NBA hopefuls in Portsmouth tourney try to measure up

PORTSMOUTH

Randy Culpepper left the Cradock Recreation Center on Wednesday morning a bit less of an NBA prospect than when he walked in an hour earlier.

Three inches less.

"I think the measuring thing is broke," Culpepper, a point guard from Texas El-Paso, said with a grin. "Because it said I'm like 5-10, and I'm really 6-1."

Culpepper stood in his socks, having just finished a battery of physical tests being given to the 64 pro hopefuls in town this week for the Portsmouth Invitational Tournament. He had blown through a 25-yard sprint, back-pedaled and slide-stepped through an agility drill and soared high in a test of vertical leaping ability.

Then it came time for him to slip off his sneakers and find out how large the gap was between his media guide height and his actual stature.

"It's fine," he said. "I'm a small guy, but I'm going to play like I'm 6-6 or 6-7, so you're not going to be able to tell the difference."

Measurables, after all, are not everything. But at the PIT they are becoming a bigger part of the evaluation process. For the second year, the tournament is using BAM Testing, a Seattle-based company, to provide state-of-the-art data for that is passed along primarily to NBA teams.

It is a way of adding objectivity to the old, subjective eye-ball test.

"We're trying to help them correlate data," said Brett Brungardt, a former NBA and collegiate strength and conditioning coach who is the founder of BAM.

Teams can do with the numbers what they please. Some might merely glance at them, said Chris Ekstrand, a league consultant and longtime draft expert. Others might sort through data compiled over many years as a way of comparing a prospect with current players.

A point guard prospect might be fast, but is he Tony Parker-fast? A forward might have a long wing-span, but is he Kevin Durant-long?

While there might be no substitute for the appraising eye of a veteran scout watching a guy in the flow of a game, it's another tool in the evaluation process.

At Cradock on Wednesday, the most discerning eyes were of the electronic sort. Timing devices mounted on tripods were set up throughout the gym.

"Look at this stuff," said Ryan Blake, the NBA's director of scouting. "It looks like something you'd use to go find a tornado."

It is certainly an improvement over the stopwatch, and a way to standardize data with measurements BAM takes at the pre-draft camp in Chicago. Brungardt, a fit former power lifter, began the session by putting players through a series of stretches designed to get them ready to run.

"You've got be focused," he told them. "You are professionals now. The responsibility is with you."

Players moved between four stations, then lined up to get measured and weighed. While height is obviously important, it takes a back seat to length, which incorporates a player's wingspan.

NBA teams generally look for players whose wingspan is at least 3 inches longer than their height. An off-the-charts measurement will always get a scout's attention. Last year's No. 1 pick in the NBA draft, John Wall, for example, measured 6-2-3/4 without shoes but had a wingspan of 6-9-1/4.

Wall also performed well in speed and agility tests. It would have meant little, though, if he couldn't play. As at the NFL combine, being a workout warrior is no guarantee of pro success.

"We've had guys in Chicago perform unbelievably well on these tests and never play a minute in the NBA, and vice versa," Ekstrand said.

Last year's most obvious PIT success story, Landry Fields, is an example of a player who didn't blow scouts away with his physical numbers.

Fields, though, has an obvious feel for the game and has become a starter for the New York Knicks.

Still, everyone wanted to impress Wednesday. All else equal, inches and seconds can mean dollars.

Diante Garrett of Iowa State was one of several players who said he prepared by running through some of the drills before coming to Portsmouth. He was happy with his sprint and agility performances but was most pleased by the results of one test he could not prepare for.

Garrett, who is listed at 6-4, was asked how tall he measured.

"77-1/2 inches," he said. "I don't know how tall that is."

Six-five-and-a-half, he was told.

"I hope so," he said, clearly pleased to hear that.

Ed Miller, (757) 446-2372, ed.miller@pilotonline.com