What good would it do to say he’s the 3rd? None.

one scenario is that it might get a team like Sac to draft a guy like Jason Thompson earlier than anyone else projected, thus allowing the player you actually coveted to fall down.

so can buki

i’d say that his athleticism is a question mark (no from me on that one) and i hold your same skepticism about combine athletic drills, but the point was that he isn’t some slow footed guy who can’t do anything but stand in the corner and fire up 3s. i just think the concerns about his athleticism are overblown. he brings enough to the table where he should be a solid nba player, even he isn’t likely to win a foot race with very many point guards.

and i watched a fair amount of stephen curry in the past couple of seasons. i loved watching the guy play and think that his game isn’t as incompatible with nba success as many people have been saying.

The only combine numbers I think are worthwhile are height, weight, standing reach and wingspan.

definitely the most important, but the other numbers shouldn’t be thrown away. unless someone goes through the tests injured like Monta, you can see general trends.

you usually see less athletic guys like Kapono, Dunleavy, Diener, Marcus Williams or Redick test poorly in “no step” vertical & max vertical. it’s really a great way to spot a red flag player who is being considered for the lottery: From draftexpress,

At the top of the list is Marcus Williams, who is, according to the combine results, one of the most unathletic guards to ever be considered a top 10 pick…..Patrick O’Bryant, who we watched twice over the past few weeks put on an incredible show of leaping ability and explosiveness (during the NCAA tourney), measured out as being slow, stiff and with very little leaping ability.

going through the list i think Boozer is the only all star to have measured with a no step vertical of 26.5", but it’s less of an issue with big men than it seems to be with guards (and Boozer posted a time in the agility drills that a PG would have been proud of (which of current NBA PFs only Nene has matched)).

it also doesn’t mean that jumping out of the building guarantees anything, but the Wade’s, Brandon Roy’s, CP3’s, Amare’s, Vince’s, Josh or Dwight Howard’s, Bosh, etc, all test out well in this area. even the less athletic (for the NBA) guys like Al Jefferson, Haslem, Troy Murphy, Jameer, David West, Wally Sczerbiak, Heinrich test out decently in the 28-29 range.

not everyone has jumped, but here is the list:
http://www.draftexpress.com/nba-pre-draft-measurements/?year=All&sort2=DESC&draft=0&pos=0&sort=8

it’s really a great way to spot guys who just aren’t athletic enough to play in the NBA.