CHICAGO – The NBA franchise that once had the Dunking Dutchman now has the Dunking Dukeman.
With their first selection in Thursday’s draft, the 26th overall pick in the first round, the Indiana Pacers selected Warsaw native and former Duke University player Miles Plumlee.
The 6-foot-11, 255-pound Plumlee watched the draft in Chicago with family and friends.
His parents, Perky and Leslie, as well as siblings Mason, Marshall and Madeline were there, as was the family of his girlfriend, Rachel Besser.
Plumlee was scheduled to be introduced by the team in a 1 p.m. press conference today at Bankers Life Fieldhouse in Indianapolis.
“I’m on cloud nine right now,” Plumlee said in a phone conversation about an hour after his name was called by NBA Commissioner David Stern. “I’m very close to my family, and they’re all here with me, this is a very special moment for us. It’s hard to describe. It may take a while to set in.”
Plumlee averaged nearly seven points and seven rebounds per game during his senior season for the Duke Blue Devils.
He worked out for more than a dozen NBA teams, and scouts looked past his modest collegiate numbers.
He has a 41-inch vertical jump and is blessed with off-the-chart athleticism for someone his size.
“I think I showed them what I can do,” Plumlee said when asked about last week’s workout with the Pacers. “I think I showed them I can shoot. I showed them my athleticism. I showed them I can put it on the floor. I think I showed them there’s benefits to having me on the team.”
Plumlee is the third player with ties to Warsaw to land on an NBA team, and all three of them played collegiately in what is now the Atlantic Coast Conference.
William “Whitey” Bell played at North Carolina State and later the New York Knicks, while Rick Fox played at North Carolina and later the Boston Celtics and Los Angeles Lakers.
“I couldn’t be more excited,” Plumlee said of the chance to play hoops in his homestate. “Not just because I get to play close to home, but the Pacers have some great players and they’re developing something special. I think they’re on the cusp of doing some great things, and I’m looking forward to being a part of it.”
The Pacers beat the Orlando Magic in five games during the first round of the playoffs, but then fell to the recently crowned NBA champion Miami Heat in six games in the second round.
The Pacers held a 2-1 lead in the series with Miami before losing three-straight games.
Plumlee grew up in Warsaw, attending Jefferson Elementary and Lakeview Middle School.
He, along with his brother Mason (a freshman at the time), transferred to Christ School in North Carolina following his junior year at Warsaw Community High School.
After re-classifying at the prep school, Plumlee was a part of two state championships.
He was a member of Duke’s 2010 national championship team.
Now, he wants nothing more than to win a title with the Pacers.
“That’s definitely the goal,” said Plumlee. “I’ve got a couple state championships, and a national title with Duke, I’d love to help the Pacers win a world championship.”
Plumlee, who said he’s become a stronger person because of everything he’s gone through, was the 25th first-round pick in the history of Duke basketball.
“If someone had told me five or six years ago I’d be a first-round pick, I probably wouldn’t have believed it,” Plumlee said. “I wasn’t that hyped coming out of high school, wasn’t that hyped coming out of college, there’s always been people who didn’t believe I could do it. I just went out and worked hard, and it paid off.”
