| By Dave Callanan, Clippers.com | Updated: June 11th, 2004 |
From June 8th to the 11th, the Clippers Basketball Operations Department joined other NBA teams at the NBA Pre-Draft Camp in Chicago in order to evaluate prospects. On top of the 60 or so players attending the Camp, Elgin Baylor and his team also brought in additional players for individual workouts. Below is a rundown on how the Basketball Ops team spent their time in Chicago:
The first order of business was to scout the opening day of the 2004 NBA Pre-Draft camp at Moody Bible Institute in Chicago, IL. The first day is full of drills and practices in both sessions (9:30am to 12pm in the morning and 5pm to 7:30pm in the evening), while the remainder of the week is mainly filled with games.
In addition to the Pre-Draft action, the Clippers also brought in
Devin Harris of Wisconsin and
Shaun Livingston of Peoria Central (IL) High School for private individual workouts. Both are highly rated point guards and are predicted to be lottery picks by many Draft experts. Livingston worked out on Tuesday morning and then joined Elgin and Co. for lunch, while Harris worked out in the afternoon and met up with the Clippers for dinner.
After a short practice, the first game of the Pre-Draft Camp tipped off in front of reps from all over the NBA. Team Five behind 22 points from Nate Robinson of Washington, eeked out a 79-78 win over USC's Desmon Farmer and Team Six. Two more contests are scheduled for Wednesday night as well.
After the morning session at Moody Bible, the Clippers Basketball Ops team headed over to Hoops the Gym for an agent-run group workout of top international players. For some teams, these workouts are the first live glimpses of players that have been on the scouting radar for months.
Finally, the long day will wrapped up with the pair of evening Pre-Draft Camp games.
Thursday tipped off early, as a 7:15am meeting was booked for the entire staff. These meetings help compile the information already gathered and are numerous. "In between workouts and camp sessions, we're constantly meeting," Assistant Director of Player Personnel Gary Sacks told Clippers.com. "We're comparing notes, reports and analysis to ensure that everyone is on the same page."
Along with the Pre-Draft Camp games in the morning and evening, a private workout and dinner meeting was also been scheduled for Arizona's
Andre Iguodala. Iguodala, an athletic swingman who brings a presence at both end of the floors, has been mentioned by many analysts as a potential top 5 pick. As with Harris and Livingston on Tuesday, Iguodala ran through various drills in front of the Clippers staff and then joined them for dinner afterwards.
The final day of the camp was a mirror image of Wednesday. Morning Pre-Draft Camp games, an afternoon agent-run international group workout, and the final Pre-Draft Camp battles in the evening. After the Moody Bible evening session, the weary Basketball Operations Dept. boarded a plane back to Los Angeles and discussed their overall thoughts on the week.
