Do you want experience or potential? Do you want shooting or size? And then, of course, there is the question of whether the Celtics even want to make the pick at all.

But identifying the No. 3 pick, the Celtics’ pick, has been a much more confusing exercise. There is no obvious candidate, and the quest for clarity goes several picks deep.

NEW YORK — There was an enduring consensus Ben Simmons and Brandon Ingram would be the top two picks in the 2016 NBA Draft, and through workouts and interviews and rumors, nothing shifted that narrative.

They have made no secret of their willingness to trade the choice, most likely as part of a package for an established veteran. On Tuesday night, ESPN reported that Boston was consistently being rebuffed in its attempts to acquire a talented veteran such as Bulls All-Star Jimmy Butler, Jazz forward Gordon Hayward, or Bucks forward Jabari Parker.

But one league source said it remained too early to classify any of Boston’s overtures as a swing-and-a-miss, saying most discussions in the lead-up to the draft are simply “posturing.”


Still, there is a real chance that the Celtics will ultimately make a selection with the third overall pick rather than trade it, and if that is the case, it is all but certain that the yet-to-be-identified player was somewhere in a ballroom at the Grand Hyatt in Manhattan on Wednesday.

That is where all of the draft’s top prospects — many of whom had been shielded from interviews in recent weeks — gathered for media sessions.

Although the Celtics’ preference at No. 3 remains unclear — and it is entirely possible that president of basketball operations Danny Ainge has not even made up his mind — it seems the field of prospective picks seems to have narrowed to six.


The group includes Providence’s Kris Dunn, Oklahoma’s Buddy Hield, California’s Jaylen Brown, Washington’s Marquese Chriss, Kentucky’s Jamal Murray, and the 18-year-old Croatian, Dragan Bender.

Brown, a 6-foot-7-inch forward, was called back to Boston for his second workout with the Celtics on Monday.

“I think they’re definitely heavily considering taking me with the third pick in the draft, but I’m sure they brought some other guys in as well,” Brown said. “I don’t keep up with everything, but I’m glad they did bring me in.”

Brown, who made just 29.4 percent of his 3-pointers as a freshman last season, said he is working to show that he is capable of more, even from the deeper NBA 3-point line.

The Celtics run a drill in which players shoot a total of 100 3-pointers from five spots on the court, and Brown said that he made 76 of them — one of the higher numbers of this draft season — at his workout.

“I’ve been shooting it really well with a hand in my face, with competition etc.,” Brown said. “So it’s been going really well. I think a lot of people have low expectations of me shooting the ball, and I think it’s given me a little edge, because I’ve blown people away a little bit.”

Brown believes his defense is NBA-ready, and that his ability to guard four positions would make him an asset as a rookie.

Hield said the Celtics attended two of his workouts in Los Angeles, the first at a pro day open to all teams and the second an individual session that Boston controlled. The sharpshooting guard said he tried to quell the Celtics’ questions about his defense.


“I didn’t show many defensive abilities [last season], but I said my freshman year I played defense when I needed to get on the court,” Hield said. “In the NBA, guards are two-way players. If you want something so bad, you’ve got to go get it. I have the heart to do that.”

Hield was asked if he believes he should be the No. 3 pick of the draft.

“Why not? Why not me?” he said. “They need a shooter. You never know what the team’s GM and the organization wants, but I think I’m a perfect fit.”

Hield and Murray are similar players. Murray is just 19 years old and might have the higher ceiling, but Hield might be more ready to play right away. Much like Hield, though, Murray has worked to erase doubts about his defense.

“It’s something I want to improve on,” he said. “It’s not fake that I want to play defense. It’s something I take pride in, and when I get it done I want to be a two-way player like Klay Thompson.”

Dunn, meanwhile, has been something of an enigma over the past two months, declining to work out for any teams. There had been reports that his camp did not want him to be drafted by the Celtics because the team already has a deep and young backcourt that includes players with similar skill sets.


But Dunn, who is from New London, Conn., said he would love to play for Boston, and that he was not worried about a roster’s makeup.

“Situations like that, having a lot of guards, actually kind of helps you because you can get to see different types of players,” Dunn said. “You take some things from them and put it in your game and improve. And it’s gonna be a battle every day. I think that’s the exciting part, that I’m a competitor.”

Bender completed a workout with the Celtics in Boston on Tuesday, one of just three he took part in after arriving in the United States from Israel two weeks ago.

“It was a really good, really great workout, really great people around the club and everything was really cool,” Bender said. “It was great meeting those guys and just a chance to talk with them and work with them.”

The 7-1 forward has a unique skill set as a shooter and a passer and might be the most intriguing prospect in this draft class, but there are also questions, as he played just 14.5 minutes per game for Maccabi Tel Aviv last season.

Chriss worked out for the Celtics, too, and said he was impressed by the team’s coaching staff. He added that he would love to play with point guard Isaiah Thomas, a fellow Washington Huskie.

“They were interested,” Chriss said of the Celtics. “They liked the way I shot the ball. They didn’t really go in-depth about picking me or anything like that . . . I hope that they saw enough in me.”


No matter what the Celtics ultimately do with the third pick, it figures to be a long and eventful night; the team currently holds eight total selections, including the 16th and 23d choices in the first round.

Adam Himmelsbach can be reached at adam.himmelsbach@globe.com. Follow him on Twitter @adamhimmelsbach.