Seven Big Men Options for the Pacers in the Draft

Willie Cauley-Stein, C, Kentucky

Here’s the pace you were looking for, Larry Bird.

At 7’0″, 240 pounds, Willie Cauley-Stein, a former standout receiver in high school, can flat out run. And if you want to try and get in front of that freight train, be my guest.

Cauley-Stein often draws the Tyson Chandler comparison, and some even see a DeAndre Jordan ceiling. With the way he runs the floor, catches lobs for explosive finishes, rebounds, and protects the rim, it’s hard to say those comparisons are outlandish.

You won’t see Jahlil Okafor in WCS’ offensive game, but who cares? He’s going to rebound the hell out of the ball, defend the whole court like it’s no big deal, and get you whatever he can on offense. If that’s 8 points on 4-of-5 shooting, great. What else do you need? What else can you ask for?

Jordan is probably the third best center in the NBA, and he averaged 11.5 points per game this season. He scored those 11.5 points with extreme efficiency, however, at 71% from the field.

That was all around the rim, though. If you watched the Clippers at all this season, you know how bad of a shooter Jordan is via the ‘Hack-a-Shaq’ strategy, exploiting his awfulness in that area (he shot 40% from the free throw line this season). He knows he’s not a good shooter, so he doesn’t shoot. With Stein, however, he has some potential there. He didn’t shoot much in college from mid-range, but he has steadily improved his free-throw percentage and got it all the way up to 61.7% this season. A summer of work could make that shot much more of a go-to for his rookie season and beyond.

Aside from his raw offensive game, Cauley-Stein does struggle with strength and toughness, causing him to be out-dueled for defensive rebounds. He also isn’t very aware of his surrounding and loses rebounds because he didn’t box out. This isn’t as much of a problem on the offensive glass as Stein is usually positioned better for rebounds and is always around the rim, whereas on defense, he may wander away from the basket to defend on the perimeter. This is more of a role thing than anything. He wasn’t expected to rebound as much with Towns there, but in the NBA would probably stay closer to the rim on both ends.

Stein also relies on someone to create shots for him with his very limited offensive skill set. While George Hill is not a pass-first guard, he is naturally a good playmaker so this shouldn’t be a problem.

Unlike Portis, Stein isn’t as much of a sure thing, but the potential is too good to pass up. The problem for Indiana, however, is that there is no way he falls to 11. It is publicly known that Bird is high on him, so trading up might be realistic here. Otherwise, this is just a pipe dream.