dwtaylor1055

If Sabonis can defend better, you can have Myles play the 4 and Sabonis at the 5. Myles is a power forward type of player in a centers body(prefers outside shooting, doesn't like to bang down low, and not the greatest post up game). Myles can recover a lot better than Sabonis can, he recovered quite well multiple times during this past season from the perimeter.

If trading either Sabonis or Myles Turner can net you an all star level type player at a position that you have a need I think you do it. Goga has potential to be like Jokic in Denver so it makes trading either one of them a little easier. Goga IMO is a younger Myles Turner(shot blocker, 3 pt shot, mobile, etc). However, recently Pritchard did a podcast or interview with DD(sigh) and they are all aboard the Sabonis/Turner tandem. My thought would be Sabonis needs to become quicker and lighter on his feet when guarding smaller guys on the perimeter. Turner needs to continue to shoot with confidence and not think twice AND demand the ball to shoot more than 6 to 8 times per game.

I would very much like to add Russell. I think getting Russell would be GREAT and add a SG in addition to Russell! This below would be a top 4 team in the east IMO for sure. Option A: PG - Russell/Holiday SG - Vic/FA signing/Sumner SF - Warren/McDerrmott/Alize PF - Sabonis/Leaf C - Turner/Goga If Russell comes to Indy, no way Indy can bring back Bojan(too much money) with a SG need off the bench. So either option A or option B. Option A gives you another all star and equal talent wise to Oladipo. Option B gives you better depth, a little better 3 pt shooting(Bojan is a better 3 pt shooter than Russell) and can match up better against opponents. Option B: PG - Rubio/Holiday SG - Vic/FA signing/Sumner SF - Bojan/McDerrmott/Alize PF - Warren/Sabonis/Leaf C - Turner/Goga With Vic not expected to return until Dec or Jan, I do not anticipate this team being a Eastern Conference Finals team until 2020-2021 regardless of either option UNLESS Vic comes back Dec or Jan and is truly close to 100% come start of playoffs. If I had to pick one, I would pick Option A, flip Sabonis and 2nd rd picks for a SF/PF that can guard multiple positions, shoot the 3 ball respectable and play solid defense.

IMO Thad is all but gone unless some crazy trades occur once FA starts. If Thad was brought back, HUGE logjam at the 4 and 5 spot especially with Sabonis all but guaranteed to get more minutes as Pritchard has alluded to. PF-Thad/Sabonis/Leaf C- Turner/Goga Warren can play SF and PF(stretch 4), Bojan primarily at the 3. Warren played both positions in Phoenix. I think Bojan takes a slight discount to return to Indy. Wojo and Bobby Marks have stated they think Bojan could command between $18 to $20 mil, which is why I think we could get him for $16 or $17 mil with some sort of discount.

The Goga pick was shocking to me especially with others holes that needed filled. After watching Kevin Pritchard give a press conference yesterday evening after the draft, they expect Goga to be ready to play rotational minutes off the bench from the start(obviously he has to earn and practice hard day in/day out) as the backup center(very similar traits to Myles). Kevin also stated Domas and Myles can both play the 4 spot and obviously the 5 spot, so after hearing all of this info, the pick makes more and more sense. Add in TJ Warren that can defend the 3 and 4 spot and shot the 3 ball at a high level(42% during this past year). Time to turn the FA focus on adding a PG, resigning Bojan and adding a true SG to fill in while Vic is out and once Vic returns slide to the backup SG. My guess is we sign Rubio(will be used a stop gap until Holiday is ready to start which I would say Holiday is our starting PG for the 2020-2021 season and Rubio slides to a bench role or we only sign Rubio to a 1 year deal which Pritchard loves him some 1 year deals), we resign Bojan and we sign a respectable SG capable of shooting the 3 ball(Terrance Ross anyone?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?). So if this all holds true, a depth chart might look like this: PG- Rubio(FA)/Holiday SG- Vic/Ross(FA)/Sumner SF- Bojan(Resign)/McDerrmott)/Alize PF- Warren/Sabonis/Leaf C- Turner/Goga ***Only reason I have Sabonis as backup PF is by starting Warren you have Rubio(not a great or good shooter) surrounded with 4 respectable 3 pt shooters and did I mention Rubio is a good passer and respectable defender. When Sabonis subs in for Warren, Turner slides to the 4 spot with Sabonis playing the 5 like we saw some this past season. *** I am not a big fan of Rubio, however he IS a better passer and defender than Collison and if you can space a guy like Rubio with shooters Rubio will put the ball where it needs to be on a consistent basis. Cory Joseph is NOT a starting pg in the NBA so I am not going to go into comparison with Rubio and Cory __________________

According to J. Michael(Pacers beat writer for the Indy Star) its reported that Pacers are not parting with Aaron Holiday in ANY deal unless they are extremely blown away(obtaining Conley is not a blown away offer). His name was constant in just about every trade discussion that opposing teams wanted but the Pacers would decline any option that he was included in, the Pacers believe he's the future of this team and can be an All-Star level.

According to the article(TheRinger.com) Rubio provides a significant defensive and playmaking upgrade to better complement Oladipo's score-first style. I would partially agree with this statement. I think Rubio is a better playmaker than Collison or Joseph however not sure about the defense(would need to rely on defensive ratings for this determination). As far as the 4th pick, I think everyone between 4 and 10 are tier 2 then 11 through 20 will be tier 3. Again this all could be smoke BUT I honestly do not see Turner and Sabonis together long term here, especially since both are natural centers. Both are too big to guard smaller power forwards. Also I cannot envision paying your starting center $18 mil per year and giving Sabonis a pay raise to about $15 mil per year.

Ricky Rubio will be a top free agent signing for the Pacers, also the Pacers are looking to move into the lottery in Thursday's draft according to Kevin O'Conner(The Ringer) specifically the #4 selection in the lottery. I know a lot of information could be false but interesting that the Pacers are now being mentioned wanting to get into the lottery

Jazz are front runners to acquire Mike Conley. More than likely Conley gets traded this week.

Yikes lol

True, however Gasol did not fetch as much in return as what I thought(Jonas V/CJ Miles/Delon Wright and a 2022 2nd rd pick). Jonas V may not opt into his deal and if that is the case, Memphis really didn't get much in return besides role players off the bench(Wright and CJ). I go back and forth. I think we need another type of player similar to Conley or better in order for us to move the needle with Vic. I do not expect the pacers to just sit and wait to let the young guys of holiday/leaf/this years 1st rd pick to grow. If they work a trade of turner/leaf/1st for Conley and resign Thad($13 mil IMO) and Bojan($16 mil IMO) it looks like this: Starters - Conley/Vic/Bojan/Thad/Sabonis Bench - Holiday/Sumner/Doug...................They would need to sign a backup PF and backup C with their remaining money after resigning both Thad and Bojan. You could probably get O'Quinn back on a cheap deal and get Lance to come back cheap for backup SG. We would be thin at PF with Thad and Alize.

Reports from Wojo(biggest NBA insider when it comes to trades, signings, etc) that Pacers have interest in Mike Conley. They also want to resign Bojan and resign Thad(at the right price). Question for a Conley trade, what will it take? To match salary as close as possible, here are two few options: Trade Option #1: Turner($18 Mil)/Leaf($4 mil)/1st rd pick for Conley($30 mil)..... $8 mill comes away from our expected $43 million available in cap space, so roughly $35 remaining to resign Bojan and Thad plus sign an additional FA. Trade Option #2: Turner($18 Mil)/McDermott($7.3 mil)/1st rd pick for Conley($30 mil)...$5 mill comes away from our expected $43 million available in cap space, so roughly $38 remaining to resign Bojan and Thad plus sign an additional FA. Sabonis is still on a rookie deal for the 2019-2020 season so I cannot see him being included in a trade for Conley. The Griz have a lot of guards plus plan on drafting Ja Morant(guard) so Aaron Holiday IMO would not be dealt.

I know mock drafts are mock drafts for a reason but with a little over two weeks till draft night, I will be more active on this page then usual. Love my Pacers and IU guys that enter the league. https://www.cbssports.com/nba/draft/mock-draft/ These three guys have Romeo going to the following: Miami(13), Hornets(12) and Detroit(15). Seems reasonable to me. These three guys have the Pacers going with: Tyler Herro(SG), Rui Hachimura(PF) and Goga Bitadze(C). I would be fine with Tyler or Rui here. Tyler fills a need with 3pt shooting and could be a impactful SG off of the bench depending how free agency goes. Rui really intrigues me, a power forward that plays physical, can score, can rebound and block some shots. Shot 41% on threes with 36 3pt attempts. Goga no thanks Guys I want in a Pacers uni if they are their at pick 18 are the following: Alexander-Walker(SG), Romeo(SG/SF), Rui(PF), Ty Jerome,(SG) Kevin Porter Jr(SG), and PJ Washington(PF)

5 openings for the 2020-2021 season. Would be ecstatic if we could land 3 very solid guys.

Terrance Ross would help them as far as shooting goes but I'd rather him be in a Pacers uni before that lol

PG is in a sticky situation in Oklahoma. RW is an All-star, but struggles with shooting more often than not. I think the Thunder need to flip Adams for another big and a shooter(stretch 4 or 5 that can step out and be respectable from 3) for equal salaries. If they do this, they improve IMO.

While this is possibly true, I'm not sure it would have still been enough to keep ahead of Philly especially with our schedule down the stretch. Obviously we will never know.

Yes if Vic was back I think Boston still wins, however I think it is a 7 game series similar to last season. If the Pacers want to advance to the next round of the playoffs, they need another guy on or very close to Vics level. If they somehow end up as a 1-3 seed then they could handle a 6-8 seeded team. However if they continually end up as the 4 or 5 seed, another guy close to the level of Vic will be needed.

If Giannis can develop a respectable 3 point shot(somewhere in the high 30's) and jump shot outside of the paint he could be the best player in the league or top 3 easily. Similar to Ben Simmons, its bad when the defense is 5 feet off of Ben daring him to shoot a jump shot or 3 pointer.

If Vic was playing this series, the Pacers take this series to a very min of 6 games if not 7. The Pacers need to pair another All-star level type player with Vic if we want to take that next step. This offseason is big for this team and the rehab for Vic this offseason is huge. Anxious to see what all happens

For sure! Having Matthews and Sabonis as the first two guys off of the bench for next season would be steller and more potent in my opinion than Evans and Sabonis

True, I am just hoping he will take a little less and give us a slight discount. I'd even push it to $18 mil per year and if that's the case and everything else I mentioned would occur, Pacers would be over the cap by roughly $500K to $1 mil for the 2019-2020 season.

I thought Karl Anthony Towns would end up with 60 after the 1st quarter last night. Pacers showed fight and didn't let the refs distract them a lot during the game I felt. They missed 3 obvious calls on KAT moving Thad/Myles with his arm by extending and refs didn't blink. I knew Wesley Mathews took pride in his defense, energy and leadership, but he's on another level then what I thought. I think he's our best defender for positions 1-3 hands down and that's including Vic in the fold(please don't shoot me for making this statement). Also his leadership is already starting to show, multiple times last night Thad(our glue guy) had multiple bad calls against him and was beyond upset with the refs and Wes was right there to calm him down, talk to him in the moment and continue to praise him for his effort on KAT. He may be 31 or 32, however I would LOVE for the Pacers to bring him back next season on a 2 or 3 year deal. He provides good solid defense, leadership, energy and is a very respectable 3pt shooter. I do not think Vic will be ready by start of the season, I think he won't be back into the starting lineup until sometime between Thanksgiving and Christmas. I think Vic plays and is very limited off of the bench until then. Gimme this group for next season and I would be estatic: 2019-2020 Team Roster: Starters: Darren/Mathews/Bojan/Thad/Myles Bench: Holiday & Sumner/Victor/Doug/Leaf/Sabonis I think you can get Thad for a 3 yr deal at about $11 mil per yr(a good amount of money for a proven veteran and allows him to possibly finish his career here), Wesley for a 2 or 3 yr deal at $11 mil per yr(same thoughts for Wes as Thad) and Bojan on a 3 yr deal at about $15 mil per year. So that would be around $37 mil for those three, add in Collison at $8 mil per yr(fill this gap until Holiday is ready to start which I think playing a full year in backup point guard minutes next season will do wonders for him and hes the starting point guard for the 2020-2021 season) and Sumner at $1.6 per yr and that puts you around $1.1 mil under the salary cap. You can get more space by waving Alize(saves $1.4 mil which would bring the total close to $2.5 mil)

Agreed, and they will only get better with Luka and Kristaps moving forward.

Agreed, the home and home game in late March/early April will be entertaining that's for sure against Detroit. They should not have lost to the Pistons, however without Sabonis and Evans I wasn't expecting a win in Dallas. Really need Evans(can't believe I am saying this) for tonight's game to help the bench. They have a 3 game lead over Boston, need to really maintain that.