Indiana Pacers April Fools’ Day: 5 NBA Draft blunders we wish were jokes

Missing out on Rudy Gobert (pick 27)

Pacers pick at 23: Solomon Hill

Rudy Gobert is a two-time Defensive Player of the Year, two-time All-NBA, three-time All-Defensive Team, one-time block champion, and one-time All-Star.

He’s good. He’s no slouch on offense, either, averaging 15.1 points per game this year and tacking on 13.7 rebounds (3.4 offensive) per game. His All-Star bid this year was well deserved, and he should have been an All-Star last year too.

Myles Turner is good, he’s a top-tier center in the Eastern Conference and makes for a threatening frontcourt alongside Domantas Sabonis. And given the early stages of Gobert’s career were not as hot as Turner’s thus far, one could argue that Turner has a much higher ceiling and that the Pacers were better off waiting on their big man.

Still, I think if Indiana could go back and choose Solomon Hill or Gobert at 27th in the 2013 NBA Draft, they’d change their pick to Gobert.

Revisionist history is strange, and it’s hard to determine where the Pacers would have gone if they made this pick. Utah spent a lot of time and resources developing Gobert into the player he is today. Could they have afforded him that same patience?

It’s hard to say, but Solomon Hill never averaged more than 8.9 points per game in Indiana and struggled to carve out a role in the starting lineup in his three years with the team. He ended up being a role player throughout the remainder of his career, but knowing that Gobert was there for the taking in this year’s draft makes this hurt.