Here’s Whose Measurables Stood Out And Whose Stock Fell At The NBA Draft Combine

You either love or hate the NBA Draft Lottery — there’s no in between. For some parts of the league, namely the bad ones, it’s the most important day of the year. More fun for me, however, is the NBA Draft Combine, specifically the measurements section. They’ve only really been measuring guys for about 10 years now, but it’s always fun to see who stands out, for good or ill.

Most of the top guys didn’t measure or test at the 2019 combine, so no Zion Williamson, Ja Morant, R.J. Barrett, etc. But given that this draft is as up in the air after those first few picks as any in recent memory, perhaps it’s more important to focus our attention on those “other” players, the kind of guys who could make or break a bench unit for a team that does diligent work this time of year.

I guess we’ll start off where every self-respecting draft nerd starts: wingspans! The obvious winner this year was UCF’s Tacko Fall, who set the new, and probably untouchable, combine record with an astounding 8’2.5 measured wingspan. He also clocked in at 7’7 in shoes, with a 10’2.5 standing reach, which you might be able to figure out is taller than the basket. His measurements are somehow more ridiculous than we’d thought during his four year career.

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Fall also become only the fifth player since 2010 to have his hands measured at both 10 inches wide and 10 inches long, joining Dexter Pittman, Andrew Nicholson, Robert Upshaw and Jaren Jackson Jr. That aside, Fall might just be too big to be an effective NBA player. He’s not entirely unskilled, but he’s even bigger and less mobile than Boban Marjanovic, who just got so thoroughly played off the floor against Toronto that Philadelphia was unable to rely on him for much more than mop up duty following Game 1.

Moving on, the other obvious wingspan freak this year is Bol Bol, who measured in at just over 7’2.5 in shoes (from here on, all height measurements will be in shoes, because that’s what they play basketball in), with a 7’7 wingspan and a 9’7.5 standing reach, all patently absurd. Bol’s biggest selling point is his touch and straight line speed, which is why it’s at least a little disappointing that he didn’t take part in the agility tests on Thursday. It probably would’ve exposed his less-than-ideal change of direction skills, so I understand why he chose not to do it.

The agility tests are for fringier prospects, anyway — the only potential lottery guy to do it was Brandon Clarke, and I can imagine that was only to bolster his stock after he measured in at a disappointing 6’8 with a 6’8 wingspan, hardly the measurements of a dominant shot blocker. Thankfully for Clarke, his freakish athleticism shone through, clocking a Lane time of 10.61 seconds, for the sixth-best mark among all players this year and by far the best among those who played real minutes at the five in college last season.

Clarke’s shuttle and three quarter court times also ranked in the upper echelon, but his pure vert numbers were where he really put himself on the map. His 34-inch standing and 40-inch max vert both ranked third among all participants this year. These are absurd numbers for a big man, even one as small as Clarke, and they don’t even account for his cartoonish second jump, his balance, or his ability to load up out of a full sprint. For perspective, his vert and agility numbers were essentially the same as Kelly Oubre and Kentavious Caldwell-Pope, who are active, athletic wing defender types.

A few of the other wingspan freaks this year were UCLA’s Moses Brown (7’4.75) and Utah State’s Neemias Queta (7’4.25), two players I couldn’t feel more differently about if I tried. Brown has tremendous size and length, but his lack of lower body strength and balance made him a not particularly good college player. Queta is a similar rim protector archetype, but is so much more agile and strong, despite his knock knees. I don’t think there’s anything wrong with taking either guy in the second, but Queta and his enormous hands (a combine-high 11 inches wide) are a low-risk, high-reward gamble outside of the top-25.

After that, there’s not much more that really surprised this year. Talen Horton Tucker (6’4 and 235 pounds with a 7’1.25 wingspan) is an absurdly shaped person, but we knew that already. A misdemeanor theft charge might derail any lottery momentum he has this year, but I’m still a fan of his game. He was a terrific finisher and passer in college who racked up lots of steals. If he can figure out how to shoot at all, I’m in. It helps that he’s so young — he turns 19 in November — that he’ll have plenty of time.

Elsewhere, Jaxson Hayes (6’11.5, 220, 7’3.5) showed off a slightly better vert (34.5) than I expected, but his movement skills were always more about going around people rather than over them. He tested respectably for a big, and he had huge hands (10.5 inches long), but my opinion hasn’t really changed for or against. The Great Jarrett Culver Height Conspiracy finally ended, as 18 months worth of him being listed at 6’5 finally came to an end when he measured 6’6.75 with a slightly disappointing 6’9.75 wingspan. Grant Williams (6’7.5, 240, 6’9.75) is built like a runaway truck, but we knew that already.

The single biggest winner by my eyes was Jordan Bone (6’2.75, 180, 6’3.75), who overcame mediocre measurements to post one of the truly great individual testing performances in combine history. His potentially record-setting lane agility test (9.97 seconds) was off the charts, while Bone also leading the field in the shuttle run (2.78 seconds), 3/4th court sprint (3.03 seconds), and standing vert (36 inches). A max vert of 42.5 inches was just behind Jalen Lecque, whose 43-inch vertical leap was tops at the event. Bone’s always been a speed demon, but his problem is that he never really translates it to dominant play. He was a good collegiate guard, but not a great one, and it’s not like he played for a coach that can’t maximize fast guards in Rick Barnes.

Still, Bone had a shot at getting drafted in this weaker class, and he only helped his case with his measurables. A special shoutout goes to Jontay Porter as well, who rebounded from his disastrous 2018 combine by apparently losing 35 pounds and trimming his body fat from nearly 14 percent to 8.5 percent despite two ACL surgeries and not playing in a single meaningful game in the interim.

On the down side, guys like Kevin Porter Jr (6’5.5, 212, 6’9) and Naz Reid (6’9.5, 256, 7’3.25) really hurt themselves, less for their raw measurements and more for their peripheral numbers. Porter disappointed in the athletic testing, clocking 10.82 seconds in the lane test and only 34 inches in the max vert, both solid numbers but no where near the dominant traits he flashed at USC.

Reid tested poorly athletically, but that doesn’t come as a huge surprise. His failure came in his 14 percent body fat, the most of anyone at the combine. People’s bodies work in different ways, but when you attend the combine and you’re a full five percent behind the second-lowest finisher, it reflects poorly on either your work ethic or your athletic potential. Given Big Jelly has already faced enough criticism in both those areas already, it’s a real issue. None of this stuff would matter if he boasted prodigious skill or feel for the game, a la Nikola Jokic, but Reid was never consistent enough during his one season in Baton Rouge to ever be more than the fringe prospect he already is. This won’t help.

The biggest loser of all, though, was the viewing public, because it was deprived of what might be its last chance to see Williamson break the scale in this kind of scenario, like he did last preseason for Duke. Bone and Clarke might have set the world on fire with their testing scores, but imagine Zion showing off a 40-inch standing vert and sub-3 second shuttle as a 270+ pound man. Alas, we’ll just have to settle for whatever nonsense he’ll assuredly do at Summer League (should he compete there) and on Opening Night and throughout what should be a wonderful NBA career.