Bringing the NBA Draft Combine Experience to Everyone
Today, we’re launching a new Virtual Showcase experience that combines the latest technology from the NBA Draft Combine, re-packaged into two new Virtual Combine workouts that anyone can do at home.
This new experience is for players of all ages. Younger players can engage in the Jr. NBA Combine and more advanced players can engage in the Varsity Combine. Both Combine workouts are completely free and accessible to everyone.
With the upcoming basketball season and many pre-season workouts delayed due to COVID, this is a new way to check your skills and showcase your potential through HomeCourt using just an iPhone or iPad.
Both of these experiences are free to play and available in the HomeCourt app v3.15.5 in the App Store starting today.
Get Discovered, On Any Court
An invitation to the NBA Draft Combine is one of the most coveted invites for aspiring basketball players who want to go Pro. The best of the best descend upon Chicago to showcase their stuff and to leave an impression on their way to hopefully fulfilling a life-long dream.
However, this year, competitive sports is in uncharted new territory. From the day the NBA regular season and the NCAA tournaments were canceled back in March, the sports world has been anything but usual. It’s also true that scouting and recruiting looks very different for prospective players and organizations. Without many tryouts and live showcase events happening, the question remains — how do you evaluate your skills and get considered for the right opportunities?
First-Ever Virtual NBA Draft Combine
HomeCourt and the NBA have been working closely to solve this challenge, starting with the NBA itself through the first-ever Virtual Pre-Draft Combine in the run-up to the 2020 NBA Draft. Prospects in this year’s NBA Draft used HomeCourt on iPad devices (set up in the safety of closed facilities) to do shooting workouts and capture their performance. Each player was able to capture their own workout footage through HomeCourt and share Pro Day highlights and detailed statistics virtually with the front offices of NBA teams.
Draft Night Results 2020
- 20 total players that participated in a HomeCourt evaluation were drafted/signed by an NBA Team
- Players were drafted to 16 different NBA Teams (over 50% of the league).
This is a major breakthrough in talent evaluation and we’re excited for this year’s NBA Draft class to get all the benefits of this level of exposure, while also maintaining the safety and health of all the players and scouts involved.
Test your skills using the same technology used by the 2020 NBA Draft Combine.
Now, we are bringing the same Combine technology and experience to everyone.
Jr.NBA Combine
For younger players, this new Combine takes a page out of the NBA Draft Combine and makes it accessible to players of every skill level. The experience combines key measurements like handspan, and wingspan, with basic skill assessments for ball-handling and shooting. Shooting drills have been calibrated to the areas that younger players need to master like finishing under the basket, mid-range, and around-the-key. An added benefit is that players can also join the Jr.NBA Global Community on HomeCourt and see how their performance stacks us with other players of similar experience levels. Join in the Jr.NBA Combine experience in the app here.
Varsity Combine
For more experienced players, the Varsity Combine also leverages the same technology used for the NBA Draft Combine but tunes it for the needs of high-level AAU clubs and varsity high-school players. It includes all the same body measurements and agility drills in the NBA Draft Combine but tailors the shooting portion of the workout to concepts like spot-up, off-the-dribble, and on-the-move shooting evaluations. It also adds a 3-point Endurance drill that challenges varsity players to show consistency around the arc and with an extended shooting session. Join in the Varsity Combine experience here.
“Plug and Play” for Coaches and Teams with TeamSnap
We also wanted to make sure that coaches and teams everywhere could take advantage of this experience for their pre-season workouts and player evaluations. To make this completely turnkey, we’ve partnered with TeamSnap so that any coach can easily set up their roster in a manner of seconds and invite all their players to do the Combine.
We believe the Combine experiences on HomeCourt are the perfect pre-season activity for coaches to see where players stand, their strengths and weaknesses, and what they might need to work on. Coaches can now have more information to help them make roster decisions and get a sense of how their kids were investing in their game during the offseason.
How to Get Started
For Players and Parents at Home
- Download the HomeCourt app for free on iPhone or iPad.
- Participate in either the Jr. NBA Combine or the Varsity Combine.
- Share your own “Pro Day” video and workout results with your parents, coaches, and scouts. Post your video highlights on social media for recognition. Tag #homecourtai or #homecombine
- Continue to improve your game with HomeCourt. Look out for the weekly power rankings and email reports from HomeCourt later this fall.
For Coaches and Teams
- Download the HomeCourt app for free on iPhone or iPad.
- Setup a Team for free and import your team roster via TeamSnap.
- Players get a notification automatically in TeamSnap to join in.
- Players participate in the Combine and results are posted to the Team group.
- Continue to coach your players through HomeCourt. Look out for the weekly power rankings and email reports from HomeCourt later this fall.
Now, it’s your turn
Whether it’s for a personal skills checkup, part of a fall warm-up program, or part of your formal team tryouts, the Combine experience on HomeCourt is something everyone can do.
It’s also a new way for players to get exposure with coaches and scouts, using real data that can assist in better opportunities for players — and maybe even enable the next great player to get discovered by the NBA.
Good luck and let’s get it!
HomeCourt
