"NBA's Chicago pre-draft camp going to Disney" by Dan Benjamin, vol 8 issue 43

The NBA is moving one of its two pre-draft camps from Moody Bible Institute in Chicago to Disney's sports complex in Orlando (the other camp is in Portsmouth, VA) this year (June 6-10). Both pre-draft camps are invitional only however, the camp in Orlando is the more prestigious one as it generally draws the top college talent. Not only does the camp provide the players an opportunity to showcase their skills but it also gives top league and team officials a gathering to evaluate talent, discuss player free agency and exchange league gossip. In addition, ESPNU plans to show live games from the camp while NBA TV will have other programming originating from the camp. There are a few reasons according to Stu Jackson, NBA's Senior Vice President of Basketball Operations why the camp was moved from Chicago to Orlando, "The Camp in Orlando will provide state-of-the-art facilities, but it also gives us the opportunity to build upon our partnership with Disney, ABC and ESPN."

I really don't have an opinion on whether it is better to have the camp in Chicago (central locality) or Orlando (warmer weather). Although I tend to agree that the facilities at Disney are better than the ones at Moody Bible and plus there is Disney World there. I like the idea of the camp because just like the NFL Combine it gives teams one more chance to evaluate a player and also gives the player another chance to showcase their skills. The major difference between the combine and the pre-draft camp is that the players at the pre-draft camp actually play games while the NFL combine is more a "meat-market".

I think that it is good that ESPNU is showing these games for both the network and fans. As Doug White, Director of Programming and Acquisitions for ESPN/ABC said "We are looking to shed light on some of the great talent that comes to camp, and it's a great precursor for out draft coverage in late June." The article said that more and more players are holding their own individual workouts rather than attending the camp. If an athlete (football, basketball or baseball player) can get a team or teams to come watch him in a private seetting, its good for the athlete because in this situation it is the player that manipulates the workout by only showcasing his strengths. Similarly, these individual workouts are dangerous for teams mainly for the reason of the atblete's aforementioned ability to manipulate the workouts therefore the team won't have a comprehensive evaluation of an athlete's ability.