NBA Draft Combine 2017: Dates, TV Info, Live Stream and Drills Preview

The serious business of restocking NBA teams began as soon as the 2016 draft was completed last June.

Talent evaluation is a serious task in professional basketball that requires a 365-day effort. One of the tools that scouts, talent evaluators, basketball coaches and executives rely on to get that job done is the NBA Draft Combine, an event that begins Tuesday and runs through Sunday.

The event will be held in Chicago, as it usually is. This year's venue is the Quest Center, which is the same facility the Chicago Bulls use to conduct their practice sessions throughout the year.

The NBA expects 67 players to attend the NBA combine, but many of the top-rated prospects won't be present. Some of the top players who will attend will interview with team officials but won't be taking part in tests, drills or five-on-five work.

Top-rated freshman guard Markelle Fultz of Washington is expected to attend the event, but ESPN.com's Chad Ford says that Fultz is not expected to do anything but interviews and possibly medical testing. He is not expected to scrimmage or take part in any of the other physical drills.

UCLA guard Lonzo Ball, the No. 2 prospect, along with forwards Josh Jackson of Kansas and Jayson Tatum of Duke are not expected to attend the combine.

Freshman guard De'Aaron Fox of Kentucky is expected to attend the combine, although his participation may be limited to interviews, medical testing and possibly athletic testing. There are no assurances that he will take part in the scrimmages that are often the highlights of the combine.

Once a player signs with an agent, he is disqualified from returning to play college basketball. However, players who are undecided about their status can attend and participate in the combine and make up their minds by May 24.

Those who want to return to college can do so if they have not declared they are going into the NBA draft.

The most competitive events at the combine are scheduled for Thursday and Friday, and they will be televised by ESPN2. The event can also be live-streamed on WatchESPN and NBA.com.

Official measurements of those players in attendance are a big part of the combine's relevance. The NBA measures height, weight, body fat percentage, wingspan, hand length, hand width and standing reach.

Charles Rex Arbogast/Associated Press/Associated Press

Athletic tests follow, and those include the bench press, vertical leap, standing vertical leap, three-quarter sprint, shuttle run and lane agility. Other game-related tests include spot-up shooting and non-stationary shooting.

Scrimmages follow, and watching the best draft-eligible players in the world compete against each other is one of the most enlightening draft tools that NBA teams have to evaluate players.

If many of the elite players chose to compete, the event would be even more worthwhile. Since they don't, scouts, talent evaluators and executives are forced to depend on game tape and private workouts to make their final judgments on a player's draft status.

Fox's biggest attribute is his athleticism. His ability to run the floor and leap gives him an outstanding opportunity to have the most impressive performance in the running and jumping events at the combine, if he chooses to take part.

However, Fox shot just 24.6 percent from three-point range for the Wildcats last season, and struggling in long-distance shooting at the combine could work against him. That's one of the reasons on he may not take part in the athletic drills.