The Portsmouth Invitational Tournament kicks off the spring of events for players looking to make the jump from college to the pros, running before the popular combines that feature a lot of the underclassmen. Portsmouth’s niche is that it is only for graduating seniors, meaning that it has a lot of the players that might not have draft buzz due to their age, but are more fully-formed players that are looking to contribute at their next club immediately. In addition to the NBA and G League personnel that are there, this is a huge event for top teams in Europe and Asia that also offer tremendous professional opportunities.
This year Xaivian Lee joined, looking to prove his stock among other top veteran college basketball players after a year where he showed flashes of the skill that made him so coveted in the portal. Lee is not thought to be in the mix for an NBA Draft pick, but he’ll look to earn a Summer League invitation where he’ll hope to turn some heads and stay in the minds of NBA decision makers.
Opening the Portsmouth Invitational festivities are a classic measurement of height and wingspan. Lee came in at 6’3.5” in shoes, actually a reasonable measurement for someone listed at 6’4” in Florida’s program, because as you know many players have inflated heights and can be exposed in these settings. He also came in at 181 pounds and had a 6’5” wingspan.
Next came the athletic testing–and this is where Xaivian Lee shined.
First, it was the “Fastest Reaction Shuttle,” a test to study quickness and change of direction. Lee flew through the test coming in second in the entire event of 63 players, just behind Miami’s Tre Donaldson.
Next, the ¾ court sprint. Here Lee showed his open court speed, coming in 4th in the event behind Seth Trimble, Jaylin Sellers, and Robert McCray.
The vertical leap test is always something people love seeing from the big-time wing prospects. Lee had a 29.5” max leap which put him in the same range as a lot of the wings considered to be elite athletes.
Finally, it was the lane agility test, an NBA Combine classic that mimics a number of basketball movements that is considered one of the best ways to measure quickness.
Xaivian Lee came first.
Known more for his handle and pull-up game, no one expected that Lee would do so well in athletic testing and his excellent showing in multiple key categories will likely draw some attention from scouts at multiple levels.
After the first day of measurements and athletic testing came the scrimmages. Lee was to play alongside some names that might be familiar to you like Mark Mitchell, Robbie Avila, Ven-Allen Lubin, and Boopie Miller among others.
In game one Lee started out with a bang, finishing with 25 points and 3 assists while shooting 3-7 from three and adding 3 steals defensively. His effort on the defensive end was most notable, as it seemed like he knows this is one of the knocks on his game. It was also great to see him shoot the ball efficiently, as that will be his calling card at whatever level he ends up at. Lee was also named the player of the game, and he had scouts excited for his next performance.
The second game didn’t go as well with Lee finishing with 8 points, 4 assists, 3 turnovers, and 1 steal, but it still was a decent performance. In this one his shots didn’t fall like they did the opening night, but he still had some good moments creating space with the dribble and his defense wasn’t an issue.
Lee did not participate in his team’s third and final game, and it’s not known if that was his decision (potentially to quit while he was ahead due to the good performance in game one) or due to injury.
When it comes to players with four seasons of college experience there is a big sample of film, and therefore a performance in a combine setting isn’t going to drastically change the opinion of scouts, but Lee’s strong performance in testing and quality game one is only going to help. He’ll now hope to get an invitation to one of the top combines and earn some individual workouts with NBA teams.