To help with this process, the NBA is again offering underclassmen the ability to get actual feedback from a group of executives representing 20 NBA teams selected by the League Office, and chaired by NBA Executive Vice President of Basketball Operations Stu Jackson, called the NBA Undergraduate Advisory Committee.
According to NBA spokesman Tim Frank, who we corresponded with via email in researching this article, this committee consists of “General Managers, Assistant General Managers, and VP's of Player Personnel and the like who scout college basketball extensively during the college basketball season.“
NCAA underclassmen must apply for an evaluation in writing no later than April 10 th, which is two days after the Championship game of the NCAA tournament in Atlanta.
The NBA Undergraduate Advisory Committee will deliver their evaluation on or before April 15th.
According to NBA spokesman Tim Frank “once the committee does their analysis of the player, the draft projection is communicated to the player, coach, or anyone else who the player designates, such as family, in a phone call in which the draft projection is shared and the player (or others involved) can ask questions about the projection and the draft process.”
Frank also explained via email that “we instruct our Committee members to provide as narrow of a draft range as they can with confidence, and they are not limited to the lottery, first round, second round, not drafted framework and other more specific descriptors covering ranges are much more commonly used. We collect the projections from our Committee members and summarize this information to the players and others who they designate, and the draft projections and ranges obviously vary based upon the given prospect.”
What's important to note (and has been widely misreported in the media), is that requesting an evaluation from the advisory committee does not constitute entering the draft. In fact, the application form explicitly states that “this application is not a declaration of eligibility for the 2013 NBA draft. A separate letter must be sent to Commission David Stern (received by April 28, 2013) declaring eligibility for the 2013 NBA draft. An application form for the 2013 NBA draft will be sent upon receipt of the letter of declaration.”
What that means is that, theoretically, a college player could still wait until April 28th to enter the NBA draft, as these are two separate deadlines, and there seemingly is no benefit at all to entering his name before, particularly since he will lose his NCAA eligibility if he does not remove it before April 16th.
For example, if a player seriously injures himself between April 17th and April 28th, but had already sent a letter to David Stern declaring their eligibility for the 2013 NBA Draft, that player would be ineligible to return to school.
While college coaches would obviously love to have all of their answers regarding who will or will not return to their team by April 16th, so they can start their vacation early or get an early jump on next season, realistically there is no reason why an underclassmen wouldn't continue to privately investigate their NBA draft stock until April 28th.
Is the NBA Undergraduate Advisory Committee the answer then? While it's certainly noble of the NBA to try an assist with the process, it remains extremely difficult for a player to get an accurate gauge of their draft stock in April, as there are just too many variables to predict that are out of anyone's control.
