Indiana's 'Mr. Basketball' says he'd like to end up with the Pacers
There's nothing like getting to root for a hometown kid. And on the flip side, there's nothing like being able to play for your hometown team. On that front, Kentucky's Trey Lyles and the Indiana Pacers could be a match made in heaven.
Lyles isn't a 3-point shooter, and he doesn't really bring the kind of rim protection that would make him a possible replacement for Roy Hibbert down the road. He does, however, have a game that's someone reminiscent of David West's, and drafting Lyles could be a nice bit of insurance in case of a departure from West.
For his part, Lyles told reporters that he'd enjoy playing for the hometown team, via WTHR in Indiana: "Being somewhere where you watched a lot of games when you were a kid and actually being able to go out there and work out for the team is a special situation for me," Lyles said.
He added, "My family likes the Pacers. I watched them growing up, so it would be a cool situation. I'm a team-first guy. This is a team first organization. Guys care about one another. I feel like I would fit right in with that. They just like my game. Just continue to work hard and hopefully if the chips fall where they are I might end up here."
Either way, it doesn't sound like Lyles is fretting too much about where he ends up. He's probably not the best fit for the Pacers, given Indiana's holes on the current roster. But the Pacers could do a lot worse than making sure "Mr. Basketball" (the title Lyles won in 2014 in the state of Indiana) stays home.
(h/t WTHR)
Photo Credit: Mark Zerof/USA Today Sports
