The NBA Draft Combine starts Tuesday in Chicago and will last through the weekend. On Thursday and Friday ESPN2 will air the combine from 3-7 p.m. ET but there's more then just the drills and scrimmages ESPN2 will show.
Players will meet with NBA teams and conduct interviews, some will perform physicals and answer other medical related questions.
Five UK players were invited but only Malik Monk declined. De'Aaron Fox, Hamidou Diallo and Bam Adebayo will attend the NBA Draft Combine but won't participate in five-on-five drills, instead the trio will meet with NBA teams and have their measurements recorded.
Only Isaiah Briscoe will perform in the scrimmages.
Here are the best and worst case scenarios for all UK players involved.
Hamidou Diallo
Best Case: We all know how athletic Hamidou Diallo is and his impressive wingspan for a guard will grab the attention of NBA teams, but Diallo didn't go through the UK Combine in the fall. We don't know just how impressive his vertical and other measurements may be when he arrives to Chicago. In Diallo's best case scenario he blows NBA teams away with how high he can jump, how fast he performs some of the speed drills and if he participates in shooting drills he hits at a high enough clip to ease shooting concerns.
Athleticism is the name of the game for Diallo and as long as he doesn't have an off day running and jumping, he's bound to turn some heads.
Worst Case: Diallo's biggest draw right now is the mystery surrounding him. NBA scouts should know what he can do in games, but it's been months and this is the most critical time of development for kids Diallo's age. He could go toe-to-toe with kids in the class of 2017, but we never could see how he would do against college players over 20+.
What would kill Diallo is to have some of the biggest "mysterious" parts of his game answered this week. What if his measurable aren't as good as advertised? What if he has an off night on some of his drills and can't hit anything while shooting around? Then he isn't as mysterious and he's just a raw player that needs more time. That's not good for Diallo's draft prospects.
Also, although it's unlikely but what if Diallo shows a lack of maturity when meeting with NBA teams? He only did two or three interviews at UK and didn't have to go through the media gauntlet some other Wildcats experienced over eight months. This seems the most unlikely but it's something NBA teams will monitor.
Prediction: Diallo is an athlete and even if he goes through shooting drills and struggles, teams will still be impressed with his measurables. He will kill his vertical jump and other similar tests and that should be enough for a team late in the first round or early in the second round to make him a promise. It seems he's leaning towards staying in the draft.
Isaiah Briscoe
Best Case: Briscoe is the only Wildcat that will play in the five-on-five drills this week and this is a huge opportunity for the former UK guard. Briscoe isn't a great shooter and that won't change this week in Chicago but Briscoe is solid at everything else. He needs to show that this week and impact the games in a variety of way.
Briscoe had to share the backcourt with two of the better passers in UK history, Tyler Ulis and De'Aaron Fox, so if Briscoe is an assist machine this week that would go a long way. It would be great for Briscoe to be able to get to the rim and rebound well for a guard like we saw during his time at UK.
But most importantly is Briscoe needs to show he will be a force on defense. That will likely be his ticket to stick around in the NBA. He needs to lock-in on other guards, force turnovers and make it a rarity that he gets beat off the dribble.
If he does those things Briscoe will get drafted.
Worst Case: The worst case scenario for Briscoe would be similar to one of his few bad games at UK. No NBA team will be expecting him to light it up from deep but what if he doesn't make a three during the scrimmages and reverts back to his horrendous free-throw shooting from his freshman season?
What if playing with Ulis and Fox allowed Briscoe to be off the ball and that turns out to be a good thing because he shows he's turnover prone this week?
It seems tough for Briscoe to work his way into the second round of the NBA Draft but if he doesn't succeed rebounding, passing and taking care of the ball that will be very likely.
Prediction: Briscoe will play well this week and show his toughness but unless he shoots lights out it seems unlikely he becomes a lock to be selected in the second round. Briscoe will sweat things out on draft night and will have to do his damage in the NBA Summer League.
Bam Adebayo
Best Case: Adebayo isn't going to go through the scrimmages but it would have been fun and possibly a chance for him to improve his NBA Draft stock, but for Adebayo the risk outweighed the reward.
Instead Adebayo, like Diallo, should blow teams away with his measurements and athleticism, except unlike Diallo, Adebayo is a big and there are fewer insanely athletic bigs in the NBA. Adebayo had an NBA-ready body a year ago and that hasn't changed after a year playing, working out and eating in Lexington. NBA executes will realize that he will be ready to bang with the NBA's best the second he's put in an NBA game.
Adebayo's best case scenario is to blow teams away with his measurements.
Worst Case: Adebayo's worst case is similar to Diallo's. The NBA is going away from bigs that live in the paint and you have to be ready to stretch the floor. A common misconception is that Adebayo didn't hit any jumpers. He did. It wasn't his biggest strength but at times Adebayo was able to hit from the elbow.
In a worst case scenario Adebayo shoots horribly in individual drills and isn't the athletic freak his body indicates, although that seems unlikely.
Prediction: Adebayo impresses teams with his size, drive and athleticism and ends up going top 20.
De'Aaron Fox
Best Case: It's a bit of a surprise that Fox is even attending the NBA Draft Combine as most wildly considered top 10 picks skip, but Fox will go and interview and go through some drills.
If Fox just doesn't get hurt or isn't hiding any injuries, everything should be fine for the speedy guard. But in a best case scenario, teams fall in love with his personality and brand-ability. UK has a history of putting guys in the NBA that takeover a fanbase. You won't go to Phoenix without seeing a Devin Booker jersey, Anthony Davis in New Orleans, Karl-Anthony Towns in Minnesota and John Wall in D.C.
Fox has a similar personality and could make a city fall in love with him. It may be a stretch that a team sees that in just one interview, but you never know.
Worst Case: As with all the guys, if Fox doesn't test well that will be bad news, and maybe some of his injuries during the season will prove to be long term issues, but both those scenarios seem highly unlikely.
Fox should be fine this week in Chicago.
Prediction: Fox ends up being a top five pick and wins Rookie of the Year.
