How will the Indiana Pacers be able to take the next step forward and make a hopeful push for the NBA Playoffs?
Indiana will need to continue building upon a season that ended with 35 wins, their highest amount since the team featured forward Domantas Sabonis and guard Victor Oladipo in the 2019-20 season. Two of the Pacers' 2022 draft prospects, guards Bennedict Mathurin and Andrew Nembhard, had productive seasons for the Pacers as they took the 11th seed in the Eastern Conference.
Most of Indiana's top contributors, including center Myles Turner, guard Buddy Hield and guard Tyrese Haliburton, will be under contract for the Pacers during the 2023-24 season, according to Spotrac. The Pacers will have the No. 7, No. 26, No. 29, No. 32 and No. 55 picks in the 2023 NBA Draft, giving them plenty of opportunities to either play it safe with surefire picks or take a swing for the fences with boom-or-bust prospects later in the draft.
Should the Pacers take a chance on Wake Forest forward Bobi Klintman with their later picks in the 2023 NBA Draft? And how would Klintman fit among a blossoming Pacers roster?
Size and Versatility for the Pacers
Even if the Pacers take players like UCF forward Taylor Hendricks or Houston forward Jarace Walker with the No. 7 pick, Indiana will still have room to give the Wake Forest product a shot in the big leagues with its later-round selections.
Bobi Klintman, a 6-foot-10-inch forward from Malmo, Sweden, is a former 4-star prospect who played in 33 games for the Demon Deacons. He averaged 5.3 points and 4.5 rebounds in 20.5 minutes per contest, hitting 40.7% of his field goal attempts and 36.8% of his 2.3 tries from the 3-point line per game.
He started in five games for Wake Forest, including a 77-74 victory over the Syracuse Orange in the second round of the ACC Tournament. He scored 17 points and grabbed 11 rebounds in the conference tournament win, hitting six of his 11 shot attempts as the Demon Deacons
claimed victory in Greensboro Coliseum.
The Ringer Senior Staff Writer Kevin O'Connor highlighted Bobi Klintman's feel for the game, his positional versatility and his on-ball defense in The Ringer's most recent mock draft, placing him as high as 18th to the Miami Heat.
“His flashes of shot-creation skills in the half-court are why he's drawing some lottery interest despite playing low minutes as a freshman,” O'Connor wrote. “Wake Forest ran an occasional pick-and-roll for him, like his Under-20 Swedish team did, and he displayed fluid passing off the dribble. He's capable of making one-handed cross-court kickouts or smooth dishes to cutting bigs at the basket.
“Even if he's not a primary ball handler, his passing vision translates to transition and closeout opportunities. And within the flow of the offense, he tends to make good decisions whipping the ball around the floor.”
The Pacers ended the regular season with 41.5 rebounds and 12.7 contested rebounds per game, or rebounds where an opponent is within 3.5 feet of the rebounder, according to NBA.com. The figures placed them at 24th in the league. They will need extra rebounding help and size at the four and the five to compete with their Central Division rivals. The Detroit Pistons, Chicago Bulls and Milwaukee Bucks all placed ahead of Indiana in rebounds per game, while the Cleveland Cavaliers earned 0.4 less per outing.
Klintman may have the potential skillset that could fit with some of the Pacers' future pieces, but will he be able to contribute immediately? And does the young forward have enough upside to take a chance on later in the first round?
Upside
Bobi Klintman struggled with the speed of the game early in his basketball career. But Sunrise Christian Academy Head Basketball Coach Luke Barnwell said he could see his talent level as he started to adjust in an April article from The Athletic Staff Writer Sam Vecenie.
“Initially, he had to adjust to the physicality and athleticism at our place,” Barnwell said, via The Athletic. “Back home, he was always more athletic and bigger than everybody. He could use that and get away with it.
“But once he started to adjust to that here, you could always see his talent level. And his talent level was always high. You'd just be going, ‘Oh my gosh, he's 6-10 and he's really a guard with his skill set.' Once he adjusted to those things and our demands as a program in terms of what it takes to win, he started to really help us. It was similar to what happened at Wake Forest.”
It may take time for Klintman to grow into the potential he flashed at Wake Forest.
But his versatility and upside would make him a solid fit alongside Turner, Haliburton, Mathurin and their No. 7-overall selection. Klintman can benefit from working with a veteran coach in Rick Carlisle, who served as a head coach for 21 seasons with three different franchises, according to Basketball Reference.
If the Pacers can take more surefire prospects who fit with their rising core of players right away, it would make sense to roll the dice on Bobi Klintman's potential with one of their later picks.
Follow Us
Subscribe