The Indiana Pacers made a huge splash for their organization and for their city’s fan base Thursday at the NBA Draft.
The Pacers traded the rights to the No. 15 pick, which turned out to be San Diego State’s Kawhi Leonard, as well as the rights to the No. 42 pick (Davis Bertans) and 2005 pick Erazem Lorbek, to the San Antonio Spurs in exchange for Indianapolis native George Hill, a Broad Ripple High School and IUPUI product.
Needless to say, Indiana and its local fans are thrilled about this pick, and they should be.
By Drew Allen
Having made the playoffs for the first time since 2006 and having given the top-seeded Chicago Bulls a run for their money in each of the first four games in that first-round series, Pacers president Larry Bird was looking to add a veteran in order to take his squad to the next level. Hill, a 2008 first-round pick of the Spurs, has developed into a fine player in San Antonio and had been mentioned several times as a possible trade target last offseason before Indiana eventually dealt for point guard Darren Collison. The team now has him — at the one- or two-guard, Bird said.
Hill is a legitimate presence at the two. He averaged 11.6 points and five rebounds as a regular rotation player with the Spurs during the 2010-11 season, and he posted an efficiency of +13.83 when he came off the bench.
The Pacers get a capable veteran and a potential fan favorite in Hill, but the question for Indiana becomes whether he should start. The Pacers found a starting lineup that worked for them down the stretch, and that unit included up-and-coming rookie Paul George at the shooting guard spot. Indiana sees George as a weapon on either end of the court and a potential cornerstone player for their future either at the two or the three, and with forward Danny Granger in the fold at least for the foreseeable future, it appears as if Hill likely will be the first guy off the pine during the 2011-12 campaign.
Whatever his initial role, Hill certainly will have one that allows him to make a significant contribution toward the Pacers’ effort at a repeat trip to the postseason. His arrival also might serve as writing on the wall for Brandon Rush’s tenure in Indy. The three-year guard, whom Indiana acquired ahead of Hill in the 2008 draft, has shown only flashes of brilliance and woeful inconsistency with the Pacers and also has run into trouble with drug testing, failing the NBA’s mandated program three times. Indiana might try to cut their losses with Rush with a logjam in the backcourt looming otherwise.
The trade is still a while — potentially a long while as the league’s collective bargaining agreement with the players is set to expire and begin a lockout — from producing dividends on the court, but Hill more than likely will make sure that happens when the time comes.