Tale of the Tape

[Peter Delevett <pdelevett@xxxxxxxxx>]

Good stuff in here re Collison, Ford, Sweetney,
Lampje, Bosh, Pavel, Josh Howard, Barbosa and friend
Travis Hansen.


Tale of the tape is revealing

By Chad Ford
NBA Insider
Updated: June 9
12:34 PM ET

The climax of the Chicago pre-draft camp doesn't take
place on the court. Rather, one of the last and most
intriguing sessions takes place in a small back room
of the Moody Bible College.

There, top prospects are measured, weighed and put
through a series of strength and agility tests on
Friday and Saturday. While some GMs scoff at the
tests, others think they play a key part in getting a
player drafted. The biggest thing scouts are looking
at is wingspan. If a player has a long wingspan, it
allows him to play bigger than he really is.

The official combine results are not released by the
NBA. However, sources inside the workouts told Insider
on Saturday about several big surprises.

On the measurement front
The biggest surprise was that T. J. Ford measured
6-foot-= with shoes on. That's considerably taller
than the 5-foot-9 at which many had him pegged.

Carmelo Anthony measured just 6-7= with shoes. He was
6-6< without them. He does have a nice, 7-foot
wingspan. Also a few teams questioned his weight. He
weighed 234 in Chicago, about 14 pounds above his
listed playing weight of 220 at Syracuse.

Chris Bosh also measured on the tall side at
6-foot-11= with shoes. He weighed in at 225, about 15
pounds heavier than his playing weight. Bosh's 7-3=
wingspan also helped him.

David West got a big bump in his stock when he
measured 6-8< without shoes and 6-9= with. Combine
that with a 7-4= wingspan, and West's stock could
really move up the charts.

Josh Howard and Dwyane Wade impressed everyone with
great wingspan measurement. Howard measured 6-foot-6=
with shoes but recorded an amazing 7-foot-2 wingspan.
Wade measured 6-foot-4> with shoes and had a
6-foot-10> wingspan.

Mike Sweetney also helped himself. For big men, teams
look at standing reach. Despite measuring just
6-foot-8 with shoes, Sweetney's standing reach was
just a hair under nine feet. That puts him in the same
category with Bosh. In other words, like Elton Brand,
Sweetney will be able to play "taller" than he
actually is.

Chris Kaman measured 7-= with shoes, but his smallish
wingspan 6-11> may hurt him a bit.

Pavel Podkozline's official measurements were
7-foot-5, 303 pounds with shoes. His standing reach
was 9-8.

Darko Milicic's 7-foot-5 wing span (he measured 7->
with shoes) was second only to Chris Marcus, who had a
shocking 7-foot-8 span.

Strength matters
Each player is tested to see how many time he can
bench press 185 pounds. San Diego's Jason Keep
shattered the record this year, lifting the bar 27
times.

BYU's Travis Hansen also shocked many observers when
he benched the bar 17 times. Hansen was the real star
of the combine. He also recorded a 38-inch vertical
jump and set a Chicago record in a cone drill that
gauges lateral quickness.

Milicic got the bar up 14 times, a very impressive
number for a big man. The longer your arms, the longer
distance you have to lift the bar.

Anthony did eight reps. But the big surprise was Nick
Collison, who managed to lift the bar only four times,
according to sources. That will hurt his stock come
draft day. Many teams have him pegged as a tough low
post guy. The lack of strength will hurt him at the
next level.

Ford was, according to sources the only player unable
to bench press 185 even one time. Teams knew he wasn't
very strong, but only a handful of players in the last
decade have been unable to lift the bar once.

More secret workouts
With all the stuff going on in Chicago, it's amazing
teams had time to scout even more private workouts
last week, but they did.

T. J. Ford held a private workout with the Raptors on
Thursday afternoon. According to league sources, Ford
blew them away with his improved shooting.

"He's really been working on it," one league source
told Insider. "It made them much more comfortable with
the idea of selecting him with the fourth pick."

The Raptors worked out Chris Kaman earlier in the
week, and that one also impressed them. "I'm not sure
where the stuff is coming from that he's not a good
athlete," the same source told Insider. "He was very
impressive. He shot the ball well, and his footwork
looked great on the post."

To top things off, 7-0 Polish big man Maciej Lampe
held a private audition for the Raptors and Heat at
Hoops Gym on Saturday morning. Insider got exclusive
access to watch the workout. Trainer Tim Grover ran
the workout, with Heat coach Pat Riley, GM Randy Pfund
and Raptors GM Glen Grunwald in attendance.

Lampe shot the ball well, showed his impressive
ball-handling skills and ran the floor pretty well.
Lampe lacks the explosive jumping ability of some of
the other top prospects, but a report that he couldn't
dunk the ball off one foot is ridiculous.

He went through a drill where he had to run to the
free throw line, pick up the ball and dunk it 10
times. He didn't have a problem. Toward the end of the
workout, Lampe did get winded, and he struggled to hit
his NBA 3-pointers.

Lampe measured 7-feet with shoes and had a 7-foot
wingspan.

After the workout, the feedback was very positive.
Both teams liked his sweet shooting stroke, ball
handling skills and general feel for the game. While
neither team is expected to draft Lampe that high,
source on both teams confirmed later they believe he's
a lock for the mid to late lottery.

Draft rumors
# Among the teams looking to move up? The Blazers,
Grizzlies, Jazz and Suns have been the most active
according to sources. The Nuggets, Suns and Mavs have
been trying to acquire another pick, as well. Who's
listening? The Raptors, Heat, Bucks, Knicks and
Wizards all would move down, if they could get a solid
veteran to help them win right away.

# The word at the camp was that Brazilian big man
Anderson Varejao will withdraw his name from the
draft. Varejao's stock took a dive after limited
playing time at the Euroleague final four. Playoff
commitments to F.C. Barcelona kept Varejao from coming
to the U.S. to work out.

# Rumors that Pavel Podkolzine's workout on Friday was
well choreographed to hide the player's lack of speed
couldn't be further from the truth. Someone is talking
the player down in hopes he slips in the draft. Pavel
got off the plane from Italy on Thursday afternoon and
arrived at Gold Coast Multiplex around 5 p.m. He met
coach Billy Bayno for the first time there. Bayno ran
him through drills, once, for about an hour, just to
get a feel for what he could do. The workout on Friday
was only the second time the two had ever met. Pavel
ran the floor very well both days. How do I know? I
was at both workouts and spent much of the evening
with Pavel on Thursday. Teams that I talked to after
the workout where shocked at how athletic he looked.

# There's a rumor floating around that Zarko Cabarkapa
got a promise from the Suns he'd be the No. 17 pick in
the draft. This one is probably bogus. It started when
Cabarkapa suddenly left the U.S., after only two
workouts, to go home to Yugoslavia. Some teams assumed
he quit working out because he cut a deal. Not true,
according to Zarko's representatives and the Suns.
Zarko's mother had a medical emergency, and he quickly
flew back during the dead week of the Chicago camp to
be with his mother. He'll be back in the U.S. early
next week and begin working out again.

# A similar rumor is floating around about Brazil's
Leandrinho Barbosa, who canceled a workout claiming he
had a pulled hip flexor. Several teams immediately
assumed a team had locked him up. Again, untrue.
Barbosa's agent, Michael Coyne told Insider the injury
was real, and it is pretty much healed. He'll be back
on the workout circuit again by midweek.


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