It’s difficult to pinpoint what exactly it is that Rakeem Christmas is or should be for the Indiana Pacers. He runs the floor hard and isn’t afraid to scrap on the offensive glass (grabbing the second-highest percentage of Indiana’s misses), but generally speaking he’s still a non-shooting, small-ball center in a 6-foot-9 power forward’s body.
When Al Jefferson was sidelined with dental pain, the Pacers played 3.57 possessions faster when Rakeem Christmas was on the floor as opposed to off. In that regard, replacing Big Al’s aging with the 25-year-old’s spryness was a sight for sore eyes.