NBA Rumors: Pacers will meet with Rodney Stuckey
By Sam Richmond
The Indiana Pacers have a meeting scheduled on Thursday with free agent shooting guard Rodney Stuckey, according to Tim Donahue of eightpointsnineseconds.com.
Pacers are reportedly meeting with Rodney Stuckey tomorrow. To my knowledge, they have no room to sign him as a FA
— Tim Donahue (@TimDonahueZ) July 2, 2014
However, they could conceivably use a trade exception from Granger deal for about $4.2mm.
— Tim Donahue (@TimDonahueZ) July 2, 2014
Or, of course, other type of S&T, though DET would have to take salary back in that case. However, SVG might like Cope.
— Tim Donahue (@TimDonahueZ) July 2, 2014
This comes on the heels of a report from Candace Buckner of the Indianapolis Star that stated the Pacers and Stuckey have a mutual interest.
One of Indiana’s goals this summer looks to be improving upon what was one of the league’s worst benches last season. They already signed C.J. Miles on Wednesday, and Stuckey could be their next move.
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However, there are certainly questions about just how much Stuckey would benefit Indiana. The shooting guard is fairly inefficient as a scorer. He is a career 43.6 percent shooter from the field and a career 27.3 percent shooter from beyond the arc. He’s also not someone that would really solve Indiana’s ball movement issues, as he posted just 2.1 assists per game last season.
It’s possible that this news coming on the same day that talks between the Pacers and Lance Stephenson were reported to be at an impasse is not a coincidence. If Indiana is fearing the loss of Stephenson, than they absolutely need to pursue adding another shooting guard.And for all Stuckey’s faults, this is a player that averaged 13.9 points per game last season.
If Indiana can get him for a cheap contract, it would be hard to fault them too much for making the move.