Deja Vu - Pacers look at Ty Lawson?

[Note by Cornrows, 04/14/09 9:14 AM EDT - From the FanPosts, Ty Lawson is up for initial consideration. Good timing coming of a game which saw T.J. Ford and Jarrett Jack combine for 7 assists and 8 turnovers.]

As we all know, the Pacers were awfully close to getting Lawson last year.  Were it not for an ill-timed indiscretion with the law, the Pacers would have too many PG's and the Tar Heels probably don't win the championship.  I've been looking at a wider variety of mock drafts lately and over the past week or two we've ended up with Lawson more than any other player.  I imagine most everyone has a decent idea of what Lawson is like so I'll try to keep this one shorter than the others.

First off, Lawson is a bit short at 5'11 but is definitely stout enough at 195 to hold his own.  His two main attributes are speed and passing.  The guy is fast as hell and he can drive by pretty much anyone.  His assist numbers are as good as anyone in college.  This year he was at 6.6 assists a game with less than 2 TO's a game all while still finding his own shot for 16.6 points a game.  He also shot nearly 50% from 3 and had a pair of steals a game.  The guy can definitely play and be a big time point guard.

Some negatives.  His shot isn't great, despite his 3 point percentage.  Most or all of his 3's are spot-up jumpers and he doesn't shoot as well when on the move.  He also doesn't have much of a mid-range game.  While he plays great up-tempo ball, he is definitely less effective in the half-court game.  His size could be a bit of a liability on defense (albeit not too much).  Also, as great as he's been in distributing the ball, he had some pretty good guys around him to pass the ball to.  I'm sure there are a number of other college PG's who would have similar assist/TO rates with that NC team.

I'll go ahead and leave it at that.  Here's his draftexpress page: http://www.draftexpress.com/profile/Ty-Lawson-485/.  Personally, I definitely like the guy and think he can be successful, especially in a JOB offense.  My only real concern is that if we draft a PG, we will need to do something with the guys we have as 5 PG's is too many (including Tinsley and Deiner).  

Quick note on his character, since the Pacers will shy away from these kinds of problems.  His DWI last year, while unfortunate, is probably not an indicator of a bad kid.  He was 20 years old and was under the legal limit (if he was 4 months older, he would have been fine).  It was a mistake but not a huge one.  Having read stories about his family, he seems to have a good background (military father) and appears unlikely to have off-court distractions.