Ira Winderman

The NBA was going to be like the NFL.

It was going to prepare for its draft with the ultimate workout extravaganza, virtually every top prospect undergoing measurements, drills and skill testing at a single venue.

The price was the loss of anything resembling actual basketball. With the decision to kill the Orlando pre-draft camp, five-on-five basketball would be sacrificed.

No matter. For years, the pre-draft camp had featured little more than second-round types battling for spots late in the first round. Most who agreed to play in the games eventually would be playing in Europe or the D-League.

The NBA had enough of the Mickey Mouse approach. Its prime pre-draft laboratory was moved to Chicago for a combine of its own.

And then?

And then the same old thing last week, with agents mucking up the process and many, if not most, of the NBA executives on hand still wondering what they were doing there in the first place.

When it came time for drills, Blake Griffin decided he could do without most of the work. Ditto for Hasheem Thabeet. And James Harden. And Tyreke Evans. And Jordan Hill.

Considering Ricky Rubio and Brandon Jennings weren't there, there was as much exposure to the top of the draft as there had been at the draft camp the year earlier in Orlando.

No, this was not what the NBA bargained for.

"It's completely different than what a lot of us expected," an Eastern Conference executive said. "There are some people that wanted to see competition, that I think, frankly, were upset. They were not very happy about the fact there weren't games. It was quite different than it's ever been."

Then again, everything seemingly has changed when it comes to this dance that leads to the NBA Draft.

In previous years, workouts were limited before the pre-draft camp and then usually conducted by individual teams in the confines of their own gyms.

But the economy has changed all that.

So instead, a new dynamic resulted in conjunction to the move to the combine format. No sooner were the measurements taken and drills completed in Chicago, than mega-workouts began this week in Oakland and Minnesota, sessions conducted over multiple days, with upwards of 30 prospects in attendance, as many as six players on the court at the same time, in something far closer to real basketball than what was on display in Chicago.

The only rule about the group sessions is that all teams that observe kick in toward the cost, just as they did for the group workout in Houston that preceded Chicago.

Next year, it is possible that Chicago is reduced to weights and measures, with a gym not even necessary.

"You saw skill work, but that's about it," one executive said of the initial Chicago experience. "For example, the point guards, they had them dribble, speed dribble, left hand, right hand, crossover, so they did dribbling things. They did a lot of shooting. But it's not competitive. There's not a defender there. It was a lot of time spent on shooting the basketball."

The benefit was the Chicago sessions were position specific. Point guards worked together. Then shooting guards. Then small forwards. Then big men.

"We had 12 point guards there, all working out at the same time, which I kind of liked," a team executive said. "And you could focus in on that position, which I thought was a very positive thing."

The biggest positive was, for the first time, teams were allowed to each schedule 18 half-hour interviews over the two days.

The problem is that meant players answering the same questions, to the point that honesty gave way to stock responses. Apparently, everyone in attendance had a hobby of community service.

Instead of something close to one-stop draft shopping, as the NFL has with its Indianapolis combine, the NBA instead has created a dynamic where the subsequent group workouts have become the focus, even if it means agents setting up their clients to work against specific players, while holding them out against competition that might not result in flattering comparisons.

And the rub is that this all might change again next year, when the NCAA implements a May 8 deadline for underclassmen to withdraw from the draft. The deadline this year is June 15, just 10 days before the draft, enough time for a player to be seen this week in group workouts in Oakland, Minnesota and New Jersey, as well as schedule follow-up sessions with individual teams.

For years, the NBA has wrestled with the pre-draft process, be it the current age requirement or the limits on the workouts themselves, with teams previously not allowed to work more than four prospects at the same time.

Next week, scouts will head to more of a staple on the draft circuit, the Reebok Eurocamp in Treviso, Italy. The problem there is that Jennings, who took the unusual a preps-to-pros detour of a one-year stint in the Italian League, has said he will bypass the event for overseas-based prospects.

Slideshow   NBA draft: The top prospects A look at the top players available in the 2009 NBA draft. more photos

For some prospects, the exposure in late May and early June can be crucial. Tyler Hansbrough more than measured up to the challenge after his physical in Chicago. Luke Harangody displayed a skill set that could assure a first-round fate. Jack McClinton's stroke has been as sweet as it was against ACC competition.

But the system remains flawed. Guesswork continues as a major part of the process.

Clearly, the NBA doesn't have it figured out yet.

"Those people that really valued game competition thought Chicago was a waste of time," a team executive said. "They were asking 'Why are we doing this?' "

It is a question the NBA figures to be asking itself before charting its draft course for 2010, when the rules will change, and the evaluation process, for the second consecutive year, might dramatically change, as well.

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The NBA left Orlando this year.

But the Mickey Mouse sentiment remained.