What the Indiana Pacers can expect from Cassius Stanley

Introducing Indiana Pacers rookie Cassius Stanley

After a long night of tweets, picks, and trades, the Pacers finally made their selection at pick 54. Cassius Stanley, a 21-year-old, 6-foot-6 shooting guard from Duke University, will be making his way to the Circle City for the 2020-2021 season.

Stanley averaged 12.6 points, 4.9 boards, and 1.0 assists in 27 minutes as a freshman while shooting 45% from the field, 36% from three, and 73% from the line. But the most impressive stat about Stanley: He broke Zion’s vertical leap record at Duke, which was reportedly set at 45 inches.

What can Cassius Stanley bring to the Pacers?

One of the skills that this Pacers team has been missing is elite athleticism, and while you don’t expect the 54th pick to be a major contributor, at least you can say that box is checked.  That athleticism isn’t just for dunking though, as Stanley also managed to average 0.7 steals, 0.7 blocks, and has a great feel for offensive rebounding with the physical tools to come down with it.

He was a solid defender with excellent lateral mobility, but with only a 6-foot-7 wingspan he does lack the length that would put him in the elite defender body type. A way Stanley could compensate for a lack of wingspan would be adding a little bit of weight because while he did come in at 200lbs, he has a good enough frame that should allow him to hang on the wing if it means he won’t be a mismatch in the post.

He played primarily off the ball at Duke, likely due to his raw ball handling and passing, but that also meant he was able to develop a respectable spot-up shot and a feel for creating space by moving without the ball. He did show flashes of being a good offensive player, scoring 16 or more points in 10 of his 28 games, even hitting up to 5 threes in a game. There may be some untapped offensive potential there, but it will come down to how he improves with the ball.

Cassius Stanley is an addition to be excited about

Stanley projected to go in the earlier parts of the second round due to being the best athlete in the draft by most accounts, so getting him at 54 is a great value for the Pacers. It was reported that Stanley was working out in Los Angeles at 5:45 a.m. on draft day, which hopefully is a glimpse into the type of drive that he will bring to improving his game.

Being such a late pick and having some rawness with the ball in his hands, he will need to maintain that mindset to get an opportunity on a team that is currently stuffed with guards. But if Nate Bjorkgren wants to run more and doesn’t have a set rotation, it wouldn’t be a surprise to see the Pacers only draft pick this year get some minutes at some point…but it may surprise all of us what he can do if he finds himself on a fast break.