Derek Kramer

Pacers GM opens up about Cam Whitmore, Trayce Jackson-Davis, and being aggressive on the trade market

The Indiana Pacers had a busy NBA Draft night behind the scenes as they selected Jarace Walker, Ben Sheppard, Mojave King, and Isaiah Wong with their four picks. Pacers General Manager Chad Buchanan went on 107.5 the Fan’s Kevin & Query to discuss the team’s decisions on picks they made and was also very open about ones they didn’t make.

Cam Whitmore was the first player the Pacers had in for a solo workout as a possible option for the seventh pick and was widely thought of as a potential top-10 selection throughout the draft process. On draft night however, he dropped all the way to 20 where the Houston Rockets pounced on a guy that was briefly rumored as a possible option for them at pick four in early mocks.

Some have reported that medical issues may have been the cause for the drop or perhaps mediocre workouts, the Pacers were apparently very comfortable with the idea of adding him to the roster as Buchanan said they were aggressively trying to move up in the draft to take him as he was sliding.

“I can assure you we tried as hard as we possibly could on that one,” Buchanan answered when asked if they considered trading up for Whitmore. “We called basically from about pick 10 and down until his name came off the board. It was a frantic room trying to be aggressive to move up into that range. Unfortunately it takes two teams to tango and most teams had their guy and did not want to move. We were very aggressive trying to move up last night.”

The Pacers were also mentioned in rumors that they were looking to possibly trade their 7th overall selection for a veteran wing player. Buchanan confirmed that they were active on that front.

“We didn’t have as many options as we had hoped for a veteran that we had targeted. We tried very, very, very hard to do that,” Buchanan said. “We had a group of players around the league that we felt would be a great fit for our young core that play a position of need that we went after about as aggressively as we possibly could without sacrificing our complete future. Unfortunately those players were not available. We tried on that front but at the end of the day we were very comfortable with a couple of guys staying at pick 7 and adding another young player to our core to try and build with.”

Players that came up in rumors before the draft included OG Anunoby, DeAndre Hunter, Jonathan Kuminga. Anunoby feels like the most likely of those that fits the “not available” after an aggressive pursuit of those three. You have to think that they also called the Nets about Mikal Bridges as well.

Buchanan of course did talk about the two players they were excited to take in the first round as well.

“We were very poor on the defensive side so that was a big emphasis for us and will continue to be as add to this team is guys that can come in and improve us on the defensive side. Jarace does that,” Buchanan on what the rookie from Houston adds to the team. “Jarace has a lot of versatility to his game. He’s a guy who played point guard for a little bit of time in high school. He’s got a great feel for the game which Coach Carlisle and our staff really value … He’s a good fit for us in a lot of ways but mostly were excited about his potential to defend that position of that 6’7”-6’9” scoring hybrid is a challenge in our league. … That’s where we felt like he was a good fit for us as a defender.”

Buchanan also talked about Sheppard and what they liked about him beyond his shooting: “I think Ben is a two-way player. The thing that stands out about Ben is that he’s in phenomenal shape and he’s in constant motion on both sides of the floor. Offensively, he’s running off screens, sprinting the lanes, curling off picks, pushing the ball in transition off of rebounds. His motor just never stops and that carries over on the defensive end too. He’s just a guy with a great effort level, a great care factor, and tremendous character. I think the fans and the media are going to love Ben Sheppard.”

The talk among many IU and Pacers fans on Twitter throughout the second round turned towards Trayce Jackson-Davis and Indiana deciding to pass on him twice at picks 47 and 55 before TJD was finally selected by the Golden State Warriors at 57. Especially after TJD tweeted this almost immediately after the Pacers picked at 47:

Buchanan was quick to say that the team loves him as a player but because of their current roster construction there was a mutual understanding that it would not be a good fit for him with the Pacers.

“We love Trayce Jackson-Davis as a player. Sometimes it’s gotta be a mutual interest,” said Buchahan. “You don’t want to have a player with you that’s coming in and not wanting to be there. Trayce is going to be a terrific player and we were big fans. Obviously our roster and what he is, the position he plays, wasn’t a great fit. We understood that and his representatives understood that but if we’d have been in a position where we didn’t have four players at his position I think Trayce would have been a great option for us. We were big fans of his game.” 

When asked if during communication between the Pacers and TJD’s team if it felt like he would prefer to go elsewhere, Buchanan responded, “I think that’s accurate to say.”

Fittingly, yesterday was June 22nd, the anniversary of another famous time the Pacers passed on an IU player when in 1987 they passed on Steve Alford for their franchise GOAT Reggie Miller.

If you want to listen to the entire 15-minute interview, you can find it here.

3 comments

  1. I love this draft class Pacer did a great job. As far as Davis goes he wasn’t good enough to pick 7th overall. I think that upset him and the pacers felt like it he didn’t want to be there after that. Ben Shepherd is a great pic he’s going to be a real good player for the pacers. He can play at both ends of the floor I think he’s going to be a big surprise.

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