Indiana Pacers Draft Pick Watch Thread

[Ron Swanson]

Don't really see it with Maledon or Mannion. I have Tre Jones, Kira Lewis, and Terry as better PG prospects. Cole Anthony seems like a pretty big boom or bust guy, but if he managed to slip to #19 then he's well worth the gamble.

[M-C-G]

I just don't see a need for a PG as much as a wing. Much bigger need to replace the Mathews, Brown, Korver, Connaughton minutes in the upcoming future.

[German Athens]

Don't really see it with Maledon or Mannion. I have Tre Jones, Kira Lewis, and Terry as better PG prospects. Cole Anthony seems like a pretty big boom or bust guy, but if he managed to slip to #19 then he's well worth the gamble.

Yeah, I may be missing something with Anthony and I certainly haven't watched extensive footage, but I think his role if it's anything like it was at UNC is such an incredibly tough role to fill in the NBA. Most players probably start playing the game of basketball in the hopes that they can be a dynamic on-ball player, and the focal point of an offense, dancing with the ball, hitting difficult off balance shots. But that role as a guard is incredibly rare in the nba, and I think has been trending down since the early 2000's. It is still a viable 6th man role, to be sure. But as a starter - you're looking at Curry, Harden (even though he's 6'6"), Kyrie, and trae as viable options for an NBA offense. And frankly I'm not sure Kyrie is actually good enough at it to be that focal point. I would have a hard time thinking Anthony becomes that caliber of a player, so at that point you're either expecting him to change his role and bring other things to the game, or have the same role and come off the bench.

Does he seem like he has the ability to do more game managing? At UNC he probably didn't have as much of an opportunity to show more or his role player potential and his ability to do the other little things.

[German Athens]

I just don't see a need for a PG as much as a wing. Much bigger need to replace the Mathews, Brown, Korver, Connaughton minutes in the upcoming future.

Yeah, any wing we would draft would have a great opportunity to get minutes right away. I just don't know what this draft has as true 2/3 wings. Vassell and Nesmith will likely be gone. Patrick Williams isn't probably a wing yet, and seems to be more a 3/4. I love Bolmaro and would be really happy with him - I also think he could play along side Donte, which is intising for me. I think our defense could be ridiculous with that set up. Then maybe Josh Green, who is interesting as a prospect, but might not do any one thing well enough where he can be relied upon to see the floor right away - but maybe he does everything well enough to where he is actually capable of seeing the floor right away (I would certainly expect him to be able to take sterling brown's role, but that isn't adding a lot). Bane is intriguing as a wing, but I do worry that unlike brogdon he won't be able to actually score around the hoop and at that point he's a shooter who does some of the little things of both offense and defense, but if his shot doesn't end up as good as we hope, he might not be able to see the floor. I don't think Bey is really a wing yet with his slow feet.

I guess I'd be happy with Bolmaro, Green, Bane, and Maxey (if he's a wing, but he might be the exact position of Donte)

[Ron Swanson]

Lillard and Kemba? Lou Williams, Jamal Murray, and CJ McCollum? On-ball scoring lead guards don't seem rare to me at all and all of those guys have done it on winning basketball teams. If the worry is that he's more of a Terry Rozier level talent then I understand that, but I don't see the logic in thinking he won't develop next to Giannis and worrying that he'll hijack a Mike Budenholzer offense.

[M-C-G]

I just don't see a need for a PG as much as a wing. Much bigger need to replace the Mathews, Brown, Korver, Connaughton minutes in the upcoming future.

Yeah, any wing we would draft would have a great opportunity to get minutes right away. I just don't know what this draft has as true 2/3 wings. Vassell and Nesmith will likely be gone. Patrick Williams isn't probably a wing yet, and seems to be more a 3/4. I love Bolmaro and would be really happy with him - I also think he could play along side Donte, which is intising for me. I think our defense could be ridiculous with that set up. Then maybe Josh Green, who is interesting as a prospect, but might not do any one thing well enough where he can be relied upon to see the floor right away - but maybe he does everything well enough to where he is actually capable of seeing the floor right away (I would certainly expect him to be able to take sterling brown's role, but that isn't adding a lot). Bane is intriguing as a wing, but I do worry that unlike brogdon he won't be able to actually score around the hoop and at that point he's a shooter who does some of the little things of both offense and defense, but if his shot doesn't end up as good as we hope, he might not be able to see the floor. I don't think Bey is really a wing yet with his slow feet.

I guess I'd be happy with Bolmaro, Green, Bane, and Maxey (if he's a wing, but he might be the exact position of Donte)

Agree with pretty much everything...One nice thing is that Donte has proven he can guard 1-3 effectively. So we don't need to necessarily get in to a rigid position for where he plays going forward. I just see the most likely performance to fall off a cliff coming from that 2/3 spot and I see a draft that has a lot of guys at the 2/3 I could see useful on this roster.

Can't recall my ranking exactly, but I think Bolmaro and Bane were at the top of the list, maybe with Nesmith when some mocks had him dropping in our range. Then I had the Beys because I assumed S Bey was a great defender, but now I see people questioning that assumption, so I don't know.

This video likes him alot on d, movement kind of reminds me of Mbah a Moute...maybe doesn't look like he can do it, but seems to more than get the job done???

Watch on YouTube

[German Athens]

Lillard and Kemba? Lou Williams, Jamal Murray, and CJ McCollum? On-ball scoring lead guards don't seem rare to me at all and all of those guys have done it on winning basketball teams. If the worry is that he's more of a Terry Rozier level talent then I understand that, but I don't see the logic in thinking he won't develop next to Giannis and worrying that he'll hijack a Mike Budenholzer offense.

****, touche. I immediately flashed to visions of Kawhi, Lebron, Durant, Luka, Giannis as best focal points of offense on the best teams in the league, or soon to be. I think getting a player of his talent, and letting him blossom next to Giannis could be more advantageous to him than being gifted the keys to an offense on a bad team and developing bad habits. Rare in the NBA is really a misuse of words on my part, but difficult to achieve effectiveness in the nba is more my intention (rare for any one player to be eilte enough at it where they wouldn't have to change their roles). For all the Lillard's and Kemba's, you have much longer lists of Jennings, Rozier, Knight - at times good players, but hard to be focal points of the offense. And even longer lists of players who never even were as good as those 3. Especially when they didn't possess one elite skill. Maybe jennings did have elite quickness, but even with that elite skill, he wasn't good enough elsewhere to be the high level player he potentially could have been.

Does Anthony have an elite skill?

I don't see an elite skill with Anthony, and that's how I have trouble mapping out a trajectory where he ends up being a starting lead guard, or a guard who can consistently make a positive impact on the game. Most of the ball dominant lead guards seemed to have a potentially elite skill coming into the league. Curry, Trae, Lillard - elite shooting. Kemba - elite quickness. John wall, Fox - elite speed. Kyrie - elite handles. Paul - elite feel. Even Jamal Murray came in with belief of potentially being an elite shooter. Most of those guys are elite in other areas as well. I think I'm warry because every draft has a few guards who are microwave scorers who never really impact the league. I'm not sure he brings you more to the game if his shot isn't falling - and if he isn't elite in any one area, the degree of difficulty of the shots he would take would be that much higher. Maybe I'm not thinking rationally enough about how he would fit on the Bucks, and my point is moot next to Giannis. I just worry that he's not good enough at his game for his game to be good enough for the league.

[German Athens]

Even after blasting Anthony, I might be warming up to him next to Giannis. He'd have a ton a space, we're a great team, so he could come around slowly, and we would force him to focus on defense and hitting open shots. Then we could slowly work in his ability to create for himself off the dribble. And since he's young, we might be able to work any propensity for hero ball out of him. Sometimes I forget we have buddenholzer as a coach and not Jason Kidd, and, as such, development is an actual possibility.

[DingleJerry]

I agree with Ron here. PG who can create shots for themselves are a vital role on almost every team. It is also a spot our team is lacking. But, there is a very real concern that a lot of guys who played that role in college and the whole lives til now aren't good enough to do it in the NBA. So then the evaluation comes down to coachability on playing to their proper role. The 'skills' are there to do it, but its not something they've necessarily done before.

[Ron Swanson]

Don't get me wrong, the efficiency and AST/TO ratio are pretty worrisome, but that UNC roster around him was a dumpster fire, so maybe that's why I'm cutting him some slack for the underwhelming production.

[German Athens]

Ron, do you like him more than Kira Lewis and Tyrell Terry?

[Ron Swanson]

I like Kira Lewis a lot, but yeah, I'd take Anthony over either guy pretty easily. But I doubt we'll even have the option. I still think New York takes him at 7.

[emunney]

I just don't see a need for a PG as much as a wing. Much bigger need to replace the Mathews, Brown, Korver, Connaughton minutes in the upcoming future.

A good pick will find minutes. A bad pick won't. If we want to replace the backup wing minutes, sign a backup wing. You don't want a rookie handed a significant role by default.

[emunney]

Ron, do you like him more than Kira Lewis and Tyrell Terry?

I'm not Ron but Kira Lewis x100

[German Athens]

Ron, do you like him more than Kira Lewis and Tyrell Terry?

I'm not Ron but Kira Lewis x100

Turns out you’re actually one of Ron’s burner accounts. But really, I don’t know why Kira isn’t a top 10 pick this year. I don’t think every draft there’s a guy with his speed, and then add on top of that a really nice looking jumper. I think he’s a fairly projectable starter in this league with some real all star potential. I think he should also be a solid poa attack defender. Put him next to Giannis and I think he’d be super scary.

[emunney]

Ron, do you like him more than Kira Lewis and Tyrell Terry?

I'm not Ron but Kira Lewis x100

Turns out you’re actually one of Ron’s burner accounts. But really, I don’t know why Kira isn’t a top 10 pick this year. I don’t think every draft there’s a guy with his speed, and then add on top of that a really nice looking jumper. I think he’s a fairly projectable starter in this league with some real all star potential. I think he should also be a solid poa attack defender. Put him next to Giannis and I think he’d be super scary.

He might pan out and he might not, but I agree that he has some real upside as an all-around guard. Rangy, aggressive, skilled, competitive. He's got that wiry strength and I think he could get a lot stronger and more explosive without losing his speed and fluidity. I also think he's better suited for the pro game than the NCAA.

There's nothing I see in him that would really hold back his development. It's all up to him. That's a good spot to be in as a prospect.

[JayMKE]

I'm for taking BPA regardless of position, I want the smartest and quickest to contribute player possible.

[RiotPunch]

How do you guys rank the pg class? I know we won’t have a shot for the top 3 and I’d love to have Halliburton, but after that I have Kira Lewis, tyrell terry, and question marks. I don’t know what to make of Cole Anthony or nico mannion. I have a hard time seeing them as starters in the league. Does anyone have strong opinions of those two either way? After they are gone, Dotson and riller, maybe?

LaMelo
Killian

Cole
Kira
Riller


Terry
Flynn
Dotson

Maledon
Jones
Mannion
Butler

Cole I am still high on. He seemed to lose some burst this season, I wonder if he just had lingering injuries throughout the entire year. Definitely a guy we need to do thorough medical on. If he gets his bounce back, he has that Kemba-esque pull-up ability, which would be a godsend archetype for us and our dry-spells.

Mannion I'm out on as a 1st rounder. Allergic to the rim, pretty damning frame, shooting slumps tanked him even further. Sees the floor at an elite level though and is highly manipulative as a passer. Probably a fine backup PG type.

Riller is still super underrated in the mainstream, IMO. That dude is really athletic and can get his whenever he wants. He has risen up into my Top-15ish.

[emunney]

Have we talked about Mason Jones at all? Because that guy can ball. Reminds me of Redd.

[Ron Swanson]

You guys are gonna have to sell me on Riller. I see a guy who's gonna struggle mightily to get his shot off against NBA athletes. Average shooter, slow first step, good but not great physical tools. More of an undersized 2 than a lead guard. Screams mid-late 2nd rounder to me. He's a gamer though, I'll give him that.