Carr's journey continues at combine

The next step in Tony Carr’s journey toward the NBA continues Wednesday.

With the draft lottery set for Tuesday evening, the former Penn State point guard will get his first extensive showing Wednesday in front of scouts, coaches and general managers at the combine in Chicago.

Offering some interesting insight into the process, former agent Matt Babcock detailed to Sports Illustrated Tuesday a look at what goes into the four-day combine.

As Babcock goes on to explain in his breakdown, this event is especially important to a player like Carr.

Unlike some of the other draft stars and likely lottery picks, Carr is coming from a Penn State hoops program with less exposure than blue bloods that routinely put players into the league. With much less tradition of NBA players in general coming out of Penn State, former Nittany Lion Calvin Booth the only to be drafted in the modern, two-round era, the context makes Carr's performance this week that much more important.

Given that he’ll be doing it in front of NBA head coaches and general managers, Penn State’s Patrick Chambers believes this to be Carr’s opportunity to put his best foot forward and earn a selection in June’s draft. Noting how frequently he and his staff had been in contact with a variety of NBA franchises, Chambers added his growing sense of confidence in Carr’s future.

“I've talked to a ton of teams and my staff has talked to a ton of teams, and our trainers talk and our strength coaches talk. So the fact that they're calling so often and so many teams are calling, I really like his chances to be drafted,” Chambers told reporters last week in Philadelphia. “I’m not sure where and what location. He'll determine that. He gets to go to the combine… he gets to go to some individual workouts that really prove what a great player he is, and I think he's up to the task. I think he's ready to go.”

At the New York stop of the caravan last week, Chambers explained why.

Coming off a first-team All-Big Ten selection as a sophomore, Carr helped lead the Nittany Lions to a 26-win season and an NIT championship. Along the way, he boosted his 3-point shooting to an outstanding 43.3 percent, finishing with 19.6 points per game to go along with 5.0 assists.

Having improved markedly across the board from his freshman to sophomore seasons, including a significant weight gain, Chambers believes that the dividends of Carr's performance are already paying dividends and, ultimately, will help the Philadelphia native achieve his lifelong goals.

“He did everything for us and it's going to be very difficult to replace him. But potentially him being drafted just sets a mark," said Chambers. "We have developed now two pros in the last four years, and that hasn't been done in a long time.

"So we can tell guys 'Hey, we know what it takes.' Look at Tony and look at what he's doing to put himself in this position, and we potentially could do that for you. We had a plan for Tony... and he stuck to the plan, he committed to it, and God-willing, he's going to see his dream come true.”

The NBA Draft Combine will be broadcast Thursday and Friday from 3-7 p.m. each day on ESPN2 and streaming on the WatchESPN app.