NLL Insider - Team by Team: Indiana Pacers by Joshua, updated on Wednesday, September 19 2018, 02:52 pm EST  2017-18 Finish: 26-56
Season Highlight: When you first look at this Indiana side the record doesn’t look great, finishing second last in the eastern conference and with three less wins than the season prior but this is very much a team in transition after a couple of trades that we’ll look at later. In one of said the Pacers received Jusuf Nurkic, the 7 foot Bosnian beast. In his 20 games for the Pacers he put up the incredible stat line of 19.2 points, 13.4 rebounds,1.3 blocks and an intriguing 2.5 assists whilst also being quite efficient showing that he could be an offensive star and building block for this transitioning side. Season Lowlight: Even though it probably had to happen for this team to move forward it’s never good to move on from your home grown franchise centrepiece in Blake Griffin. After acquiring Griffin shortly after he was drafted for what turned out to be a very little, he quickly started putting up big stats and in the 7.5 seasons he was with the Pacers put up 21.2 points, 10.2 rebounds, 2.2 assists and 1 steal per game. Griffin’s tenure with the Pacers was riddled with injuries and you have to wonder how his body and game will hold up as he ages but saying goodbye to the face of your franchise can never be anything other than a lowlight. Best Trade: Trading 2018 1st rounder (GS) and 2019 1st rounder (IND) for 2018 1st rounder (NO) Essentially this trade was Bagley and a future first round pick for Doncic which depending on how the Pacers play next season, could be two top five picks and with all that said I still think it’s a fantastic trade for the Pacers. Doncic comes in as the most heralded European prospect in NBA history and here’s why, he is a - Euroleague champion - Euroleague MVP - Euroleague final four MVP - 2x Euroleague rising star - All-Euroleague first team - 3x Liga ACB champion Thats just half of his resume! If you can trade for a player like that is only 19 years old then it’s going to be a good trade. Worst Trade: Indiana send Tobias Harris, Troy Daniels, Maxi Kleber, OKC first rounder and 15 GM’s to Houston for Cole Aldrich, Isaiah Thomas and Mindaugas Kuzminskas Thomas at his best is by far the best player in this deal and would make this deal more than fair but lost injury Thomas has been far off his best. A brief glance at his statistics and you’d think he played well putting up 19.9 points and 4.7 assists but then you look at his field goal percentage at 36% and 30% from 3, from a volume scorer that just isn’t good. Harris meanwhile is only 26 and put 17.4 points, 4.5 rebounds and 3.8 assists in much better efficiency. The GM’s had their reasons for doing this trade at the time but looking back you wonder if the Pacers GM after seeing how IT recovered would want a do over on this on. Other Notable Trades:
The Boston Celtics send Dwight Powell to the Indiana Pacers. The Boston Celtics send Carmelo Anthony to the Phoenix Suns. The Dallas Mavericks send Paul Millsap to the Boston Celtics. The Dallas Mavericks send Jusuf Nurkic to the Indiana Pacers. The Dallas Mavericks send Kyle Collinsworth to the Phoenix Suns. The Indiana Pacers send Steven Adams to the Dallas Mavericks. The Phoenix Suns send Nemanja Bjelica to the Atlanta Hawks. The Phoenix Suns send Marcus Georges-Hunt to the Boston Celtics. The Phoenix Suns send Jordan Clarkson to the Dallas Mavericks. The Phoenix Suns send Ben McLemore to the Sacramento Kings. The Atlanta Hawks send a 2nd-Rounder (Orl) to the Phoenix Suns. The Phoenix Suns send a 2nd-Rounder (Mil) and 2nd-Rounder (Utah) to the Dallas Mavericks. The Atlanta Hawks use their trade exception over $ 3,949,999. The Sacramento Kings use their trade exception over $ 5,200,000. The Atlanta Hawks receive 7 GM points. The Boston Celtics receive 7 GM points. The Phoenix Suns trade -19 GM points.The Sacramento Kings receive 5 GM points. The Pacers trade out a defensive anchor for another young big on a rookie contract that is better offensively and a decent defender. Adams while very good is who he is at this stage and Nurkic still has room to grow on both ends so depending how how the Pacers decide to play this deal could be on of those deals that’s good for both the moving bigs. The Brooklyn Nets send Taj Gibson, Mason Plumlee, Larry Nance Jr. and A.J. Hammons to the Indiana Pacers. The Brooklyn Nets send Cameron Payne to the Minnesota Timberwolves. The Indiana Pacers send Blake Griffin, Jerami Grant and Montrezl Harrell to the Brooklyn Nets. The Brooklyn Nets send a 1st-Rounder (GS) to the Indiana Pacers. The Minnesota Timberwolves send a 2nd-Rounder (LAC) to the Brooklyn Nets. The Minnesota Timberwolves use their trade exception over $ 2,203,440. Moving on from Blake is hard but with his monstrous contract and injury woes over the past few seasons you can see the thinking the GM had in this trade and the pick they acquired in this trade help them land Luka which is a good thing in my book. Free Agency:
You’d have to assume Nurkic stays being a RFA and a centre piece in the Adams trade so free agency is all about IT. How many points do you drop on a 29 year old undersized point guard coming off a major injury and only signed a one year minimum deal in the NBA? Star: Jusuf Nurkic – Came to the Pacers mid season and hit the ground running and didn’t slow down averaging just under 20 points and 14 boards this young dominate big is still growing his game and is the new face of this franchise along with Luka and are a good starting point for a young team. Goat: Langston GallowayAn undersized shooting guard that scores inefficiently and doesnt move the ball all that well or play good defence for 22 million over 3 years? Not an ideal situation that bite into the cap for years to come Draft Grades (from Insider):SG Luka Doncic, Slovenia Sheed shocked the league a day from the draft by making the offer the Pelicans couldn’t refuse and nabbing the 1stoverall pick to steal Luka away from Vitticus. Do I love the pick? Not entirely. I’m one of the jury out guys on Luka, but I love the Pacers conviction and throwing their weight behind the new face of the franchise. He has the IQ and desire to be the star the Pacers hope, and he’s more of a need given the big men already on the roster. He’ll give it his best shot. Grade: B+ The Future-
The Pacers have the disadvantage of playing in the extremely tough east but have a solid young core with Doncic and Nurkic. They are a team in transition and after trading away their first round pick for next year in the Doncic deal it seems the Pacers are looking to compete sooner rather than later. The question is can they? | |
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