I never thought that the Pacers would be as good as they currently are but they certainly have made me into a believer. What's more impressive is the fact that most of their talent is home-grown; using their picks to select guys that were available to us in those drafts.
In the 2004 draft, the Pacers picked Danny Granger with the 19th pick, while we selected Channing Frye with the 8th pick.
In the 2008 draft, the Pacers picked Roy Hibbert with the 17th pick, while we reached and picked Danilo Gallinari with the 6th pick. They also managed to acquire George Hill from the Spurs a year later who was picked with the 26th pick.
In the 2010 draft, they picked Paul George with the 10th pick. As much as we didn't have a pick, would it have been so far fetch'd to think that the Knicks could have sign and traded David Lee the season before or during the draft for a lottery pick? Meanwhile, in the second round we picked Andy Rautins and Landry Fields with the 38th and 39th pick, while the Pacers picked Lance Stephenson with the 40th pick.
Even some of the players they signed/traded for were available to us in their respective drafts. David West (18th pick), for instance, was available to us in the 2003 draft that we selected Mike Sweetney in (8th pick). In the 2002 draft, we used our 36th pick to select Milos Vujanic with Luis Scola still available (56th pick).
I suppose the point of this story is that we need to do a better job in keeping our picks and making them worth-wild. It just so happens to be one of the few things we do compartively well, which is why I would not be opposed to rebuilding with a slew of picks. We'd need some influx of front office talent to make it all work but it can and should be done. It really is the primary method for building a sustainable contender.
12/23/2013 11:26 PM