Indiana Pacers: 2017 NBA Draft Grades
While attention will be on the move the Pacers didn’t make, the Pacers quietly had a solid draft.
The Indiana Pacers were poised to make some of the biggest noise at Thursday’s draft.
They did not.
Paul George remains on the Pacers roster and the team will continue waiting to see what they can get in return for George before he bolts as a free agent a year from now.
In addition to holding onto George, the Pacers left the draft with the two picks they entered with at 18 and 47.
Players Drafted:
T.J. Leaf (18th overall), UCLA. 16.3 points per game, 8.2 rebounds per game, 1.1 blocks per game.
Ike Anigbogu (47th overall), UCLA. 4.7 points per game, 4.0 rebounds per game, 1.2 blocks per game
Overall Draft Grade: A-
In Kevin Pritchard’s first draft as general manager and President of Basketball Operations of the Pacers, he nailed it.
The Pacers took two very different big men from UCLA.
The Pacers’ first rounder T.J. Leaf projects as an offensively-gifted power forward. Leaf would’ve been a one-and-done star at almost any school, but was overshadowed by the second overall pick, Lonzo Ball.
In his one season at UCLA, Leaf averaged 16.3 points, 8.2 rebounds, 2.4 assists, and 1.1 blocks per game while shooting 61.7 percent from the field and 46.6 percent on three-pointers.
He’ll likely enter the season as a backup to Thaddeus Young. If the Pacers choose to go full-blown rebuild with a George trade, Young could be on the trade block soon after to clear a starting spot for Leaf. Young is an expiring contract after next season, making for a clear path to Leaf having his shot to be the power forward for the future in Indy.
Leaf can be a rotation right away with his offensive game. There’s a place on any team for guys who can score off of the bench and that’ll likely be his role from day one.
His weakness will be his defense, as he’s not a rim protector nor mobile enough to defend on the perimeter. It’s not as if he has the tools to develop those either, which is problematic. In a league where bigs who could be exposed defensively in the playoffs were played off the floor, Leaf’s defensive ability will determine his floor as a player.
If nothing else, fans will enjoy cheering for a guy who actually wants to be there.
The Pacers did a solid job with their first pick and got an absolute steal for value with their second pick of the night, Ike Anigbogu. Anigbogu was a mid-late first rounder
Anigbogu’s modest stat line in college (4.7 points per game,, 4.0 rebounds per game) can be credited to playing with great talent blocking his way to minutes and being incredibly young. Anigbogu will turn 19 less than two weeks before the season begins.
Despite his youth, Anigbogu comes with an NBA-ready body at 6'10" and a chiseled 252 pounds. Anigbogu will likely start off in the G-League as they develop him into a rim-running and rim protecting NBA big.
There was a reason for Anigbogu’s draft night slide into the mid-second round, allegedly bad knees.
Time will tell if bad knees will limit or derail Anigbogu’s career, but at that point in the draft, the potential reward outweighs the risk.
For the Pacers, a rebuild is likely on the way. They may not have made a blockbuster trade to jumpstart it, but they did add a couple pieces who could become staples of the frontcourt for years to come.
