Source: Coach K holding first-ever NBA pro days for Duke in October

ByMYRON MEDCALF
September 14, 2016, 1:10 AM

— -- Duke?will host its first-ever pro days for NBA scouts and executives on Oct. 19 and Oct. 25 and block NBA scouts from attending practices the rest of this season, sources confirmed to ESPN on Tuesday.

The Vertical first reported that Mike Krzyzewski's program would host the two pro days next month and bar NBA personnel from attending future practices in 2016-17.

Duke is mimicking the model that John Calipari created when he hosted college basketball's first NBA-style combine prior to the 2014-15 season. More than 90 NBA scouts and execs attended the event in Lexington, Kentucky, which was broadcast on ESPNU. Kentucky?will host its third combine on Oct. 9 and 10.

Four Wildcats, including No. 1 pick Karl-Anthony Towns, were selected in the 2015 NBA draft and six Kentucky prospects were selected overall the summer after the program's first combine.

Duke could have similar success in the 2017 NBA draft. Harry Giles (No. 2), Jayson Tatum (No. 7), Marques Bolden (No. 13), Grayson Allen (No. 28) and Frank Jackson are all listed on Chad Ford's 2017 Big Board.

League sources told The Vertical they were concerned about the timing of Duke's events. The second pro day will be held the same night the NBA season opens and the events are six days apart. Kentucky's combine allows scouts to make one trip to Lexington since it's held on back-to-back days. But if Krzyzewski's intent is to limit the frenzy around his team by banning NBA personnel from practices following the pro days, this might be the right move.

Calipari said the combine helped his players learn where they stood in the eyes of NBA execs prior to the season so they could work on their weaknesses, and it also limited the number of scouts who attended Kentucky practices after the event.

"Instead of being five or 10 scouts in our practice, it just got lighter," Calipari told ESPN.com. "Now I'll have four teams in a week. We were having 10 teams in a day watching our practice and then it becomes a zoo."