ESPN NBA Draft

ORLANDO, Fla. -- The first-ever Orlando pre-draft camp opened on Tuesday to a chorus of boos from NBA executives.

Many at the Milkhouse here at Disney's Wide World of Sports called it the worst pre-draft camp ever.

Why the dour faces?

Moving the event from GM-friendly Chicago to kid-friendly Orlando was a major topic of conversation. But what really bothered them was a perceived lack of talent here.

Of the 62 players here, only one, UCLA's Jordan Farmar, is rated as a first-rounder in Insider's Mock Draft.

And 15 players ranked No. 31 or lower in Insider's Top 100 chose not to play.

Two players, Texas' Daniel Gibson and Cal's Leon Powe, pulled out of the camp on Tuesday.

Thirteen other players not currently ranked by Insider as first-rounders also took a pass. They include Pittsburgh's Aaron Gray, Colorado's Richard Roby, UConn's Josh Boone, Cincinnati's James White, Michigan State's Paul Davis, West Virginia's Mike Gansey, Illinois' Dee Brown, Nevada's Nick Fazekas, Arizona's Hassan Adams, UCLA's Arron Afflalo, UCLA's Ryan Hollins and West Virginia's Kevin Pittsnogle.

Another, Texas' P.J. Tucker, was unable to play because of injury. Add in a number of international players who are elsewhere because of team commitments or visa issues, along with the 30 players ranked in the first round, and there are roughly 50 draft-eligible players who aren't playing in Orlando.

That leaves about 10 draft spots for the 62 players who are here.

The lack of talent at the camp led to some frank dialogue among executives at the league's competition meeting here on Monday. Several executives told Insider that there was discussion about potentially dumping the draft camps altogether because of the number of top players who refuse to play in them.

Other executives argued that NBA teams should do away with individual workouts, forcing prospects to play in front of everyone if they want to be drafted. Others argued for the elimination of private workouts, meaning that any team that has a workout must notify and invite every other team in the league to attend.

"The system is broken," one NBA GM told Insider. "We've got to do something. No decisions were made because, frankly, no one can agree how to fix it. The only thing we agree on is that the system as it stands is broken."

Don't buy into all of the pessimism, however. There are a number of players here who could make a NBA roster.

It speaks to the depth of this year's draft that, even with 50 players not here, I could easily come up with 10 players who could work their way up the draft charts with a great camp and another 20 who could be second rounders.

Who will NBA GMs be watching? Insider polled a dozen executives to get the names of the players they're most interested in.

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