Don’t let the pink shoelaces color your opinion. The 20-year-old rookie is manning up.
Goga Bitadze admittedly has a lot to learn, but the first two days of the Pacers’ training camp have made it clear he has the body and the heart to mix it up against NBA behemoths such as Myles Turner and Domantas Sabonis.
The pre-training camp scrimmages were one thing, but this is another. The pre-season games will be yet another thing, and the regular season games will become the biggest other of all. Bitadze, however, has enough history in European professional leagues and in his brief time with the Pacers to make teammates and coaches confident he’ll be able to handle the battles around the basket.