Category: Indiana Pacers Blog

Here’s the Indianapolis Star reporting on the Indiana Pacers, who finished last season with a 38-44 record. The team is currently built around George Hill, Rodney Stuckey, new addition Monta Ellis, with star Paul George returning from injury. Also, Jordan Hill is on board, and the team welcomes rookie Myles Turner into the mix. And as for where they hope to practice:

Pacers Sports & Entertainment is asking the city’s Capital Improvement Board to let it build a new training facility with offices and a major tenant on a sliver of land across the street from Bankers Life Fieldhouse.

The parent of the Indiana Pacers uses that land just east of the fieldhouse for employee parking. If the CIB revises the current lease agreement and approves a new use for the land, Pacers Sports & Entertainment would build the facility with private financing, according to a statement released Friday evening by David Benner, director of media relations for the Pacers.

At the conclusion of the agreement, the Pacers would give the facility to the CIB, according to the statement.

The Indiana Pacers announced Tuesday they have signed free agent Toney Douglas to a contract.

“We look forward to having him in camp,” said Pacers President of Basketball Operations Larry Bird. “He’s a veteran player who’s a good pro and he can play two positions. He’s the type of player we’re looking for with our new style of play. We look forward to working with him and having him in camp.”

Douglas, a 6-2, 190-pound guard, is entering his seventh season in the NBA. After attending Florida State University, he was drafted by the L.A. Lakers as the 29th overall pick in the 2009 NBA Draft. In his career, he has played for New York, Houston, Miami, Golden State, Sacramento and New Orleans. He has career averages of 7.6 points, 2.2 rebounds and 2.2 assists per game.

The Indiana Pacers announced Monday they have re-signed veteran free agent Lavoy Allen to a contract.

“We think he’s ready to step in and play more minutes at two different positions,” said Pacers President of Basketball Operations Larry Bird. “This is a great opportunity for him to play night in and night out at a high level.”

Allen, a 6-9, 260-pound forward/center is entering his fifth season in the NBA and his third with the Pacers after being acquired via trade from the Philadelphia 76ers in February 2014. He was drafted by the 76ers as the 50th overall pick in the 2011 NBA Draft. He has career averages of 5.0 points and 4.8 rebounds per game.

The Indiana Pacers announced Monday they have re-signed Shayne Whittington and signed Glenn Robinson III and Rakeem Christmas.

Whittington, a 6-11, 250-pound forward/center out of Western Michigan University, is entering his second season in the NBA after signing with the Pacers last year as an undrafted rookie. With the Pacers, he appeared in 20 games during the 2014-15 season. He was also assigned to play with the Fort Wayne Mad Ants of the NBA D-League during their playoff run that resulted in a trip to the NBA D-League Finals. Whittington appeared in five postseason games with the Mad Ants, averaging 4.6 points and 4.8 rebounds.

“Shayne has been with us for more than a year and shown us a lot of good things,” said Pacers President of Basketball Operations Larry Bird. “He has grown as a player, has improved and we expect him to continue to do so to be a part of what we do. He’s a hard worker with a variety of skills for a big man.”

Robinson, a 6-7, 222-pound guard/forward, is in his second season in the NBA after being drafted by the Minnesota Timberwolves in the second round (40th overall pick) of the 2014 NBA Draft. He played 25 games with the Timberwolves before being waived. He was claimed off waivers by Philadelphia, with whom he played 10 games. Overall in 35 games as a rookie, he averaged 2.1 points and 1.1 rebounds per game.

Collegiately, Robinson played two years at the University of Michigan with career averages of 12.0 points and 4.9 rebounds per game. He hails from northern Indiana, where he was named an Associated Press All-State selection at Lake Central High School.

“Glenn comes to us with a set of skills we think will blend in with our team,” said Bird. “We expect him to be very good on the defensive end and he can score the ball. We look forward to seeing him improve throughout the year.”

Christmas, 6-9, 250, was acquired by the Pacers on July 23rd from the Cleveland Cavaliers. He was a second-round pick in June’s NBA Draft. He was selected 36th overall by Minnesota and was traded later draft night to the Cavaliers. He played collegiately at Syracuse where in his senior season he averaged 17.5 points and 9.1 rebounds per game. In his four-year career with the Orange, he played 142 games.

The Indiana Pacers have re-signed veteran free agent guard Rodney Stuckey to a contract.

“I felt all along it was important to re-sign Rodney,” said Pacers President of Basketball Operations Larry Bird. “He proved to us last year how much he could help. He’s a pro and a good teammate. We’re really happy to have him back. He added a lot to our team, on and off the court.”

Stuckey, a 6-5, 205-pound guard played the 2014-15 NBA season with the Pacers and averaged 12.6 points, 3.5 rebounds and 3.1 assists in 71 games. Prior to that he played seven seasons with the Detroit Pistons. He was a No. 1 pick of the Pistons (15th overall) in the 2007 NBA Draft after playing collegiately at Eastern Washington. While with the Pistons, Stuckey had a career average of 13.4 points per game with a career high 16.6 average in 2009-10. He made the NBA’s All-Rookie second team after the 2007-08 season.

The Indiana Pacers have signed free agent Jordan Hill to a contract.

“We’re happy to have Jordan as part of our team,” said Pacers President of Basketball Operations Larry Bird. “He brings size and energy to our front court and we look forward to see how he plays an up-tempo game. We know he can rebound and score points for us and we look forward to having him.”

Hill, a 6-10, 235-pound forward/center out of the University of Arizona is a six-year veteran in the NBA. He was drafted by the New York Knicks with the eighth overall pick in the 2009 NBA Draft; and was traded to the Houston Rockets in February 2010. He was acquired by the L.A. Lakers in June 2012 and spent three seasons with the Lakers. He has career averages of 7.8 points and 5.8 rebounds per game.

Last season with the Lakers, he appeared in 70 games and averaged 12.0 points, 7.9 rebounds and 1.5 assists in 26.8 minutes per game. He also recorded a career-best 22 double-doubles last season, matching the number of double-doubles he had in his first five NBA seasons (259 games) combined.

The Indiana Pacers announced Monday they have signed first-round draft pick Myles Turner to a contract. Turner was the 11th pick in the 2015 NBA Draft.

All first round draft picks are guaranteed to receive a contract, assuming they wish to come to the league right away. So, this signing is standard and was expected.

Turner, a 6-11, 240-pound forward/center, played collegiately at Texas, averaging 10.1 points, 6.5 rebounds and 2.6 blocked shots per game.

The 2015 Big 12 Freshman of the Year recently played for the Pacers’ summer league team in Orlando where in three games he was the Pacers’ second-leading scorer at 18.7 ppg. Along with teammate Joe Young, he was named to NBA TV’s All-Tournament Team.