Fansided

The Whiteboard: Tips for NBA Draft prospects to impress in their Zoom interviews

By Ian Levy

MELBOURNE, AUSTRALIA - AUGUST 22: (L-R) LaMelo Ball of the Illawarra Hawks and RJ Hampton of the New Zealand Breakers pose for a portrait during a NBL media opportunity at The Blackman on August 22, 2019 in Melbourne, Australia. (Photo by Kelly Defina/Getty Images)
MELBOURNE, AUSTRALIA - AUGUST 22: (L-R) LaMelo Ball of the Illawarra Hawks and RJ Hampton of the New Zealand Breakers pose for a portrait during a NBL media opportunity at The Blackman on August 22, 2019 in Melbourne, Australia. (Photo by Kelly Defina/Getty Images) /
facebooktwitterreddit

The Whiteboard is The Step Back’s daily basketball newsletter, covering the NBA, WNBA and more. Subscribe here to get it delivered to you via email each morning.

Yesterday, the NBA announced some changes to the structure of the pre-draft process, related to managing the ongoing novel coronavirus outbreak. Obviously in-person workouts aren’t on the table right now and teams aren’t allowed to request or watch live video of remote workouts. That means the primary tool for evaluation teams have, besides whatever tape they’ve already accumulated, is up to four hours of virtual meetings with each of the NBA Draft prospects.

For the prospects themselves, these meetings are going to be incredibly important, likely their one and only chance to make a final impression. As a long-time remote worker, I have plenty of experience with digital meetings and so I’ve put together a few tips to help the prospects come off the best.

Wardrobe

If there are question marks about your real height, wear vertical stripes. It will make you look taller. If there are question marks about your upper body strength, wear horizontal stripes. It will make you look bulkier. Also, don’t be afraid to wear a shirt that’s a size too small. It will also make you look bigger and you can casually fidget with the collar and drop some nugget like, “dang this shirt fit last week, I guess I’m still growing!”

Normally, shorts and sweatpants are fair game because the rest of the meeting will only see you from the waist up. But think about throwing on some slacks and finding an excuse to stand up and get something off a bookshelf behind you. It will just make you look taller.

Don’t forget to accessorize. A nice set of black frame glasses can give you that intellectual look general managers love.

Background

Take a photo of the background you’ll actually be sitting in front of. Shrink the image size by 25 percent and then use it as a digital background. Boom, thanks to the magic of digital perspective you’ve just made yourself look like a giant.

Make sure your bookshelf is stocked with titles on basketball strategy and history. Maybe put a few statistics textbooks up there as well. Keep the Calvin and Hobbes under your desk for now. Don’t be afraid to arrange all your trophies, certificates and awards on the walls and shelves behind you. Feel free to borrow some from siblings, chances are the general managers won’t be able to read the words on them from that far away anyway.

Preparation

If you have an adorable younger sibling, preferably age-7 or younger, arrange for them to burst in at some point and tell you they just really needed a hug or have them ask to read you to read them a book. Don’t be afraid to set up other performative interruptions:

Pops (hollering from the hallway): “Did you take the garbage out?”

You: “Yes!”

Pops: “Now, that’s what I call being a responsible young man!”

You: “Sorry, Mr. Presti. What was the question again?”

During the interview

Find an excuse to crumple up some paper on your desk and casually toss it into the garbage can in the background (but make sure it goes in). Make sure to mention these buzzwords (they cause an involuntary rush of serotonin for most GMs): motor, upside, wingspan, touch.

SUBSCRIBE. Get The Whiteboard delivered daily to your email inbox. light

#OtherContent

Step 1: Put Robin Lopez’s hair on Giannis Antetokounmpo. Step 2: Enjoy.

The Bulls and Knicks are both looking for new leaders for their front offices. Once proud franchises now working with eroded talent bases, damaged reputations and deeply entrenched organizational dysfunction. Neither job is looking too rosy right now but which one would you rather take?

Michael Porter Jr. was one of the most dominant high school players in his class and appeared to be on a short track to NBA stardom. Two back surgeries and two missed seasons later, he finally got on the court for the Nuggets and could not have been more impressive.

Michael Pina put together a list of the 10 best games of the last 10 years. Game 7 of the 2016 NBA Finals didn’t even make the top five. Dang, I miss basketball.

For The Ringer, Rob Mahoney watched every single Luka Doncic shot from this season. The premise of the article seems to suppose that this is some sort of worthwhile tedium but it honestly sounds absolutely delightful.

Home/The Whiteboard