For years, you could turn on any NBA game on television and you would be guaranteed not to see one thing- a Pitt Panther on the court contributing at the next level.
But while the NBA still isn’t littered with former Panthers, Jamie Dixon has gotten a pair of players to the NBA in recent seasons as both Lamar Patterson and Steven Adams are starting to carve out a nice niche on their respective NBA teams.
The more success guys like Patterson and Adams have at the next level, the better it will help the Panthers in the long run as Dixon can point to incoming recruits that he is getting guys to the NBA.
Patterson didn’t take the easy route to the NBA after being a second-round pick of the Milwaukee Bucks in 2015, later traded on draft night to the Atlanta Hawks.
After having a decent showing with the Hawks during the 2014 NBA Summer League, Patterson eventually signed on to play in Turkey with the Tofaş Bursa. While there he averaged 11.2 points, 3.4 rebounds, 2.2 assists and 1.0 steals per game.
That was enough to earn him another look with the Hawks this summer and Patterson made it count by averaging 13.1 points, 5.1 rebounds, 3.4 assists and 1.6 steals this past summer during Summer League play.
Patterson made the Atlanta roster out of training camp and made his NBA debut on October 27, scoring five points and dishing out a pair of assists in a loss to the Detroit Pistons.
Since then, Patterson has appeared in 28 of Atlanta’s 34 games as he has bounced back and forth between the main roster and the D-League a couple of times.
His stats aren’t overwhelming as he is averaging just 2.8 points, 1.8 rebounds and 1.8 assists in just 12.9 minutes per game, but Patterson is starting to carve out a bench role in Atlanta and is becoming a favorite of Hawks coach Mike Budenholzer.
Patterson also has shown that he is getting more comfortable with the NBA game and is coming off his best performance of his career in a win Saturday against the New York Knicks in which he scored seven points in 16 minutes. He shot 3-for-4 from the field including a three-pointer and also grabbed three rebounds, dishing out a pair of assists.
When asked about Patterson, Budenholzer had a lot of good things to say.
“I think his play-making is probably the thing, along with competing defensively, his playmaking is what gets him on the court,” Budenholzer told reporters. “He makes great decisions, makes reads and sees passes that are pretty high-level. When he’s doing that and making a few plays…. he’s a very good, diverse player.”
Covering him while at Pitt his entire career, that quote about sums up Patterson to a T.
It’s interesting that Patterson has been in the Hawks rotation all season long while former first-round pick Tim Hardaway Jr. has appeared in only four games all season, most night’s being listed as inactive.
If Patterson keeps doing what he is doing, then he is going to have a lengthy career as a solid NBA role player.
As for Adams, who was a former first-round pick, he is also making a nice career for himself.
In 24 minutes per game, Adams is averaging 6.2 points, 6.1 rebounds and 1.2 blocks per game, for the Oklahoma City Thunder.
Adams is coming off a solid performance Tuesday night in a win over the Milwaukee Bucks in which he scored eight points on a 4-of-5 shooting night while grabbing six rebounds, five of which came at the offensive end of the floor.
The former Panther remains in the starting lineup for the Thunder and gets a tad bit more minutes than center Enes Kanter, who was once the No. 3 overall pick in the 2011 NBA Draft.
Adams won’t ever be the scorer than Kanter is, but he remains in the lineup as he brings a lot of little things to the table, especially on the defensive end of the floor.
Had he stayed in school, Adams would be a senior now for the Panthers. Being that the Thunder have already picked up his fourth-year option for the 2016-17 season, it is clear that he made the right choice in going pro.
Hopefully in the upcoming years we will see some more Pitt players go onto to play at the next level to join guys like Patterson and Adams.
Photo Credit: Jack Arent/NBAE/Getty Images
