Tyler Hansbrough has signed a contract with the Fort Wayne Mad Ants, the Indiana Pacers D-League affiliate. He scored 8 points in his debut.
Tyler Hansbrough scored 8 points and grabbed 7 rebounds off the bench in his debut with the Fort Wayne Mad Ants.
“Psycho T” is back in the Indiana Pacers organization, but definitely not in the spot that Larry Bird and the Pacers front office had envisioned when they selected him with the 13th pick in the 2009 NBA Draft.
In his college days at the University of North Carolina, Hansbrough was the cream of the crop. He averaged career numbers of 20.2 points per game and 8.6 rebounds. He was also highly decorated as he garnered several prestigious awards throughout his 4-year career, including the Naismith Men’s College Player of the Year. Hansbrough is arguably the best player to ever don a North Carolina jersey, and yes, Michael Jordan was also a tar heel. So, drafting him seemed like the right decision.
Hansbrough’s Indiana Years
Unfortunately, his NBA career did not pan out quite like his college career. The ACC’s all-time leading scorer and shot maker was not able to dominate night in and night out like his days at UNC, but he did play his best NBA years in Indiana. In his 4 years in Indiana, Hansbrough averaged 8.95 points per game and 4.75 rebounds per game.
Using the 13th draft pick on Tyler was absolutely not a waste as he gave Indy some productive years. There were also not many spectacular players drafted behind Hansbrough. The most notable names the Pacers passed on were current Pacer Jeff Teague, former Pacer Darren Collison, Jrue Holiday and Taj Gibson.
These players have undeniably had better careers than Hansbrough, but missing out on them was not drastic, especially because two of them ended up on the Pacers roster. So, taking a chance on one of the best college basketball players of all time should not be too highly criticized.
Nonetheless, a former lottery pick is now trying to prove his worth to the very team that selected him. It is a peculiar situation, but Pacers fans, including myself, are excited to see Hansbrough get another chance.
He was a crowd favorite as he brought hustle and tenacity to Bankers Life every time he laced them up. That, coupled with the fact that Indiana is searching for more big men production, is generating a significant amount of buzz about a return for the former Pacer.
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It will be interesting to see if Hansbrough is able to make a full comeback and return to the Pacers roster. He was a part of the latest successful Pacers teams, and he just may get another shot at helping Indiana climb back towards the top of the Eastern Conference.
Best of luck, Psycho T.