Indiana Pacers: 3 interesting statistics from last season
By Luke Parrish
Goga Bitadze led the Indiana Pacers in blocks per 36 minutes
The Pacers hang their defensive hats on Myles Turner being an elite shot-blocker. A lot of fans were shocked to see them select Goga Bitadze in the first round of last year’s NBA Draft because of his similarities to Turner – and the team already having two bigs in the lineup.
However, Bitadze followed the lead of Alize Johnson and made the most of his minutes. He appeared in 54 games, including two starts, and was somewhat of a force at times on the defensive end. He tallied 2.8 blocks per 36 minutes, a better number than Myles Turner.
Goga and Myles performed very similarly last season, finishing with almost identical per 36 stats. Goga, who many are hopeful will become a quality rotation piece, posted higher rebound, assist, and block numbers in 36 minutes than Turner.
If Bitadze can play in more than 8.7 minutes per game next season, his impact may be much greater than last year indicated. He and Turner can split minutes a bit more evenly and add consistent center play across all 48 minutes.