The NBA invited 19 prospects to participate in Wednesday’s pre-draft media availability at the Westin Times Square -- an annual tradition that always includes questions about playing for the Knicks when they have a first rounder, rehearsed answers on where players think they’ll be drafted and the first official meeting between soon-to-be-millionaires and the media that will be covering them.

This is my ninth consecutive draft I've covered, but this one feels different. By and large, these kids are refreshingly personable and will bring strong character into the NBA. That may seem inconsequential, but the front offices actually making the picks care about the mental aspects of the game as much as anything they see in terms of athleticism or skill-set.

Lyles Discusses Pros, Cons Of Playing For Kentucky

Kentucky continues to dominate the draft with as many as six players from the school in line to be taken, including expected No. 1 overall pick Karl Anthony-Towns.

Trey Lyles, who averaged 8.7 points and 5.2 rebounds in 36 games as a freshman, is glad he’s able to go through the process with a handful of teammates.

“You get to text or call somebody that’s going through the same thing as you that you’ve been with for the past year,” Lyles said. “They know a lot about what’s going on and you can feed off of them. They might have workouts somewhere that you haven’t been yet, so you get to find out some things, what the teams are doing. It helps out a lot.”

The Wildcats are sending another crop of players to the NBA despite John Calipari’s decision to use a platoon system en route to an undefeated regular season.

Lyles, for example, was ranked among the top prospects in the 2014 high school class, but played just 23 minutes per game for Kentucky. He’s aware that the system may have been both a positive and negative for his stock, especially since he played out of position at small forward.

“It just shows that we’re a great group of guys. Guys that bought into a system that was about winning,” said Lyles of he and his teammates.

He later touched on how the platoon system limited the skills players were able to showcase.

“We had to limit our games, but it was for the betterment of the team,” Lyles explained. “There are certain things that the team didn’t need from us because we got it from different guys. At the next level there will be an open range of things we’ll be able to show.”

Willie Cauley-Stein is one of the players that was asked to fill a specific role under Calipari. Lyles and Cauley-Stein are both projected to be lottery picks, but their strengths fall on opposite ends of the floor. Lyles is a polished offensive player, but Cauley-Stein is known primarily for his stout defense.

“Willie is a freak of nature so if you’re going to do stuff that he does you’ve got to be a freak,” Lyles said when I asked him if he learned any techniques from his former teammate. “I’m just working on being more athletic defensively so I can do some of the stuff he can do.”

The NBA’s Wonderlic Questions 

The NBA doesn’t have a standard aptitude test like the NFL’s Wonderlic test, but front offices still construct odd ways of measuring a prospect’s intelligence. Kevon Looney, Jerian Grant and Cameron Payne shared some of the questions they were asked in pre-draft interviews. 

An employee of the Utah Jazz asked Looney what the phrase “one-and-one” meant to him:

“I was in Utah and this old guy, out of the blue, we were talking about basketball and life, and he just asks me ‘what does one-and-one mean to you?’ I answered it and he said nothing. He just left the room. That was probably the weirdest thing to me,” Looney recalled.

“I’m a basketball player, so I said one-and-one means a free throw situation, but he just looked at me, wrote something down and left. I never got the answer to the question.”

Grant was asked an old-school word problem by one team – if a ball and bat cost $1.10 and the bat is one dollar more, how much does the ball cost? He posed the question to the media, upon which I incorrectly blurted ten cents. He smiled and waited until a smarter (and younger) reporter correctly answered with five cents.

Payne had fun when a rather difficult question was thrown his way during one of the five workouts he had. An executive asked him how many basketballs he thought could fit in the room they were sitting in. 

“I asked them some questions -- are the balls flat, or are they inflated? I said "infinity", because what else are you going to say?” Payne smiled. 

If you think about, infinity is probably the only wrong answer to the question, but that’s no knock on Payne. Testing how quick a player can think cognitively is important, but I’m not sure that question is an accurate measure. 

Dekker Trumpets Gard’s Head Coaching Credentials

Sam Dekker spent three years at Wisconsin and credits associate head coach Greg Gard, a 14-year veteran of the school’s staff, for helping him mature as a player while also making the Badgers a better team.

“Gardo has been everything. The entire coaching staff has been. Coach [Bo] Ryan, Gardo, coach [Gary] Close, coach [Lamont] Paris, I can go on and on. I think coach Ryan would be the first to admit; we’re not the team we are without Gardo. Not just his basketball mind, but he’s so smart the way he handles things and he’s not going to take it easy on you. He expects a lot, just like coach Ryan. That’s the perfect guy to learn under. Coach Ryan is the in-game situation coach, the drill it in to you coach. Gardo is the guy you talk to in his office, go over Xs and Os with. His door is always open, he’s always watching film and he’s growing and learning everyday. People are missing out on coach Gard, but he’s happy at Wisconsin now as associate head coach. I think we’ll see big things from him in the future.”

Gard is one of the most respected assistants in college basketball and has been mentioned as a potential replacement for Fred Hoiberg, who left Iowa State for the Chicago Bulls this offseason. He has interviewed for head coaching jobs in the past.

Payne Thrilled To Fly Under Radar

If such an award had been given out, Cameron Payne would have been the easy choice for Mr. Congeniality on Wednesday. The Murray State guard, who declared for the draft after a sophomore season that saw him average 20.2 points, 6.0 assists, 3.7 rebounds and 1.9 steals in 35 games, has reveled in his relative anonymity. 

“No one gets to know who you are when you’re down at a mid-major,” Payne said. “You don’t know those guys. This is probably the first time you’ve ever seen me and I’m pretty sure I’m giving you some great, positive stuff. You’re saying, ‘Man, he’s a cool guy.’” 

Coming out of Lausanne Collegiate School in Memphis, ESPN had Payne ranked as the No. 41 point guard in the 2013 recruiting class. This isn’t the case of a four-to-five star recruit fulfilling in 24 months on his way to the lottery. This is a two-to-three star recruit sitting in a chair usually occupied by McDonald’s All-Americans.

“I’m glad it happened the way it did,” Payne said of his rise to stardom. “Normally, I’d probably have two people here asking me questions, but now I’ve got six, seven, eight of you. Me not going to the NCAA Tournament helped me [stay under the radar]. No one knows me, like he said [points to reporter] what’s your story? People just want to know me. I’m glad it happened this way.” 

Sociable as he is, Payne has become fast friends with his new colleagues. In the AAU era, many players enter the NBA with a wide net of former teammates and childhood friends. Payne doesn’t have a long-term friendship with any of the guys he’ll enter the league alongside.

“That is what is crazy; I don’t have one,” he said of a past relationship with someone invited to New York. “The teammates I played AAU with, these are their friends, and I’m the one here. That’s so crazy. I wasn’t Top 100. There guys were Top 100, not me.” 

‘Positionless’ Trend Paving Way For New NBA Stars 

It wasn’t too long ago that NBA teams earmarked a roster spot for a versatile player capable of sliding between either wing position. It was a luxury that player could handle himself at point guard or power forward on just one side of the ball.

Now possessing the skill set to slide from position to position is one of the most valuable commodities in basketball. Teams are devaluing positions and the 2015 draft class features several players that have seen their stock appreciate reflexively.

“I’ve always seen myself as a guy that could be a good professional and now the way that the NBA has transitioned, per say, suits me really well,” Sam Dekker told me. “I’m a 6-foot-9 guy that can spread the floor, run, jump and all that stuff. The NBA has become position-less in a sense and that’s good for me. It’ll help me in the long run.” 

A year ago eyebrows may have risen if you suggested Dekker was a sure-fire lottery pick. Draft Express had him as a potential late first round selection in 2014, but he returned to Wisconsin and improved his stock as the Badgers advanced to the title game. 

“I see myself as a lottery pick,” Dekker admitted. “A lot of people agree, but a lot don’t. That’s where you play that game. Is he going top 10? Is he going top 20? It is what it is. I hate using that term, but for me I’ve done everything I can up to this point.”

Myles Turner has a versatile skill-set as well. He’s nearly seven feet, but has range that extends out to the three-point line. When he’s not hanging out on the perimeter, Turner is an effective rim protector. He also showed an ability to get up-and-down the floor during his pre-draft workouts.

“I pride myself on being able to play multiple positions and defend multiple positions,” Turner told RealGM. “Being able to come into the NBA and be able to do different things will allow me to adjust much quicker.” 

Evaluators view the 19-year-old as a raw prospect, but Turner has been selling teams on his malleability. 

“As soon as next season I can bring adaptability. That’s the biggest thing. It’s one thing I pride myself on, being able to come into a situation and perform right away,” Turner said. “My ability to learn, I think is huge. You have to be able to recognize details and learn at a quick pace at the next level.”

Guys like Dekker and Turner may not have a concrete position at the next level, but they certainly have a place in the modern NBA.