Explosive Athletes Headline Tuesday's Workout

Six more prospects visited Bankers Life Fieldhouse on Tuesday, as the Pacers hosted their second pre-draft workout open to the media. Indiana owns the 11th and 43rd overall picks in the 2015 NBA Draft, which will take place on June 25 at Barclays Center in Brooklyn.

The player who drew the most attention from the local media was Notre Dame guard Pat Connaughton, an explosive athlete and two-sport star fighting to make the NBA. While Connaughton's name had the most local interest, Utah point guard Delon Wright and Texas forward Jonathan Holmes were the two players at Tuesday's workout most likely to hear their names called on Draft night. Both players are currently projected as either a late first or early second-round pick by most draft experts.

PHOTO GALLERY: Tuesday's Pre-Draft Workout »

Rounding out the prospects at Tuesday's workout were William & Mary point guard Marcus Thornton, Georgetown guard Jabril Trawick, and former Georgetown forward Greg Whittington.

Once again, Pacers head coach Frank Vogel led the workout, with help from all three of his assistant coaches. A large contingent from the Pacers front office observed the workout, including team president Larry Bird, general manager Kevin Pritchard, and Donnie Walsh.

I had the opportunity to speak with all six prospects during their visit to The Fieldhouse on Tuesday. You can watch those interviews in the video player above and read below for brief notes on each prospect.

As Pacers.com's Mark Montieth covered in greater detail, Connaughton's draft stock appears to be on the rise after an eye-opening performance at the NBA Draft Combine, where his 44-inch vertical leap nearly broke a combine record.

The 6-5 wing opened eyes with how well he tested at the combine and was a very productive player in all four years he spent in South Bend. A four-year starter, Connaughton's field goal and 3-point percentages improved every year, culminating with him shooting 46.6 percent from the field and 42.3 percent from beyond the arc as a senior. He also rebounded very well for his position, averaging 7.4 boards per game.

The Arlington, Mass. native admitted to being a little starstruck being around Larry Bird after "growing up in the Boston area where he is literally 'The Legend.'" But Connaughton isn't one to suffer from stagefright. He carries himself with a definitive swagger and confidence, but also proved during his time with the Irish that he's willing to make personal sacrifices to help the team succeed. But now, Connaughton is eager to prove that he has all the tools to be successful in the NBA.

"I think we were able to find a niche at Notre Dame where we were as efficient as we could be, we had guys doing what they did best and they didn't really have to stray from doing that," Connaughton said. "I think when you come to these workouts you want to show you can do things that translate to the NBA game such as use pick-and-rolls (and other things) I didn't have to do as much in college, such as handle the ball, slash to the rim."

As he prepares for the NBA Draft, Connaughton faces a unique connundrum. A two-sport star at Notre Dame, he's a promising pitching prospect with a fastball that flirts with triple digits and was drafted by the Baltimore Orioles in the fourth round of last year's draft.

For now, Connaughton has elected to put baseball on hold. He made it clear on Tuesday that his preference would be to play in the NBA and he's pursuing that dream to the fullest. But if it doesn't work out, he's got a pretty good backup plan.

Holmes, a 6-9 forward out of Texas, has the potential to develop into a valuable NBA player.

He is a good athlete who moves very well for a player of his size. He has the ability to rebound and block shots and was even a serviceable 3-point shooter in college, shooting 33 percent from beyond the arc over his last two seasons in Austin.

The biggest question facing Holmes is what position he will play long-term. He spent time at both small and power forward in college and could potentially carve out a niche at either position at the next level. Holmes' athleticism should allow him to defend small forwards, but offensively he may be of more value at power forward with his ability to stretch the floor.

"That'll be up to the coaches and the management to figure that out, what they think I would be good at, but I feel like I can play both (positions)," Holmes said.

Holmes' biggest focus over the next few weeks is to continue fine-tuning his shot. Though he defended well at the combine, Holmes made just 2-of-8 3-point attempts in a pair of five-on-five games.

Pat Connaughton turned plenty of heads with how well he tested at the combine, but Thornton also helped himself tremendously in Chicago. The 6-2 guard's 43-inch vertical was second only to Connaughton. Thornton was also the fastest player at the combine, running the 3/4 court sprint in a blistering 3.02 seconds.

Thornton's strong showing at the combine backed up his extremely productive play on the court at William & Mary. He graduated as the Tribe's all-time leading scorer, having amassed 2,178 points during his four years on campus. He averaged over 18 points per game in each of his final three seasons, including a career-best 20 points per game as a senior, when he was named the CAA Player of the Year.

Still, since he compiled those stats playing for a mid-major program, some scouts may have had questions about how well Thornton's game could translate to the NBA. Any questions about his athleticism were certainly answered at the combine.

"I know a lot of people maybe haven't seen my athleticism show as much in games," Thornton said. "I definitely want to show I'm capable of it, so I was just glad I was able to test well and I had a great time at the combine."

Though he has a bit of an unorthodox jump shot, Thornton scorched the nets during his time in college. He shot just under 44 percent from 3-point range as a sophomore and then topped 40 percent in both his junior and senior years.

The biggest question about Thornton's game is whether he's capable of running the point on a full-time basis. Because he was asked to shoulder such a heavy load offensively, Thornton didn't have a high assist total (he averaged a career-best 2.9 per game as a senior), but did rack up his fair share of turnovers (3.1 per game as a sophomore, though he got that number down to 2.3 as a senior).

Those numbers may be a cause for concern, but Thornton is a proven winner. William & Mary won just six games during his freshman season, but he helped spearhead a monumental turnaround that culminated in the Tribe winning 20 games in both of his final two seasons on campus and capturing a regular season conference title in his senior year.

Trawick didn't stuff the stat sheets during his time at Georgetown, but he was a valuable four-year contributor to the program. Though he was the team's third-leading scorer on last year's team (averaging 9.1 points and 3.6 rebounds per game), Trawick was the emotional leader of a Hoyas team that tied for second in the Big East.

Trawick possesses great size for a guard, measuring out at 6-4 and 218 pounds. In addition to his strong frame, Trawick showed marked improvement as a jump shooter in his final college season, improving his 3-point percentage from .312 as a junior to .407 as a senior.

Perhaps Trawick's best attribute is his toughness, something that was instilled in him at an early age.

"Growing up in Philly is tough," Trawick said. "I always played with the older dudes when I was younger, so you just get a certain grit and a certain toughness to you."

But behind all that toughness is a softer side. Trawick recently graduated from Georgetown with a degree in English and has a particular interest in the works of Shakespeare.

And yes, Pacers fans, he has a good relationship with Roy Hibbert. Trawick wore Hibbert's number 55 during his time in Georgetown and keeps regular contact with the Pacers center. The two even spoke on Labor Day, the day before Trawick worked out at The Fieldhouse.

"He just told me to go hard, be myself, whoever I go against try to outwork them so that's what I tried to do," Trawick said.

Trawick was reunited on Tuesday with Whittington, one of his former teammates at Georgetown. The two players were both part of coach John Thompson III's 2011 recruiting class.

Whittington, a 6-8 forward, played 20 minutes a game as a freshman before appearing ready for a breakout as a sophomore. In 13 games in the fall of 2012, he averaged 12.1 points and 7.0 rebounds per contest.

Unfortunately, that's when things started to unravel for Whittington. He was ruled academically ineligible for the spring semester and then tore his ACL that summer. A few months later, Whittington was dismissed from the program. He mulled transferring to Rutgers, but ultimately decided against it.

So Whittington entered Tuesday's workout as a great unknown, a player who hadn't seen significant game action in over two years. That experience gave him an added appreciation for the opportunity to work out for an NBA team.

"It means a lot," Whittington said. "It means that these two years I've been working hard and now my chance is right here, time to take it."

Of all the prospects at Tuesday's workout, Wright was the only one that Draft Express currently projects to be drafted in the first round. A 6-5 point guard with good size and an NBA pedigree, Wright has all the tools to succeed at the next level.

After two years at community college, Wright spent the last two seasons starring for the University of Utah. He was an All-American as a senior and won the Bob Cousy Award as the best point guard in the country after averaging 14.5 points and 5.1 assists per game while leading the Utes to the Sweet 16.

Wright's best attributes may come on the defensive end. He was an absolute menace from the point guard position, averaging 2.3 steals and 1.1 blocks per game during his two seasons in Utah.

"Just using my length against point guards," Wright said when asked about his defensive prowess. "I'm considered a bigger guard for my position, so I just want to use my length, get deflections, just do all-around defensive things."

The biggest knock on Wright is his jump shot, though he showed considerable improvement in that regard over the past year. He struggled mightily from beyond the 3-point arc as a junior, making just 12-of-54 attempts (22 percent). He bumped that percentage up to .356 as a senior, but there are still questions as to whether he can consistently knock down shots at the next level.

As he prepares for a possible career in the NBA, Wright can lean heavily on his big brother, Dorell, who just finished his 11th NBA season. Dorell, who is six years older than Delon, turned pro out of high school, so Delon has gotten to watch his brother succeed at basketball's highest level from an early age.

"Seeing him since I was in the 7th grade playing in the NBA has been really influential, I just want to follow in his footsteps," Delon Wright said.