The 2015-16 regular-season has come and gone. 476 players saw time on the court, according to NBA.com, and nobody was more accurate shooting the ball than Pacers rookie Rakeem Christmas.
Christmas played in all but two Mad Ants games this season.
He didn’t miss a shot.
OK, now some context.
Christmas, who the Pacers acquired via a summer trade with Cleveland, spent the majority of the season up in Fort Wayne playing for the Mad Ants — the Pacers’ D-League affiliate. Christmas had a great start to the season, was named a D-League All-Star, and averaged 13.9 points and 7.1 rebounds, 1.7 blocks in 48 games.
Both Christmas, 24, and second-year big man Shayne Whittington rejoined the Pacers for good once their D-League season ended. The Mad Ants did not make the playoffs. They were then with the Pacers for the final five games and in Game 82 of the regular season, Christmas made his NBA debut.
It was in Milwaukee, on April 13th, where Christmas went 2-for-2 and grabbed a rebound in six minutes of NBA action. Both of his shots were layups off of a pick-and-roll action.
Steph Curry, who?
OK, seriously. Kidding.
“Now (Christmas) knows what it is to be a pro,” Pritchard told The Journal Gazette after the season. “His ceiling is high, and he knows what it takes to get better. He definitely faded at the end, and that’s something that we need to work on and he needs to make sure that he’s preparing to be a pro.”
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