2019-20 Finish: 35-47

Season Highlight:
Pacers had a turbulent season. Young star, injuries, drug suspension, revolving door of managers, the return of the real Indianapolis master, the long losing streaks and promising play when healthy.

Sheed left the league at the break (or was it around the schism?),but came back in the 2^nd week of the season as he couldn’t resist the rise of the young Luka. He used his sabbatical to build the other team, make some games, walk the dogs. But the Luka-Indy fever was nagging and he decided to return. After all, someone has to say ‘INDIANA”.

Season Lowlight:

Pacers couldn’t make it to the postseason. Maybe they dreamt about it, but injuries (Jusuf Nurkic missed most of the season, Powell was out soon after the New Year’s break, they were left with Nance and Plumlee), suspensions and lack of depth did them in. They were far from the postseason before the corona break but had a nice run after Nurk returned and won most of the games in last three weeks. A sign of things to come?

Best (and worst) Trade:

Sheed was uncharacteristically quiet on the trade market this season and really only pulled the gun once. He traded Jusuf Nurkić to Milwaukee for Wendell Carter Jr and Taurean Prince. He sends the injury bugged “star” for a young up and coming bigman prospect (that has his own injury woes) that is under a long term team control and some wing depth. Both guys struggled last season but could prosper, mostly WCJ, in new healthy season. Some GMs really hated this move for the Pacers (“Is there more to this? I hope there’s more for Indiana’s sake.”), some liked it much more (“Good deal … I like it better for the Pacers... Fits better with a Doncic timeline”)

Other trades:

Skylar Mays and Ish Smith were sold for points and that’s all.

Free Agents:

Mason Plumlee – Plumlee was replaced with Jalen Smith and there’s really no point in throwing a lot of points for a run of the mill old big guy.

Kentavious Caldwell Pope – KCP was playing putrid ball for a few years but elevated his NBA performance just in time to cash in. He’ll be easily retained and provides depth on the wing where Pacers are thinnest.

Elie Okobo – he was waived in the NBA for some reason and signed with the Nets as camp invitee. Won’t really be missed, though he might have a restricted status in NLL.

Sir'Dominic Pointer – who?

Star:
Luka Dončić played quite well for a young player. Not really NBA level good, but he scored 25 with 7 assists and 7 rebounds and outplayed his NBA counterpart in efficiency with 49%, 39%, 84% line. And he still has ways to improve. His fitness/strength, shot selection, defense are absolutely going to get better as Luka patches the rare holes in his game. Luka does it all for the Pacers and is a real MVP candidate in the future. With a piece like this everything else will fall in line.

Goat:
Malik Monk was atrocious when he played. His numbers don’t look that bad on quick glance, 13 points, 2 rebounds, 3 assists next to Luka monopoling the ball ain’t that bad. But he was the worst shooter on the team (Ish Smith wants a word too), 34% from the field, 30% from three point line and 90% from the charity stripe. Couple that with lack of defense and you got a net negative player on both sides of the floor. And if that wasn’t enough he got an indefinite suspension after testing positive for an undisclosed substance in violation of the NBA’s Anti-Drug Policy. Will he come back the same as before? Any shine is long gone.

Draft Grades:

With 13^th pick in the 2020 NLL draft the Indiana Pacers selected Jalen Smith, 6,10/215 sophomore power forward from the University of Maryland. They could go in different directions here, but Sheed decided to pair Smith with the newly acquired Carter Jr as the frontcourt of the future. Smith is an intriguing player in the mold of Myles Turner, can defend, can rebound and stretches the floor.

JWalk gave him a B, “he can thrive as an off-ball player and work becoming a defensive stalwart. And it’s a solid fit for Indiana who’s been in the process of cleaning house of its bigs. «

Brayden was less enthusiastic with a C-, “another reach, but an understandable one. Guys who can protect the rim and shoot the 3 are in high demand… Whether he can be more than that is the question here. «

And Ben with a B+, »big, agile, great shot blocker, can shoot and knows how to use his size, he’s surrounded by other young guys and will get a chance to get on the court »

The Future:

It’s all about the future in Indiana. Any team with Luka as a centerpiece, one he really doesn’t even want to talk about trading, even for a Godfather offer, is bound to be solid. Sheed is quietly adding pieces around him that can grow together into a contender, if developed right. Carter Jr and Smith are potentially a modern PF/C combo that plays great defense and stretches the floor. Monk has potential. Pacers are probably bad enough to add one more piece, a star wing from 2021 draft and then jump into contention. That is if they’re not too good this year and end around 10^th pick.

Pacers won’t have much cap space if they retain KCP, probably just around the MLE, maybe a bit more. Luka should be a nice drag for the mid level guys with a promise of brighter future. But does anyone really want to go to Indiana? The team holds their 2021 draft pick, but traded away their 2022 pick, so the window to get good sn’t very wide, just one more year and then the training wheels should be off.

The lineup starts with Luka at PG (or point forward if you want to go there). Then it’s a combo of Carter Jr, Smith and Nance at the big spots. The wing rotation is more under scrutiny. Prince and Pope should get all the minutes they can handle, with Monk hopefully rehabbing his value joined on the bench with Mills.