Indiana Pacers: All-time fan favorite starting lineup

So every team has fan favorites regardless of how good they are and the Pacers are no exception. For example, Udonis Haslam hasn’t done anything relevant in the NBA in a decade yet continues to be a favorite of the Miami Heat.

So we decided to put together a starting five of the most beloved Pacers players into a starting lineup. But there had to be a few caveats.

1. The player can’t be a hall-of-famer or perennial all-star type player. AND
2. The player had to play in Indiana for at least one complete season.

This meant that certain players such as Reggie Miller or Jermaine O’Neal did not qualify as they would likely be the some of the most loved players in Pacers history.

Once these two criteria were met we decided to look into the books to see who are some of the most love Pacers players at each position. We scoured the internet for opinions and people listing their favorite Pacers players and condensed all of it into this absolutely amazing starting five that, while they would be fun to watch, probably wouldn’t win too many games.

Forever in the hearts of Pacers fans, Stephenson captivated us with his antics.

There was something magical about the little bit of chaos that came with Lance Stephenson every time he hit the basketball court. The man nicknamed “Born Ready” never became a perennial all-star or really amazed anyone on the basketball court (outside of Indiana that is).

But the energy that he brought to the court with his air guitars, blowing in the ear of the greatest player on earth, fearless approach captivated Pacers fans. And it seemed the magic only happened when the Pacers were in town, as anytime Lance went to other teams or on the road there never was quite the same magic.

He absolutely starts at the shooting guard spot and might be the MVP of this starting lineup given how loved he is by the modern Pacers’ fanbase.

But of course, we have four more starting spots we must fill and that means we need to look next to the power forward position, one the Pacers have struggled to fill in recent years. 

A player who never dominated the court, but fans loved every time he entered the game.

Luis Scola’s time in Indiana is but a blip on the radar of the franchise given that he only played two seasons for the Pacers. In fact, he only played a fraction of his whole pro career in the NBA playing for nearly a decade in Argentina before coming to the NBA and then playing overseas to end his career as well. However, he certainly was loved while he was in Indy.

He averaged 9 points and 5 rebounds in two seasons for the Pacers and was an abysmal 3 point shooter during his time in Indy (22%). Yet there was something so endearing about Scola when he was on the court. We are honestly unsure why Indiana fans love Luis so much. But perhaps it was his dashing good looks?

In any case, Scola was a fan favorite on and off the court and is absolutely deserving of this spot in the all-time fan favorites starting lineup. But who should start at center for a franchise that has so many to choose from?

He was never great, but he was always there. Our starting center is Jeff Foster.

Jeff Foster was perhaps never a very great NBA player. But he was an NBA player for a long time all of which was in Indiana. And during that time he won our hearts and our unending support. Foster was drafted by the Golden State Warriors but never suited up for anybody but Indiana during his career. Many of the years of his long tenure in Indiana were affected by injuries which also limited how effective he was.

He never averaged more than 7 points in a season. He never averaged double digit rebounds in a season. He wasn’t a real great shooter and he wasn’t particularly excellent at anything on the court. But what was he?

He was scrappy. Even when he overmatched he went out there and put everything on the court. And he was part of the Pacers team for well over a decade. We loved him for all of these reasons and got ovations worth of the support at the end of his career. And because of all of that? He is the starting center on our all-time fan favorite team.

Overappreciated with a short stay in Indiana: We still love Chris Copeland.

So Chris Copeland’s trade to Indiana absolutely was one of the biggest free agency mistakes in Pacers franchise history. The Pacers allowed one really great performance from Copeland against them in the postseason allow them to drastically overpay him the following season. But that doesn’t mean that Copeland wasn’t one of the fan favorites during his brief stint in Indiana.

He never averaged more than 6 points in his two seasons with the Pacers and he struggled to find minutes on the court. Yet? The fieldhouse would roar with applause anytime he got into the game. And even though he was only an above average 3 point shooter by today’s standards, the entire fanbase would erupt anytime he hit a 3 pointer from deep talking about how great of a shooter he was.

Why we loved him? Who knows. What did he do in his time with Indiana? Not much.

But he is absolutely the starting small forward on our all-time fan favorites team.

Was he an excellent point guard? Absolutely not. Do we love him? Absolutely.

TJ McConnell is an OKAY NBA guard. He gets a lot of steals and has pretty good floor vision, but he wouldn’t start for most any team in the league. He average offensively and only slightly above average defensively given his drawbacks at his size.

But I think you would be hard pressed to find a Pacers fan that doesn’t absolutely like TJ to the core. And why do we love TJ?

He seems to have genuine joy with his teammates. And I think he reminds many of us of ourselves. Too short to relate to many of the NBA players, there is something really relatable about McConnell that makes us feel like he is an “every-man” and that maybe if we hustled as hard as TJ we could have been NBA players too.

Or perhaps it’s because he hustles and fights tooth and nail on the court. His patented move is the backcourt steal after all.

In any case, he absolutely deserves to start as the all-time fan favorite point guard.

What did you think of our list? Who did we miss? Let us know in the comments below.

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