Indiana Pacers Host Caleb Swanigan, Bentil, Felder, Moore, Sulaimon for Workouts

Caleb Swanigan, Purdue — Forward

Year: Freshman

Height: 6’9″

Weight: 247

Wingspan: 7’3.5″

Last Season Stats: 10.2 PPG, 1.8 APG, 8.3 RPG, 46.1 FG%, 29.2 3P%

Draft Stock: Undrafted

The man of the hour. Much like Troy Williams last week, Caleb Swanigan will almost definitely garner the most attention out of all of the draftees coming to Bankers Life, even though some may be first round prospects. And much like Troy Williams, Swanigan is also the least likely to get drafted out of the bunch.

The hype for Swanigan may even outshine Williams considering Swanigan is an Indiana kid. While Williams only became a Hoosier a few years ago when the Virginia native joined the Indiana University basketball team, Swanigan was born in Indianapolis and attended Homestead high school in Fort Wayne. Swanigan was the talk of the state at Homestead, netting them a Class 4A state championship and netting himself an Indiana Mr. Basketball award. Swanigan was one of the top recruits in the country coming out of high school, and is possibly the biggest recruit Purdue has ever pulled.

So Swanigan has the potential to be a star in the NBA. He put that potential to the test in his freshman year, scoring 10.2 PPG and grabbing 8.3 RPG despite sharing a frontcourt with second round prospect A.J. Hammons and 7′ Isaac Haas.

He can be a bully in the paint:

And he’s got mobility that can stand up to the best:

While you’re probably not looking at Swanigan as a small-ball guy (29.2 3P%), but there’s still many teams in the league in need of guys that can dominate in the paint. The Pacers are one of those teams, especially if they lose Ian Mahinmi this offseason. Swanigan can bring starpower to this league at the power forward position someday. Key word: someday.

Swanigan isn’t ready for the NBA. His shooting needs major improvement, and he needs more time spent in a leadership role with the Boilermakers. With Hammons gone, Swanigan will be able to take over as Purdue’s best player, and will have a chance to prove himself as a guy who can torch in the Association.

Currently, though, he’s unlikely to be drafted if he commits to the event. There has been little buzz about him overall, and the odds of him actually confirming his spot in the draft aren’t high. Swanigan has seemingly maintained a position that if he gets a guarantee from a team that he’ll be drafted, he’ll go ahead and fully enter. He hasn’t made that commitment yet though, which presumably means that he hasn’t gotten that guarantee, but he has until Wednesday to make a decision. Local Purdue media seem to be a bit torn on whether he’ll stay or go, but all agree (in their biased opinion) that he should come back and develop his game.

To be fair, though, it seems like Swanigan really wants to leave. He graduated a year early from Homestead, and decommitted from Michigan State to Purdue, possibly to get more playing time as a freshman. It’s plausible that his plan was to get into the NBA as soon as possible, which can explain why he’s going through the draft process even when it’s a considerably bad option for him if he decides to stay. That’s all speculation of course, but it’s worth noting.

Next: Can the Indiana Pacers Find Value Late in the Draft?

It’s not impossible that the Pacers could be blown away by Swanigan and guarantee that they’ll draft him with their 50th pick, but I’d pin it as highly unlikely. The best course of action for Swanigan would probably be to raise his draft stock his sophomore year. Hopefully this discussion continues next year, where Swanigan could possibly be seen as a first-round pick. Until then, he’ll likely become irrelevant when it comes to draft talk after Wednesday. If Swanigan does decide to stay in the draft, then we’ll talk.