Steve Mitchell USA Today Sports
A recent report from Steve Kyler of Basketball Insiders made it seem like the Indiana Pacers could be considering a trade involving their No. 11 overall pick in the 2015 NBA Draft. It is a report that is intriguing to say the least, but Larry Bird cannot afford to trade the pick away. There are too many talented players that will be available when they are on the clock, and they need a talented young player to continue building their roster.
For what its worth – hearing the #11 from Indiana is very much in play.
— Steve Kyler (@stevekylerNBA) June 19, 2015
Trading away the pick for an already proven NBA player would be tempting for the Pacers, who are hoping to bounce back in 2015-16 and be championship contenders after a very disappointing year.
Bird knows that the Pacers are already up against their financial ceiling at this point in time. They simply cannot afford to bring in any veteran players who will take up more room on their books. Drafting a rookie with the No. 11 pick would put something on their books, but it wouldn’t be nearly as bad long-term as whoever they ended up acquiring.
Indiana has been looking at players like Cameron Payne, Myles Turner and Frank Kaminsky in the first round, while there are plenty of other options available should they choose to go a different route.
There are quite a few reasons for the Pacers to hold onto their pick and come away with a young player. First of all, developing a young player and creating him into something special is exactly what the Pacers have had success with in the past. One of those players was Lance Stephenson, but the other was a budding superstar named Paul George.
Frank Vogel is a very patient head coach, and he knows how to motivate his players and instill confidence into them. He may have flaws in quite a few areas, but he knows how to handle young players and get the most out of their potential.
Obviously this is a very key offseason for the Pacers and their chances to make a run at getting back to the Eastern Conference Finals. They were there for two straight seasons before George went down with a broken leg and Stephenson left in free agency. Indiana is due for a big rebound season after all of the disappointments and heartbreak from last year, and it all starts with the draft.
It will be very interesting to see what the Pacers end up doing with their pick. Bird could look to deal it, or he could take one of the prospects that the team has been interested in for awhile. No matter what the Pacers decide to do with the pick, the best bet is to take a chance on a young player and mold him into a major rotational player for the future.
Rumors are going to be flying everywhere throughout the course of the week leading up to Thursday’s NBA draft, and it wouldn’t be surprising to see the Pacers mentioned in a few of them. Ty Lawson could be a veteran that Bird would deal the No. 11 pick for, but it would have to be a deal that blows them out of the water in order to accept it.
Evan Massey is a featured writer for www.RantSports.com, and contributes across the NFL, MLB, NCAA and NBA portions of the site. Follow him on Twitter at @Massey_Evan and like him on Facebook.
