Indiana Pacers 2008 Draft Review- Holy Crap

So the draft is done and it is apparent now that the Pacers have indeed traded Jerryd Bayless to Portland for Brandon Rush, Jarrett Jack, and Josh McRoberts. During the draft, we also (under the guise of Toronto, the trade for the 17th pick won’t be official until July 9) picked up big Roy Hibbert, the 7′2” giant from Georgetown.

A lot of Pacer fans all over the internet are still pissed that we traded Bayless. I was incredibly angry when I found out about the trade, but now that I have had a night to sleep on it, I’m not really so sure if I like or hate the trade. In fact, it’s useless to condemn the trade at this point, if it needs to be panned, it will be panned in three years after everything plays out. I’m not rooting against Bayless, but his attitude and his still kinda slight build worry me a bit. He was a great slasher in college, but will he be able to handle the NBA grind and bang toward the rim with the big guys? There are legitimate questions against him, he’s not an anointed son by any means.

Some have panned Bird for an idiot, but my bright side hopes that he’s trying to build a real team here that won’t be title worthy for the next few years at least. Bayless has the mold of a feature player- but maybe he wasn’t the ideal type of player Bird wanted to build around. There are plenty of stars in the league already (Carmelo Anthony, Gilbert Arenas, even AI) who are great talents but don’t seem to be the type of leaders who can take their team to a championship. Maybe in Bird’s eyes Bayless is that kind of guy. So what did Bird do? He traded for what could someday be some important parts for a contending team, instead. At least, that’s what I’m hoping and praying for.

Brandon Rush seems to be the ultimate glue guy. I like him as a better shooting, faster, slightly more athletic Derrick McKey. He is a great perimeter defender and has a nice stroke from downtown. He is, by many accounts, the best player at moving without the ball in the entire draft and one of the most NBA ready players in the draft. That’s what I am liking about Larry Bird’s tenure as the head of the Pacers so far: He is getting proven talents instead of say, the Jonathan Benders of the world. Rush however, is by no means a slasher, and doesn’t get to the basket very well. The Pacers will need to surround him with more aggressive players in order for him to be effective in some cases. As alluded to before however, he’s great at coming off screens, and that leads me to Roy Hibbert, who is known to be able to set a monster of a screen.

Roy Hibbert is big (really big, as in 7′2”), sort of unathletic, and known by almost everyone to be a really nice guy. The first thing Roy needs to do in the NBA is not wear those silly long undershirts under his jersey. He does have a nice post game for such a young guy and that will translate well into the NBA because, well, not too many people will be able to block his shots. He should be a decent defensive presence in the league. He’s not too explosive and he doesn’t rebound very well right now. In other words, for him to reach his peak, someone needs to light a fire under his ass. With a little swagger, he’ll be alright. Even without it, he’ll be a decent backup NBA center. He could be a starter in the future, however, and being that he is such a nice guy, I’ll be rooting for him.

As mentioned earlier, we also picked up Jarrett Jack via the Rush trade in this draft. Jack is a hardworking PG, but really has limited talent and craftiness and probably will never be a starting PG anywhere. However, he’s pretty big (6′3”) and he won’t get pushed around by guys like Chauncey Billups. He is a fierce competitor and a tenacious defender. He’s known to be relatively steady on the offensive end but he’s a bit turnover prone. Because he’s much larger and a much better defender than T.J. Ford, he complements Ford very well.

Josh McRoberts, who actually hails from Carmel, Indiana and was once seen as a possible lottery pick, has really tanked since being drafted by Portland. He was a third stringer in the D-League and by many accounts is a jerk and a lazy basketball player. I can’t see him lasting long for the Pacers. He once dated LC from the Hills. That’s probably the most notable thing/person he’s ever done.

So, overall, between Brandon Rush and Jarrett Jack, our perimeter defense has evolved from possibly the worst perimeter defense in the league to pretty damn good. I don’t know too much about Rush, really, but Jack, Hibbert, and T.J. Ford all seem like hard working, easy guys to root for, so the Pacers really are rapidly overhauling their image. McRoberts is known as a douche, but I’ll be surprised to see him in a uniform in November.