The Pacers selected 23-year old forward Ryan Reid with the 56th overall pick in the NBA Draft and then they traded him to the Oklahoma City Thunder for 24-year old center Magnum Rolle who was picked 51st overall. Rolle played in 34 games at Louisiana Tech last season and he averaged 13.9 points, 8.4 rebounds, 0.8 assists and 2.1 blocked shots per game. Rolle played in 93 games in college and he averaged 10.3 points, 6.7 rebounds, 0.7 assists and 1.7 blocked shots per game. I really like this trade for the Pacers as Rolle has a decent upside.

UPDATE: (10/26/2010) - The Pacers have released Magnum Rolle. They wanted to keep him but they didn’t have enough rosters spots to keep everyone.

The Indiana Pacers have selected 19-year old shooting guard Lance Stephenson with the 40th overall pick of the NBA Draft. Stephenson played in 34 games (32 starts) for Cincinnati last season and he averaged 12.3 points, 5.4 rebounds and 2.5 assists per game. The Pacers are gambling on Stephenson’s outstanding athletic ability as he really excels in the open court. He has the potential to be one of the best players picked in the second round based on talent alone.

The Pacers have picked 20-year old small forward Paul George with the 10th overall pick of the NBA Draft. George played in 29 games (28 starts) for Fresno State last season and he averaged 16.8 points, 7.2 rebounds, 3.0 assists and 2.2 steals per game. He finished up at Fresno having played in 63 games (53 starts) in which he averaged 15.5 points, 6.7 rebounds, 2.4 assists and 2.0 steals per game. Picking George likely bumps Danny Granger to shooting guard full time. I like this pick as George should give the Pacers a nice offensive boost starting this season.

The Indiana Pacers have acquired the 57th overall pick (2nd round) of the NBA Draft later this month from the Mavs to complete the Eddie Jones and Shawne Williams trade. Players can be found in the 2nd round so the Pacers need to do their homework on this one. The Pacers need all of the help that they can get.

The Indiana Pacers will have almost the whole roster back in 2010-11 unless they make some trades. This was just flat out bad planning as the best free agent summer in the history of the NBA is available and the Pacers will likely be on the sideline. They only have two free agents of their own this summer in Earl Watson and Luther Head. The Pacers might need Watson back due to A.J. Price’s injury but that’s only if he doesn’t get a good offer this summer. Luther Head isn’t someone that the Pacers will go out of the way to bring back but they could do worse.