Ryan Carr on the Pacers draft prep, pick 23, and valuing fit
Final preparations are underway at the St. Vincent Center in downtown Indianapolis as a dozen or so in player evaluation push to gather additional intel on players and who teams ahead of the Pacers may draft.\nAfter going 48-34 and losing a four-way tiebreaker to decide the draft order, the Pacers will select 23rd and 50th overall in the 2018 NBA Draft, which will be held Thursday evening at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn. ESPN will again be televising the two-round draft, which will begin after 7:00 pm ET.\nThe Pacers visited with players at the NBA Draft Combine in Chicago, the NBA Global Camp in Treviso, Italy, and 29 draft hopefuls who came to Indianapolis for a workout.\nThe pre-draft workouts are less about the workout and primarily about three things: 1) Getting to know them better, especially in an off-court setting over lunch, 2) Medical evaluation, 3) Building a relationship.\nVictor Oladipo is the star of the team, named to the All-Defensive First Team and Third Team All-NBA last month. He had a career year in his fifth season as a pro, a friendly reminder that it takes time and for a player to be in the right environment for a player to excel as Oladipo, the second overall pick in 2013, has.\nRyan Carr heads up the Pacers\u2019 365-day scouting operation. The Indiana University grad began with the franchise as a video intern for Larry Bird when he became head coach (1997), and then the Sumner, Washington native returned to the franchise when Bird became President of Basketball Operations in 2003.\nOne year ago, he was promoted from Director of Scouting to Director of Player Personnel.\nAs he joked on Tuesday, Carr was allowed out of his scouting cave to visit with media ahead of Thursday\u2019s draft, where they are looking for fit as much as talent.\n\u201cWe feel like we\u2019d like to build a team where the sum is bigger than the parts,\u201d he said. \u201cWhen a guy like Victor buys into that and is that kind of player and person, it really helps a lot.\u201d\nThis will be the first draft where Kevin Pritchard has been team president the entire year leading up to it. Bird stepped down and into an advisor role on May 1, 2017 and Pritchard was promoted. Bird enjoys watching basketball and evaluating players so he has been present for the six pre-draft workouts.\nWatch Carr\u2019s full comments, and read his answers to key questions below:\n\ufeff\n\nOn his feelings before the draft:\n\u201cThere\u2019s good players at 23. We\u2019re trying to figure out who exactly will be there, based on intel and what other teams like. It\u2019s a good draft. I\u2019d say it\u2019s a little deeper than probably what we thought at the start of the year as different kids emerge and show that they\u2019ve gotten better.\u201d\nOn Thad Young\u2019s Player Option and how not knowing his decision might impact what they do:\nNo, as far as I know, we don\u2019t [know what he\u2019s going to do]. I think in the draft, we\u2019re drafting in the 20s, you\u2019re trying to find the player that has the best chance to be an NBA player \u2013 at least a rotation player. I don\u2019t think you\u2019re too worried about trying to fit a certain guy in, not in the 20s.\nIf you look at the statistics over the year on hits and misses in the draft, you better pick the guy that you think has the best chance of having a career [in the NBA].\nOn whether there is an importance on drafting a player who ready to contribute:\nThis year, you\u2019re balancing one-and-dones with overseas guys with four-year college guys.