On the contrary, the challenge for the team's Director of Scouting only grew.

Though the Pacers don't have a selection in either the first or second round, there's no difference in their preparation process. The scouting staff was joined by CEO Donnie Walsh and President Larry Bird in Orlando last week for the NBA Pre-Draft Camp. Though Walsh and Bird returned to Indianapolis late last week, the scouts remained in Florida to attend additional group workouts for draft prospects.

Just because they don't have a pick doesn't mean they won't face a scenario, or perhaps several, in which picks might become available in trade. In which case, they must be prepared to have instant analysis of players projected all over the board, and not just in a particular segment of the draft where their choices are slotted.

Walsh

"There should not be any difference (in the preparation process)," Walsh said. "When the draft goes, you've got to expect a call from a team at any point and you should've been calling to see what you can do before that point. There are a lot of unexpected calls that come, particularly with teams that have multiple picks who call you up during the draft. You have to be ready for that."

That's what makes the job tougher for Ash and his staff. Last year, for example, the Pacers had the No. 17 pick in the first round and No. 45 in the second. Their planning process focused primarily on those two zones – the middle segment of the first and second rounds. This year, they can safely conclude the top two picks are unattainable but must be confident in their research on every other selection.

"We’ve scouted and covered the country just as if we had a pick," Ash said. "We've covered the internationals and attended all the pre-draft camps and workouts as if we had a pick. We're as prepared as if we had a pick. It's just the uncertainty without being able to zero in – we have to be prepared to answer questions about anybody."

If it sounds like the Pacers are taking an active approach to the draft, well, they are. Walsh characterized the team's stance as toward acquiring a pick as "pretty aggressive," and Bird concurred.

"There's a lot of teams out there that have multiple choices and there's a lot of talk around the league that a lot of teams with their position with the cap they don't want to have two or possibly three draft choices so we might be able to move in there and get one of 'em," Bird said. "If there's a player we like and we can get in there and get him, we'll try to do that."

The lone difference in the Pacers' pre-draft preparation process is the absence of individual workouts. Normally, they'll have several private sessions for two dozen or so players, often in groups of four, in Conseco Fieldhouse. Those workouts won't take place this year but the scouts will have otherwise filled their dossiers on the prospects – not only for draft night but beyond.

Ash

"There's not as much sense of anticipation but even if we end up not having a pick, we've still learned a lot about these players and that can be important in the future if their names come up again," Ash said. "We don't want to just get in (the draft), we want to be able to identify a player or players that we really have interest in. There's no sense getting a pick just to get one. We have to I.D. which guys we like and project where they are in the draft and so we know where we have to be to get that player, as well as being able to answer questions about them."

All the uncertainty, and the potential sense of futility, could pose a morale challenge for the scouts.

Walsh smiled at that suggestion.

"I keep their morale up," he said, "two times a month."

Which is to say this is a business, these are professionals and there is a a job to be done, regardless of the present circumstances.

The Pacers could still be spectators on draft night.

But, as Walsh put it, "It ain't necessarily so."

Either way, they'll be ready.