With the 52nd overall pick in the 1995 NBA Draft, the Indiana Pacers selected Fred Hoiberg. For the next ten seasons, Hoiberg played in the NBA for the Pacers, Chicago Bulls and Minnesota Timberwolves. 

When his playing career came to an end, Hoiberg joined the front office of the Timberwolves, where he continued to evaluate young talent. Today, as ISU men’s basketball coach, Hoiberg continues to talk with teams, informing them about the talent he coaches. 

Hoiberg has seen every aspect of the NBA Draft, and recently talked about his memories and experiences from each perspective. 

On his memories from his draft night in 1995:

“I was in my living room on Donald Street in Ames and it was one of the longer nights of my life, I remember that. I was kind of talked about as a late first round pick or maybe an early second round pick. After I spent time in the front office I kind of found out that’s what everybody is told — that they’re a late first, early second round pick.

It was a long night; I saw players get drafted in front of me that I knew I was better than. I got drafted during a commercial and they came back and Rick Petino was a draft analyst and he started talking about me and what a great opportunity it was, and it was, it was a great situation, a perfect position for me going there and trying to make that team.

Even though it was a long night, it was the best thing to happen to me.

On what the draft is like from the font office of the NBA:

There’s just so much that goes into that draft process, just with background checks, the whole workout process with trying to put groups together, with trying to bring in players and exploit their weaknesses. It’s a long two-month process to try to get everything figured out and make the best pick possible for your team.

Everybody does it differently, some people bring in a psychologist to interview players, some will have you take a personality test, some guys have you come in and just run you into the ground to see how tough you are. There’s just so much that goes into the process. It was a fun thing to be a part of for several years.

And then you know, there’s a lot of jockeying that goes on and everybody’s lying to each other. It was a great experience being part of that.

On what the draft process is like as a college coach:

I’ve talked to pretty much every team in the league now just about our guys — about Royce and I try to talk about Scott [Christopherson] and Chris Allen, as well. It’s something that you try to set your players up to be in a good situation.

With Royce and his potential first round draft pick and Chris and Scott trying to get them in as many workouts as possible and get them in Summer League situations to help them out and get them in front of as many eyes as possible.

It’s been good. I’ve spent a lot of time on the phone, especially this last week.