Indiana Pacers 50th Anniversary: All-Decade Team, 1977-87

Updated Mar. 4, 2020 12:10 p.m. ET

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Sep 26, 2016; Indianapolis, IN, USA; A photo of the 50 years of Indiana Pacers basketball shot during media day at Bankers Life Fieldhouse. Mandatory Credit: Trevor Ruszkowski-USA TODAY Sports

The Indiana Pacers are celebrating their 50th year as a franchise in 2017. Here we present the Pacers' All-Decade team for their second 10 years of existence, 1977-87.

In contrast to the Indiana Pacers' initial years as an ABA dynasty, the second decade of Pacers basketball was epitomized by losing.

Indiana made only two playoff appearances during their second decade and both ended with quick first-round exits. As a result, there was little stability in terms of the roster or coaching staff during this period.

The Pacers employed four head coaches during this 10-year span: Slick Leonard, Jack McKinney, George Irvine and Jack Ramsay.

Indiana made a lot of trades during the decade — most of them poorly conceived. The Pacers of this era had quite a few players who produced for a year or two, but were unloaded due to financial concerns.

The team was not fiscally sound at this time, so even when they had good players, management typically traded them to avoid having to pay big salaries that the franchise couldn't afford.

Quality players such as Earl Tatum, Ricky Sobers, Adrian Dantley, Alex English and Mickey Johnson were all members of the Indiana Pacers during the decade, but they were jettisoned in deals for cash and/or "cheaper" players.

Despite this being a rather gloomy 10-year period in franchise history, there were still a number of players who gave their all and were responsible for any success the team had during this era.

In honor of the Indiana Pacers' 50th season as a franchise, we are naming an All-Decade team for each 10-year span in the team's history.

Each Pacers All-Decade team will have five members and they are listed in alphabetical order. We continue the series now with Indiana's second decade as a franchise, 1977-87. You can check out the 1967-77 team here.

Johnny Davis

Statistics: 16.4 PPG, 5.4 APG, 2.4 RPG

Point guard Johnny Davis began his career in the NBA as a solid rookie contributor for the 1977 NBA champion Portland Trail Blazers. However, Davis' role changed when he was dealt to the Pacers in 1978.

At that point, Johnny Davis became a much more productive player as an individual, but he went from a title team in Portland to a cellar-dweller in Indiana.

Davis spent four years with the Pacers, and helped lead them to their best season of this decade (a 44-38 record in 1980-81).

Johnny Davis was a very good player, but perhaps didn't get the credit he deserved since he played mostly for bottom-tier teams in Indiana.

Davis was a point guard who had great speed and quickness, as well as the ability to score in the lane or from the outside. In an era when the Indiana Pacers were in turmoil, Davis was an anchor for an otherwise rudderless ship.

Clark Kellogg

Statistics: 18.9 PPG, 9.5 RPG, 2.9 APG

The Pacers drafted power forward Clark Kellogg out of Ohio State with the eighth overall pick in the 1982 NBA Draft and they received immediate returns on their investment.

Kellogg was one of only 20 rookies in NBA history to average 20 or more points and 10 or more  rebounds per game. After two more highly-productive seasons, however, things fell apart for Kellogg and the Pacers.

Clark Kellogg began to experience knee problems during the 1985-86 campaign and missed all but 19 games that year.

He tried to rehabilitate his injured knee, but after returning to the court for only four games in 1986, Kellogg realized he could no longer play NBA basketball and retired at the age of 25.

Kellogg has gone on to become even more well-known as a college basketball commentator, but many fans are unaware that Kellogg was well on his way to NBA stardom during his playing days, only to be cut down by injury during his fourth season in the league.

Billy Knight

Statistics: 18.4 PPG, 5.9 RPG, 2.4 APG

Billy Knight was a player who defied description. He had a very awkward-looking game, but there was nothing awkward about his level of productivity.

Knight excelled in both the ABA and NBA, making the All-Star team in each league. His best statistical season came in 1975-76 when he posted 28.1 points and 10.1 rebounds per contest.

Like Johnny Davis, Knight was a key component of the Pacers' 1980-81 playoff team. Billy Knight was also part of an ABA Finals team in Indiana, so his contributions to the franchise not only spanned eight seasons, but two pro leagues as well.

Knight could score on a variety of moves and he was an efficient shooter. In addition to being a good rebounder for his size, he was also very reliable throughout his career, rarely missing a game due to injury.

Knight had an unusual playing style that was fun to watch, and he had a laid-back demeanor on and off the court that made him very likable. Billy Knight was a stalwart on the Pacers' teams of the late-ABA/early-NBA years, making his inclusion on this list a must.

Steve Stipanovich

Statistics: 13.2 PPG, 7.8 RPG, 2.3 APG

The Indiana Pacers and the Houston Rockets were involved in a coin flip to determine who was going to get the top pick in the 1983 NBA Draft — the prize was college basketball superstar Ralph Sampson.

The Pacers lost the coin flip and the Rockets selected the 7-foot-4 Sampson with the first overall pick. Indiana used the No. 2 overall choice on Missouri center Steve Stipanovich.

"Stipo" became a steady performer for Indiana over the next few seasons. He combined a solid post game with a nice touch from the outside, which was unusual at the time — very few centers could step out and consistently hit 18-foot jump shots during this era.

For five years, Stipanovich was extremely reliable, playing in nearly every regular season game for the Pacers. However, he developed a degenerative knee condition that forced him to retire from the NBA in 1989 at the age of 28.

Despite his short career in the NBA, Stipanovich turned out to be more than a consolation prize in the Ralph Sampson Sweepstakes. Coincidentally, Sampson also suffered from chronic knee injuries and Stipo's pro career nearly equaled Sampson's when all was said and done.

Herb Williams

Statistics: 15.0 PPG, 7.8 RPG, 2.4 APG

Herb Williams was the first of two consecutive Pacers first-round draft picks from Ohio State University (the other, Clark Kellogg, also made this list).

Williams mostly played the center position for Indiana and he was a proficient scorer in the post, as well as a quality shot-blocker. His best statistical season was in 1985-86 when he averaged 19.9 points, 9.1 rebounds and 2.4 blocks per contest.

After seven productive seasons for the Pacers, Williams was dealt to the Dallas Mavericks at the trade deadline in 1989. That transaction brought Detlef Schrempf and Antonio Davis to Indiana, who were both key members of the team during the next few years.

Herb Williams went on to enjoy a very long career in pro basketball, playing in the NBA for 18 years before retiring at age 40.

The Indiana Pacers didn't have much team success during their second decade of existence, but Herb Williams contributed a great deal to the franchise during the 1980s and helped lay the foundation for what was to come.

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