As the offseason continues and the Florida Gators await to see who could return to the roster and look forward to finding the landing spot for their outgoing talents, all eyes turn to the NBA Combine, the main showcase event for players hoping to head to the highest level. For Florida, this event had a few interesting storylines starting with the performance of Alex Condon who is open to both heading to the draft or returning to the Gators to hopefully improve his stock. Fans would also be watching for the performance of Walter Clayton and Alijah Martin who finished out their eligibility and now look towards their dream of the NBA. Also–keen fans were looking at the performance of Arkansas’ Boogie Fland, someone who the Gators are rumored to be involved with. This storyline also became interesting as even before the combine finished Fland announced he would be returning to college which made conversations heat up even more.
Traditionally, combines start with player measurements and testing and the NBA Combine is no different. Walter Clayton measured at 6’2” without shoes (notably slightly taller than he did at last year’s G League combine, for whatever that’s worth) with a 6’4” wingspan. Alijah Martin came in at 6’1.5” with a huge 6’7.5” wingspan, with those long arms making up for the lack of height.
The real positive surprising number was Alex Condon’s height. Condon is listed at 6’11”, but as everyone here well knows–teams are usually measuring players in shoes and giving them the benefit of the doubt with an extra inch or two. However, that wasn’t the case with Condon who came in at 6’11.25” without shoes with a 7’0.75” wingspan. On one hand, Condon’s height was met with a lot of excitement from teams–though his measuring a bit taller than expected was somewhat neutralized by a wingspan that is not impressive relative to his height.
Next came the athletic testing. As you have seen from a number of highlights Walter Clayton is pretty explosive when he has time to load up and that was proven again with an impressive 37” max leap. This jump was bested by Alijah Martin who exploded with a 38” leap–and you can be sure he was letting Clayton know about it. Condon impressed with a 34.5” leap, a number that was much better than most forwards at the event (by the way, the combine listed him as a SF-PF, though teams certainly see him as a PF-C) and it drew a lot of attention from scouts.
After the athletic testing came the shooting drills where everyone was excited to see Walter Clayton, and he did not disappoint. In the off the dribble threes section he went 20-30, a really good number–but one where he wishes he could have done better. He made up for it in spot up shooting where he went 20-25 before hitting 17-25 in the variation “three-point star” drill. Finally, in the “three-point side” drill, a horizontal movement shooting exhibition, he went 16-27. All of these numbers were really good, and confirmed two seasons of elite shooting at Florida in the eyes of scouts. Here is how Alijah Martin did:
Off The Dribble: 15-30
Spot Up: 19-25
Three-Point Star: 15-25
Three-Point Side: 16-27
Martin’s numbers mirrored what was expected after his college career with him being an excellent shooter off the catch but not quite as comfortable off the dribble.
Alex Condon has had a streaky shooting college career, so there were a lot of eyes on him when he went up to take his attempts. Here is what he posted:
Off The Dribble: 16-30
Spot Up: 11-25
Three-Point Star: 13-25
Three-Point Side: 12-26
While he was certainly below most of the perimeter players, Condon did well against frontcourt players and he certainly performed admirably and showed scouts he has some improving touch from range.
Finally, after all the testing and drills, the scrimmages began. Walter Clayton chose not to participate in the scrimmages, something that a lot of players who feel comfortable in their draft stock choose to do which indicates he is feeling really good about where he could be drafted. Curiously–Alex Condon also chose not to participate. This is something that could suggest that he thinks he has a good guarantee of where he could go in the draft, and possibly could be an indication that he won’t be returning to college. On the other hand, these games are never favorable for frontcourt players and it could be that Condon is choosing to protect his reputation for whenever he does truly enter the draft in the future. It is a curious decision that would make anyone’s eyebrows go up and it certainly will be something to look back on whether he comes back to Florida or goes pro.
Alijah Martin, as would be expected from someone like him that doesn’t have a certain draft position, chose to participate. These scrimmages are always pretty scrambled and don’t have a lot of structure or intensity meaning it’s not going to showcase the abilities of a player like Martin particularly well, be he still looked good out there and particularly looked comfortable in a complementary role spacing the floor, cutting, and knocking down shots. In the first two games he went 3-7 from three which is perfectly solid, and also had moments attacking closeouts and showing some of the furocity he attacked the rim with at Florida. An area he did struggle with at times was defense, partially because he was far too aggressive. It was clear he was looking to shine on that end and he was looking to completely clamp down whoever his matchup was as opposed to playing a more calm, conservative style of defense, and it burned him at times as he got driven by at the hands of elite talent. Martin also fouled a ton due to his aggressive defensive style, and in these settings getting called for a foul after you get blown by seems to just spotlight the mistake even more. Even though the defensive tape wasn’t exactly what Martin wanted to put up, the intensity was there–and that’s what any teams interested in him would be looking to see.
At the conclusion of the combine these players will get the opportunity to work out with some NBA teams in smaller individual workouts, and after that the Gators will anxiously await the decision of Alex Condon.