Seven Big Men Options for the Pacers in the Draft

Bobby Portis, PF, Arkansas

You like Bobby Portis. You might not know much about him, if anything at all, but you like Bobby Portis.

Trust me.

Like Lyles, Portis has the 6’10”, 235-pound power forward body you would love to have coming out of college and into the NBA. Unlike Lyles, Portis is much deeper than his size.

Portis does most things well, and his biggest weaknesses can still be overlooked because of the great things he does. For starters, he is a hard worker. On both ends of the court, you can find Portis guarding his guy on the perimeter, making sure to stay in front the whole time, making sure his man doesn’t get good post position no matter how tough the battle, running hard up and down the floor, crashing the offensive boards, diving for loose balls, you name it.

Portis is a similar player to West, but I think that is a good thing unlike Turner being similar to Hibbert. Portis will hold back the ‘space’ part of pace-and-space a tad with his work near the rim. He is a very capable mid-range shooter, but most of his offensive work will be in the post. And I think that’s O.K. You have to have someone near the rim.

Also, I think Bird is emphasizing the ‘pace’ more than ‘space’ with his preferred offense. They already have shooters in George Hill, C.J. Miles, and Paul George. You would like to have one of your bigs on the perimeter, especially in transition, but is it necessary? Don’t forget, Portis can play outside. And if Indiana doesn’t have a center who can fill that role, Portis would probably be willing to.

I know this will sound crazy, but Portis is actually not perfect. He is a stud on the offensive glass but struggles on the other end. Despite his strength and physicality, he doesn’t box out too well — although he does look to box out, which is a problem a lot of bigs have – -and lack of explosiveness doesn’t allow him to out-jump some of the other bigs.

Lack of explosiveness will hurt Portis’ defensive potential and ability to finish at the rim on offense, but the thing is, all the other bigs on this list aside from maybe Looney have this same problem. If he were to embrace his outside game a tad bit more this wouldn’t be nearly as much a concern on the offensive end, although he would still have to do his best to keep bigs away from the rim on defense otherwise they might just shoot/dunk right over him.

Portis is also not the most savvy guy out there when it comes to his post game, and will again have to rely on strength and energy to score near the rim. He can get away with it with how hard he works, but this would be another good reason to make his way out to the perimeter more often.

Most mock drafts won’t show it, but Portis is worth the 11th pick.

It’s hard to imagine him going top 10, so if the Pacers want him, he should be there. And if the Pacers don’t decide to trade up into somewhere in the 10, he is the guy I would choose out of everyone on this list. But, if they do decide to move up, there’s someone I want more …

Next: Willie Cauley-Stein