2011 NBA Draft Grades: How the Indiana Pacers Got Robbed by the Spurs

When details came in on Thursday in the first round of the 2011 NBA Draft, that the Indiana Pacers had drafted San Diego State forward Kawhi Leonard at No. 15, then traded him to the San Antonio Spurs for point guard George Hill, it appeared something else was in the works.

I mean, there had to be, right? Why would the Pacers give up a No. 15 pick and potential star in the NBA for George Hill?

My theory is that the Indiana Pacers didn't see their top prospects in mind slip to them, including BYU guard Jimmer Fredette, Texas forward Tristan Thompson and even Kansas forward Markieff Morris.

Thus, they took the best player on the board in an effort for a trade, which they got.

But they still got duped by the Spurs, which seems to happen to at least one team a year in the NBA draft.

The Spurs remind me of the New England Patriots in the NFL, a team that pulls off trades that no team should have any business pulling off.

They defy logic. You'd think teams would be wary of trading with the Spurs given their track record, and the fact that giving annual title contenders solid talent usually is tipping the scale even more.

But apparently the Pacers didn't get the memo that the Spurs fleece teams every year, and the Pacers became the latest victim.

As much as the Spurs organization has been touting Hill, he's not a star in the NBA, and perhaps their reported inklings to move starting point guard Tony Parker were nothing but a smokescreen. After all, if they start building Hill up as their next starting point guard, teams are undoubtedly going to take interest.

I don't blame the Pacers for trying to trade their No. 15 pick (they already had star small forward Danny Granger), but by getting nothing more than George Hill, they just failed miserably in the 2011 NBA Draft.

Sure, he's going to add a veteran presence on a rising team, but I feel like the whole "hometown hero" thing entered the equation, and the Pacers reached when they could have gotten much better.

While Charlotte Bobcats' majority owner and former NBA star Michael Jordan closed out the 2011 NBA Draft in style, Pacers president of basketball operations and former Jordan foe Larry Bird just shot an air ball.