Austin Croshere: “The Next Great Indiana Pacers Player”

The 2000 season saw the emergence of Austin Croshere with the Indiana Pacers

The roster breakdown for the Indiana Pacers only trip to the NBA Finals did not have an optimistic outlook for the future.

Rik Smits retired after the season after declining numbers for four consecutive seasons and feet that were growing weary after a 12-year career.

Dale Davis was traded to the Portland Trail Blazers for a little-used and young post player named Jermaine O’Neal.

Mark Jackson left for the Toronto Raptors in free agency.

Chris Mullin returned to Golden State after the worst statistical season of his career.

Even Reggie Miller was in the twilight of his Hall of Fame career at 34 years old. Jalen Rose was the biggest threat to opponents moving forward.

The 1999-2000 season saw the emergence of Austin Croshere as a potential big-time star for the Pacers. He tallied a career-high 10.3 points per contest which were good enough for fourth-highest on the team behind Rose, Miller, and Smits. He was second on the team in rebounds with 6.4 per game (more than Smits, less than Davis) and added one assist and nearly one block per contest.

Croshere’s third season in the league likely went as expected for a great college player (Providence College) developing in the NBA. A consistent reserve player with a big body and plenty of athleticism who could score the ball inside and out, he drained multiple 3-pointers on 15 occasions including four in a 19-point victory over Golden State.

Croshere’s best outing of the season came in a win over the Houston Rockets when he tallied 22 points and 13 rebounds for one of his 11 double-doubles.

It was a solid regular season for Croshere that left Pacers brass and fans excited for the future.

What they didn’t know is how quickly Croshere’s solid regular season would turn into a postseason hero and budding star.

He scored 20 points in a win over Philadelphia in the Eastern Conference Semifinals. He then notched 22 points in Game 1 of the Eastern Conference Finals.

There was plenty of inconsistency in the postseason, though, with Croshere reaching double figures in just five of 17 contests and averaging just seven points per game through the first three rounds.

Everything changed in the NBA Finals when the Pacers matched up with a young Kobe Bryant and dominant Shaquille O’Neal in his prime.

The Lakers would take the series with Shaq putting on one of the most dominant postseason displays of all-time. Not all was lost for Indiana as Croshere emerged as a consistent threat and future star in the Circle City to pair with Miller and Rose.

Croshere upped his scoring output to 15 points per outing in the Finals while his 6 rebounds per game were second-most on the squad. He did his best to help the Pacers in the first two games with outings of 16 and 24 points, second on the team both nights, but the Lakers took both at home.

Indiana took game three with the help of Croshere’s 12 points before he hit double figures again in game four.

In perhaps the greatest game in franchise history, Croshere tallied 13 points and nine rebounds in the team’s 33-point victory in Game 5 in Indiana.

He was no slouch on the defensive end either with a plus-23 rating against one of the most high-powered offenses in NBA history. The Lakers locked up their first of three consecutive titles in Game 6 with Croshere knocking down a team-high three shots from long range for a total of 16 points.

With Rose proving himself as a star all season, Croshere’s emergence on the biggest stage, and Miller there to provide Hall of Fame guidance, the Pacers outlook on the 2000-2001 season became a whole lot brighter after the six-game NBA Finals in June of 2000.

The 2001 season didn’t go as expected for the Pacers

The 2000-2001 season did not go as planned.

Larry Bird stepped away as head coach with legendary point guard and former Indiana Hoosier Isiah Thomas taking the reins to go along with all of the moves mentioned early in this article.

Rose continued his upward trend while Jermaine O’Neal made significant strides in his first season with Indiana. Miller tallied a respectable 18 points per night and remained a significant threat. However, Croshere reverted to his 10 points per game with his rebound numbers declining despite getting a massive new contract that increased his salary by five-times.

The team scoring average dropped by nearly 10 points per game and surrendered more points per game than they scored en route to a 41-41 record.

Croshere would lose all hype moving forward and remain in a bench role for the entirety of his career which spanned 12 seasons, nine with the Pacers.

He averaged 6.8 points and four rebounds per game with other stops in Dallas, Golden State, Milwaukee, and San Antonio.

Croshere never again played at the level fans saw in the 2000 NBA Finals making him one of the biggest “what-if’s” in franchise history. If he had continued the trajectory, could the trio of Croshere, Rose, and O’Neal help guide Indiana to a title in Reggie Miller’s twilight seasons? Instead, it will be another case of the all too often heard “what could have been” tale for Pacer fans.