The NBA Draft Combine is well under way with the Big Four from UNC participating a varying levels. Harrison Barnes has joined a handful of players who are opting not to participate in drills. Kendall Marshall is participating in everything but contact drills due to his continuing recovery from a broken wrist and elbow. Check out Robbi Pickeral’s rundown on the elbow injury here which was not discovered until weeks after the season ended and Marshall had moved on to draft preparation. Here is a brief interview Marshall did with NBA Sports at the combine.
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One of the interesting(and weird?) items from these combines are the measurements which people perseverate on. Here are the relevant stats for the Heels.
| Player | Height w/o shoes | Height with shoes | Wingspan | Reach | Body Fat |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Harrison Barnes | 6' 7" | 6' 8" | 6' 11.25" | 8' 6" | 9.6% |
| Kendall Marshall | 6' 3.25" | 6' 4.25" | 6' 5.5" | 7' 10.5" | 7.8& |
| Tyler Zeller | 6' 11.25" | 7' 0.25" | 7' 0" | 8' 8" | 6.4% |
| John Henson | 6' 9" | 6' 10.5" | 7' 5" | 9' 3.5 | 8.6% |
Why do these numbers matter to the NBA GMs and scouts? One reason is schools fudge height numbers for various reasons. Based on what we see here UNC nailed these four pretty close to the mark taking the “with shoes” measurement. The notable exception was John Henson who UNC listed as being 6-11 but is actually 6-10.5 with shoes on. Oh and yes Henson has really long arms. His 7-5 wingspan rivals that of Anthony Davis and Andre Drummond. The body fat% was interesting with Barnes having the most at 9.6% and Henson being a surprising second with 8.6%. Zeller actually had the least at 6.4% and Marshall’s 7.8% was probably about what you would expect.
As for chatter on where everyone will end up, Tar Heel Monthly has your best up-to-date summary of that. The Harrison Barnes-to-Cleveland talk is starting to solidify to the point Barnes was asked how he could be friends with former Duke and current Cavs PG Kyrie Irving. Barnes responded “he only played ten games at Duke.” Henson had been locked into Detroit in many of the earlier prognostications but could move up to Sacramento. Zeller is getting a lot of interest as a “safe pick” with New Orleans toying with the idea of pairing Zeller with Anthony Davis. Marshall is looking more like a late lottery pick with his injuries probably preventing him from really working on his stock. That may not be a bad thing for him and in fact I saw a recent mock that had him going 17th to Dallas. That would be a good landing spot where Marshall could play behind Jason Kidd to whom he has been compared.
Players will go through some additional testing today and then it will be onto the individual workouts which is where the money gets made.
