Pacers Player Review: Rakeem Christmas is in basketball purgatory
By Kevin Kaspar
Next in our player review series is Rakeem Christmas, who played a small role in the Pacers’ success this season. Christmas rarely played significant minutes, and when he did, his stats were mediocre at best.
Rakeem Christmas is in a tough spot.
The 25 year-old forward is in limbo with the current state of the NBA. The 6-foot-9 inch forward isn’t versatile enough to spread defenses beyond the paint and not strong enough to anchor a defense against a high powered offense.
Christmas’ appearances for the Pacers were few and far between, but strong performances in those minutes give hope for an extended holiday season with Rakeem in uniform.
Significant Digits
+19 against the Rockets
Christmas logged 20 minutes and one of his best games of the year vs. the Houston Rockets on Feb. 28. In that game, Christmas scored 10 points on 4-of-5 shooting while adding two points from the charity stripe. He also earned a plus/minus of +19 during his time on the floor. Even though Christmas was great on offense, he was a liability on defense. His defensive rating was 115 (Defensive rating is an estimate of how many points are scored on a player per 100 possessions. For reference, a “good” defensive rating is anywhere around 105 or less. Paul George’s DRtg this game was ninety-eight). Rakeem will need to vastly improve his defensive play if he wants to continue to play ball in the NBA.
Mediocre per 36 minutes
It’s difficult to adequately review a player’s performance throughout the season when they barely play. We have to measure potential rather than actual per game stats. Per 36 minute stats are used to average out performance for players who log less than 36 minutes a game. David Solar writes about the value of per 36 minute stats in a 2011 article for Bleacher Report:
"For many athletes in the NBA, it is not a lack of talent that stands in the way of their dreams. Instead, it’s the lack of opportunity that prevents some pros from stepping over the threshold into superstardom…Most often, NBA stars log at least 36 minutes per game. This little used statistic is important because it can bring us great insight into the true production of the league’s elite."
Unfortunately for Christmas, his per 36 minute stats this season are exceedingly average. 9.7 points and 9.2 rebounds per 36 minutes standout as a bright spot for potential to average a double-double.
But these are less impressive when accounting for 44 percent shooting from the field and averaging 0.7 steals and 0.5 assists per 36 minutes. Moreover, Christmas will foul out with 6.1 fouls per 36 minutes.
If per 36 minutes are supposed to measure potential, then Christmas’ potential may be tapped out.
Rakeem Christmas’s Season Summed up in One Archer GIF
Did Rakeem Christmas see the floor tonight? NOOOOPE!
Sweatin’ Bullets
Sweatin’ Bullets is an 8p9s tradition started by Jonny Auping in which we offer standalone facts, observations, and commentary, often devoid of context or fairness.
- Rakeem Christmas shot 50 percent on attempts less than five feet from the hoop. That needs to increase next season (for reference, Myles Turner shot 69.8 percent on attempts less than 5 feet from the rim).
- Christmas played nine games with the Pacers D-League affiliate, the Fort Wayne Mad Ants. It takes two hours and six minutes to drive from Bankers Life Fieldhouse to the Allen County War Memorial Coliseum, where the Mad Ants play. This means Rakeem has spent a grand total 2,268 minutes driving to and from Fort Wayne to play 23 minutes per game, for a total of 207 minutes played. Poor Rakeem Christmas’ minutes “played-to-minutes driven” ratio is only 9 percent. The numbers don’t lie, Rakeem can’t catch a break.
- Rakeem is third to last place on the roster in minutes played per game. Kevin Seraphin is one place higher and there’s likely no chance Christmas will overtake him next year.
- Rakeem Christmas has one more guaranteed year on contract with the Pacers. Next season will be make or break for his future NBA career.
One Key Question
Will Rakeem Christmas be a real contributor to the Pacers next season?
The Situation: Indiana has seven power forwards and centers on its roster and only Lavoy Allen is set to hit free agency this off season. Rakeem is currently behind Myles Turner, Thad Young, Al Jefferson, Kevin Seraphin, and Lavoy Allen in the rotation. Christmas will have to make a significant jump in ability to see more minutes
Best-case Scenario: Somehow Kevin Pritchard is able to dump Al Jefferson on another team, which frees up a spot in the rotation. Lavoy Allen signs with another team, and Christmas absorbs their minutes.
Worst-case Scenario: The current trend continues for the Pacers front court. Myles and Thad anchor the starting line up. Seraphin, Jefferson, and Allen spell the starters. Christmas continues to put miles on his car when he commutes to Fort Wayne.
Next: C.J. Miles was a steady hand
Prediction: Indiana’s front office is desperate to make some type of change to the roster in hopes of keeping Paul George after next season. Kevin Pritchard has a history of dumping bad contracts and will get rid of Al Jefferson before opening night. Christmas will see a slight increase in minutes but his stats won’t see any improvement.