The Pacers likely will have a high lottery pick this year, probably has high as the top 5. This will be the second year in a row that the Pacers will be choosing at such a high point, and thus, there will be increased pressure on the franchise to make a good pick to continue the success of the rebuild thus far.
One of the biggest things that many fans were hopeful for during the trade deadline was shoring up the forward rotation, which has long been the weak point of the team. Lucky for the Pacers, there are several strong forwards that will be present in the upcoming draft. The Pacers will likely look to get a forward for their future in the draft if their current additions fail to work out.
One of the difficult parts of the draft is figuring out how best to approach it. Many will say that you should always go for the best available player and figure out the rest later. Others will say that you should go with the best player for your team and rotation to fill your current roster needs.
In recent years, as evidenced by the pick of Goga Bitadze a few years ago when we already had multiple centers, the Pacers have taken the best available with the intent to make it work out. What will they do this year?
The Pacers take a shot on the forward of their future
Bleacher Report has come out with their newest full 2-round Mock Draft. And while there were multiple surprising picks throughout, one of the bigger surprises is who they have the Pacers taking with the 6th pick in the draft: Gradey Dick.
Now don’t get us wrong, Gradey Dick is a good player. This year at Kansas he is averaging good numbers with 14 points, 5 rebounds, 2 assists on 46% FG and 43% FG3. The ability to stretch the floor with good size (6’8, 205 lbs) is impressive. However, there are certainly some drawbacks to this pick.
The biggest of which is that he is a bit undersized to play the 4 spot, and would like bounce between the 2 and 3 spot, which is a piece of the rotation that is already relatively crowded for the Pacers. They would benefit much more from a bit more size, even at the expense of some of the shooting that Dick would bring to the team.
The mistake would be who would still be left on the board.
There are multiple players in the Mock Draft that are still available that would be better fits for the Indiana Pacers. The biggest of which is Cam Whitmore who get’s picked 7th in the draft. Whitmore has more size (nearly 30 more lbs) without giving up much height. Additionally, his 3 point shooting is still 36%, so he isn’t bad from deep either.
There would be other additional forwards that are arguably a better fit for the Pacers in this mock draft as well such as Ausar Thompson, who currently is having a great season for the Overtime Elite. Even later in the first round is GG Jackson who may have more upside at the pro-level than Gradey.
However, the Pacers have a handful of picks in the upcoming draft. Perhaps they package them together and move up a spot to take a player like Brandon Miller out of Alabama?
All we are saying is that the Pacers will have options, and we hope, that Gradey Dick is not part of their draft day plans.
What do you think? Would you be happy with this pick?