The Indiana Pacers have had dozens of All-Stars throughout their history. Who is the most random player of the bunch?
Perhaps I am framing this question poorly. “Who is the Indiana Pacers most random All-Star?” is hard to analyze since the definition of random is so ambiguous. Perhaps “least memorable” is a better distinction for what I am going for.
It is sort of hard to wrap your head around: how can an All-Star be not memorable? Guys like Chuck Person and Lance Stephenson skated through Pacers history without an All-Star appearance and yet they will never, ever, be forgotten. Surely, every player to be deemed an All-Star would be memorable, right?
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Well, for those of you who are younger than 30, the name Bob Netolicky probably doesn’t ring a bell. Netolicky, though, is not the most “random” Pacers All-Star. He played in the ABA days and was an All-Star four years running, averaging at or near a double-double all four years.
Netolicky could score, rebound, and defend. He had a silky shot and was very popular amongst fans of the team. He is easily not the most “random” All-Star especially considering he made the distinctive team four times.
Most of the other ABA era Indiana Pacers All-Stars have names that have moved through history – Mel Daniels, Freddie Lewis, Roger Brown, Billy Knight, and George McGinnis don’t need an introduction.
But have you heard of Don Buse?
Hopefully, you have. Buse isn’t a household name if you are younger, and if you know nothing about him, you’ll be stunned to know he was an All-Star despite averaging just eight points per game.
Buse could score when he wanted, he was known for hitting clutch shots. But scoring wasn’t his thing. Defense, passing, and incredible dribbling were his thing. He led the league in assists and steals per game in both the 1975-76 and 1976-77 seasons. He was a force to be reckoned with.
He made six consecutive all-defense teams, and the icing on the cake: he was (is) and Indiana high school basketball legend. Buse made both an ABA and NBA All-Star team. He isn’t as memorable as a vast majority of Pacers ABA legends but is not the most “random” All-Star in team history.
After Buse and Knight were both All-Stars in the Indiana Pacers inaugural NBA season, the franchise didn’t have one until the 90s when Reggie Miller won the award. Every All-Star from the Pacers in the 90s was incredibly memorable and not at all “random” – Reggie Miller, Dale Davis, Rik Smits, and Detlef Schrempf all left a large impact on the organization and are unforgettable players.
This means the teams most “random” All-Star is someone from after the turn of the century, and if you narrow the scope to that era, it’s pretty easy to decide.
This group consists of some of the franchises most iconic players – Jermaine O’Neal and Ron Artest (Metta World Peace) were dominant members of the brawl era and will never be forgotten. Granted, O’Neal won’t be forgotten for talent and Artest won’t be forgotten for his… antics, but that is neither here nor there.
After those two, we have Danny Granger, who led the Pacers from the Jim O’Brien era back into relevancy (with some help from Frank Vogel). He has the third-best scoring season in franchise history and the best since the 70s. He was awesome, and his scoring alone will leave him in the history books.
After Granger, the Pacers All-Stars consists of the dudes who got them to consecutive conference finals – Paul George and Roy Hibbert – followed by last years darling Victor Oladipo. Roy may be forgotten in time, but at the present moment, everyone remembers how dominant he was on those 50+ win teams. Paul George is one of the best to ever put on the blue and gold, and Oladipo has a great chance to be in that group as well.
That leaves us with one man left. We have one Pacers All-Star we have left to touch on. Anyone know who it is? I’ll give you a hint: he went to Purdue.
Brad Miller, everyone.
Brad Miller is largely not given enough credit. He was a two-time All-Star and he was the second most recent Sacramento King to be named one. But his time in Indiana is not super memorable.
He came here as a part of the trade that sent Jalen Rose to Chicago. He only stayed for one complete season. In that season, he scored 13.1 points per game and grabbed 8.3 rebounds. Those stats aren’t particularly awesome, 19 players eclipsed those marks in the past season. What made Miller effective was he could defend and he could pass. He dished out 2.6 assists per game as a center in his All-Star Pacers campaign, and he was far above average in almost every defensive metric. He wasn’t flashy, and his stats didn’t jump off the page, but he could sort of do it all.
Brad Miller is perhaps forgotten because he only played one full season with the team before being shipped off for Scott Pollard (blast from the past, right?). His passing made him more effective than his stats suggest, but I am confident in saying that Miller was the most “random” All-Star in team history.
Perhaps I am being too harsh on Miller. For example, in his second All-Star season, he averaged 4.6 assists per game, easily the most by a center that season. Ben Wallace was second at 1.9, for reference. He was easily the best passing big man at the time. But with only one full season in the blue and gold and no flashy stats, Brad Miller wins the award for the most “random” Pacers All-Star in history.