The NBA draft combine wasn't exactly the most newsworthy event, but it did feature enough surprises: guys who showed up out of shape, athletically challenged guys who showed some hops and even a fringe first-rounder with the baffling decision to sit it out.
Here are a dozen thoughts after the two-day Chicago event.
• Doug McDermott pulled out a 36.5-inch running max vertical, which ranked 18th among the nearly 60 players who participated in the event. McDermott also boosted his stock by ranking in the top 15 in the lane agility drill. The former Creighton star is, according to several NBA executives, a likely late-lottery selection. McDermott helped dispel any notion that he is unathletic with his vertical and with the running events.
• High-powered agent Arn Tellem didn't even send Joel Embiid and Jabari Parker to Chicago. Shortly afterward, the third player in the conversation for the top pick -- Andrew Wiggins -- also withdrew from the camp. There was speculation that Parker is out of shape, but the more sensible reason is that Tellem didn't want all the teams to have access to Embiid's medical information.
Now he can try to impose leverage, not visit a certain lottery team (i.e., the Milwaukee Bucks) and make it more difficult for that particular franchise to draft Embiid without all the detailed medical info. In essence, he will try to control where Embiid -- and maybe even Parker -- lands.
• Zach LaVine was put in a group with the point guards on the first day. The athletic former UCLA freshman -- in my opinion, one echoed by most NBA executives -- is a wing who is light years from being able to run the point at the next level. He fared well shooting the ball in Chicago, but he did it while enjoying a significant height advantage over the majority of the point guards in the camp. LaVine is talented and could be taken late in the lottery, but I'd be shocked if he made any sort of impact in the NBA for another couple of years.
• Louisiana-Lafayette point guard Elfrid Payton did not participate in the basketball sessions. It's one thing for fellow fringe first-rounder Shabazz Napier to sit those out, given that his stock is likely as high as it will be after leading UConn to the national title. However, Payton had an opportunity to show NBA folks he could make shots from the perimeter. Instead, he (well, his agent Aaron Mintz) further cemented the belief that he is a non-shooter.
• So many likely first-round picks opted to sit out, and it gave former Duke wing Rodney Hood an opportunity to shine. Hood looked like the best player on the floor. He's a 6-foot-8 shooting guard/small forward who can make shots from the perimeter, will be an above-average defender at the next level and can get to the basket. Hood is in the equation with a bunch of quality wings (e.g., Gary Harris, Nik Stauskas, LaVine, James Young, P.J. Hairston) -- but certainly helped himself with his showing in Chicago.
• Aussie mystery man Dante Exum has been out of sight for NBA folks since the U-19 championships in July. He didn't participate in any of the basketball drills, but he did the testing. And, although he fared well in the running and agility events, the 6-6 guard posted a max vertical of only 34.5 inches, which was disappointing. I saw Exum workout for two days earlier and his first step is explosive, but he's not quite as explosive vertically as many in attendance were expecting.
• I'm not quite sure who should get the blame, but there was plenty to go around with LaQuinton Ross and how he looked in Chicago. The talented Ohio State forward reportedly left Columbus at around 225 pounds and 11 percent body fat about six weeks ago, then showed up in Chicago tipping the scales at nearly 240 and a combine-high 16 percent body fat. I blame Ross for not being disciplined and prepared for the most important time of his career, but also have to put some of the blame on his agent, who somehow let Ross show up in terrible shape -- and maybe some on Ohio State, as well.
• I love James Michael McAdoo as a kid, but after watching him in Chicago and talking to numerous NBA folks about the former North Carolina forward, there's a chance he'll slide out of the draft completely.
"What does he do well?" one scout told me. The 6-8 junior is a position tweener and did not fare well at the combine. We all knew he wasn't a lottery pick after watching him the last couple of years, but no one could have imagined he'd potentially become an undrafted free agent.
• I counted a total of three surefire first-round picks who actually participated in the basketball portion of the camp: Hood, LaVine and Hairston. There were other potential first-rounders such as Cleanthony Early and Jerami Grant, but it was a thin group. If the NBA can't get the top 20 or so guys to do anything of substance at the combine, it might as well go back to having those who do participate play 5-on-5 instead of just doing a majority of shooting and 2-on-2 drills.
• Aaron Gordon measured at 6-8¾ with shoes. That's a good sign for the athletic ex-Arizona forward, who remains a tweener to many NBA executives. He's an average shooter, and would be best-served by adding 10 pounds or so to his 220-pound frame and beginning his NBA career as a high-energy power forward. Maybe he can develop his perimeter game over the first few years as Blake Griffin has done with the Clippers.
• Missouri point guard Jordan Clarkson looked more like the first half of the season Jordan Clarkson than the second-half one who struggled on and off the court with the illness of his father. Clarkson has size at the point guard position, is athletic (he had a 38.5-inch max vertical) and shot the ball well in Chicago. He could wind up being taken somewhere in the back end of the first round.
• I don't think I completely understand body fat percentage because Julius Randle and Marcus Smart ranked near the bottom of all those tested at the combine. Randle was at 9.4 percent and Smart at 10.55. Nik Stauskas was the fourth-highest at 12 percent. Upon learning the news, Stauskas asked me: "Am I fat?" Nope, Nik. You aren't, but I am.