Zak Irvin was in his comfort zone on Tuesday morning. The former Hamilton Southeastern star and Indiana's 2013 Mr. Basketball worked out for his hometown Pacers in a familiar gym.
"It's always nice coming back home, playing in Bankers Life," Irvin said. "I've played a lot of games in here, so it's good to be back out here.
"It brought back some memories for me."
Though Irvin was an Indiana high school basketball star playing alongside 2012 Mr. Basketball Gary Harris (they were the first teammates to ever win the honor in back-to-back years), some of his best memories came from his four years at Michigan.
His freshman season, the Wolverines reached the championship game of the Big Ten Tournament at The Fieldhouse. Two years later, Irvin hit a game-winning shot to lift Michigan over Northwestern, then scored 17 points the next day to help his team knock off top-seeded Indiana in the Big Ten quarterfinals.
Then there was this spring, when the seventh-seeded Wolverines knocked off 10th seed Oklahoma State and second seed Louisville in a pair of NCAA Tournament games in Indianapolis to advance to the Sweet 16.
Those two victories were the culmination of a fantastic month of March for Michigan, which also captured the Big Ten tournament title in Washington, D.C. The impetus for the team's success was the elevated play of their two seniors, Irvin and Derrick Walton, Jr. (who worked out for the Pacers two weeks ago), over the final month of their college careers.
Irvin was extremely efficient for the Wolverines in March, averaging 14.7 points and 5.0 rebounds on 57.7 percent shooting. He wasn't always the team's leading scorer, but he was the player they trusted to come through in the clutch, like when he converted a layup to force overtime against top-seeded Purdue in the Big Ten Tournament, then converted two more key shots in the extra session to bury the Boilermakers.
"We knew that our time at Michigan was coming to an end and we just wanted to make the most of it each game," Irvin said. "Derrick and I really just put the team on our shoulders, and that's what seniors do."
Irvin is now hoping to carry over the momentum from his strong finish to his senior season as he auditions for NBA teams.
"I've got the mentality that every workout I go to is a job interview," he said. "I've got to just go out there and play my game and let my game speak for itself."
Measuring at 6-6 and 211 pounds at the Portsmouth Invitational Tournament in April, Irvin has the size to play on the wing in the NBA. He thrived in a variety of roles defensively at Michigan, where he held his own whether guarding perimeter scorers or talented post players like Purdue All-American Caleb Swanigan.
Irvin was primarily a spot-up shooter in his freshman year at Michigan, when all but 50 of his 196 field goal attempts came from beyond the 3-point arc. Irvin shot 42.6 percent from long range that season and said he could see himself playing a similar role in the NBA, as a "3-and-D" specialist.
Irvin added more versatility to his offensive game later in his college career. He averaged 4.5 rebounds and 3.0 assists per game as a senior, when he also had a career-best .453 field goal percentage, with fewer than 37 percent of his shots coming from 3-point range.
The Fishers native does not appear in most mock drafts, but even if he doesn't hear his name called on draft night, he seems to have the size and skill set to get a close look from an NBA team in Summer League and training camp. He could also possibly be a candidate for one of the new two-way contracts that will allow teams to develop two young players in the G-League (formerly the D-League) while retaining their NBA rights.
Might the Pacers take a chance on Irvin? If so, he certainly wouldn't need directions to the arena.
Motley Makes an Impression
Only one of the six prospects at Tuesday's pre-draft workout — the sixth such workout the Pacers have held in preparation for the 2017 NBA Draft on June 22 — seems like a sure bet to get drafted. That player is Baylor big man Johnathan Motley.
Motley was named a second-team All-American by the Associated Press as a junior at Baylor, where he averaged 17.3 points and 9.9 rebounds per game while shooting 52.1 percent from the field.
Most draft sites project Motley, who stands 6-9 with a 7-4 wingspan, as an early second-round pick with a chance to climb into the first round with a strong showing in workouts. DraftExpress currently has him coming off the board as the 38th overall pick, while NBADraft.net tabs him as the 40th overall selection.
Motley, who redshirted his first season at Baylor, dominated the competition at times in his fourth year in college. He led the Big 12 in rebounding and ranked fourth in the conference in scoring, racking up 15 double-doubles on the season and often posting stat lines that seem like something out of a video game. His personal favorite? A 32-point, 20-rebound performance in a win over Texas on Jan. 17.
Motley demonstrated a versatile offensive game in college, with an ability score on the block or with a developed face-up game. His biggest strength was his ability to crash the offensive glass, where he used his sturdy frame — Motley estimated he put on 30-35 pounds during his time at Baylor — to brush aside opponents and collect nearly four offensive rebounds per contest.
Motley did not rely heavily on his jumper in college, but he did start to implement the 3-point shot as an occasional weapon in his final year at Baylor, when he converted 9-of-33 attempts from beyond the arc.
An underrated development in Motley's game as a junior was his passing ability. After only tallying a total of 53 assists in his first two college seasons, Motley dished out 79 in 2016-17 (2.3 per game), an impressive total for a scoring big man.
"I think it was just the double teams," Motley said of his newfound skill set. "I just got double-teamed and triple-teamed a lot, so I had to find open guys."
Defensively, Motley has the body to succeed in the modern NBA. He was not much of a shot-blocker in college (only 1.1 per game), but has the athleticism to switch on to smaller players in pick-and-rolls, something that NBA post players are starting to be asked to do with much greater frequency.
On Tuesday, Motley said that he thought he would fit well in the Pacers frontcourt playing alongside Myles Turner, another Texas high school product and a former opponent of Motley's in the Big 12.
"It would be awesome," Motley said. "Myles Turner has the ability to knock down the open shot, I do have the ability to knock down the open shot. So it would be (a) really good (fit) spacing-wise. He's a great rim protector and plays above the rim. I play above the rim.
"I think we would complement each other, the way that I pass, hitting him up for lobs and (finding) him out for threes."
Roommate Reunion for Long, Niang
Pacers forward Georges Niang was an interested observer at Tuesday's workout, sitting in on shooting drills during the portion of the workout open to the media.
The reason? The Pacers were working out Naz Long, Niang's roommate for each of his four seasons at Iowa State.
"That's my best friend, my brother, my roommate for four years," Long said. "So to be here while he's a Pacer, it's something we talked about when we were freshman, about making the NBA. He finally did it, now I've got to do my part and continuously work.
"For him to be out here in the stands, it shows who he is as a person — high character and he supports his guys."
Though they came to Iowa State in the same recruiting class, Long spent an extra season in Ames after taking a medical redshirt in 2015-16 to recover from hip surgery.
He bounced back with a standout senior season, when he averaged 15.1 points, 4.6 rebounds, and 2.7 assists per game. Long shot 47.3 percent from the field and 38.4 percent from 3-point range on the year, helping the Cyclones to their third Big 12 Tournament title in four years.
Standing just under 6-4 in shoes, Long was recruited to Iowa State as a point guard, but willingly moved off the ball for most of his college career. In the pre-draft process, Long is hoping to show teams that he has the ability to man either guard position.
He helped himself with a strong showing against fellow seniors in Portsmouth. He was the fourth-leading scorer in the three-game tournament at 18.3 points per game, while also dishing out 4.0 assists per contest.
"I can definitely play the point guard, I can definitely play the two guard," Long said. "I'm a little bit smaller at the two, but with guys like Patty Mills, J.J. Redick (and) Cory Joseph playing off the ball...that's a role I can play as well. I can create for others, guard people, and make the three."
One thing that Long has that NBA teams love is toughness. The son of a former professional kickboxer, Long has always prided himself on the way he competes every possession.
"I take pride in being competitive, strong, and aggressive on the court," Long said. "I'm not the most athletic. I'm not freakishly long or tall. So I have to use that heart and that desire and that fight to win my edge in the 50-50 balls and be that competitor on the court."
Proven Scorers Hoping to Find a Fit in the NBA
The last three players to take part in Tuesday's workout were all gifted scorers in college: LSU guard Antonio Blakeney, UCLA guard Isaac Hamilton, and Texas A&M-Corpus Christi big man Rashawn Thomas.
Blakeney turned pro after two seasons in college. The 6-4 guard came to Baton Rouge in a heralded recruiting class that included his AAU teammate Ben Simmons, the top overall pick in last year's draft.
After Simmons departed, Blakeney emerged as the Tigers' top offensive option as a sophomore. He finished the season fifth in the SEC in scoring at 17.2 points per game, shooting 45.8 percent from the field and 35.8 percent from 3-point range.
Blakeney had a number of big games in college, like on Feb. 7 at 15th-ranked Kentucky, when he had 31 points and five rebounds while going 12-for-19 from the field and 4-for-7 from 3-point range. But LSU had a horrid season, dropping 17 of their final 18 games and putting a bit of a stain on Blakeney's excellent numbers.
While he admitted that it was a trying season, Blakeney still felt that he improved considerably over the past year. He nearly followed Simmons to the draft a year ago, but believes he made the right decision going back to school for another year.
"My ball-handling has gotten better, my range has gotten deeper," Blakeney said. "I've gotten strong as a player, being able to get to the rim and use my athleticism."
Though he was not invited to the combine and does not appear in many mock draft projections, Blakeney remains confident that he can impress a team in the workout process with a more well-rounded approach.
"People know what I can do on the offensive end," Blakeney said. "So (I'm) just trying to show my athleticism on the defensive end."
Isaac Hamilton was a great college scorer in his own right. The 6-5 guard led UCLA in scoring as a junior, averaging 16.8 points per game.
His scoring average dropped to 14.1 points per game (fourth-best on the team) as a senior, as the Bruins brought in a loaded recruiting class that featured three likely first-round picks in Lonzo Ball, T.J. Leaf, and Ike Anigbogu.
Hamilton's numbers may have taken a dip playing alongside so much talent, but he was still capable of dominating on any given night. Take, for instance, his 33-point outburst in a win over Arizona State on Jan. 19, when he drained nine 3-pointers to match a school record set just a week earlier by fellow senior Bryce Alford.
Hamilton's scoring prowess should translate to the next level, but he knows that his ability to stick on an NBA roster will hinge on his ability to guard.
"I think guys coming in, you don't get the keys right away," Hamilton said. "You have to kind of earn that spot and I think you earn it on the defensive end."
In addition to the bevy of UCLA players currently going through the pre-draft process (Hamilton was the fourth Bruin to work out for Indiana, following in the footsteps of Alford, Anigbogu, and Leaf), Hamilton also has several people in his own family who can offer him guidance.
Three of his brothers currently play professional basketball and two of them were drafted (older brother Jordan with the 26th overall pick in 2011 and younger brother Daniel was the 56th overall selection in 2016). Isaac Hamilton is hoping he can follow in his family's footsteps in a couple of weeks.
Thomas was the least known player at Tuesday's workout, having spent four years playing in relative obscurity in the Southland Conference. But he put up monster numbers in college, where he was the nation's 12th leading scorer as a senior, when he averaged 22.5 points and 9.0 rebounds per game.
Thomas had his way with lower level competition, shooting 52 percent or better in each of his four seasons with the Islanders. He is hoping to prove he can maintain those numbers against a higher level of competition. He got off on the right foot in Portsmouth, where he converted 16-of-22 shots in three games.
"Me coming from a smaller conference school, I've got to kind of show what I've got against the power five conference guys," Thomas said. "I've got to really compete out here."
The Southland Defensive Player of the Year in 2016, Thomas averaged 2.0 blocks and 1.6 steals per game as a senior. He is a little small for a post player at just under 6-8 in shoes, but possesses the athleticism to possibly make up for what he lacks in height.
One interesting development in Thomas' senior season was the the emergence of a 3-point shot. He took just 33 total threes over his first three years in school, but knocked down 14-of-37 treys (37.8 percent) as a senior, suggesting that he could grow into a stretch-four role if he continues to hone his shot.