5 Players The Indiana Pacers Should Consider Taking With 11th Pick

Cameron Payne

Point guard, Murray State (SO.)

6’2″ 183 lbs

Per game averages: 20.2 points, 3.7 rebounds, 6.0 assists, 1.9 steals. 45.6/37.7/78.7 shooting splits.

GIF to make you want Payne on your team:

Why The Pacers should pick Payne:

In their exit interviews with the media, Frank Vogel and Larry Bird hinted that the team plans to scrap it’s slow, grinding style and embrace the pace-and-space era of basketball. In order to play that style effectively, starting point guard George Hill needs to become more of a playmaker or the team needs to find someone who can be. Unless West and/or Hibbert opt out, the franchise will be armed with only their mid-level exception to add an important piece to their team, but that exception likely won’t be enough to find the player they need to run the system Bird and Vogel have hinted at.

Enter Cameron Payne.

Payne is this year’s mid-major darling who will be a lottery pick despite most basketball fans never watching a game of his. At 6’2 and 183 lbs, Payne doesn’t blow anyone away — until he has a basketball in his hands. Payne is a nice combination of the traditional pass-first point guard and the new age point guard who looks to score, as evidenced by him ranking in the top 20 of both points per game and assists per game at the college level. Payne can be a bit trigger-happy at times, but is a skilled passer with great vision.

Payne is extremely skilled at parts of the game that are more valued at the pro level than the college level. His ability to use pick-and-rolls to attack for himself or a teammate should translate nicely into the pro game. A pick-and-pop play with Payne and West could be a beautiful thing.  He’s also proven that he’s solid at the drive and kick game that should make his transition into the three-centric NBA game. He’s very good at reading a defense and reacting quickly to put himself or his teammates in a position to score.

As mentioned earlier, the NBA is becoming more and more of a three-point shooting league every year. Payne made over 37% of his threes last season while attempting a whopping 6.4 of them per game. If you watch video of Payne, you’ll see that many of these attempts are from far behind the line and would be deep even by NBA standards. You’ll also see that some of his shot attempts are a bit wild, which could easily be a product of being the best player on a mid-major team that allowed him to take bad shots as long as he was making his good ones. Those shots that won’t be taken at the NBA level unless he transitions to the NBA game like another mid-major point guard who shot (and made) a lot of ill-fated shots in college. It would be easy to believe that Payne will be an above average shooter from deep. His shot selection may be questioned, but his shooting ability is not.

Payne’s size and smaller school pedigree draws comparisons to George Hill, but Payne has potential to be a more dynamic version of Hill. Point guard is not a desperate need for the Pacers, but Payne could very well be the best player available at #11 and filling the backup point guard vacancy that free agent CJ Watson left could be valuable for the Pacers in the short and long-term. History typically shows that point guards have the easiest time transitioning into the pros with less of a learning curve to be worthy of a rotation player. Drafting Payne would fill a hole as a backup immediately with potential to replace Hill or join him in the starting lineup down the road.

If the Pacers draft Payne to fill the backup point guard role, the team then can use their mid-level exception to retain Rodney Stuckey, grab a rotation wing, or snag a backup big man who fits better with the team’s new offensive strategy.

At the Pacers’ spot in the lottery, it’s hard to find a player who lit it up for a powerhouse team like a Kentucky or Duke. As the Pacers found out with Paul George, sometimes the mid-major stud who improved year-by-year provides the best chance at unearthing a gem late in the lottery. If Payne is available, he’s the right pick for the Pacers.

Next: Devin Booker