Insider: How the Pacers decide who to pick in the NBA draft

Before he shakes the commissioner's hand Thursday night with a freshly unpacked blue-and-gold hat on his head, Indiana Pacers' scouts will have observed his skills as far back as a few days after last year's NBA draft.

He will have paddled out of the deep end of a pool of players chosen by the Pacers' scouting staff, then ascended to the top of the team's "pyramid" along with only two other prospects in the days before the draft.

His college career statistics dissected, his body inspected, his background checked — then double-checked — all before his invitation to the green room of Barclays Center. And if the Pacers don't trade the pick, he will have dodged a final obstacle to a new home in Indiana.

Finally, inside a party room at Bankers Life Fieldhouse that has suddenly fallen quiet, none other than team President of Basketball Operations Larry Bird will call his name for the 11th pick.

All 30 NBA teams have a specific plan of action that uses untold money, manpower and time to draft the perfect player. This is the Pacers' process.

NBA employment comes at a premium, and since there are only 15 roster spots available within the locker room, finding the right fit takes the collaboration of an entire basketball operations staff.

Front-office minds like General Manager Kevin Pritchard and Vice President of Basketball Operations Peter Dinwiddie hold pre-draft meetings with Bird, stay attached to their phones to conduct reconnaissance on how the top-10 picks might land and — even more intriguing — talk potential trades with other teams.

It takes overseers like Ryan Carr, the team's director of scouting, who has led the cadre of basketball emissaries for the past six years, pointing the ship in the right direction so that the team starts with a ranking of the best players in the world and ends with a handful of possible future Pacers.

And of course, it takes Bird, who has the final say.

"I think one thing we've all learned from Larry (is) making sound decisions and patience. He is reflected in the draft room," Carr said. "Until Larry says who it is, that's when the NBA gets told who it is.

"We try to have our work done. We have a plan. We execute. Draft night is about execution and I think that we all believe in that and get prepared for that."

Inside his office one week before the big day, Bird paused and considered his answer for far longer than it took to pose the actual question.

When do you turn your attention to the draft?

"Oh, Jesus. We do this all year," he ultimately countered. "You're not only watching the players you think are coming out, but the young kids that are coming in. It's an all-day deal."

During the NBA season, when he's not perched on his corner baseline seat on game nights or observing Pacers' practice when the team is at home, Bird studies the college game. He can't guess how many games he watches a year, only knows that his TV at home stays tuned to a college game every night. He's not randomly watching for kicks and giggles, either.

By the start of the season, the scouting staff has already ranked the top 60 (for every selection of the draft) for Bird to keep his eye on. And this select group washed ashore from an even larger wave of players.

NBA teams aren't allowed to attend AAU events, but there are a number of summer camps, mostly sponsored by shoe companies, for incoming college freshmen that scouts begin attending immediately following the NBA draft. They sit in the bleachers at these age-group tournaments across the nation as well as fly overseas for European competition, then attend games throughout the college season.

It is during this time when ballyhooed prospects like Kentucky big man Karl-Anthony Towns land atop every team's wish list and little-known names like Murray State point guard Cameron Payne come out of hiding.

"A lot of these under-the-radar type guys, we've known for a while due to these different camps and offseason games they participate in," said Dinwiddie. The Pacers jumped on the Payne bandwagon in earnest as far back as January.

While the Pacers hold preseason training camp, the scouts return to Indianapolis for staff meetings to trim the fat. Carr likens this method to painting a picture of a pyramid; a gigantic list of players comprises the base and, as the year continues, that number narrows. The difference between now and the last time they picked in the lottery — choosing some kid out of Fresno State named Paul George in 2010 — is that while the Pacers' core tenets have remained the same, Carr said analytics now play a larger role. With that knowledge, the staff prepares detailed reports and by the end of the NBA season, this paperwork leads to pre-draft discussions.

"I have mine with Kevin and Peter, and I'll go down there to see them guys (scouts), but I don't sit in that draft room all day," Bird said. "If you sit in there all day, they'll start asking who you like and if I say one name, then all of a sudden them guys like that guy. So, you've got to be very careful with that. Their job is to get me the information and when I ask a question, they've got to tell me — not about who I like, because I know how that works. Especially in this league."

By June, Carr turns into a matchmaker of sorts, playing ball with agents in order to book their clients for six-man workouts and meetings through the month.

Once here, the players undergo a medical evaluation while those who did not take part in the NBA combine are analyzed in strength and agility and anthropometric testing, which measures height, vertical and other physical features. The Pacers even conduct magnetic resonance imaging tests (MRIs) and those results factor into Bird's decision as much as any scouting report.

"You find out things and we do MRIs and we do different things and somebody says, 'How in the heck could they ever pass him?' Because our medical staff says you shouldn't take him," Bird said. "A lot of that happens and we've done that over the years. It'll say something about (how) Player A in three years could have a major issue with this problem. And we pass him. We can't afford to take a player who's just going to be with us a couple years.

"One thing I do listen to more than anybody else is my medical staff."

After the drills and tests, players take the court for three-on-three scrimmages, and while they appear to be a collection of strangers, they are invited for a reason. Take for instance the June 11 workout featuring Trey Lyles and Bobby Portis as well as two other frontcourt players. With a workout heavy on the bigs, the Pacers flanked them with point guards Shannon Scott and Jarvis Threatt, who served their purpose.

"That was our best group of guys as far as matchups," Bird said of the Lyles-Portis workout. "Sometimes you bring in guards, those second-rounders to play with them, just so you can see them move a little bit better and get the ball where they want to get it."

As much as the pre-draft workout looks like a make-or-break audition in front of the Pacers' coaches and staff, including venerated basketball consultant Donnie Walsh, who watches from a courtside seat, the day is far less intense than it seems. Though Bird watches for the fundamentals — boxing out, taking good shots, setting strong picks — he refuses to bury a player based on one performance.

"It's good to see, but like I tell my scouts, you can't go in there, see a kid and if he has a bad day, 'Oh well, he had an awful day,' " Bird said. "You don't bank everything on one workout. That's just not how it should be done. You go out here all year long and scout these kids 10-15 times, you watch them on TV, you write your reports and they come in here and play bad and all of a sudden, they can't play?

"I don't buy that, because the thing that I worry about, these kids come in here and I don't know where they were a couple of days before or how much they've been traveling or if they've got a swollen ankle from their last workout. It's good to have them in and talk to them and see them up close, but I don't put a lot of emphasis on it."

A week before this draft, Bird disclosed the team had narrowed the list to four players. By Thursday night, three will remain who fit the bill of what Bird looks for in a player: long, athletic types who can play multiple positions.

As much as the Pacers have prepared for all scenarios, during the draft an audible will almost certainly need to be called, players will fall and Plan Bs and Cs will be initiated. And inside the Pacers' draft room, the party will continue.

Bird revealed team owner Herb Simon "likes to bring some friends in there," and estimates more than 25 people fill the team's draft room. So while the crowd munches on catered Shapiro's — a draft night tradition at Bankers Life Fieldhouse — Bird prefers to steal some moments away in the quiet and comfort of his own office. There, he'll watch more clips on Synergy, a company that produces specific cuts of college and pro players, talk to other executives around the league and come to a resolution.

"I don't like all the noise when you're trying to make decisions. I like to hear it," Bird said. "I think the more people you have in there, the more — I ain't going to say problems, but you know, we have too many. That's always been the thing. It's not the distraction where you're going to make the pick you don't want to make, it's just that there's a lot going on."

Once on the clock, Bird informs the team of his decision, then Carr will phone in the name to the NBA. Moments later, Commissioner Adam Silver walks to the podium and announces the next Pacer. Only once does Bird recall making a last-second pick. It was 2009 and the Pacers had the 13th selection. Bird couldn't decide between Ty Lawson and Tyler Hansbrough. In the final ticks of the clock, Bird ultimately listened to his gut and picked for size. He chose Hansbrough, while the point guard Lawson went 18th, just before future All-Star Jeff Teague.

"We were rebuilding; we were changing the culture," Bird recalled. "I went with the guy who was going come there and bust his ass every night.

"Well, you know," Bird continued. "It is what it is."

This year, Bird plans to bounce between the solitude of his office and the busy draft room. And a well-dressed future millionaire inside the Barclays Center will have no clue how many challenges he has had to pass to become the next Pacer.

"When you come to work that day, (you ask,) 'Okay, what is going to happen today?' " Bird said. "Because everything changes in a minute."

Call Star reporter Candace Buckner at (317) 444-6121. Follow her on Twitter: @CandaceDBuckner.