2016 NBA Combine: Full Participant List, Comments, Reaction
The NBA announced Thursday the 63 players who will take part in the 2016 NBA Draft Combine, which runs from May 11-15 in Chicago.
Bleacher Report's Jonathan Wasserman provided the entire list of participants:
| Ron Baker | Wichita State |
| Wade Baldwin | Vanderbilt |
| Cat Barber | North Carolina State |
| Malik Beasley | Florida State |
| DeAndre Bembry | St. Joseph's |
| Ben Bentil | Providence |
| Jaron Blossomgame | Clemson |
| Joel Bolomboy | Weber State |
| Malcolm Brogdon | Virginia |
| Jaylen Brown | California |
| Robert Carter | Maryland |
| Marquese Chriss | Washington |
| Elgin Cook | Oregon |
| Isaiah Cousins | Oklahoma |
| Deyonta Davis | Michigan State |
| Cheick Diallo | Kansas |
| Kris Dunn | Providence |
| Henry Ellenson | Marquette |
| Perry Ellis | Kansas |
| A.J. English | Iona |
| Kay Felder | Oakland |
| Dorian Finney-Smith | Florida |
| Michael Gbinije | Syracuse |
| Daniel Hamilton | Connecticut |
| A.J. Hammons | Purdue |
| Josh Hart | Villanova |
| Nigel Hayes | Wisconsin |
| Buddy Hield | Oklahoma |
| Brandon Ingram | Duke |
| Demetrius Jackson | Notre Dame |
| Justin Jackson | North Carolina |
| Brice Johnson | North Carolina |
| Damian Jones | Vanderbilt |
| Skal Labissiere | Kentucky |
| Dedric Lawson | Memphis |
| Jake Layman | Maryland |
| Marcus Lee | Kentucky |
| Caris LeVert | Michigan |
| Thon Maker | Orangeville Prep/Athlete Institute |
| Patrick McCaw | UNLV |
| Isaiah Miles | St. Joseph's |
| Jamal Murray | Kentucky |
| Malik Newman | Mississippi State |
| Georges Niang | Iowa State |
| Chinanu Onuaku | Louisville |
| Marcus Paige | North Carolina |
| Gary Payton III | Oregon State |
| Jakob Poeltl | Utah |
| Taurean Prince | Baylor |
| Zhou Qi | Xinjiang (China) |
| Malachi Richardson | Syracuse |
| Wayne Selden | Kansas |
| Pascal Siakam | New Mexico State |
| Diamond Stone | Maryland |
| Caleb Swanigan | Purdue |
| Melo Trimble | Maryland |
| Tyler Ulis | Kentucky |
| Jarrod Uthoff | Iowa |
| Denzel Valentine | Michigan State |
| Isaiah Whitehead | Seton Hall |
| Troy Williams | Indiana |
| Kyle Wiltjer | Gonzaga |
| Stephen Zimmerman | UNLV |
LSU Tigers forward Ben Simmons is the most notable absentee.
To a certain extent, the decision makes sense since Simmons was almost guaranteed to be a top pick whether he traveled to Chicago or not. However, the combine would've been a good chance for the talented freshman to respond to some of his skeptics regarding his poor shooting.
Simmons averaged 19.2 points a night for LSU last year, shooting 56 percent from the field. Hoop-Math.com illustrated how much his offense came right under the basket, though:
| 386 | 54.4% (210) | 44.8% (173) | 0.8% (3) |
In his most recent mock draft, Wasserman had Simmons going No. 1 overall, so it's not as if his lack of range is scaring teams off too much. Still, a nice showing at the combine might have solidified Simmons' standing as the best overall player available in this year's draft class.
Although one of the presumptive top picks won't be taking part in the combine, the event won't be lacking for intriguing players to watch.
Many eyes will be on Thon Maker. Maker announced in April he'd be skipping college altogether and entering the NBA, and ESPN.com's Chad Ford reported on April 14 the league ruled him eligible for this year's draft.
"He's going to have to show some things that we haven't seen yet, in workouts," an anonymous NBA executive said, per CSNNE.com's A. Sherrod Blakely. "Every draft has a player or two that you draft because he has upside, but he's a project. That's Thon Maker; a project with upside, the kind of upside that you're probably not going to really see or really be helped by for years down the road."
Maker can only do so much at the combine to improve his draft stock, but it will allow him to answer some of the bigger questions about his game.
Washington forward Marquese Chriss is in the same boat. He averaged 13.7 points and 5.4 rebounds a game, and CBSSports.com's Sam Vecenie made the case for why the Huskies freshman needs a good showing:
"Also though, Chriss is going to have to show in workouts that he can take coaching instruction and apply it to his game. While the 18-year-old freshman has an incredibly high ceiling, he also has a low floor due to the fact that he's pretty much unplayable defensively right now in an NBA game. Chriss led the nation in fouls this season, and really struggles with the way he moves on the perimeter (more with his technique than his lateral quickness) and with the way he bites on pump fakes.
"
Wasserman argued Chriss could be anywhere from a lottery pick (No. 8) to a mid-to-late first-rounder (No. 20), which is a relatively significant amount of volatility for a player at this stage of the draft process.
Of course, prospects such as Chriss and Maker aren't the only ones with a point to prove at the combine. More experienced college stars, namely Oklahoma's Buddy Hield, Michigan State's Denzel Valentine, Iowa State's Georges Niang and Virginia's Malcolm Brogdon can show the skills they displayed over the last few years will translate to the next level.
The stakes will be high in the Windy City as the upper echelon of this year's draft class showcase their talent in front of NBA personnel.
