May 16, 2013; Chicago, IL, USA; Peyton Siva is interviewed during the NBA Draft combine at Harrison Street Athletics Facility. Mandatory Credit: Jerry Lai-USA TODAY Sports

The NBA Draft combine is currently happening today and Friday in Chicago where the recruits show off their skills and get poked and prodded.

This year 61 prospects were invited, but it is mostly for those in the lower two-thirds of the first round to move up as many spots as possible with a good showing. The “elite” players forego the workouts so their draft stock doesn’t fall if they have a bad shooting day or so they do not get injured. However, those players still get checked out and go through interviews.

In terms of what is done at the combine in the measurement area and skills, the players get their weight, height, body fat, wingspan, standing reach, handsize, and vertical leap measured. Additionally, they go through fastbreak, shooting, and timed drills.

According to the Arizona Republic’s Paul Coro the group that the Suns are sending to Chicago includes:

“McDonough (the new general manager), President of Basketball Operations Lon Babby, director of player personnel John Treloar, Vice President of Player Programs Mark West, head pro scout Bubba Burrage, college scout John Shumate, director of basketball administration Trevor Bukstein, team physician Thomas Carter and the athletic training staff of Aaron Nelson, Mike Elliott, Tom Maystadt and Tyler Wallace.”

They are trying to do all of this while figuring out who they should hire as the head coach to pilot this rebuilding ship.

These workouts don’t really affect the Suns’ first pick in the first round, but the final pick that Phoenix acquired from Miami through the Los Angeles Lakers.

The prospects at the end of the first round for the Suns will be discussed tomorrow.

Apr 7, 2013; Phoenix, AZ, USA; Phoenix Suns head coach Lindsey Hunter stands on the sidelines during the game against the New Orleans Hornets at US Airways Center. The Hornets defeated the Suns 95-92. Mandatory Credit: Jennifer Stewart-USA TODAY Sports

According to reports from Yahoo’s Adrian Wojnarowski, the new Suns general manager Ryan McDonough met with interim head coach for Phoenix Lindsey Hunter in Chicago. McDonough is there for the NBA draft combine this week.

Y! Sources: As GM Ryan McDonough meets with Lindsey Hunter for head coaching job, candidates emerging for Suns. tinyurl.com/avod8qf

— Adrian Wojnarowski (@WojYahooNBA) May 16, 2013

During the meeting, which is the first formal one with any candidate for the opening, they discussed the job.

Wojnarowski also reported that other candidates for the job are “Utah Jazz assistant head coach Jeff Hornacek, Moscow CSKA assistant Quin Snyder Houston Rockets assistants J.B. Bickerstaff and Kelvin Sampson and Los Angeles Lakers assistant Steve Clifford, among others.”

All of these people would be decent coaches, and the stakes aren’t as high as with a contender. The characteristics that the Suns would be looking for in a head coach is high-character, but mostly the ability to transfer that to his players, creating a determined work ethic. The coach should also be a talent evaluator that is a player’s coach so that the young guys that will be here during the rebuild will grow by leaps and bounds.

All of these candidates are assistants and haven’t been big names, but have been with winning franchises. So they will be able to work with the players, since they were assistants. Most importantly, whichever low-key candidate gets the job there won’t be any exaggerated expectations for the organization to disappoint the fans with like this season.

From what I have been hearing, Sampson will be the most coveted around the league by other teams, and would be one reason that he would be my choice to pilot the Suns in the coming years.