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Given the circumstances with COVID-19, this year’s pre-draft process has been drastically different than most. To be honest, I’m not sure I fully understand the entire process that prospects go through in the average year. I definitely had no idea what things looked like behind the scenes this year.
Luckily, University of Maryland point guard Anthony Cowan Jr. joined us on the Bleav in Wizards podcast to walk us through everything. Cowan Jr. was a recent invitee to the NBA’s Draft Combine and has been busy interviewing with NBA teams over the last several weeks. The Washington Wizards were one of the 17 or so teams that he’s spoken to during that period. An embed is below or you can click here to listen to the episode.
Cowan Jr. explained what his workouts have been like and how he’s letting feedback from NBA teams help inform how he prepares. He explained how the NBA Combine worked this year as well as the interview process and what types of questions general managers are asking him. He also talked about how surreal it was to grow up a Wizards fan and end up interviewing for the team.
Cowan Jr. also told us about his draft night plans, what NBA teams and fans can expect from his former teammate Jalen Smith at the next level, and what he missed about not being able to compete against guys directly in workouts. I’m probably a little biased as a fellow Terp, but he’s a smart, mature young man and a hard worker so I expect him to make the most of his opportunities in professional basketball.
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Episode breakdown:
Patrick Williams’ rising draft stock - 1 min
Anthony Cowan Jr. joins the show - 6 mins
His draft prep and workouts - 7 mins
NBA Combine - 10 mins
Overall takeaway from four years at Maryland - 13 mins
Interviews with NBA teams (including the Wizards) - 17 mins
Growing up a Wizards’ fan - 18 mins
How he plans to spend draft night - 22 mins
What NBA teams and fans can expect from Jalen Smith - 27 mins
His own podcast, One Stop with Anthony Cowan Jr. - 29 mins