North Carolina Tar Heels: NBA Combine = Proving Ground
The North Carolina Tar Heels are anxiously awaiting the results of their three players at the NBA Draft Combine starting Wednesday.
Three North Carolina Tar Heels are among the seventy players invited to the NBA Draft combine. That is official now since the NBA has published their list of invitees. Marcus Paige, Brice Johnson, and Justin Jackson will be at the event when it starts on May 11th. They will be joined by Duke’s Brandon Ingram, State’s Anthony Barber, and A.J. Hammons of Purdue among others.
The setup of the NBA Draft Combine is interesting. There are seventy invitees, but there are only sixty picks in the draft. Even if a handful of guys return to school, it is possible that guys at the Combine will not get drafted. It is no guarantee on its own merits.
Each of the Tar Heel trio has something a little different to prove.
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For Brice Johnson the work and focus has to be on his awareness. The combine will test for athleticism but Brice can beat that. What he will have to show teams is the ability to make good decisions when not swatting the ball on defense. Some teams will worry about his weight and strength, but those are things Brice is not going fix between now and Wednesday.
Johnson enters the combine as a mid to late first rounder. He needs to keep that grade or improve it so that he gets some guaranteed money.
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Marcus Paige has not been showing up on draft boards so he has the harder task ahead of him. He has to show that his injury issues are in the past and that his shooting is back to where it was during his heyday. Sure he has the clutch play gene, but we’ve known that since last year. Hopefully the interviews will allow Paige to show off his basketball IQ.
Jackson has the easiest job of the three. Do his best and listen for the criticism. If somehow he were to get a first round grade he might jump, but I still believe the most likely scenario is for Jackson to return to campus with a notebook full of things to work on.
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So all of the Heels need good combine performances, and none of them are standing on so firm of ground that they could shake it off. After the combine, individual workouts start and will be the next critical piece.