Indiana Pacers: 3 takeaways from 2019 NBA offseason
By Fox Doucette
2. I don’t know about Goga and neither do you
Goga Bitadze fell in the draft because the gulf between his upside ceiling and downside floor is off the charts.
This isn’t a can’t miss Euroleague star like Luka Doncic making the jump to the NBA as the most complete talent to cross the Atlantic since the Gasol brothers.
Even if Bitadze did have the pedigree, everyone thought Ricky Rubio was going to take the NBA by storm and there was actual debate whether he’d be better than Stephen Curry.
Granted, the Indiana Pacers had the 18th pick and this is the same franchise that drafted Reggie Miller 11th, Myles Turner 11th and had Kawhi Leonard in their hands at 15th before trading him to San Antonio. Indianapolis was built on mid-first-round steals.
But if Bitadze doesn’t pan out, the big coulda-shoulda just spent three great years with the team and took off for Chicago — the Pacers traded the 20th pick in 2016, which turned into Caris LeVert, to Brooklyn to get Thaddeus Young in the first place.
Pacers fans will be left asking ourselves who general manager Kevin Pritchard could’ve gotten with that 18th pick.