Taking a look at Kyle Guy and Ty Jerome’s NBA Combine performance

Like the NFL, the NBA hosts a Draft Combine every season where prospects are weighed, measured, and run through drills.

The NBA Combine basically consists of four parts. Each player is weighed and measured, and each player is run through strength and agility drills. There are a series of 5-on-5 games between prospects. Finally, and perhaps most importantly, there are team interviews.

The NFL’s combine is more famous and generally attended by all the top prospects. The NBA Combine does not get as much publicity and many of the top players either do not attend, or attend only for interviews.

Case in point, none of the top five projected picks are attending the event in Chicago. A few later lottery picks did show up to get weighed and measured but did not do drills. Virginia’s De’Andre Hunter is one of the players who withdrew from the event. His status as a potential top-5 pick is not likely to change so there’s no benefit for him risking an injury.

However, Kyle Guy and Ty Jerome did participate in both the measurements and the drills. Here’s a glimpse at their numbers, starting with the measurements.

We already knew Guy was a bit small. He was the lightest player there, and actually came in seven pounds lower than his roster weight. The NBA is a physical league and being that small is going to scare away teams that don’t think Guy can handle that aspect of the game.

Jerome’s size was closer to his listed weight and that’s pretty good size for a PG. However, team’s don’t like what they call “negative wingspan”, which is a player whose wingspan is less than their height. It’s pretty rare in the NBA. Players with short reach can struggle defensively and generally don’t generate as many steals or blocks. That could potentially impact his draft status.

Here are the numbers for the drills:

Guy tested very well, which should temper questions about his athleticism. His “Lane Agility” was third best at the event. His speed and vertical numbers are comparable to others at the position.

(If you’re curious about what the “Lane Agility Drill” is, here’s a video explaining it.)

Jerome, on the other hand, did not test well. The strength of Jerome’s game isn’t his athleticism, but this could be a red flag. He had the second shortest standing vert and the second shortest max vert. Mostly, the other guys with similar numbers are big men. His lane agility test was worst among participating PGs.

Both guys also participated in the interviews and the 5-on-5. Guy’s name seems to pop up on many reports about the combine, including from NBA teams. Here’s a video the Celtics posted on Kyle Guy. He also shot pretty well:

Jerome’s name hasn’t come up quite as much, but we know that his game isn’t built on his athleticism or strength. It’s built on his basketball IQ and his shooting. NBA teams don’t put too much stock into combine results, at least in comparison to game tape, and his game tape speaks for itself.

As more emerges from the combine, however, the results are trending in Jerome’s favor. Says NBC Sports Washington:

We can probably remove Ty Jerome from that early second-round grouping. One source put his draft range at 18-22 based on teams interviewing the Virginia guard -- I’ll note Jerome stood out in our 1-on-1 interview -- and reviewing his shooting prowess.

If you haven’t been following, Jerome is projected as a late first round pick, while Guy is projected as a mid-to-late second round pick (although some mock drafts do not include Guy). Hunter, of course, is projected to go somewhere between #4 and #8 overall.

The Draft will take place on June 20^th.