NBA Draft

NBA Draft 2020: Pacers news, notes and links

The Pacers draft night was slow but finished with a flourish.

By Tom Lewis@IndyCornrows Nov 19, 2020, 4:00pm EST

If you buy something from an SB Nation link, Vox Media may earn a commission. See our ethics statement.

The Pacers had a quiet NBA Draft night, at least to those outside the Fieldhouse on Wednesday night. After waiting around much of the night for the 54th overall pick, Shams Charania broke the news at 11:56 p.m. ET that the Pacers were about to select Cassius Stanley.

Of course, Shams announced it first. He’s the shadow PR department for the Pacers. Shams also let us know when his buddy Victor Oladipo played the role of Pacers ambassador and welcomed young Cassius to the family a few minutes later. I’m starting to wonder...has anyone seen Shams and Victor together at the same time? Hmm.

Anyway, after Wednesday flipped into Thursday, Pacers GM, Chad Buchanan took questions about the draft and lack of any other activity by the Pacers. The key take aways from Buchanan’s assessment of Stanley was that his athleticism “pops” on the film and that his versatility fits what Nate Bjorkgren is looking for on his team.

The versatility for players to pass, shoot and defend from as many spots on the floor as possible sounds like a great plan to assess any new players the Pacers take on. Justin Holiday is that type of guy, so much so, the Pacers may not be able to bring him back and will have to hope Stanley develops into the same type of productive player some day.

But now that free agency is upon us and the Pacers have some moves to make with tight financial constraints (pending any trades), it seems like they can’t have too many of those versatile type of players to mix and match at both ends of the floor.

For pick No. 54, I’d say the Pacers did well.

Also, Scott Agness reported that the Pacers are bringing in Rayshaun Hammonds for training camp, a legit power forward with a nice lefty shot, including 3-point range. Sounds like a Top 10 guy, but obviously, he has plenty of development left in his game since he was undrafted. He was a Top 50 recruit who played for Tom Crean at Georgia. Maybe playing a stretch four in the NBA will fit his game better. The Pacers can only hope.

Oh, and congrats to local legend, Desmond Bane from Richmond, IN for sliding into the first round with the Memphis Grizzlies at pick No. 30. Bane is a sniper from long range and has an NBA body ready to roll after playing at TCU.

Here is Buchanan’s media session followed by other links: