The “Seen” From Orlando Day 1

The NBA’s annual Pre-Draft Camp is in full swing at the Disney Wide World of Sports Complex in Orlando. The camp will run through Friday, with teams from all over the NBA getting a chance to take a look at potential NBA prospects.

Sixers.com is on site at the “Milk House” gym in Orlando to give you an inside look at the event throughout the week.

Drills, Drills and More Drills: The first two sessions (the first the evening of May 29 and the morning of May 30 for a total of four hours) focused primarily on running the 62 players through a series of drills. Sixers assistant coach John Loyer is one of the coaches putting the players through the paces, both offensively and defensively. He will also serve as the head coach for Team 3, which sees action tonight at 6:30pm.

Gametime: The players here are divided into six teams, with the game primarily scheduled for the afternoon sessions each day. The morning sessions will each include one game, the first of which occurred this morning, with Team 6 defeating Team 5. Local products Curtis Sumpter of Villanova and guard Sean Singletary from Philadelphia (University of Virginia) both played today for Team 5.

Got Milk House?: The “Milk House” gym on the Wide World of Sports campus is pretty impressive. The layout has two full-courts side to side, with a third full-court running horizontally behind the other two.

The third court is the one on which all the games are played. The games feature two 20-minute halves and the officiating crew is calling the action as they would during the regular-season (in fact, one player fouled out during the first game). NBA scouts and front office personnel are in the stands high above the courts, as well as seated in bleachers on the floor along one sideline and also at two courtside tables. Additionally, there is a television platform with three cameras focused on the game action.

Seventy-Sixteeners?: So how important is this draft for the Sixers? The unofficial count of front office personnel attending the Orlando Pre-Draft camp stands at 16, which includes the full coaching staff, including Head Coach Maurice Cheeks and all the assistant coaches, plus President Billy King, Sr. Vice President of Basketball Operations Tony DiLeo, Executive Vice President of Basketball Operations Larry Brown, Director of Player Personnel Tony DiLeo and a contingent of scouts including Frank Zanin, Gene Shue, Chris Ford, Joe Gallagher, Mike VandeGarde and Frank Zanin.

If you include Director of Basketball Administration Allen Lumpkin and Director of Public Relations Michael Preston, the number jumps to 18.

The Tall and the Short of it: The tallest player at the camp is Pittsburgh center Aaron Gray, the only player listed at 7’0” tall. The shortest players are all listed at 5’11” and include Singletary, Marquette guard Dominic James and Wright State guard DaShaun Wood.

Who’s Who: At every turn, chances are you’ll see a former NBA great at the Pre-Draft Camp working for their respective teams, whether its Michael Jordan, Larry Bird or Chris Mullin. NBA coaches are also out in full-force, including Phoenix’ Mike D’Antoni, Dallas’ Avery Johnson, NBA Coach of the Year Sam Mitchell, New Jersey’s Lawrence Frank and Denver’s George Karl.

The interaction between everybody is something to behold. Jordan went out of his way to greet King following last night’s session and then stopped for a quick greeting with assistant coaches Jim Lynam, Henry Bibby and Bernard Smith following this morning’s session. Shue was spotted talking with the esteemed scouting guru Marty Blake in one of the Milk House corridors.

Keep checking back to sixers.com for more updates from Orlando.

The views and opinions expressed by sixers.com about players participating in the NBA pre-draft camp do not reflect those of the Philadelphia 76ers front office and should not be interpreted as such.