Indiana Pacers Team Review

 

2020-21 Finish: 49-33

 

Season Highlight:

The Pacers really had a good year. They made some great trades, they got hugely better just before the year actually ticked over by getting in Joel Embiid and they fleeced some unsuspecting victims during the year via trade too, all the way to a 5^th seed and a 2^nd round appearance in the playoffs. The highlight of that has to be the MVP form of Embiid who was happy enough to then also sign an extension with the team to finish out the year on a massive up note. It�s not often a legit star falls in your lap, but Embiid did just that as Atlanta looked to re-tool for a rebuild and they�re already reaping the benefits.

 

Season Lowlight:

Everyone has got to lose sometime, well unless you�re the Champ! But the way the Pacers went out will have left a sour note on the season and a chip on the shoulder of everyone in the franchise, which is arguably evident in their offseason moves already. They were swept by the #1 seeded Pistons in the 2^nd round with losses including a 65 point drubbing in Game 2, with the tightest margin of the series being the Game 4 10 point loss. Turn that negative into a positive though, and they have a benchmark that they�re striving to beat and I think their moves likely as a direct result of this outcome already look to make them stronger for next year.

 

Best Trade:

Pacers send: Victor Oladipo, Aaron Gordon, Danuel House and Portland 2022 2^nd round pick
Pacers get: Pascal Siakam, Richaun Holmes and Josh Okogie

The Pacers made some great trades this year but none better than this. It�s the type of trade where someone goes, �hey man, how about we do something like this?� and you run around the house cheering and laughing before coming back and calmly writing, �Gimme a sec, I�ll take a look��then promptly doing a 2^nd lap around the house before again calmly writing, �Ok I think we do it.� How do you turn Dipo into Siakam and Holmes and keep a straight face? I will never know.

 

Worst Trade:

Pacers send: Saddiq Bey
Pacers get: Duncan Robinson

This is one of those �hindsight is 20/20� type deals. They made the trade prior even to the draft, where you�re sending Pick 16? For one of the games up and coming big time shooters who is also young and one a minimum deal. It�s a sound option. Unfortunately, Bey who was eventually selected has began his career looking like someone who might eventually rival Robinson as a shooter, but also play defence, while Robinson is now renounced after a year where they simply couldn�t get him to shoot it enough to make an impact and him signing a new deal which was worth far too much luxury pain to warrant keeping him.

 

Other Notable Trades:

Pacers send: Blake Griffin, Josh Okogie, Zeke Nnaji, 2021 Pick 23, Indiana 2022 2^nd and 2023 Utah 2nd
Pacers get: Bojan Bogdanovic, Will Barton and Andre Iguodala

This move was likely instigated by dumping Blake Griffin primarily  but also landed them three serviceable role players to continue the playoff push/run.

 

Pacers send: Malik Beasley, Andre Iguodala and Terrence Ferguson
Pacers get: Eric Gordon, TJ Warren and Carsen Edwards

Arguably you turn Beasley into two better players, taking advantage of the Warren injury and missing the rest of the season.

 

Pacers send: Will Barton, TJ McConnell and Justin Jackson
Pacers get: Eric Bledsoe, Chris Silva and Yuta Watanabe

Probably around about the right mix of value for Bledsoe, but not a home run by any means with TJ balling out in Sac and Eric�s NBA decline.

 

Free Agency:

The Pacers have a couple of decisions left to make despite already casting Duncan Robinson aside, most notably, along with Torrey Craig and Georges Niang. Craig and Niang were only bit players anyway and weren�t likely to return. Robinson was one of those really tricky ones, but he�d have been a fair lock to return if they had wanted him on that money. As such, they�re left with a couple of very important UFAs to the team structure and a couple of small time RFAs.

Richaun Holmes � UFA, key cog particularly now that Siakam is gone, all efforts will be made to retain.

Derrick Rose � UFA, asking for a pay rise and likely to get it with all efforts again made to keep their aging star.

Kendrick Nunn � RFA, lock to return, wanted and needed.

Carsen Edwards � RFA, QO has been extended, but unlikely to get a contract so will be retained in Rights.

 

Star:

Joel Embiid

Embiid was simply a monster and was squarely in the talk for the MVP award. When he was out, they would struggle, and when he was in, they were beasts. 29 points, 18 rebounds, 3.4 assists, 1.3 steals and a stunning 2.7 blocks per game which all put him in the conversation for DPOY too but was pipped by Kawhi Leonard. To cap that off, he shot it 66% from the field and 44% from deep from the C spot as a monster still averaging 5.1 offensive rebounds per game while playing some outside offense. Caris LeVert and Kyle Kuzma have come in to help him out on O and space the floor more, and Joel will be in the convo for MVP again this year.

 

Flop:

Duncan Robinson

You could argue Eric Gordon should show up here�but the sample size was too small. So, as spoken about already, Duncan never really made an impact that you would expect him to the way he does in the NBA. He played all 82 games and started 70 of them but he averaged only 6.6 points, 3 rebounds and 2.4 assists in 27 minutes because while he�s an elite floor spacer, he simply wouldn�t shoot the rock. He shot it 55/54/96 and averaged 1 triple per game, but that means you�re elite long range bomber is taking only 2 triples per game. And to cap that off, he then wanted to sign back on the $15mil (starting out a 5 year $90mil contract). The Pick 15 for Robinson thing probably backfired.

 

Draft Grades:

No Picks!

 

The Future:

The Pacers are built for the now more than the future no doubt, but that doesn�t mean they have a window that will close in the next year. They retooled a little with Kuzma, LeVert and Poole already this offseason and the aging guards like Rose and Bledsoe have more in the tank still. Gordon and Bojan are at the tail end of their prime and are more role players that need to stay healthy, but even if this unit stays together for the next couple of years they�re going to be a middle playoff team at the very least around Embiid and new long term deals for Holmes and Kuzma. They are back in the draft next year which will help reinvigorate the roster too, but right now, they�re going to go hard for that title.

C: Joel Embiid / Zeke Nnaji
PF: Kyle Kuzma / Richaun Holmes
SF: Bojan Bogdanovic / TJ Warren
SG: Caris LeVert / Eric Gordon / Jordan Poole
PG: Derrick Rose / Eric Bledsoe / Kendrick Nunn