Indiana Redemption

by drsuessrunner07 on Jul 28, 2010 11:34 PM EDT

It's been six years since the Pacers were unjustly sentenced by Warden Stern and for six years now the Pacers have been in NBA prison chipping away at their prison walls with their rock hammer ever so slowly coming closer to freedom. Last season I believe the Pacers finally cracked through their walls begun the escape route out of the prison that was the crawl through 500 yards of shit. Call the winning streak at the end of the season what you want but if you were one of the fans who watched every game you cannot deny that analogy. Last year the Indiana Pacers crawled through 500 yards of shit hoping to find freedom on the other side (hopefully next year), you can't argue it. And here we are, on the verge of the Pacer's Redemption and yet so much still has to go right for this to work.

To be able to pick up any free agents of any value next year the Pacers will have to make the playoffs next year.. Think about it, Indiana can have all the money in the world and no one would come here without being grossly overpaid, especially if the Pacers aren't winning. It's foolish to think that if NEW YORK can't attract anyone without overpaying (sorry Amare) that the Pacers luck will be different this year. So how do we get there? Well lets take a look.

Still the Pacers need a lot of luck to break through going into next season and I think that luck hinges on 2 things. 1) The Mid-season Trade that will bolster the roster and 2) Roy Hibbert. If Roy can raise his game to a borderline all star level Pacers fans can start thinking playoffs, if the Pacers are smelling the playoffs at the all star break then they become buyers at the trade deadline. With a successful trade and Hibbys rise to stardom the Pacers can sneak in the playoffs, and maybe gain some momentum with the public at seasons end (OKC last year anyone). With such momentum the Pacers will then have an opportunity to sign players that will help them in next years free agency.

So What about our immediate issue at PG? The reality is that anyone we can sign would be Watson 2.0. The Pacers simply can't afford signing anyone that is more talented than him at the moment. And if that's the best we can do I say stay where we are at with TJ, Price, and Stephenson and see who's available at the trading deadline and go from there.

Now I know that's a lot of IFS that have to come in a certain order for the Pacers to be competitive but that's the situation they are currently in. So remember, first Roy needs to establish himself and help put some wins on the board, second there needs to be a mid-season trade that will bring in a quality PG and possible a seasoned vet into the mix. Thirdly we need to make the playoffs and make some noise, even if that means winning a couple games against hopefully the Celts or Magic (for my sanity's sake I hope we can avoid Miami in the first round if we somehow do make the playoffs but then again those home playoff games would be fun to attend). And then after all that maybe we can do something with our cap space next summer. I hate to say it but if we don't do all of these things we wont sign anybody at their net worth in 2011. If we do these things though then the Pacers will be relevant again.

So what are the chances of all this happening and me dreaming of home-court during the 2012 playoffs? Well not good, but the way I look at it the Pacers have been storing their luck for 6 years now, might as well start using some of it this year. Go Pacers!

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Comments

Only thing about the winning streak is the team's in came against.

I do believe they will make the playoffs this year. I believe our team is more talented than people think. Also, I think signing a point guard would be a huge mistake because it only takes time away from the young guys and forces us to release a more reliable player. I believe your right we need to win now to entice a player to sign here.

by infinityzero.systemerror on Jul 29, 2010 12:02 AM EDT reply actions

Rec'd

Nice post drsuess, I agree with most all of it. I would add a wild card that could potentially help the playoff run: the rookie class (T-Brough included).

Well said!

by jantz101 on Jul 29, 2010 1:44 AM EDT reply actions

I'm torn

On one hand, I think this current squad has the talent to make a push for the 7-8 seeds, and if we’re patient we can do that and just wait for free agency next year. Like you said, and I never really thought about, free agents from losing teams (Carl Landry, Mike Conley, DeAndre Jordan, etc.) might be more willing to come here if we were a playoff team.

Then on the other hand, I wonder how much sense it would make to continuously pursue mediocre playoff seeding. We’ve been over this issue again and again. I’d love to make the playoffs every year, and I don’t think we’re winning a championship any time soon anyway, but in the meantime it would be nice to be better than the 7-8. Missing the playoffs this year and landing a decent draft pick would go a long way toward that goal of being in the 3-5 range for years to come.

Thirdly, I am really looking forward to the deadline trades. Imagine if we can go .500 up until the deadline, and score a couple of starters/borderline stars from teams in salary trouble like any combination of Monta Ellis, Andre Igoudala, Paul Milsap, Jameer Nelson, etc for our expiring contracts. We’d probably be a 3-5 seed by the end of this season if we made significant improvements from .500 at the deadline.

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by LukeNukem on Jul 29, 2010 7:16 AM EDT reply actions

i like how you think

Am also liking the Monta Ellis trade. I feel like Golden State still owes us from the Dunlevy and Murhpy. It’s not that they were not good but there contracts were bad. Also, am not sure if the Ellis/Curry show will last to long but i can picture the Ellis/Steveson duo pretty clear.
:)

by the pac on Jul 29, 2010 8:11 AM EDT up reply actions

i meant

Stephenson

by the pac on Jul 29, 2010 8:27 AM EDT up reply actions

Yeah, I think there's plenty of deadline opportunities to be had

And the way the CBA might change, it’s looking like the deadline this year will be the Pacers’ last chance for a while to really get that “three star” formula going. Ellis, even if he shoots too much and does’t necessarily play PG, should be a top target. He can score 23+ a game anywhere, is a solid on-ball defender (as long as he’s not posted up by bigger PGs) and will have the type of career that will put butts in the seats young-Iverson style (if he avoids mopeds).

"You're hitting the wrong person. Don't you know you're hitting Ron Artest?"

Come visit The Fantasy Ninjas. We'd love to hear from you.

by LukeNukem on Jul 29, 2010 9:10 AM EDT up reply actions

The only problem is...

If teams that are near the LT threshold for next year hold out, hoping some sort of cap relief happens with the new CBA. I hope and pray that they make it a harder cap, and make it more difficult for teams with high payrolls to skate by with relief exceptions. Bird Rights need to be changed, max contracts need to be lowered and the MLE probably needs to just go away.

"You're hitting the wrong person. Don't you know you're hitting Ron Artest?"

Come visit The Fantasy Ninjas. We'd love to hear from you.

by LukeNukem on Jul 29, 2010 9:17 AM EDT up reply actions

Exactly

The rumors I am hear though do make me believe teams, players, and owners will begin to know what is going to happen before the end of next season. This makes me believe that we will know how to play our cards (if we have cards to play since that is debatable with all the goddamned trade exceptions that were given out this offseason).

With that said, I just do not envision a team with the core of Granger and Hibbert, adding Iggy/Millsap/Ellis/Nelson pushing for a three seed in 2012. 2012 will be Boston’s last shot, Miami’s second year and of course we have Orlando. Then we can add in a MIL team that is constantly improving and I think ATL will still have its core. We could compete for a 4 or 5 seed in 2012, but anything more maybe unreasonable.

by kennythered on Jul 29, 2010 8:04 PM EDT up reply actions

I enjoy your post

and more so than anything, I think it is a big argument on why to not blow things up and tank. I would be all for it, if I knew the fans would put their butts in seats to see a team that could make the playoffs. However, I doubt the fans show up, whether it be for an 8 seed (who will probably be damn near 8 games under .500 this year) or a team that is just out of the playoffs.

I am a much, much bigger fan of tanking. Let Danny take 35 shots a game and play the youth. Yes it will suck for this season, but picture what will happen in 2012 if we tank. First, JOB gets canned and that is HUGE. If we had tanked it last year and landed Wall or Turner, people would be showing up. There would be a new excitement. We would have our first legit, nationwide star since Artest. Even if we don’t win with this new guy at first, we would further our core and potentially get a player people want to play with. With our cap space, guys will want to sign to play with a star and we would still have Danny, Hibbert, George and the rest of our core. Lastly, if our core involves having duplicate guys and not having other player, we could trade T, Hibbert, George, etc to land a player that helps push us over the edge.

Lastly, I think the most realistic player that we could land in the position our franchise is in, who is pretty good, would have to be Jeff Green. I am not so sure how he fits into our system, but OKC is already showing signs of not matching a big deal and I think they would move him for the right package. Now, I am not sure he is worth it, but I just can’t see many other players moving to Indy with our franchise in the spot it is now. No Horford, No Noah, No Brooks, No Marc Gasol, No Tim Duncan and probably not Parker. These guys will get just as enticing offers elsewhere, where it is probably more appealing to play, or if they are restricted, they will probably just re-up.

by kennythered on Jul 29, 2010 8:17 PM EDT reply actions