Should the Indiana Pacers Consider Giving Rakeem Christmas Rotation Minutes?
By Josh Padmore
Injuries continue to riddle the Indiana Pacers’ front-court. Should the Indiana Pacers consider playing Rakeem Christmas to help fill the void?
Rakeem Christmas has not played meaningful minutes in a meaningful NBA game. All of his appearances this season have been in garbage time, when the results of the game are already clear.
He played one game during his rookie season, playing 6 minutes, but that was the last game of the year and had no impact on playoff positioning.
The Pacers should consider giving him some playing time due to a banged up front-court.
Thaddeus Young has missed six (soon to be seven) straight games with a sprained left wrist. Lavoy Allen has started five of those six games, averaging 8 points per game and 6.4 rebounds per game.
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But Allen missed Monday night’s game against the San Antonio Spurs due to soreness in both of his knees. Kevin Seraphin started in his place, playing 27 minutes.
Now, the Indiana Pacers are struggling to find power forward production with their starter Thaddeus Young out
Kevin Seraphin has been a spark on offense, averaging 11.3 points per game over his last three games. However, he has struggled to guard opposing power forwards on the perimeter. That leads to Indiana having someone like C.J. Miles, who is starting at shooting guard, play some minutes at the four.
The Pacers have yet to experiment with Rakeem Christmas. We don’t know what he can do at the NBA level, but it’s worth a try. He could see some time behind Kevin Seraphin tonight. He’s 6’9″ with tremendous athleticism. Rebounding has been a problem for the Pacers. Christmas averaged 9.1 rebounds per game during his senior year at Syracuse, and 7.1 per game in the D-League last year.
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I’m not saying he should play a ton of minutes, but I think giving him 8-10 minutes is worth a try. If he continues to sit on the bench and only played when it’s garbage time, I question why he’s on the roster. the Indiana Pacers should see what they have in Rakeem Christmas.