What's the point of promises in a draft? When a team says they will promise to pick you....... Is this supposed to be reassuring or something? Make the draftee feel special....... I mean can the draftee say no to the drafter???
I think the idea is supposed to be that the team promises to draft that player, and the player in return stops workouts with other teams to minimize the chance that another team will draft him before the promising team has a chance to draft. I don't think it happens nearly as much as draft rumors would have you believe. If every draft promise rumor was true, the promises have been broken so often that no team's word would mean anything anymore. Besides that, it doesn't make much sense to make promises. It makes some sense for the player who has a big interest in what team he plays for but very little power in the decision. But, it doesn't make sense for the team that has all the power to choose to handicap its own decision-making for a small insider information benefit. It might make sense, though, to leak false rumors of promises to give other teams misinformation about who you're drafting.