CHICAGO — Even though spending one week at the combine can sometimes feel like an entire month, quite a bit of business got done last week as the NBA gathered for its annual pre-draft summit. And between the draft lottery, combine scrimmages, G League Elite camp and a series of agent pro days (which continue in Los Angeles this week), the big picture of the 2022 draft has started coming into focus as we enter the final month-long sprint.
I wasn’t alone in thinking that the combine scrimmages themselves felt somewhat less consequential than past years: unlike 2021, nobody who took the court felt like a surefire first rounder by the end of the week.