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. After 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. The 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. The 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. Victor 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. Ryan Carr heads up the Pacers’ 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. One year ago, he was promoted from Director of Scouting to Director of Player Personnel. As he joked on Tuesday, Carr was allowed out of his scouting cave to visit with media ahead of Thursday’s draft, where they are looking for fit as much as talent. “We feel like we’d like to build a team where the sum is bigger than the parts,” he said. “When a guy like Victor buys into that and is that kind of player and person, it really helps a lot.” This 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. Watch Carr’s full comments, and read his answers to key questions below:  On his feelings before the draft: “There’s good players at 23. We’re trying to figure out who exactly will be there, based on intel and what other teams like. It’s a good draft. I’d say it’s a little deeper than probably what we thought at the start of the year as different kids emerge and show that they’ve gotten better.” On Thad Young’s Player Option and how not knowing his decision might impact what they do: No, as far as I know, we don’t [know what he’s going to do]. I think in the draft, we’re drafting in the 20s, you’re trying to find the player that has the best chance to be an NBA player – at least a rotation player. I don’t think you’re too worried about trying to fit a certain guy in, not in the 20s. If 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]. On whether there is an importance on drafting a player who ready to contribute: This year, you’re balancing one-and-dones with overseas guys with four-year college guys.