Scoring Guards, Athletic Bigs On Display at Monday's Workout

The Pacers hosted six prospects at Bankers Life Fieldhouse on Monday for the first pre-draft workout open to the media. Head coach Frank Vogel and assistants Nate McMillan, Dan Burke, and Popeye Jones led the players through the workout, which featured agility drills and closed with some three-on-three work.

The Pacers still don't know where they're picking in the draft, which will take place at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn on June 25. The exact draft order will be determined tomorrow night at the NBA Draft Lottery. Indiana is currently slotted to have the 11th pick in the first round with a 2.9-percent chance of jumping into the top three. The Blue & Gold will also have either the 42nd or 43rd overall selection in the second round.

PHOTO GALLERY: Monday's Pre-Draft Workout »

Monday's workout featured four talented scoring guards and a pair of athletic big men, all ranked among the top 55 prospects in the latest mock draft from Draft Express. Murray State's Cameron Payne and Notre Dame's Jerian Grant, both point guards, are currently projected to go in the first round of the draft. Draft Express projects the other four players, guards Olivier Hanlon (Boston College) and Joseph Young (Oregon) and forwards Rakeem Christmas (Syracuse) and Richaun Holmes (Bowling Green), to be picked in the second round.

I had the chance to interview all six prospects for Pacers.com (you can watch the interviews in the player above). Below are a few notes on each player.

Christmas had a breakout performance at last weekend's NBA Draft Combine in Chicago. He measured out at nearly 6-foot-10 in shoes with a frighteningly long 7-foot-5 wingspan. But Christmas really turned heads with his play on the court.

Christmas dominated in five-on-five games on Thursday, scoring 20 points on 7-of-10 shooting and collecting six rebounds in 29 minutes of action. The next day, he tallied another 19 points and six boards in 26 minutes. Those two performances have sent his stock soaring.

"I was just out there having fun and playing my game," Christmas said. "I mean, it was a great experience. Not a lot of people get to go out there and play. So, I just went out there and everything was falling for me."

Christmas was a late bloomer at Syracuse. Though he played a significant role for the Orange as an energetic shot-blocker and rebounder in his first three years on campus, Christmas took on a much heavier scoring load as a senior. His scoring average rocketed from 5.8 points per game as a junior to 17.5 in his final year collegiate season.

An explosive athlete, Christmas has always had the raw talent to succeed at the next level. The consummate teammate, he was content to play a supporting role on loaded Syracuse teams that featured several players currently in the NBA (Michael Carter-Williams, Dion Waiters, Tyler Ennis, and Jerami Grant). But over the past year (and especially the past week), Christmas has shown that he's also comfortable in the spotlight.

It's been a whirlwind week for Grant. He traveled to Chicago last week for the combine, then headed back to South Bend yesterday to attend his Notre Dame graduation before heading back down to Indianapolis.

In Chicago, Grant measured out at a little over 6-foot-4 in shoes, good size for a pure point guard. Grant uses that size well on the offensive. He's an excellent passer and rarely turns the ball over. Over his career at Notre Dame, he showed great improvement at finishing around the basket (he shot 57-percent from inside the 3-point arc as a senior).

The biggest knock on Grant is his outside shot. He shot a pedestrian 31.6-percent from 3-point range last season, and is well aware that he needs to demonstrate an improved stroke at the next level, saying that's an area where he hopes to display "more consistency" over the next month.

"I think knocking down shots at a high clip is something that I’m definitely going to need to use in this league," Grant said.

Still, Grant's polished point guard skills have him currently projected as a mid-first round pick (ESPN.com's Chad Ford currently ranks Grant as the 17th-best prospect in the draft).

As he goes through this process, Grant can lean on several people in his inner circle who know what he's going through. Grant's father, Harvey, played 11 years in the NBA. His uncle, Horace, was in the league for 17 seasons. Jerian's younger brother, Jerami, just finished his rookie year with the Philadelphia 76ers. And at DeMatha Catholic High School just outside of D.C., Jerian Grant was high school teammates with former Indiana University All-American and current Orlando Magic guard Victor Oladipo, who he texts with "almost every day."

"He's just talking me through it, wishing me luck, telling me what to expect, and to really just go out there and compete and play as hard as you can and you know, that'll stand out," Grant said.

Jerian Grant faced a lot of great players over his career at Notre Dame, but he said the toughest player for him to guard was Olivier Hanlan. Hanlan, a 22-year-old Canadian combo guard, proved himself as an elite scorer in his three seasons at Boston College.

He averaged over 15 points and 34 minutes per game in all three years with the Eagles, boasting career-best averages of 19.5 points and 4.2 assists as a junior before electing to turn pro. Hanlan played primarily at the shooting guard position in his first two years at BC, but moved back to point guard (his natural position) as a junior after a coaching change.

"It was great having the ball a lot more and different reads, playing a lot off the ball screen, a lot of ball screen looks and making plays for my teammates," Hanlan said. "I really improved a lot when it came to that aspect of the game."

Hanlan can more than hold his own on the court, but he apparently made a lasting impression off the court on several teams at last week's combine. Just look at this tweet from venerated NBA scribe Adrian Wojnarowski:

"I was just being myself to be honest," Hanlan said of the interview process. "I had some great conversations with many different teams. Everybody's kind of stressed out at first, you're not used to meeting with NBA teams but I enjoyed it, I had good times, a lot of laughs."

Holmes was the most anonymous player at Monday's workout, largely a reflection of playing in the MAC as opposed to a high-major conference. But he's been making a significant impression on scouts over the past month.

The 6-foot-9 forward has attended both the draft combine and the Portsmouth Invitational Tournament (a pre-draft camp for the top college seniors in the country) in recent weeks. At both events, Holmes showcased an elite athleticism that should allow him to be at minimum a strong rebounding and shot-blocking specialist at the professional level.

If he wants to stick in the NBA, Holmes might want to demonstrate an added dimension to his game. One area where he has shown promise is with his shooting stroke. He took a little over one 3-pointer per game as a senior at Bowling Green and connected on 42 percent of his attempts from beyond the arc. Holmes is actively working to continue developing his shot to adapt to the longer NBA 3-point line.

"I definitely think that’s something I can do," Holmes said. "I have the capability to do that and I'm working on it as we speak to become that pick-and-pop guy spacing the floor."

Holmes had a mini-reunion of sorts on Monday with Pacers forward Shayne Whittington, who just finished his rookie year with Indiana. Holmes and Whittington had several memorable battles in the post when Whittington was at Western Michigan, another MAC school.

Whittington was at Bankers Life Fieldhouse during Monday's workout and took some time to catch up with his old college rival.

"Shayne is an incredible player," Holmes said. "Back at Western Michigan, I always enjoyed competing against him. So I'm glad he's doing well."

Payne is sky-rocketing up mock draft boards, jumping up to 11th (coincidentally where the Pacers are currently projected to pick) on Chad Ford's latest prospect rankings.

Pacers.com's Mark Montieth chronicled Payne's journey from receiving little attention coming out of high school to emerging as a media darling.

Whether he's a good fit for the Pacers on the court remains to be seen, but I can promise that no one in the local media will complain if Payne ends up in Indiana. The play-making point guard was a great quote with an outgoing personality, staying late for several one-on-one interviews.

"It's great to finally be noticed, but it just builds my confidence and makes me go harder," Payne said about all the attention he's receiving, before tacking on another sentence with a mix of sincerity and humor. "So I really appreciate everyone looking at me and starting to realize Cameron Payne is actually a good player."

Payne was also excited to get to interact with Pacers assistant Popeye Jones, who starred at Murray State from 1989-92. The two former Racers immediately bonded.

"He definitely was down here helping me on the defensive end and coaching me up," Payne said. "Murray State, we stay strong, so I really appreciate him being here and helping me out."

Young might have been the most gifted scorer at Monday's workout. The 6-foot-2 combo guard averaged 18 points per game or better in each of his final three collegiate seasons, and shot better than 41 percent from 3-point range as both a sophomore and a junior.

The biggest question mark surrounding Young is what position he can play at the next level. He played almost exclusively at shooting guard in college, both at Houston (where he spent two seasons before transferring) and Oregon. But Young is a little too small to play at the 2 at the next level, so he's hoping to show NBA teams that he's able to make the transition over to point guard.

"I’m versatile and a scorer," Young said. "(But also) I can distribute and be a good leader."

There's no better evidence of Young's leadership than what he did early in his senior year at Oregon. The Ducks got off to an up-and-down start, dropping three of their first eight games. So Young took it upon himself to organize early morning meetings with the freshmen on the Duck's roster.

For two straight weeks, Young met the freshmen every morning at 8:00 a.m. for what he called "Joe's Chalk Talk," where they went over plays and discussed what they needed to do to get better.

Those "Chalk Talks" paid off. The Ducks reached the NCAA Tournament and advanced to the second round, where they held their own against top-seeded Wisconsin (Young scored 30 points in the loss to the Badgers). Young was named Pac-12 Player of the Year.

But despite the accolades he's received, Young feels like he's still being underestimated by scouts who might dismiss him as too small or not a true point guard.

"I've been overlooked all my life and I just continue to work," Young said. "All it does is it fuels me as a person and it helps my character."