Indiana Pacers: Ranking each player from the 2019-20 season

INDIANAPOLIS, IN - FEBRUARY 01: Domantas Sabonis #11 and T.J. McConnell #9 of the Indiana Pacers celebrate against the New York Knicks in the second half of a game at Bankers Life Fieldhouse on February 1, 2020 in Indianapolis, Indiana. The Knicks defeated the Pacers 92-85. NOTE TO USER: User expressly acknowledges and agrees that, by downloading and or using this Photograph, user is consenting to the terms and conditions of the Getty Images License Agreement. (Photo by Joe Robbins/Getty Images) /

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Indiana Pacers Goga Bitadze (Photo by Mike Stobe/Getty Images) /

11. Goga Bitadze, center

The 11th best player for the Indiana Pacers 2019-20 season was Goga Bitadze. The Pacers surprised some people when the selected the 7-footer from Georgia with the 18th pick of the 2019 NBA draft, given they already have two young bigs on the roster. But Kevin Pritchard and company thought that Goga was simply too talented to pass on, and brought him aboard last June.

In his rookie campaign, Bitadze appeared in 49 games, playing 8.4 minutes per game in those appearances. He averaged 3.1 points, 2.0 rebounds, and 0.4 assists per game on 47-17-73 shooting splits and a PER of 12.2. This is another case where numbers aren’t everything, especially for a rookie. Throughout this season, Goga had a few stretches where he showed real promise.

One of those stretches came very early on in the season. The fourth game of the year to be exact, when Myles Turner went down with an ankle injury in Brooklyn and was forced to miss eight games. Goga was “thrown to the fire” as they say. He was called upon to play significant minutes and fill the role of the big with the bench unit. And the rookie answered the call.

During that stretch filling in for Myles, Bitadze played 20.4 minutes per game, averaging 7.4 points, 5.3 rebounds, 1.7 assists, and 2.3 blocks per game on 48-38-79 shooting splits and posting a positive net rating of +4.5 while he was on the court. While that is a very small sample size, it shows that there is definitely something there with Goga. He just needs to be afforded the opportunity to see more minutes on an NBA floor to further develop his game.

With $36.5 million per year going to Sabonis and Turner over the next three seasons, it will be interesting to see how Goga’s future in Indiana plays out. But one thing is for sure: the kid has potential.

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