No. 8 white guy: Sarunas Jasikevicius
8. Sarunas Jasikevicius, G, 2005-07 (Maryland)
Jasikevicius was a player Larry Bird had high hopes for. The Lithuanian was a Euroleague star who came to the states hoping to add to a championship contender. That also was the year Ron Artest decided he didn’t want to play for the Pacers anymore, so that threw a wrench in his plans. To his credit, he did not hold back in parlaying his absolute disgust regarding Artest’s decision. He told me it was addition by subtraction. Yes, Saras was indeed a leader.
Jasikevicius broke a Pacers’ rookie record that had stood for 18 years by making 86 3-pointers in 2005-06, topping the 61 Reggie Miller made in 1987-88. He played in the Rookie Challenge during NBA All-Star Weekend. One of the top foul shooters in the NBA for much of the season, he shot 121-133 FTS (.910), but fell short of the league minimum (125 FTM) to be included in the final rankings. He started just 15 games that season, struggled in Rick Carlisle’s structured system and lacked the conditioning to be effective throughout an 82-game season. In Jan. 2007, Jasikevicius was traded to Golden State.
I will say until my death that Jasikevicius could have made it in the NBA in a D’Antoni, or even Jim O’Brien-type system. He needed to be the guy, and Jamaal Tinsley was still around. He could have been good, but the Pacers needed to adjust to him, and that simply wasn’t going to happen with Carlisle.
