Tuesday, June 26th, 2012 at 6:19 pm  |  9 responses

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Draymond Green, No. 26 (Mock)

#DRAYMOND was the best player in college basketball last year, and he’s a steal at No. 26.

by Eduardo Maisonet, III / @edthesportsfan

The Indiana Pacers were up 2-1 on what would be the eventual NBA Champion Miami Heat in the second round of the NBA Playoffs. After dropping a close first game, Indiana’s defensive effort, intensity on the boards and timely scoring gave the Pacers’ fan base hope.

“Could this be the year the Pacers make a deep run?”

“Is our ‘team’ better than a Big 3 minus 1?” (Chris Bosh went out for Miami in Game 1.)

“Are the Pacers back?”

The answers to those questions were soon answered in Games 4, 5 and 6. The Pacers didn’t win another game, and it turned out that the Big Two were better than anything else Indiana had to throw at Miami. But answering the question, “Are the Pacers back?” was an easy one.

Yes. Without a shadow of a doubt.

Let’s give the proper credit to this team. The Indiana Pacers finished with the fifth-best record in the entire NBA. All of this with their best player who overachieves by serving as the team’s go-to scorer, although it seems he’d be better fitted as a secondary option. Their frontline big men of Roy Hibbert and David West averaged a paltry 15.2 rebounds/game. (Kevin Love by himself hauled down 13.3 this season.)

The backcourt is decent, if only because Paul George seems to be a candidate for upward growth in the next few years, but their point guard situation isn’t glimmering with nearly as much hope. Its a roster of pretty good players, none great. It’s a testament of the rebuilding job that Larry Bird has done with this organization. Hiring Frank Vogel was a good start, drafting George was an even better move. Now is the time for Bird to seize the moment and…

…Oh.

Larry Bird just chucked the deuce as the president of the organization.

Great.

Well lookie here. Thank God I, Eddie Maisonet, am able to step in and make franchise-changing decisions on behalf of the organization…

With the 26th pick of the 2012 SLAMonline Mock Draft, the Indiana Pacers select….

Draymond Green from Michigan State.

One time for all the folks on twitter that know about one of the greatest hashtags in all of college basketball history.

#DRAYMOND

I can only speak for my timeline and the network that I have, but when Draymond Green was playing basketball on television, folks stopped what they were doing to pay the proper respect and appreciate the man who Michigan State head coach Tom Izzo said was “The Perfect Spartan.”

Green led MSU in points, rebounds, steals and was second in assists. Green’s been to back-to-back Final Four teams as a freshman and sophomore and evolved into the “Perfect Spartan.” Think about that, as many players Izzo’s brought through that program, he drops that gem of a title on #DRAYMOND? Yes, of course he did. It’s #DRAYMOND.

At first, I believed that Draymond had overachieved during his Michigan State career. Now I know better. Draymond is not only a product of hard work and dedication, but an insanely skilled big man who’s still got room to grow. A man who’s closer to 6-6 than the 6-8 that his height will be listed as in the opening day programs that’ll be handed out to fans when they come to see him play.

Draymond yelled, cussed, screamed, motivated and flirted with cheerleaders on the sidelines if necessary (true story). Whatever he had to say to his team he’d do it. And he’d do whatever was needed on the court to give his team the best chance to win. If Izzo told Draymond to run point, he’d do it. If Izzo needed Draymond to rebound, he’d do that too. Score? Done deal. Go feed the homeless at the soup question? No doubt.

For the Pacers, this is an easy choice, right? David West and Tyler Hansbrough both have one year left in their respective deals, and in Green they have a player that they can play right away at the 3 or the 4. He’s another player that will share the ball, make open jumpers, rebound the ball and most importantly make others better.

Draymond’s a player’s player. Everyone wants to play with him, and everyone on the other side respects him. He’s the guy you want on your team.