GD: Not great. His vertical numbers weren’t very good, neither were his shuttle or his 3/4 court sprint numbers. He didn’t shoot very well in the three-point drill. He measured 6-6 1/2, which is barefoot, so in shoes, he’s probably 6-8, which is what he was listed at. The best number he had was a wingspan of more than seven feet.
But none of those numbers were all that surprising. He’s not a great athlete. We knew that already. Where Kobe will need to impress is more in the individual workouts than in the combine drills. And I think those probably matter more. I did find it interesting that in post-lottery mock drafts ESPN had him going 43rd and The Athletic had him 36th. I’ll be honest: I’ve never been very sure Kobe is an NBA player. Mock drafts can be wrong. But I’m smart enough to know that the people that do these drafts know more about it than I do so I’ll default to them that he’s going to go in the top half of the second round, which I think will be enough to convince him to stay in the draft and leave Mizzou.
GD: I don’t think everybody is getting money. But most of them are getting something. There are some teams that have setups where every scholarship player is getting a baseline amount. Then some players get more than that amount. Obviously the stars are getting more money and it’s hardly an equal pay situation for everyone. In fact, I’d say most players probably aren’t making the kind of money that has a lot of people grousing about NIL and the ridiculous amounts.
