In the NBA, identifying and drafting talent can make or break the future success of a franchise. Yet despite 10,000-hour rules and advances in genetic testing, talent remains an elusive quality to define and quantify. When looking for the next Steph Curry, LeBron James, or Kevin Durant, is it as simple as looking for the sum of a player’s athletic skills? Not quite.
Less publicized than the NFL Combine, the NBA Draft Combine is an annual event that will this year bring over 70 of the best collegiate and international players to a 5-day event in Chicago, with the hopes of identifying talent. Prospects are evaluated in a multi-part process — anthropometric tests (measuring height, weight, standing reach and wingspan), athletic tests (185 pound bench press, lane agility, shuttle run, three-quarter court sprint, standing vertical leap, and max vertical leap), guided basketball drills and 5-on-5 scrimmages. Teams also use the time to interview players and conduct medical assessments.
Being Filipino in the NBA
I often still wake up in awe when I think about the fact that I am, in fact, the first Filipino, raised and educated in the Philippines, to be in the NBA. I may not be a player, I may not even be a coach, but I spend my (game) nights on an NBA sanctioned wooden floor, with NBA employed players, being broadcasted by NBA partnered television channels. And I’m the first Filipino to do it. I may have been born in the United States, but I carry a Filipino passport, spent some of my growing years in Matina, in Davao City, along Pasong Tamo in Makati City, and Alabang in Muntinlupa City (among many other places).