Following the first round of the NFL’s first ever virtual draft on Thursday, we have a better idea of what that “virtual draft” actually looks like. Which means, as Zach Harper of The Athletic writes, the NBA can evaluate what works and what doesn’t as the league prepares for the possibility that it will have to conduct its 2020 draft in a similar manner.
Harper pointed to Dr. Anthony Fauci’s appearance on the telecast and the presence of prospects’ family members and pets as things that worked, but wasn’t a fan of the national anthem to start the night, commissioner Roger Goodell’s wooden delivery, and the looping videos of fans on a screen behind Goodell.
As we wait to see what exactly the 2020 NBA draft will look like, here are a few updates on players entering the draft pool:
- Mississippi State center Abdul Ado has entered the 2020 draft, as Joel Coleman of The Starkville Daily News writes. Ado, who averaged 5.7 PPG, 6.7 RPG, and 1.9 BPG as a junior this past season, will be maintaining his college eligibility during the process and will likely end up returning for his senior year in 2020/21 after getting feedback from NBA evaluators, a source tells Coleman.
- Fresno State freshman guard Niven Hart has announced (via Twitter) that he’ll be testing the draft waters following a 2019/20 season in which he averaged 8.7 PPG with a .398 3PT% in 26 games off the bench for the Bulldogs.
- Lithuanian point guard Arnas Velicka, who tested the draft waters a year ago, has entered the 2020 draft, as reported by David Hein and confirmed by ESPN’s Jonathan Givony (Twitter links). Velicka, who spent the 2019/20 season on loan to CBet Prienai from Zalgiris Kaunas, has been a standout for Lithuania’s junior national teams in FIBA competitions, Givony notes.
- Cameroonian guard Aristide Mouaha has declared for the draft, agent Mario Scotti announced on Twitter (hat tip to Sportando). The 19-year-old played this past season for the Roseto Sharks in Italy’s Serie A2 league.
Goodell was certainly wooden – he is what he is – but I thought he was closer to being human last night than ever before. Once they got past the seemingly infinite schmaltz to start the show, I enjoyed last night’s first round more than I ever have before. I’m going to be interested to see how other fans feel.
Goodell is not much and that’s all he will ever be.
The commissioner-booing was a key part of a live show and is hard to replicate.
Hopefully the expert panel can be consolidated in the future so they can chat freely. Chatting is inevitable and occasionally some truth gets aired out.
The ads said Mel Kiper would be part of it. WHERE WAS MEL!? Where were stats?– this thing is what it is, and stories had a similar quality and came from a limited segment of society.
Too bad, but family shots is in the direction of where ABC wants to go, so they might as well go for it and embrace obnoxiousness! In the future, the families may jack up the personalizations which could be fun. It was much better than making them convene somewhere.
If it really is a TV show, and it is, then they should quit allowing teams to hog the players on their phones when their name is called. Allow them to address the cameras and do what they will.