It’s difficult to profile the all-time Indiana Pacers team. They experienced their greatest success in the wild and wacky American Basketball Association (ABA), which Will Ferrell somewhat accurately portrayed in the movie ‘Semi-Pro’ (side note: Terry Pluto’s Loose Balls: The Short, Wild Life of the American Basketball Association, an oral history of the ABA, is my favorite basketball book ever – an absolute must-read). With three championships and five ABA Finals appearances, Indiana was the league’s most successful team. Despite the ABA’s buffoonery, the league had great players, and in the first season after the merger, 10 of the 24 all-star participants were former ABA players. So even though the Pacers have been a slightly below .500 team since the merger, their rich ABA history deserves to be honored here, and those players are evaluated in the same context as their NBA counterparts.
This team’s biggest hole is at point guard, where Vern Fleming and Don Buse will split time. These were perfectly solid players; both were good defenders, with great height to bother their opponents (Fleming is 6’5”, Buse 6’4”). However, this is a subpar pairing for a tournament of this caliber, especially on the offensive end; they both made the cut over Mark Jackson, a more talented offensive player who was comically slow-footed with a shaky jump shot. Reggie Miller is the clear choice as the starting shooting guard; despite being somewhat overrated due to his flair for the dramatic (he only made five all-star games in 18 seasons), he was one of the greatest shooters ever, and a great late-game option who embraced big moments. Paul George provides great length, defense, and versatility off the bench, and he and Billy Knight, one of the leading scorers in franchise history, can play at guard or forward, as needed.
Roger Brown and George McGinnis are the starting forwards. Brown was the first player that was signed in franchise history; he never went to the NBA because he was associated with point shavers as an amateur (his name was later cleared), but he was a Hall-of-Famer who shined brightest on the big stage (in the 1970 playoffs, he averaged 28.5 PPG, 10.5 RPG, and 5.6 ASG in leading the team to their first championship). McGinnis is a former ABA MVP who had a good jump shot and a nose for offensive rebounds. Both were good passers, which will help make up for the lack of playmaking at the point guard position.
Mel Daniels, a two-time ABA MVP and the leading rebounder in ABA history, is the easy choice as starting center. This team boasts impressive frontcourt depth, with Jermaine O’Neal providing a great defensive presence off the bench, and Rik Smits and two-time Sixth Man of the Year Detlef Schrempf doing the same on the offensive end. There were many solid frontcourt players who were not able to make the team, including Clark Kellogg, Dale Davis, Chuck Person, Herb Williams, Roy Hibbert, and Ron Artest (who would have had a good chance if hadn’t played less than 200 games for the franchise).
This should be a very good rebounding team who can shine defensively when Buse, George, and O’Neal enter the lineup. Miller and Danny Granger should help to space the floor for their big men to operate down low. With three championships, the Pacers are the eighth seeded team in our tournament, and face the Orlando Magic in their first round match up.
Coach: Slick Leonard
All-Time Franchise Winning Percentage (through 2014-15): .511