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Published May 11, 2017
Caleb Swanigan measures in at the NBA draft combine
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Brian Neubert  •  BoilerUpload
GoldandBlack.com staff
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@brianneubert

Thursday marked the measurements portion of the NBA's draft combine in Chicago, with Purdue's Caleb Swanigan taking part for the second year in a row at the end.

Swanigan, a sophomore, has opted out of five-on-five play at the combine, with did physical testing, has spoken with NBA franchises and is expected to speak with the media on Friday.

Here's a look at how he fared in measurables Thursday.

Height (with shoes): 6-foot-8.5 (last year: 6-8.5)

Weight: 246 (last year: 247)

Wingspan: 7-foot-3.5 (last year: 7-3.5)

Standing reach: 9 feet (last year: 8-11)

Historical perspective on Swanigan's measurables: DraftExpress.com

What do Swanigan's measurables mean for his draft stock right now? Not much.

The NBA already has enough of a track record with him now — from his USA Basketball days to the McDonald's All-America events to various Nike events to last year's combine — that it knows exactly what he is. No one was looking at him this year wondering if he'd grown.

Swanigan's body type and style of play are not such that he needed to get bigger or stronger or anything like that over time, just slimmer and better conditioned.

That's where the significance may lie: His weight this week mirroring that from a year ago might allay whatever concerns there might have been - if there were any, and if there were, they were probably misguided — that he couldn't maintain the shape he worked himself into after getting to Purdue.

As for the other measurables, the NBA was not looking for him to check in as the tallest or longest post player at the Quest Athletics facility, understanding those things weren't going to change, certainly not in 12 months.

The eye-ball test will reflect better on Swanigan this time around, too, because even though his weight deviated just a single pound, the optics of his conditioning are even more favorable than they were a year ago. He's continued to reshape his body since last May.

For Swanigan, whatever athletic testing he does at the combine would matter far more than him than whatever the tape measure and scale can tell people.

And even the athletic testing is a situation where it might be more about easing concerns on scouts' part than displaying strengths. Lateral quickness, in particular, would seem like a hot-button metric for Swanigan.

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