Looking back at the best 10 Indiana Pacers draft picks in franchise history
Under the guidance of Donnie Walsh and Larry Bird, The Indiana Pacers have been a team that drafts well. Whether it’s unearthing useful second-round guys or finding guys in the 10-20 range who well outplay their draft status, the Pacers tend to have success.
Every team and every GM will have some misses, but today, we’re going to take a look at some of the Pacers biggest successes from the NBA draft.
The following list is completely subjective. Some guys will be ranked because of what they meant to the franchise, some because of relative value based on where they were drafted, and some were just good players that the Pacers front office recognized and drafted appropriately.
We’re going to take a look at the top 10 Pacers draft picks, starting with number 10.
Next: #10
10. Rik Smits
The Dunkin’ Dutchman falls to number 10 on this list, not because of anything he did or didn’t do, but simply because he was the highest draft pick in the Pacers NBA history.
Drafted at number 2 in the 1988 draft, Smits spent 12 years in the association, all with the Pacers. Smits averaged 16 points and 6 rebounds for his career, had one All-Star selection, and had a game-winning shot against the Magic that inspired one of my favorite announcing calls of all time.
“HE HIT! HE HIT! HE HIT!”
Next: #9
9. Roy Hibbert
A lot of fans may have a sour taste in their mouth given Roy Hibbert’s last few years with the Pacers, but it’s important to remember that Roy spent several years as a cornerstone piece for a Pacers team that was reasserting themselves as contenders. Hibbert was drafted 17th, originally by the Raptors, but was drafted to trade to the Pacers.
Roy never became an offensive force for the Pacers, but he and Frank Vogel revolutionized the “Verticality” rule on defense, and Hibbert was a 2 time NBA All Star before the Pacers traded him to the Los Angeles Lakers last offseason.
Hibbert will (eventually) be fondly remembered by most Pacers fans for his clutch blocks on Carmelo Anthony in the playoffs, as well as his ability to stymie LeBron James in the Pacers repeated battles with LeBron’s Miami Heat teams.
Next: #8
8. Lance Stephenson
Lance Stephenson is another player that Pacers fans may not feel warmly about right now, but when it wasn’t a case of “Lance being Lance”, he was a steal.
Drafted with the 10th pick of the 2nd round amid character concerns, Larry Bird and the Pacers brought Lance along slowly. He had his best year in 2013-2014, averaging about 14 points and 7 rebounds while nearly making his first All Star team. Stephenson spurned the Pacers contract offer to take a shorter contract with the Charlotte Hornets, and has struggled mightily since leaving the Pacers.
There’s enough talent for Lance to be a very good player in this league, and he was undoubtedly a great value as the 40th pick in the draft, but he’s beginning to look like a classic “what if” guy.
Next: #7
7. Dale Davis
They don’t make power forwards like they used to.
Dale Davis played 17 years in the NBA, including 10 with the Pacers. In over 1000 games, Davis averaged 8 points and 8 rebounds on 53% shooting. He was never flashy and only made one All-Star game, but you knew exactly what you were getting, night in and night out with Dale Davis: true grit.
Dale brought an unwavering toughness, solid rebounding, and a few buckets every single game. Davis was a mid-first round find by the Pacers (nowhere near the only one), drafted with the 13th pick, and certainly returned value on his draft slot.
Though there was nothing flashy about his game and few signature moments to point to, he is still an indelible member of the most successful era in franchise history. Though he could barely hit a jumpshot, but many would still put him on the Pacers Mount Rushmore.
Next: #6
6. Al Harrington
Al Harrington was a precocious 18-year-old the Indiana Pacers snagged with the 25th pick in the 1998 draft.
From a humble draft position, Harrington went on to play an astounding 981 games in his NBA career. Harrington bounced the league a bit, but always offered a scoring punch for his teams, whether off the bench or playing with the starters.
He had two distinct stints with the Pacers, the first consisting of six full seasons as he developed into a solid scorer, averaging around 13 ppg in his final three seasons with the squad.
Al played better, and certainly longer, than anyone would’ve expected based off his draft status.
Next: #5
5. Antonio Davis
Antonio Davis, or AD, was a second-round selection by the Pacers in 1990. AD fell all the way to the 45th pick, and actually chose to play professionally for several seasons in Europe, in the Greek and Italian leagues, before joining the Pacers prior to the 1993-94 season.
Davis went on to be a great role player the Pacers, backing up both Dale Davis and Rik Smits. As much as the Reggie vs. Starks battles on the perimeter, to was this three-man army — the Davis “Brothers” and the Dutchman — going to war with Patrick Ewing, Charles Oakley, and Anthony Mason that defined the heated, brutal, no-hold’s barred battles between the Pacers and the Knicks.
Davis was traded to the Toronto Raptors after the 1998-99 season after requesting the opportunity to start, and did make an All-Star team with the Raptors in the 2000-01 season, averaging 14 points and 10 rebounds.
AD played over 900 games in his career, averaging a solid 10 points and 7.5 rebounds — along with a heaping dose of attitude in the lane and even more rim hangs.
Next: #4
4. Chuck Person
“The Rifleman” was drafted with the 4th overall selection in the 1986 NBA Draft, and did exactly what the Pacers needed: score, score, and score some more.
Chuck Person spent his first six seasons with the Pacers, never averaging less than 17 points while in the blue and gold while becoming one of the more bombastic, cocksure gunners in the NBA. He saved some of his best performances — and trash talk — for current Pacers president and then-Celtics Legend Larry Bird as the two went toe-to-toe regularly in the postseason.
“I’ve known Chuck for awhile and we’ve always had run ins,” said Bird in the video above after eliminating the Pacers, yet again, with a decisive Game 5 win in the first round of the 1991 playoffs. “It always seems like I get the last word.”
Bird did always beat the Rifleman in the end, but Chuck proved a great foil for Larry in the same way that Reggie Miller later would for Michael Jordan.
Person was eventually traded in 1993 to Minnesota, where he never bested his numbers with the Pacers but continued to be a prolific 3-point shooter.
Next: #3
3. Danny Granger
Danny Granger ultimately never became the hero that Indiana Pacers fans wanted, but he was the one they needed.
Drafted 17th in 2005, Granger was tasked with being the guy for a Pacers team desperate for scoring. Granger was a high-volume shooter, never being great at any one thing on offense, but keeping the Pacers from bottoming out (“tank” does not appear to be in Donnie Walsh or Herb Simon’s vocabulary), and getting buckets buckets buckets.
Granger averaged 26 points per game in 2008-09 while making his only All-Star team and shooting 40% from behind the arc for his second straight season.
Knee injuries robbed Granger of the second half of his career — and Pacers fans of being able to see the Granger/Paul George wing combo take off. But while Granger was stuck on a mediocre team throughout his prime, he did bring Pacers basketball back to respectability as the team’s icon in the post-Brawl era and set the stage for the Eastern Conference runs to come after his body failed him.
Next: #2
2. Paul George
In 2010, with the 10th pick in the draft, the Indiana Pacers drafted a relative unknown with two first names — despite having an All-Star at the same position.
Paul George, who couldn’t crack the rotation under head coach Jim O’Brien, was unleashed like a defensive bomb under Frank Vogel. He was soon a starter and truly entered the NBA stage by showing his potential while chasing MVP Derrick Rose in the first round of the playoffs. Rose still got his points — he was unstoppable — but George’s ability to make life more difficult for the MVP kept he Pacers in a series they had no chance of being in.
All he’s done since then is improve every single year — to the point that PG is now considered by some to be the NBA’s best two-way player. At his best, in the first half of 2013-14 and in the early going this season, he has reached such heights as to enter the MVP conversation. Most memorably, George went head to head with LeBron and the Miami Heat for three straight years in the playoffs, and though he was unable to conquer King James, he sent a message that the Pacers were for real.
Now recovered from a gruesome broken leg injury, PG looks better than ever. At just 25-years-old, the the soon-to-be three-time All-Star may go down as the best player in team history by the time he hangs up his sneakers.
Next: #1
1. Reggie Miller
Reginald Wayne Miller, drafted with the 11th pick in the 1987 NBA draft, was not the player most Pacers fans wanted.
Indiana University sharpshooter Steve Alford was on the board, and sentimental fans were rooting for the IU product to stay in Indiana with the Pacers. Donnie Walsh was not swayed and instead drafted one of the best shooters to ever play the game, a man who only needs one name in NBA discussions: Reggie.
Miller averaged 18 points per game in his 18-year career, all with the Indiana Pacers, while setting the NBA record for made 3-pointers (which was later broken by Ray Allen). Miller took the Pacers to their lone NBA Finals appearance, where they lost to the Shaq/Kobe Bryant Lakers squad, and appeared in six Eastern Conference finals. Individually, he also made five All-Star teams, three All-NBA teams, led the team in win shares for 14 straight seasons, and twice led the whole league in true shooting percentage.
One could argue that Paul George has already become the better overall player, but Reggie Miller made the Pacers relevant. From taunting Spike Lee to dropping bombs over Michael Jordan, Reggie was in the limelight — carrying the Pacers on his shoulders year after year and turning a franchise with no NBA success into one is routinely in the championships hunt.