Indiana Pacers Host Draft Workouts with Taurean Prince, Diamond Stone, Kellen Dunham

The Indiana Pacers hosted another round of prospects for the 2016 NBA Draft, including Taurean Prince, Diamond Stone, and Kellen Dunham.

Another week brings another round of draft prospects working out with the Indian Pacers. As per usual, there is a draftee or two in this batch who will catch the eye of local college basketball fans. This time, it’s Kellen Dunham, who starred at Butler in his four-year career, and to a lesser extent, Jordan Loyd out of the University of Indianapolis.

With the draft almost a week away (June 23), decisions are going to be made soon. Things are starting to get serious. Let’s check out these draftees

Taurean Prince

Baylor University
Forward

Year: Senior
Height: 6’7.75″
Weight: 220
Wingspan: 6’11.5″
Last Season Stats: 15.9 PPG, 2.3 APG, 6.1 RPG, 43.2 FG%, 36.1 3P%
Draft Stock: Late First Round

Taurean Prince’s draft stock is right around where the Pacers are picking in the first round — and rightly so.

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He’s a versatile wing with a solid 3-point clip, finishing in the top 15 in the Big 12 in points, rebounds, blocks, and steals. He’s a plug-and-play guy who could easily spell Paul George for quality minutes at the 3, or be a scrappy 4 in a small-ball lineup.

His near 7-foot wingspan reeks of potential star defense under Dan Burke, and his overall athleticism could be molded into a guy who can be a two-way starter in the NBA. He probably isn’t going to tear up the league right away, but grabbing a guy like Prince late in the first round could end up being a steal with the right team. His draft stock is rising, but it’s likely that he’ll be available when the Pacers pick at 20. Will the Pacers be the team that takes the shot?

I don’t know, but if they do, they’ll pick up a guy who has the potential to be one of the funniest players in the league.

Diamond Stone

University of Maryland
Center

Year: Freshman
Height: 6’10.25″
Weight: 254
Wingspan: 7’2.75″
Last Season Stats: 12.5 PPG, 0.4 APG, 5.4 RPG, 1.6 BPG, 56.8 FG%
Draft Stock: Late First Round

A young guy with a lot of talent, Diamond Stone is the only freshman the Pacers were looking at in this round. Stone anchored a decent Maryland defense and was one of the featured players of a team that made it to the Sweet 16 before falling to #1 seed Kansas. Stone decided to forgo his sophomore season and opt in to the NBA draft, which is probably a smart choice given his draft stock.

Stone has the size to be a great NBA center. The problem is, he might have too much size. Measuring in at about 13% body fat would be good for the average person, but Stone is supposed to be an NBA player. He’s a project, as most freshman are, but with development on his game and body, his athleticism could shine and he could turn into one of the best prospects in this draft.

The center position may not seem like one of need for the Pacers now, considering new coach Nate McMillan’s stance on Myles Turner being the 5. Then again, with Ian Mahinmi’s market value undecided, the Pacers could end up really thin on rotational bigs. If they wanted to amend that problem in the draft, Stone might be the option with the most upside at pick 20.

Kellen Dunham

Butler University
Guard

Year: Senior
Height: 6’6″
Weight: 205
Wingspan: 6’5.5″
Last Season Stats: 16.2 PPG, 1.5 APG, 2.5 RPG, 43.8 FG%, 42.9 3P%
Draft Stock: Undrafted

What is there to say about Kellen Dunham? Not much. Obviously he lead the Butler Bulldogs to another tournament appearance last year, and he was revered around the Big East for his pinpoint shooting. He was named first team All-Big East as a junior, but with the rise of other Big East stars (including those on the eventual champion Villanova squad), Dunham missed the cut last year, only claiming All-Big East Honorable Mention honors.

His shooting is attractive, he’s gained 15 pounds over the last year, and he seems like he’s going all in on his future. Still, he probably isn’t going to hear his name on draft night. If you look at his other statistics (or watched him at Butler), you’d know that shooting is the only thing he’s really proficient in, and he’s probably not explosive or athletic enough to be able to consistently create shots at the NBA level.

Still, though, look out for him to try and make a Summer League roster in a month. And hey, maybe he’ll get on Bird’s good side.

Jordan Loyd

University of Indianapolis
Guard

Year: Senior
Height: 6’4″
Weight: 210
Last Season Stats: 20.9 PPG, 2.5 APG, 6.3 RPG, 50.1 FG%, 41.1 3P%
Draft Stock: Undrafted

Good for Jordan Loyd for getting a workout, I’m sure he had a great experience. The guy dominated at the University of Indianapolis, was a unanimous first team All-GLVC selection, and was overall one of the better guys in Division II.

But he was in Division II.

I hope the best for the guy, but expect little to nothing out of his workout. Root for him to find something in the Summer League, but it would be very unlikely to see Loyd in the Association anytime soon. Next.

Alex Poythress

University of Kentucky
Forward

Year: Senior
Height: 6’8.5″
Weight: 230
Wingspan: 6’11.25″
Last Season Stats: 10.2 PPG, 0.3 APG, 6.0 RPG, 60.1 FG%, 30.4 3P%
Draft Stock: Undrafted

A guy that probably should’ve considered leaving for the NBA sooner, poor play and injuries prevented Alex Poythress from emerging as a star at Kentucky. His size and wingspan leave room for potential, but based on what we’ve seen out of his overall game and his senior year, there isn’t anything that screams NBA talent from him.

He likely won’t hear his name on draft night, but the Indiana Pacers aren’t the only team that has hosted a workout with him in the past month. He’s been getting his name out there, so expect to see him sometime during Summer League.

For now, though, you won’t have to concern yourself too much with his name, unless he has an amazing July.

Goodluck Okonoboh

UNLV
Forward-Center

Year: Sophomore
Height: 6’9.75″
Weight: 227
Wingspan: 7’3″
Last Season Stats: 3.5 PPG, 0.3 APG, 3.0 RPG, 1.2 BPG, 38.1 FG%
Draft Stock: Undrafted

This one is … rather puzzling. Goodluck Okononoh, the guy who came into his sophomore year already underperforming in minutes and production from his freshman season, gets hurt six games in, is opting in to the NBA draft with an agent. Unless you guys are seeing something I’m not, I don’t know what this decision is about.

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Regardless, his wingspan is pretty solid for his height, and he seems to have the measurements of an NBA talent. But we have little to go on about whether he can produce even at the college level, let alone the NBA level. I don’t expect his name to be called next week, but I’m curious to see what happens here. If he has a good summer, maybe he’ll surprise us. Until then, he probably doesn’t need to be on your radar.

Final Thoughts

It’s pretty clear that Taurean Prince and Diamond Stone are the only players that you should be thinking about on draft day. This was likely one of, if not, the final draft workouts for the Pacers, as the big night is only eight days away. Prince and Stone both make sense on the Pacers in different ways, though they haven’t necessarily been on the radar of anyone in the Pacers fandom.

It’s easy to say that these draft workouts aren’t all that important and the Pacers may not even draft someone they invited to Bankers Life. This may be true, but keep in mind that a workout around this time last season held a certain player that we today know as starting big man Myles Turner. There have been a few talents that the Pacers have looked at over the past couple of weeks that make sense at picks 20 and 50, so these workouts definitely shouldn’t be something to ignore.

Whatever happens, we’ll know on June 23.