After numerous delays and postponements, front offices and draftniks have had more time to analyze the 2020 NBA draft than any previous year.
After numerous delays and postponements, front offices and draftniks have had more time to analyze the 2020 NBA draft than any previous year.
Originally scheduled for June, the ongoing pandemic pushed the big night back by five months. While this may cause some teams to overthink their decisions, it gave analysts plenty of time to study all of the top prospects eligible in this class.
This year, players had to participate in a mostly virtual pre-draft process. On the bright side, this meant that teams had the opportunity to interview more candidates than ever before.
However, the number of in-person visits were incredibly limited due to the restrictive parameters set by the league. Similarly, the NBA draft combine was conducted without the typical scrimmages where players can separate themselves from the others with impressive on-court performances.
Overall, the players that stood out in this pre-draft process had a different path to recognition than any other year. College basketball players did not have the opportunity to showcase themselves during March Madness. The nation’s top seniors did not get to participate in the Portsmouth Invitational Tournament.
As such, executives will rely mostly on the existing game footage as well as the intel they gathered during their conversations with the prospects. We also depended on similar strategies, getting access to one-on-one interviews with more than three dozen prospects and exchanging our thoughts with various scouts across the league.
This helped us put together our final big board, looking at the Top 100 players ranked on their potential to make a difference for teams in the NBA.
Relevant statistics were pulled from Synergy Sports Tech, Bart-Torvik, KenPom, Open Look Analytics and RealGM. Note that the age listed for each player references how old they will be on the night of the draft.
Rookie Wire obtained every detail possible about the NBA G League pre-draft evaluation process, including all of the known invitations sent.
Rookie Wire obtained every detail possible about the NBA G League pre-draft evaluation process, including all of the known invitations sent.
Due to the ongoing coronavirus pandemic, many draft-eligible prospects not invited to the NBA combine have had trouble getting all of their information to team-decision makers in advance of the 2020 NBA Draft. To combat this, the NBA G League is offering a greater opportunity to be evaluated by team decision-makers.
This information included below was shared with USA TODAY Sports Media Group’s Rookie Wire on the condition of anonymity because the person who shared the details was not authorized to speak publicly on the matter.
Per source: Even though the G League Elite Camp was canceled this year, a "select number" of prospects who did not get NBA Combine invites have received invitations to participate in virtual evaluations and an NBA Pro Day. This includes eight shooting drills and an open workout.
While the G League Elite Camp was canceled this year, a “select number” of participants were given the chance to share virtual evaluations through both shooting drills and an NBA pro day.
Prospects who agreed to participate will use HomeCourt, a mobile basketball training application, to record on-court workouts. The results will be shared with NBA team staffers through the app.
Players were encouraged to have two staffers with them in the gym to assist with the process. The coaches and trainers were required to wear a face mask and gloves during the workout.
NBA Evaluation: 8 Shooting Drills (based on previous editions of the Draft Combine)
Warm-Up/free-throws (50 shots)
Spot-Up shooting (50 shots)
Shooting off dribble/pull-up jumpers (30 shots)
Mid-Range/off the catch (20 shots)
3-point drill /3-pointers off the catch (20 shots)
Side-mid-side/3-point jumpers on the move (2 minutes)
3-point endurance/catch-and-shoot at game speed (5 minutes)
Cool down/free-throws (50 shots)
Each shooting drill can be completed a max of three times. Only the best score is uploaded into the NBA Player Evaluation platform for all NBA teams to access the data and video.
This is how the results look, as obtained by Babcock Hoops’ Derek Murray:
Per source, John Mooney’s combine shooting numbers:
Mooney averaged 16.2 PTS and 12.7 REB last season at Notre Dame. He recently signed with Perth in Australia with an NBA out clause included in the contract. pic.twitter.com/pD8FwaCiu1
This workout allows the draft prospect to share the unique
aspects of his game through a 45-minute open workout.
Players are prohibited from partaking in live competition against any other draft-eligible and/or other players, including: informal scrimmages, pick-up games (e.g., 2-on-2), defensive drills (e.g., pick-and-roll coverage, post defense, etc.), offensive drills (e.g., Pick-and-Roll / Pop situations)
Pro Day must be a half-court workout.
Pro Day is an open workout for up to 45 minutes. If a player does NOT use the full 45 minutes, that is OK.
Must be completed on the same date as shooting drills. The player is allowed a 10-minute break in between.
KNOWN INVITATIONS
USA TODAY Sports Media Group’s Rookie Wire was able to obtain a list of prospects invited to participate in this process. Note that others may have been included as well, though these were the names we can confirm at this time.
UNLV vs. BYU: Game Preview, Prediction, TV, Radio, Live Stream, Odds, More UNLV aiming to give BYU an 0-3 mark against MW schools Contact/Follow @andrewdieckhoff & @MWCwire Rebels looking to win back-to-back games for the first time under T.J. …
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UNLV vs. BYU: Game Preview, Prediction, TV, Radio, Live Stream, Odds, More
UNLV aiming to give BYU an 0-3 mark against MW schools
The Rebels head to Salt Lake City to take on home-state favorites BYU at Vivint Smart Home Arena on Saturday afternoon. UNLV should be in high spirits after Tuesday’s 81-80 win in double overtime against Fresno State.
The Rebels put a good foot forward to open their Mountain West Conference campaign by snatching a victory from the jaws of defeat. According to Ken Pomeroy’s win probability tracker, UNLV had just a 5.9% chance of winning the game with under two minutes to play. But a game-tying layup from Bryce Hamilton with eight seconds remaining forced the game into overtime, where the Rebels eventually prevailed.
It was the fourth overtime game of the season for UNLV and their second in a row, but just the first time they came away with a win.
Speaking of overtimes, BYU is coming into this game off the heels of an overtime game of their own. The Cougars were already in Salt Lake City on Wednesday night to take on Utah. The Utes have looked like a very solid team at times this year and the game against BYU was a good example. The Cougars fell in overtime by a score of 102-95.
But they still had reason to celebrate.
That’s because star big man Yoeli Childs was finally back in action after serving out a suspension for improperly filed paperwork this offseason. The senior exploded for 29 points on 9-of-13 shooting, including going 3-for-3 from downtown. It was a promising first performance of the year for the NBA prospect.
Also promising was that BYU shot well over 50% as a team from the field and hit on 12 of their 24 three-point attempts. Jake Toolson, last season’s WAC Player of the Year at Utah Valley, continued to thrive under his old head coach, Mark Pope. Toolson scored 27 in Wednesday’s loss.
The return of Childs could make this an extremely difficult game for the Rebels. At full strength, BYU might have fared better against the likes of San Diego State and Boise State. The Cougars have an outside chance at an at-large bid in March, but those odds took a hit with the loss to Utah.
UNLV, on the other hand, is just trying to get their heads back above water as they attempt to get their record closer to .500. After today’s game, the Rebels have three more tuneups at the Thomas & Mack Center before Mountain West play resumes on December 1, when they host Utah State.
BY THE NUMBERS
DPI Four-Factor Grades (Source: Dieckhoff Power Index)
On UNLV’s offensive possessions…
The Rebels’ shooting is starting to get a little better, but they still put up only average numbers in that department. They will need to score well on Saturday to keep up with BYU’s offense. UNLV is one of the best offensive rebounding teams in the country—thanks largely to the efforts of Cheikh Mbacke Diong—but the Cougars have protected the glass well, even without their star big man. TJ Otzelberger’s main concern must be those turnovers. BYU doesn’t boast the most opportunistic defense, but the Rebels have made a habit of shooting themselves in the foot this year.
On BYU’s offensive possessions…
The Cougars are one of the best shooting teams in the country with four players shooting over 40% on at least two 3-point attempts per game. And that doesn’t even include TJ Haws, who has been battling a cold spell throughout the start of the year. But for as good as they are from the field, BYU struggles to get to the line and convert. The Rebels crash the boards well compared to what BYU has done so far on offense, but keep in mind that these numbers reflect a mostly Yoeli Childs-less team. With Childs in the fold, Diong will have a harder time trying to maintain the Rebels’ advantage in this area.
DPI PROJECTED SCORE: BYU 77, UNLV 72
Andrew is a current USBWA member, covering college basketball for multiple outlets, including Mountain West Wire of the USA TODAY Sports Media Group and Busting Brackets of the FanSided Network. He also runs the Dieckhoff Power Index, a college basketball analytics system, and provides bracketology predictions throughout the season.
