The Indiana Pacers were awarded the 13th pick in the 2021 NBA Draft Lottery. Which positions should they target in the upcoming draft?
During last night’s NBA Draft Lottery, the Indiana Pacers were handed the 13th pick in the draft. With their spot now set, they can start to plan a bit more for the 2021 NBA Draft.
With that being said, the front office is likely having discussions about what holes they’ll need to fill, both short-term and long-term. The draft isn’t always the best place to do that, and picking the best player available is typically a good strategy in the NBA, but the Pacers will have a lottery pick and two late second-rounders to fill potential gaps in the roster.
They don’t have the luxury of a solidified, playoff-caliber roster that they typically have had in past drafts, so it will be interesting to see if they draft based on need and finding someone to fill a hole.
Instead of grouping these players into traditional positional categories, I’ll simplify it into guards, forwards, and centers.
Draft picks aren’t a guarantee to filling any hole on the roster, and even lottery picks are question marks, but there are some situations where they can come in instantly and fit a critical role. What roles could be available for Pacers draftees, though?
Guards the Indiana Pacers could target
A lot of the Pacers’ needs at guard boil down to what T.J. McConnell does in free agency and any other potential roster moves that the team may make in the offseason, including trading or releasing a player.
If McConnell walks, a rotation spot opens up and could be filled by a rookie. Ideally, Aaron Holiday would be ready to fill this role by now, but his ups and downs combined with the team’s inconsistent playing time that they’ve offered him likely mean there are no guarantees about him taking McConnell’s place in that spot.
Short-term, the Pacers could probably use another guard. Malcolm Brogdon and Caris LeVert will have the starting backcourt locked up if they are on the roster but without a guarantee from McConnell, there’s no clear ball-handler on the bench. Jeremy Lamb and Edmond Sumner both provide depth, but neither is best suited as a ball-handling guard and they do better work elsewhere.
Long-term, it’s still unclear if Malcolm Brogdon is the answer as a lead guard, and with the coaching situation in flux little is known about the franchises’ direction, though it was reported they are looking for a proven head coach. If that’s the case, Brogdon and LeVert are both likely to remain important pieces on the team.
However, neither are likely good enough to be considered cornerstone pieces and if the best player available in the draft is a guard, Indiana would be ill-advised to look elsewhere. There’s enough room both in the present and future at guard.
Lottery Guards: Cade Cunningham, Jalen Suggs, Jalen Green, Josh Giddey, Moses Moody, James Bouknight, Jaden Springer, Keon Johnson, Jered Butler, Davion Mitchell
Second Round Guards: Miles McBride, Tre Mann, Quentin Grimes, Max Abmas, McKinley Wright IV, Johnny Juzang, Austin Reaves, David Johnson
Which forwards could fit the Indiana Pacers?
Before diving into the Pacers’ potential holes at forward, it’s important to note that there tends to be a lot of overlap between guards and forwards. For this exercise, a forward will be viewed as someone who spends their minutes primarily at the 3 and 4, but many play minutes as an off-ball guard. It’s more of a subjective category than the rest.
Similar to guard, the Pacers roster situation and depth on the wings will rely heavily on impending free agents. Doug McDermott is a solid rotation piece who both started and came off the bench last season and played multiple positions. If McDermott leaves, minutes will free up in both the short-term and long-term.
T.J. Warren is the only real “wing” in the current starting lineup, as LeVert occupies more of a guard’s role on offense and defense and Sabonis and Turner both qualify more as centers than forwards who are stretching to the four-position.
Justin Holiday, McDermott and Oshae Brissett filled a majority of these minutes last season, aside from when injuries called Jeremy Lamb into action as a miscast forward.
The Pacers are full of smaller forwards. Holiday and Lamb are better suited defensively against 2’s and 3’s and Brissett, while encouraging, likely can’t be fully relied on as a defensive stopper against bigger wings.
There’s a need here, both in the short and long-term outlooks, especially if the Myles Turner and Domantas Sabonis pairing is broken up. If one is traded this offseason and McDermott isn’t retained, that would likely thrust Brissett into a full-time starting role and leave little depth on the bench.
Even if Turner and Sabonis both remain, the current roster isn’t blocking an opportunity for a promising young wing. A rookie could come in Day 1 and provide something that the Pacers’ don’t currently have – a strong wing defender with good size.
Lottery Forwards: Jonathan Kuminga, Jalen Johnson, Scottie Barnes, Corey Kispert, Franz Wagner
2nd Round Forwards: Herbert Jones, Kessler Edwards, Isaiah Livers, RaiQuan Gray, Joe Wieskamp, Ron Harper Jr, Marcus Bagley
Could the Indiana Pacers draft another center?
Though Sabonis may be technically listed as a forward, by all intensive purposes, he is a center on both ends of the floor. As is Turner. As is Goga Bitadze.
Essentially, there’s not much room for a center on the Pacers roster. However, if they feel the best player on the board is a center, much like they did when Bitadze was selected in the 2019 draft, then they should take the said player.
But, for that player to receive playing time, the roster would have to look much different. Sabonis and Turner, when both healthy, eat almost all of the minutes at center and whatever they don’t fill tends to be filled with Bitadze. While they have room at the 4, drafting someone who is best as the primary center on the floor and having them play minutes as a forward, seems wasteful, especially with the lottery pick.
And it’s not like Sabonis, Turner, and Bitadze are all on expiring deals and are seasoned veterans. The only way one of them is coming off the roster in the next few years is via trade, and while that is certainly a possibility, the long-term outlook for a center drafted by Indiana doesn’t look much better than the short-term.
Lottery Centers: Evan Mobley, Alperen Sengun, Day’Ron Sharpe, Kai Jones
2nd Round Centers: Luka Garza, Charles Bassey, Drew Timme