Javin DeLaurier on testing NBA waters: "Brutally honest ... You hear everything face-to-face"

Senior Javin DeLaurier went through the NBA Draft evaluation process, getting feedback from teams before returning to school.

So, what did he learn from them?

“They want me to get stronger. They want me to work on extending my range and continuing to finish at a high level and defend the rim,” he said.

For those of us who have never gotten feedback from NBA teams, DeLaurier explained what happens when you’re testing the waters.

“Generally a team will fly you out,” he said. “You go through the workout. Then the team will sit down and interview you. I also went through the G-League Combine, where you do a series of interviews with different teams.”

The interviews are a wild card in the process.

“To be honest, the interview can be anything from, ‘Tell me where you’re from. What are your values?’ to sitting down and breaking down film of plays from last year. You kind of have to prepare for anything,” he said. “But it was a good experience. I enjoyed it.”

Then comes the feedback:

“You sit down and hear everything face-to-face,” he said. “They tell you how you did in the workout, what they think of you, what you need to work on. There’s an opportunity for you to ask questions.”

It must be tough hearing from the NBA that you’re not quite ready.

“No, absolutely not,” he said. “Overall, things were positive. And the things they gave me feedback on were brutally honest, but not in a way I wasn’t expecting.”