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According to Shams Charania of The Athletic, the NBA has sent new guidelines to teams outlining how the 2020 NBA Draft pre-draft process will work. It is, in a word, different.
Sources: The NBA has sent teams revamped guidelines informing them that it is organizing the 2020 pre-Draft process (preliminary schedule Sept. 21-Oct. 16) — which will include 85 prospects conducting in-market medical exams, testing, and shooting 45-minute “Pro Day Video.”
— Shams Charania (@ShamsCharania) September 17, 2020
The followup Tweet, which I can’t embed for some reason, reads:
NBA will run entire predraft process and distribute to teams. Interviews consist of 10 questions; teams assigned 20 players for 30 min. each. Prospects travel by car to nearest team market for medical/strength/agility testing, 8 on-court shooting drills. No team personnel allowed
I’m not entirely sure how the interview process works based on these Tweets. Maybe teams choose up to 20 prospects that they can conduct a 30 minute interview with? We’ll get additional clarity on this eventually.
Based on my interpretation, the on court workouts and testing will be conducted by NBA personnel in different team markets, with the videos of each workout sent to each team.
I’m sure this is frustrating for teams who like to get an in person look at prospects. The Charlotte Hornets have worked out an extraordinarily high number of prospects under general manager Mitch Kupchak, with 111 different players passing through Charlotte to do pre-draft workouts last offseason.
That said, this probably won’t have a huge effect on the pre-draft process. Teams shouldn’t make drastic changes to their prospect evaluations based on workouts, so if anything, this might save some team from themselves. The interviews are more important, but like I said above, I’m still not entirely sure how that part of the process will work.
Teams will also be able to gather medical information from the ‘combine,’ according to Marc Spears of ESPN.
NBA teams are permitted to accept (and request) medical information of draft-eligible players. While medical will be a part of the combine, this would apply to players who don't attend the combine or supplementary information on players who attend the combined, a source said.
— Marc J. Spears (@MarcJSpears) September 17, 2020
I don’t know how much information we’ll get about the prospects the Hornets are interested in as the draft nears, but you can bet your bottom dollar you’ll hear about it on At the Hive if that information were to present itself.