CHICAGO –Thursday was a much quieter day at the NBA Draft Combine as there were no fullcourt scrimmages. There were some “pro day” workouts hosted by the various big agencies, but seeing as those usually involve a single player on the court moving through drills without any defense, they are not that useful.
I spent much of Thursday canvassing my network of NBA scouts and executives to get their sense of which players helped themselves the most this week, and who left something to be desired. I focused those conversations on the 44 players who competed in the fullcourt scrimmages, though all 82 of the players in the combine were measured and tested on Monday. Among those who played in the five-on-five games, only about a half-dozen or so are going to be drafted. That adds intrigue because several of those borderline prospects still have their collegiate eligibility. Many of those could be headed back to campus this fall.
Based on what I observed and heard, I’ve compiled a list of the top 10 players who improved their draft stock the most at the combine. I also have some players who made less-than-stellar impressions. From worst to first, here are the ten players who shined the most:
10. Jamal Shead, 6-1 senior point guard, Houston.
Shead’s inclusion on this list is more the result of my opinion than those of the scouts I talked to. Physically, I thought Shead did a great job of asserting himself. He might