Indiana Pacers: 3 prospects to avoid in the 2021 NBA Draft

Isaiah Jackson should not be on the Indiana Pacers’ radar

To put it in simple terms, the Pacers should not draft a center in the first round. The hiring of Rick Carlisle as head coach signifies that the two-big lineup will be coming to an end in the near future and with three centers already on board, adding another with a high pick would be a travesty.

This has literally nothing to do with Isaiah Jackson as a player other than his role and positional value to this team. Jackson is viewed as a lottery player with defensive upside and good athleticism, which is exactly what the Pacers currently have in Myles Turner and Goga Bitadze. Using another first-round selection on a backup center would halt any progress the Pacers are making.

Even if the Pacers trade one of the aforementioned centers this summer, they still have depth in the frontcourt to avoid taking another in favor of a more pressing need. Goga should be the guy off the bench with Turner or Sabonis playing the majority of the minutes in the starting rotation and perhaps JaKarr Sampson can return as the safety net.

While centers are valuable for what they do on the defensive end, they are much harder to build around than guards and wings. Having four first-round centers on a roster that severely lacks impact players elsewhere is not going to win the Pacers many games.

Isaiah Jackson is the top center in Indiana’s range of the draft so he gets the bulk of the disapproval here but let it be known that any center would be a poor choice for Indiana.