Gregg Doyel

Jahlil Okafor would look great in an Indiana Pacers uniform. And Frank Vogel doesn't know who he is.

OK, that could be an exaggeration – but if it is, it's not my exaggeration. It's Frank Vogel's exaggeration. See, six hours before the Champions Classic tipped off on Tuesday night at Bankers Life Fieldhouse, I visited with Vogel in the arena's practice facility to ask about the big-time NBA prospects who would be on the floor – his floor – in a few hours. Wanted to know what he thought, where he'd be sitting, who he'd be watching.

Answers: Nothing, nowhere, nobody.

This is not to give Vogel a hard time. Well, maybe a little bit. The Pacers coach is a good guy and an honest one, and he's working so hard coaching his team and scouting others, he doesn't have time for the 2015 NBA draft. So if the Pacers' next first-round pick was here Tuesday night – and I like those odds – Vogel didn't know about it.

"I don't even know their names," Vogel told me. "If I'm watching basketball, it's an NBA game so I can see a team we'll play later like the Suns (the Pacers' opponent Saturday) or the Mavericks (Monday). And if I'm not watching the NBA, forget it. I'm with my family."

Fair enough. So here's what I did for you, Frank Vogel, and for all of you Pacers fans: I watched a half-dozen 2015 NBA draft lottery picks on Tuesday. Took notes. Talked to scouts in the building who asked to remain anonymous. Talked to former NBA players who made no such requests. The consensus:

Jahlil Okafor would look great in a Pacers uniform.

For now he fills out a Duke jersey with numbers that are scary – he's 6-11, 270 pounds –while prompting an observation that's even scarier:

He hasn't filled out yet.

"Lots of room to grow," says former Duke and NBA player Shane Battier, an ESPN analyst sitting courtside. "He's got a pretty good (lower) base, but he's going to get bigger in the upper body."

Mateen Cleaves, the former Michigan State point guard, said something scarier.

"He reminds me of Tim Duncan, Elton Brand," Cleaves told me. "A cross between the two."

Brand, I get. Another man-child as a Duke freshman, one I watched dozens of times for The Charlotte Observer. But Duncan?

"He has things you can't teach, things Duncan has," Cleaves said. "Soft hands, great court awareness, an overall calmness. Never in a hurry, always makes the right play, and he has the skill to do that."

Like the time Okafor had the ball on the block, palmed it in his left hand, brought it down low and palmed it with his right. He dribbled under the rim, and when his defender followed him, he spun back the other way, under the rim again. Poor Michigan State defender. Who was it? Couldn't tell you. By the time Okafor made the layup, he was all by himself.

Later Okafor spun for an offensive rebound, and as he was still turning, the shot by 6-6, 225-pound Duke freshman Justise Winslow – another projected lottery pick, for his explosion and body and ability to defend multiple positions – hit the glass, missed the rim and was gathering speed as it headed toward the ground. But the ball went right to Okafor's left hand, sticking there like a bug to flypaper. Another easy bucket. Next time down, Okafor's drop-step was so quick, so ridiculously explosive for a guy that size, the crowd was buzzing as his layup went in.

The Indiana crowd. Pacers fans, lots of them. But there were others in attendance, out-of-town visitors from Kansas and Kentucky – and from every NBA franchise. The media director of the Champions Classic, Charley Green, told me 57 NBA types obtained seats for Tuesday night, and that doesn't include the Pacers, who don't need to go through NBA channels since this is their arena. The NBA types were scattered throughout the building, like Wizards General Manager Ernie Grunfeld, wedged in the fourth row between a guy in Duke blue and one in Michigan State green.

Who was Grunfeld here to see? He wouldn't say. Couldn't. Probably couldn't narrow it down if he tried. According to Draft Express, four of the top five picks in the 2015 draft were at Bankers Life Fieldhouse – Okafor (1), Kentucky's Karl-Anthony Towns (3), and Kansas' Kelly Oubre (4) and Cliff Alexander (5).

Also in the building were projected pick No. 8 (Winslow), No. 10 (Willie Cauley-Stein of Kentucky) and No. 14 (Tyus Jones of Duke).

That's half the lottery, and 11 projected first-round picks overall. In the Pacers' building. In November of a season in which the Pacers are barreling toward a likely spot in the NBA lottery. That could change as players get healthy, guys like David West, George Hill, Rodney Stuckey, C.J. Watson and C.J. Miles. You know, the team's best players after Paul George. Even with a roster with significantly less basketball talent than what was in the building for the Champions Classic, the Pacers are 4-7 because they play so hard and are coached so well. Tanking isn't happening. Losing is, but not so much that the Pacers are guaranteed a spot in the 2015 lottery. A lesser coach and players with lesser heart would be 0-9 and losing some more for Okafor. Like the 76ers.

Instead the Pacers are playing hard and winning just enough to ensure Okafor, who averages 17.7 points in 26.7 minutes and shoots 83.3 percent (!!) from the floor and would look wonderful in an Indiana uniform, will look wonderful somewhere else. Good for the Pacers for always giving their fans -- and their opponent -- an honest day's work.

But I'm going to miss Jahlil Okafor.

Follow Star columnist Gregg Doyel on Twitter: @GreggDoyelStar