There’s a good reason that Admiral Schofield, at 6-foot-4 and 240 pounds and thus not an automatic fit in any NBA position, has a lot to prove in pre-draft workouts like Monday’s for the Celtics.

“Sometimes they see a picture of me and they think I’m just a bodybuilder,” said the Tennessee forward who, due to his powerful build, has been compared more than once to a young Jae Crowder.

“It’s just great to be able to go out there and show them that I can move, I can guard, I can run, I can jump, and do different things, and especially shoot the ball well,” he said. “Also, just go out there and compete, get better. I think this is my third workout. So every workout, just try to get better, take little things from certain workouts and take them to the next one and just continue to get better. Just try to raise my stock as high as I can.”

As Schofield can attest after three workouts, there will be some uncomfortable moments along the way that have nothing to do with basketball.

“Travel is tough, especially when you get the middle seat,” said Schofield. “When you get the middle seat on the plane that’s no fun. Honestly, it’s no fun. Other than that, it’s been great, very enjoyable for me, coming from the area I come from, me and Milik (Yarbrough). It’s just great to be in this position, to be able to show who Admiral Schofield is but also represent my city, but also my family. But also like I said just going out and competing. Going to different facilities, different NBA teams that you grow up watching, it’s a dream come true.”

Yarbrough, the Illinois State forward who was Schofield’s high school teammate in Zion, Ill., was also part of Monday’s workout, along with Jordan Bone, who played with Schofield at Tennessee.

The familiar faces may have helped Schofield settle in for a lively scrimmage Monday, but this is clearly a player who needs little help in the area of motivation. Though considered a late first-round or early second pick, it’s difficult to imagine him drifting off the Celtics’ radar.

Ignore, also, the fact that Schofield is part of a dying NBA breed as a four-year college player.

“I’ve gotten better each year shooting the ball, defending, being more versatile every year. I went from starting at the 5 my freshman year to playing 3 and 2 in my senior year, that’s the progression,” he said of his versatility. “And the biggest thing for me is just continue to progress. Come into an organization, accepting the role that they give me, and being an All-Star in my role. My biggest thing is not coming in trying to score or be a superstar, I just want to help the organization and the team win. That’s my biggest thing, I’m a winner. And that’s what I instilled in Tennessee, that’s what I helped build, that foundation of winning. And that’s what I want to continue doing at the next level, I want to keep winning and be an attribute to winning.”

Experience counts

Monday’s workout highlighted a lot of tournament experience. Schofield and Bone took Tennessee to the Sweet 16, and an overtime loss to Purdue. Virginia’s Ty Jerome was starting point guard on a national championship team.

“It’s a credit to Virginia, not just a credit to me,” said Jerome. “One reason I chose to go to Virginia was because of how family-oriented everyone was. To have a loss like that, a historic loss, and no one pointed fingers – instead we all responded – was a credit to the culture the coaches built at Virginia. Everyone fell in line, and that’s why I enjoyed my experience so much and fell in love with the school, the team, the coaches.” …

Also included in the workout were Syracuse forward Oshae Brissett and Jackson State forward Jason Burnell.

Switch it up

Austin Ainge, the Celtics’ director of player personnel, would love to see the order of the draft and free agency reversed on the NBA calendar.

“I have been a big proponent of switching the draft and free agency,” he said. “I think that most teams build from veteran players first. If you have a top five pick you’re most likely a rebuilding team so free agency isn’t affecting that. If you have a top five pick you’re probably going to pick with that first, but free agency doesn’t affect you much.

“And then all of the other teams, you more likely are fitting in draft picks in and around a veteran core group,” said Ainge. “So I think the calendar should follow our decision making tree. So I think it should be switched. Some people see it that way, some people don’t. It’s something I think we should look at very strongly. When I ask why it is the way it is, no one has a great answer just inertia. Just history.”

Out of the ordinary

The Celtics coaching and scouting staff has developed a reputation for some unorthodox methods.

“We’ve done some crazy things. We’ve had guys in and we’ve had some big guys trying to shoot underhand to see if they could make free throws underhand,” said Ainge. “We’ve even tried to, if a guy has the worst shot ever, we’ve had him do some form shooting left handed to see maybe they could switch hands and fix this thing. We’ve done some crazy things like that. But most of the time guys are going to be about what they’ve been.”

Asked if the team has ever drafted one of these players, Ainge said, “Uhhhhh, no. But Dave Lewen (director of scouting) in particular loves to say ‘we should just switch his hand, we should just start over.’ So every now and again we have fun playing around with that.

“(The players) look at us like we’re crazy sometimes, but the underhand is interesting. I still think there’s some opportunities for guys to try it.”