PHOTO GALLERY

CHICAGO –– In recent years, a trend has developed surrounding the nation’s top prospects and the NBA Draft Combine. Last year, Andrew Wiggins, Jabari Parker, and Joel Embiid all passed on the annual event to protect both their health and their leverage heading into individual workouts, and this year top-three hopefuls Karl Towns, Jahlil Okafor, and Emmanuel Mudiay followed in their footsteps. But for Ohio State guard D’Angelo Russell, projected by many to be a top-four pick in this year’s draft, he saw the Combine as another opportunity to prove why he should be the first named called by NBA Commissioner Adam Silver on the evening of June 25.

Like the majority of the potential lottery picks who did elect to attend the Combine, Russell opted out of physical testing and five-on-five play. But coming to Chicago allowed him the opportunity to meet one-on-one with a handful of teams, including the Sixers.

“It went well,” the 19-year-old said of him meeting with Philadelphia. “They laid out a platform of what they’re building. They’re building that organization, and they definitely wanted me to be a part of that.”

Coming into the interview, Russell was already familiar with two of the team’s foundational pieces moving forward, big men Nerlens Noel and Joel Embiid. As a native of Louisville, Russell met the Kentucky alum through mutual friends in Lexington. His connection with Embiid comes from his time spent at Montverde Academy in Central Florida. As a rising sophomore at the prep school, he met the affable big man, a rising junior who had picked up the game of basketball less than a year earlier in his native Cameroon.

A bit of a late bloomer in his own right, Russell was relegated to the second team that year, where he played alongside the raw but talented Embiid. The two quickly formed a bond, and although their paths diverged when Embiid transferred to the nearby Rock School for his senior season, their routes to the NBA have followed a similar trajectory, making the jump from high school reserves, to rising recruits, to sensational college freshmen, to finding themselves near the top of most teams’ draft boards by this point in the process.

While Russell and a host of other lottery hopefuls spoke to members of the media in a large auditorium at the Quest Multisport Complex on Chicago’s West Side, dozens of projected late-first round picks and second-round hopefuls took part in on-court activity in the facility’s main gymnasium.

For the second day in a row, Bowling Green’s Richaun Holmes made a noticeable impact on the defensive end of the floor. After blocking five shots and affecting a handful more in Thursday’s scrimmage, he notched four swats and three steals to go along with six rebounds in Friday’s game. In 41 minutes through two contests at the Combine, he held his assignments to just 3-of-14 (21.4 FG%) at the rim.

“Coming from a small school, you come in with a chip on your shoulder… In [the scrimmages] it’s an even playing field, so you just go out there, compete hard, and hope for the best,” he said. “I think it helps playing four years at the college level, just to get you ready for this process… You could definitely say I’m a late bloomer. I didn’t have too many offers coming out of high school, and I didn’t start to hit my side until my senior year.”

Guards Pat Connaughton of Notre Dame and Quinn Cook of Duke each scored a game-high 18 points in the first matchup of the day, with Connaughton doing so on 5-of-9 from the field and 4-of-8 from beyond the arc. Big man Mouhammadou Jaiteh of France fell one rebound shy of notching double-doubles in both his Combine scrimmages this week, finishing with 10 points (3/6 FG) and nine rebounds. Louisville point guard Terry Rozier added 11 points (4/12 FG), eight rebounds, five assists, and a pair of steals in a 93-89 winning effort for Team 4, and big man Jordan Mickey of LSU followed up an eight-block performance on Thursday with four more on Friday for Team 3.

In the second game of the day, Rakeem Christmas led the way, scoring a game-high 19 points on 6-of-12 shooting to go along with six rebounds and two blocks in 26 minutes of action. Through two games, he averaged a combine-best 19.5 points per game on 59.1% shooting. Arizona point guard T.J. McConnell filled up the stat sheet with six points (3/6 FG), six assists, five rebounds, and five steals in 22 minutes. His 5.0 assists and 3.5 steals per game were tops on the week.

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With athletic testing complete, we now know the leaders in each of the five major categories:

Maximum Vertical Leap: Pat Connaughton, G, Notre Dame – 44.0 inches

Standing Vertical Leap: Justin Anderson, F, Virginia – 38.0 inches

Three-quarter Court Sprint: Marcus Thornton, G, William & Mary – 3.02 seconds

Shuttle Run: Terry Rozier, G, Louisville – 2.84 seconds

Lane Agility Drill: 10.22 seconds

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Now, the focus shifts to the NBA Draft Lottery, which is scheduled to take place Tuesday night at about 8:30pm (EST) as part of ESPN's playoff coverage. CLICK HERE for how the lottery works, a full breakdown of the odds, and everything else you need to know before the big night.