During the interview sessions, the draft combine reporter gets up close and personal with every former college basketball star soon to hear their name called on draft night. Each player gets his own table in the conference room and journalists rotate like speed daters to obtain quality face time with everyone. Conversation is much more in-depth here than at post-game press conferences. It's about the big picture here -- no time to waste on the boringly banal queries from newspaper beat writers forming out their pedestrian game recap articles.
On top of the media grilling, the draft combine includes tougher inquisitions from the league's teams. Four years ago, Arizona's Chase Budinger, picked 44th by the Detroit Pistons, currently balling for the Minnesota Timberwolves, said he faced a psychological aptitude test from our hometown Bulls. He had to arrange blocks to match a picture they presented. A lot of reporters toss boring, easy softball questions ("if you could have dinner with anyone in history who would it be?" "what's your favorite late night snack?)", but the professionals on NBA payrolls pull no punches. They're investing major paper, long dough in their selection. That means doing due diligence. Even players' personal lives are in bounds. At the NBA Draft combine, teams want to know if players are single, married, have kids, baby mommas, baby momma drama etc. Multiple players said they had to reveal if they had a "friend with benefits." Are we talking to a league front office? Or is this your prom date's father?
