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There six five Mountain West players heading to the NBA Combine in Chicago this week. This combine does not get the same publicity as the NFL Combine but it is very important for those hopefuls to be drafted. There will be official measurements, team interviews and of course workouts.
There about 60 names who will be in attendance with the exception of a few of the top players like Kansas' Joel Embiid and Andrew Wiggins and Duke's Jabari Parker. For the rest of the crop whose draft status is unclear they will be in Chicago to improve on their stock.
With just 60 players getting invited this is a big deal for those in attendance, because it means that one's chance of getting drafted increases quite a bit. However, it is not guaranteed.
Below are the Mountain West players and here is the complete list:
Cameron Bairstow (New Mexico)
Khem Birch (UNLV)
Deonte Burton (Nevada)
Alex Kirk (New Mexico)
Xavier Thames (San Diego State)
Kendall Williams (New Mexico)
Of those six Mountain West attendees only UNLV's Khem Birch and Nevada's Deonte Burton are in DraftExpress.com's two-round mock draft. Birch is slotted at No. 57 and Burton at 39. In their top-100 prospects list New Mexico's Alex Kirk is No. 89, Cameron Bairstow is at No. 94, Kendall Williams at 96 and San Diego State's Xavier Thames comes in at No. 98.
Those latter four really need to impress at the combine and in their other pre-draft workouts to move up to be one of the top 60 players in this draft in hopes of hearing their name called come draft day.