Greatest unsung hero in every NBA team’s history

Indiana Pacers: Rik Smits

Even though the most prominent player of their most successful run was primarily known for his 3-point shooting, the 1990s Indiana Pacers played a sluggish brand of basketball, during an era where just about every team played at a molasses-slow pace.

This team often spent regular season after regular season lulling opponents to sleep by milking the shot clock as much as they possibly could. Part of the reason for this was because of Reggie Miller, as the team often ran sets for him to get catch-and-shoot opportunities as opposed to the iso-heavy style that dominated the league at the time.

Being a smaller-market team, the Pacers didn’t have much in the way of secondary co-stars for Miller to play with. The closest he got to having one was arguably center Rik Smits.

Nicknamed “The Flying Dutchman”, Smits possessed a smooth post game along with a nice mid-range stroke. This alleviated some of the scoring load off of Miller’s shoulders.

Depending on which metrics you use, Smits was either a decent secondary scoring option for the Pacers (14.8 career points per game, 17.3 PER, .118 WS/48) or a player that wasn’t as good as his more traditional numbers suggested (-0.5 BPM).

The answer probably lies somewhere in the middle. A team that has Smits as their second-best scoring option probably has a ceiling that falls short of an NBA championship, or a conference championship for that matter.

That being said, Smits was a solid center. This is a fact that often gets obstructed when much of the discussion surrounding the 1990s Pacers usually focuses on the Hall of Fame face of the team in Miller.