Orlando Predraft Camp Set to Kick Off

Tonight at 6 pm the NBA Pre-Draft camp kicks off at Disney's Wide World of Sports complex outside of Orlando. The Pre Draft Camp will be held from May 29th until June 1st. Sixty four of the top draft prospects will participate in the camp. They will conduct drills and play 5 on 5 games in front of hundreds of NBA executives. There will be an additional 11 top prospects who will attend only for the physicals, strength testing, and to participate in the combine.   In spite of the rule changes, some agents have kept players like Wilson Chandler, Derrick Byars, Glen Davis,  and DeVon Hardin out of the camp, even though a good showing might help them.  They feel that their clients can either do enough impressing in postcamp private workouts or will be able to rely on their collegiate resumes in lieu of facing the Orlando competition. 

In previous years, players were free to conduct individual workouts before the camp but this year, players have been barred from conducting any agent or team-sponsored workouts until Tuesday, June 5th. Because the players can't work out individually until after the camp, they moved it from mid June where it was last season up to the end of May. Once the 75 players are finished with their NBA Pre-Draft Camp obligations, they will be free to work out for teams beginning on the 5th of June. Some teams have scheduled private workouts in Orlando on June 5th with other teams invited to watch. This allows more teams access to players they might not otherwise get to see and helps players to be seen by as many teams as possible.

The NBA combine that begins on June 1 will be different than in the past as well. . The league is adding in some light non-contact skills testing such as ball-handling and shooting drills that was not previously tested in the combine. They will open it up for all NBA teams to view and those participating will be not only those who played in the camp, but also the “physical-only” players who previously didn't participate in the combine. Agents of the top players may not like this new wrinkle but it will certainly make it more interesting.

After the camp there will be 23 days until the draft and since there are 30 teams looking to work out players, I expect to see some teams double up on workouts as the Celtics and Wolves did last season. The time constraints may also limit teams from doing a second workout with players that they particularly like as the Celtics have done for several years.

More, including a list of players who will be attending after the jump.

According to Draft Express, here is a list of those participating in the camp. 

Camp Players

Mohamed Abukar
Mario Boggan
Craig Bradshaw
Aaron Brooks
Bobby Brown
Russell Carter
Coleman Collins
Daequan Cook
Ryvon Covile
Jermareo Davidson
Justin Doellman
Zabian Dowdell
Jared Dudley
Rashaun Freeman
Aaron Gray
Caleb Green
Taurean Green
Brandon Heath
Herbert Hill
Quinton Hosley
James Hughes
Jeremy Hunt
Ekene Ibekwe
Dominic James
Trey Johnson
Joseph Jones
Rashad Jones-Jennings
Jared Jordan
Coby Karl
Antanas Kavaliauskas
Marcelus Kemp
Carl Landry
Stephane Lasme
Marko Lekic
Ron Lewis
Cartier Martin
James Mays
Dominic McGuire
Sammy Mejia
Brad Newley
Demetris Nichols
Ivan Radenovic
J.R. Reynolds
Chris Richard
Dustin Salisbery
Blake Schilb
Renaldas Seibutis
Ramon Sessions
Mustafa Shakur
Sean Singletary
D.J. Strawberry
Curtis Sumpter
Sun Yue
Jamaal Tatum
Reyshawn Terry
Anthony Tolliver
Ali Traore
Kyle Visser
Darryl Watkins
Major Wingate
DaShaun Wood
Avis Wyatt

Players who will be attending for physicals only:

Corey Brewer
Mike Conley Jr.
Javaris Crittenton
Kevin Durant
Jeff Green
Spencer Hawes
Al Horford
Acie Law
Josh McRoberts
Joakim Noah
Greg Oden
Jason Smith
Rodney Stuckey
Al Thornton
Brandan Wright
Julian Wright
Yi Jianlian
Nick Young
Thaddeus Young

 Those who will participate in the Media Availability Session, which is an early indication of which players will be invited to the "green room" on draft night, include Corey Brewer, Mike Conley,Jr, Kevin Durant, Jeff Green, Spencer Hawes, Al Horford, Acie Law, Joakim Noah, Greg Oden, Al Thornton, Brandan Wright, and Julian Wright.