Landry Shamet headlines the Pacers pre-draft workouts on Thursday

The Indiana Pacers had six players come to the St. Vincent Center for pre-draft workouts today. Here is what you should know about them.

The Indiana Pacers are looking at several options with the 23rd and 50th picks of the NBA Draft, which include the half-dozen players they brought it to the St. Vincent Center for pre-draft workouts on Thursday.

The Pacers brought in Jaylen Adams from St. Bonaventure, Marcus Foster from Creighton, Nick King from Middle Tennessee State, Yante Maten from Georgia, Brandon McCoy of UNLV, and Landry Shamet from Wichita State.

While picking 23rd doesn’t carry the same excitement as lottery picks, it’s worth noting players like Alex English, A.C. Green, World B. Free, and Tayshaun Prince came from that spot, as well as the Indiana University’s OG Anunoby last season.

Drafting higher would make Kevin Pritchard’s job easier, but Victor Oladipo and Domantas Sabonis showed us last season he has an eye for finding more than expected.

So what should you know about these guys?

Jaylen Adams — St. Bonaventure

Adams averaged 19.4 points, 3.4 rebounds, and 5.4 assists last season as the Bonnies’ primary ball-handler. He was a first-team all-conference player in the Atlantic 10 while leading St. Bonaventure to a 26-8 record. After beating UCLA, the Bonnies were bounced by Florida in the NCAA tournament.

His greatest assets are on offense as he can score and swing the ball around to teammates. He’s a good shooter — 43.6 percent on roughly six 3-pointers a game — but lacks top-level size athleticism as he only stands at 6’2.

Those drawbacks will matter more in the NBA in college, but he clearly showed his ability to play against top-level talent in college.

Marcus Foster — Creighton

Last season Marcus Foster posted 19.8 points, 3.9 rebounds and 2.7 assists with Creighton before they were bounced in the first round of the NCAA tournament by Kansas State.

Like Adams, his size leaves scouts wanting. He is 6’2 but does have a 6’5 wingspan (drink). But also like Adams, he is a solid shooter. In Foster’s case, he shoots 48.3 percent from the floor and 41.3 percent from deep on roughly seven attempts a game.

He isn’t a playmaker, but he can score with the ball in his hands and if comfortable when he needs to put the ball down. He’s a yin to Adams’ yang.

Nick King — Middle Tennessee State

Nick King bounced around from Memphis to Alabama before settling in at Middle Tennessee State last season. The small forward made the most of his one season there as he earned Conference USA’s Player of the Year award.

The first drawback is that he never averaged more than 7.2 points in those previous stops, though at least in Memphis he made the most of his minutes.

But he thrived at Middle Tennessaveragederarged 21 points on 49.5 percent shooting last season and a respectable 38.9 percent on his 3-point attempts.

The 6’7 forward averaged 8.4 rebounds last season, but Middle Tennessee missed out on the NCAA tournament hammering Vermont in the NIT. However, the Blue Raiders ended their season with a 25-8 record as Louisville dropped them in the next game of the NIT.

He’s a big man with some versatility and a wide wingspan, but that doesn’t make him a Swiss Army knife, either.

Yante Maten — Georgia

Another potential NBA forward at 6’8. Maten averaged 19.3 points and 8.3 rebounds with the Bulldogs last season while shooting 46.4% from the floor. Unlike his workout partners, his 34.1 percent average from 3-point range isn’t going to cut it in the NBA.

However, his 1.5 blocks aren’t a bad sign for his defensive prospects nor is his ability to rebound.

For what it’s worth, Sporting News’ Sam Vecencie thinks he is an underrated player according to DawgNation.com.

"“I’m on record in saying that I think he was one of the most underrated players in college basketball this year. I think he’s awesome,” said Vecencie, whose work appears in The Sporting News. “It’s kind of disappointing that more people didn’t know who he was.”So when Maten declared for the NBA draft on Thursday – without hiring an agent, thus leaving the door open to return to college – Vecencie understood why. There’s no real downside to exploring your options.Even then, however, it’s not clear-cut. As high as Vecencie is on Maten, he still only “tentatively” has the Georgia star in the 60s or 70s on his overall draft board right now. The NBA draft lasts 60 picks.“I think it would be possible for him to be drafted, absolutely,” Vecencie said."

Sounds like if Indiana were to take him with the 50th pick, he would absolutely need time in the G-League.

Brandon McCoy — UNLV

In Brandon McCoy’s one year of college ball, he averaged 16.9 points and 10.3 rebounds a game with the Rebels.

The 7’1 center averaged 54.5 from the floor but rarely attempted 3-pointers. But then again, he’s a huge dude with a 7’3 wingspan who at least averaged 33.3 percent on his nine 3-point attempts. Range won’t be his calling card, but that’s alright if he at least can make what few attempts he tries.

More from 8 Points, 9 Seconds

His game is smooth but still needs work. He played out of the post well enough at UNLV but needs to add more if he plans to score from there in the NBA. Part of those issues come from his lack of passing ability, but at least he can score for himself.

He served as a defensive anchor for the Rebels, as he very well should have with his size, but he still needs to improve his defense beyond what his God-given size and strength allow him.

He can finish around the basket and grab rebounds, so it isn’t as if he is nothing but raw potential. He can add to his game in the NBA, hopefully, but despite his double-double averages, he isn’t a finished product by any means.

Landry Shamet — Wichita State

We’re back to a guard after those bigs, and Landry Shamet offers off-ball playmaking and shooting. He averaged 48.9 percent from the floor and an impressive 44.2 percent on his nearly six 3-point attempts a game. He averaged 14.9, 5.2 assists, and 3.2 rebounds with the Shockers last season before they fell to Marshall in the NCAA tournament.

The 6’4 Shamet can make plays for his teammates which is arguably why he doesn’t have more points per a game. He was comfortable with making his teammates better while only attempting 9.8 shots a game.

He isn’t overly athletic, but he’s got great basketball IQ to help make up for that. That scares me because it reminds me of Georges Niang, but at the same time, Niang was on a two-way contract with the Utah Jazz last season, and Shamet has less questions around him than Niang ever did.

He may not be able to shake you off with his speed, but if he plays off his teammates well that will be less of an issue at the NBA level.

He’s certainly worth a late first-round pick if Indiana wants to take him at No. 23.

Check out Tony East’s interview with Shamet when he posts it late today.

So what do these invitees tell us?

For the most part, these were prospects for the Pacers to take with the 50th pick in the second round. However, Shamet obviously doesn’t fall into the category as he will be off the board sometime after the 20th pick of the draft. How far he falls is the only question.

All of those potential 50th picks offer hope as they either have raw skills like McCoy or put up solid numbers in their careers. It’s what you expect to find around the end of the second round. If I could have any of them, I’d take McCoy, but with the current rotation of Myles Turner, Sabonis, Thaddeus Young and potentially T.J. Leaf, that doesn’t appear to be Indiana’s biggest need, either.

Next: Tony East's case for signing Trevor Ariza

This was only the first round of invites that we know of, so far all we know is Shamet is one of their targets for that No. 23 pick.

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