The Indiana Pacers took 19-year old small forward Kawhi Leonard with the #15 overall pick last night before dealing him along with 18-year old forward Davis Bertans (the #42 overall pick) to the Spurs for George Hill. Leonard is 6′7″, 225 pounds and he played his college ball at San Diego State. Leonard played in 36 games for San Diego State last year and he averaged 32.6 minutes, 15.5 points, 10.6 rebounds, 2.5 assists and 1.4 steals per game. Leonard played in 70 games in his two years in college and he averaged 31.9 minutes, 14.1 points, 10.2 rebounds, 2.2 assists and 1.4 steals per game. Leonard has a huge upside and he will battle James Anderson and Richard Jefferson for the starting small forward job in 2011-12 for the Spurs.

The Spurs dealt 25-year old SG/PG George Hill to the Pacers for a first round pick (SF Kawhi Leonard), a second round pick (F Davis Bertans) and a second round pick from 2005 (F Erazem Lorbek). Hill played in 76 games (5 starts) for the Spurs last year and he averaged 28.3 minutes, 11.6 points, 2.6 rebounds and 2.5 assists per game. He played in 231 games (55 starts) for the Spurs in his three years with the team and he averaged 24.6 minutes, 9.9 points, 2.4 rebounds and 2.4 assists per game. This will likely be a good deal for both teams as Hill will likely start at SG for the Pacers with rookie small forward Kawhi Leonard having a good shot to start for the Spurs.

The Spurs have signed 23-year old rookie small forward De’Sean Butler. He didn’t get into any games for the Heat as he was still recovering from a torn ACL. Butler played in 146 games in his four years at West Virginia in which he averaged 30.8 minutes, 14.3 points, 5.5 rebounds, 1.9 assists and 1.1 steals per game. Butler isn’t likely to get much P.T. the rest of the year for the Spurs as he is likely to be pretty rusty.

The Spurs have signed 27-year old small forward Steve Novak. Novak played in 7 games (0 starts) for the Mavericks last season and he averaged 2.6 minutes, 1.6 points and 0.7 rebounds per game. He has now played in 202 games (4 starts) in his first five years in the NBA and he is averaging 9.9 minutes, 4.0 points, 1.1 rebounds and 0.3 assists per game. Novak is shooting 40.6% from three point range so far in his career and his long range shooting is his best asset. I like this signing for the Spurs as Novak should be able to help them a little bit off the bench.

The Spurs have released 33-year old forward Ime Udoka. Udoka played in 20 games (0 starts) for the Spurs this year and he averaged 6.5 minutes, 0.7 points, 1.0 rebound and 0.7 assists per game. Udoka only shot 23.8% from the floor (5 of 21), he was 0 for 8 from three point range and he was 4 of 8 (50%) of free throws for the Spurs this year. The Spurs have a lot of decent options at small forward over Udoka, so it didn’t make any sense keeping him around any longer.