Draft day mistakes are a part of any NBA team’s history. For the Indiana Pacers, here are some selections or draft-related decisions they sure would like the chance to re-do.
The Indiana Pacers have, like any NBA team, not had a perfect draft history. There have been hits and there have been misses. One thing is for certain — there are draft day decisions the team would love to have the opportunity to re-do if they knew what they know now.
As it is now April, it feels appropriate to look at some of the draft day blunders and see what picks we wish were actually April Fools’ Day jokes. We have the luxury of retrospect here, these decisions weren’t necessarily bad ones at the time they were made by Indiana.
Nonetheless, it’s a great time to reflect and take a look at what could have been.
Missing out on Devonte’ Graham (pick 34)
Pacers pick at 23: Aaron Holiday
This is a draft mistake that (so far) we can stomach.
Devonte’ Graham was extremely underrated coming out of his college career at Kansas. In large part due to his height, he slid down draft boards and was taken by Charlotte with the 34th overall pick in the 2018 NBA Draft.
Indiana had the 23rd overall pick and with it selected Aaron Holiday, another undersized (shorter than Graham) guard out of UCLA.
Given that Indy was willing to take on a player with potential struggles adjusting to the physical challenges of the league, missing on Graham is a fairly big mistake. Holiday has been decent so far, but the gap between Graham and Holiday has been increasing, in part due to opportunity. That said, Graham did not have the opportunity to start at the beginning of the year and played so well that the Hornets were forced to find a way to get him and Terry Rozier to co-exist in the starting frontcourt.
This season Holiday averaged 9.4 points, 2.3 rebounds, and 3.3 assists per game on 40.7 percent shooting (39.4 percent beyond the arc). Graham is averaging 18.2 points, 3.4 rebounds, and 7.5 assists per game on 38.2 percent shooting (37.3 percent beyond the arc).
Graham surged at the start of the year and for a while looked like he could be the front-runner for Most Improved Player of the Year. He has since cooled off but established a key role in the Charlotte starting backcourt, as mentioned.
This, for now, was a misfire, but one that could even out over the years for Indiana depending on progression and regression of both Holiday and Graham. For now, Graham is in the league, but considering most players make a leap that displays their potential in year three, we should hold off on a final call here.
As of this second, we’d swap these two, though.