Pros And Cons: Pacers Frontcourt Changes

by Tom Lewis on Sep 14, 2009 6:29 AM EDT in Indiana Pacers News

The Indiana Pacers tweaked their frontcourt personnel this summer and when looking at the changes, it's hard to say they haven't improved. But for some reason, it just doesn't feel like it.

Does anyone else feel this way?

For sake of this discussion, when talking about the front court I'm referring to the center and power forward positions, the bigs, the guys responsible for defending the rim and rebounding. Among this group, the Pacers lost Rasho Nesterovic and Maceo Baston but added Solomon Jones and Tyler Hansbrough to go along with Roy Hibbert, Troy Murphy, Jeff Foster and Josh McRoberts.

Can't be any worse, right? I guess Nesterovic was like a safety net last year and maybe his absence is the causing my uneasy feeling. That seems absurd though, doesn't it? Maybe I'm hung up on the unanswered questions among these players. Can Hibbert avoid foul trouble? Will Foster's back flare up? Can Hansbrough produce in his rookie year? Will Jones or McRoberts fill in when needed?

Help me out here and offer up your pros and/or cons for the frontcourt players listed above along with your expectations for the Pacers frontcourt this season.

Poll

Which frontcourt Pacer do you expect to make the most positive impact this season?

Roy Hibbert

167 votes

Troy Murphy

62 votes

Jeff Foster

7 votes

Tyler Hansbrough

119 votes

Josh McRoberts

20 votes

Solomon Jones

7 votes

382 votes | Poll has closed

Tweet Comment 5 comments | 0 recs |

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Comments

Frontcourt D

I’m concerned because I think Larry and O’Brien are putting too much faith in Hansbrough defensively. Forget the fact he has a lingering shin injury, the guy just wasn’t on anyone’s “all-defense” team in college, yet Larry and Coach O’Brien have tried to sell the fact that he’ll excel on that side of the ball in the NBA. Despite UNC winning against Oklahoma in the tourney, Blake Griffin dominated Hansbrough in that game. Granted, not every PF in the NBA is Blake Griffin, but Hansbrough certainly won’t be seeing Joe Schmoes from teams like Virginia, NC St., Virginia Tech, Maryland and Boston College anymore. It could be a rough transition, especially in his rookie year. I’m excited about his impact offensively, though. Combine Hansbrough with an improving Hibbert and the Pacers might have some semblance of an inside game offensively for the first time since JO’s healthy years.

by Hinrich10 on Sep 14, 2009 1:50 PM EDT reply actions

It will be interesting to see how much Hansbrough is used this year. I’m expecting him to be in the playing rotation but not relied on for heavy minutes.

Indy Cornrows

by Tom Lewis on Sep 14, 2009 5:41 PM EDT up reply actions

Ditto

I am expecting Hibbert + Murphy to start again with Jeff Foster being the first big man off the bench. Then with Hansbrough as the second big off the bench and playing 15-20 minutes a night. The minutes issue alone should stop Hansbrough from having a major impact on proceedings.

Defensively, I think Hansbrough’s best contributions will come on team defense. Defending the screen and roll and things like that. Adding a bit more quickness + agility + overall mobility to the front-line. Quicker rotations off the ball, beating guys to spots. I think he can do good things for the defense there.

nbaroundtable

by NBR on Sep 15, 2009 5:59 PM EDT up reply actions

Undecided

It really does feel like a toss up with the frontcourt situation. As evidenced by the poll, the majority of people are expecting Hibbert to improve greatly in his second season and become the post presence he showed us in the summer league. That would definitely be nice, but I’m really interested to see which guys earn the playing time behind him. Can Foster still earn his regular 25 minutes per game? Or does McBob’s and Hansbrough take some, a lot or none of those away from him? And it will be interesting to see where the wildcard, known as Solomon Jones, fits into everything as well. I don’t know, it seems like it’s better than last year, but I think that frontcourt is going to go as far as Hibbert goes this year.

by spstevenson on Sep 14, 2009 7:37 PM EDT reply actions

I'm a bit worried about Foster

Just because I didn’t think he looked too good last year. Rasho was unremarkable, but he was certainly reliable to an extent.

Hibbert’s progress is pretty important to the team’s front court. I think we could see another rough going inside if Hibbert doesn’t progress much. We know what we can expect of Murph inside, and I still don’t know what we can honestly and actually expect of Hansbrough this year at all, much less inside. McBeard will be interesting, though I don’t expect his minutes to improve much at all. And S.Jones…I still don’t know what this guy’s going to do on this team. I don’t see how it’s any more than what Maceo got last year.

I think we could be better inside, but I think we were so terrible last year that even marginally improving like we did may not show much difference. So I can see where it’s hard to see where we haven’t improved, but it’s easy to see where we don’t think we’ll be much better, because I don’t think we really be unless Hibbert breaks out. I’m interested in seeing how Foster plays this year, whether we deal him like I think we almost have to, and how much Hansbrough gives us a rookie.

by Nathan S. on Sep 14, 2009 8:43 PM EDT reply actions