dgambill

Yeah..new pieces in important positions. Young guys got to step up. I think we should be in the playoff picture and then with Victor back we see how it comes together. If we can get back to the 4-5 spot again anything can happen. Brooklyn is a couple years away...Detroit not better...Philly downgraded....Milwaukee downgraded...if Kawhi goes west...Toronto downgraded...leaving only Boston maybe better maybe same.

Yeah the Pacers has to get creative...it was still a trade not a free agent signing. We gave up a first rd pick so there is some risk there. That said a young second tier guy that could take that next step is the guys that need to target...the Victors and Brogdons of the NBA. If they strike gold again then we might have something special building.

So Warriors going 3 guard lineup...but who plays the 3? I guess Klay would when he comes back but dang they are going to be small and dang they need a defensive wing to go up against the Lebrons and Kawhi of the world. Yet still they are thin on the bench....also two starting centers are free agents. They are just going to shoot even more 3s lol. I predict a really bad defensive team.

Much more college than NBA but I do watch quite a bit. Jeremy Lamb was a guy I wanted to target because I thought he would be a great utility guy. Does a little of everything...just puts up numbers but doesn’t need a lot of plays for him to do it. Had a career year. Brogdon is a bit of a risk...some worry about his long term outlook with his foot issue. I think he should be just fine..especially with Holiday looking to get more minutes. That said I think Brogdon is a pros pro. Just makes winning plays..good to great shooter and if Vic comes back to being a playmaker like he once was...make for a great combo. Dont forget we landed Warren in the Phoenix trade. So we have Brogs who can play 1/2...Lamb who can play 2/3...and Warren who can play 3/4 to go with our bigs that are all 4/5s. We still have roughly 4.5 million to spend maybe another athletic wing for defense but this is a pretty interesting team. A lot of ifs....obvious will Vic ever be Vic again?? Will Holiday be ready for major minutes this year? Can Warren offset the loss of Bogs...will Brog stay healthy...can Domas and Myles play together?? Oh...and will Mcbuckets give us anything at all?? We need that shooting at the 3 even more with Bogs gone. I think we remain a top 4 team in the east....if Vic returns to form I’d like to hope at the trade deadline we make a move to go all in if we can...but I’ll wait and see then. Should be an entertaining year at least. Good week or so...got the best big in the draft...got some nice versatile guys in Lamb and Warren and a really up and coming guard in Brogdon. Be interesting to see if we have another move.

I ain’t going to lie..I wasn’t sure about his transition to the NBA...happy for him and his hard work getting paid off.

But the politics are just as conservative if not more in many other states. I have family that live both in Florida and Texas and we see Georgia and the heartbeat bill. Indiana is not outside the main stream as far as politics for half the country. Some people think everything between NY (East coast) and LA (California) as fly over states. Those that have lived everywhere in between know that there is plenty of beauty and wonderful people and pockets of the same culture the coasts boast but I don’t think Indy is 30 years behind....these major metropolitan areas like Indy are more similar to NY than they are say to the rural cornfields and coal country that make up large parts of the state... and that’s where these guys will spend their time.

Texas and Atlanta and Miami have the same state politics as Indiana...zero to do with free agents. We can get NFL free agents...stars want to play with other stars on teams that prove that they will put together a winner. Pacers won’t spend and that is #1 reason. I don’t think players are upset at the lack of night life...it’s there in Indy...and those veterans that have played here love the city and schools etc...we just need show we are willing to spend and be aggressive.

I think we as Pacer fans should push back on free agents stars don’t want to come to Indiana. I mean we aren’t even getting sit downs because players know even if we have max money we won’t spend it. We won’t go over the cap to build a championship team around them. Sometimes you have to over spend to earn trust. What I would say is fine...we don’t want or can’t get a meeting to spend super max on Kawhi but no reason we can’t target restricted free agents or younger guys and go all in to offer them...pay a premium to maybe get the next Kawhi before they get big. You look at guys like Russell and Harris and Brogden etc and you have to try to predict who will break out. The current status quo will never net us a championship...we have to take risks like Toronto. NBA players don’t want to live in a country where they have to use two forms of money...large parts of the area don’t speak English...travel far to get back home...but they took risks and won a chip...we have to think outside the box. We can’t just throw up our hands and complain.

That’s weird. I’m proud to be a Christian and completely understand serving him but what bigger stage and platform could there be to do that then the NBA? An opportunity to not only glorify God but make a substantial living that you could then use as well to do his will. Then again Gods calling often doesn’t make sense to the outside....so who knows...still peculiar. Pacers related it seems everywhere I go it’s Rubio is our primary focus. Not very exciting when we have max available money but this seems to be a Pacer move...let’s gather decent affordable talent and take no big swings at success.

Really...haven’t watched them play a lot because they are so bad...looking at his numbers it would scare me to have him as my full time point guard. To me he would be a perfect compliment next to a Ben Simmons or Lonzo Ball who are non shooting or non tradition ball handlers or like Lebron...where point guard plays off another primary ball handler but could still guard the opposing point. I just would have to have another distributor in that offense...too many mouths to feed imo for a point guard that primarily looks for his own shot...offense gets stagnant guys stand around and a team with that much talent should play similar to GS where they move the ball from side to side and screen and move and take the first good shot...not Iso ball that doesn’t get everyone involved. Guess I would use Kemba differently.

That's potentially a great fit....because they lack shooting and shot creation. They still need a true PG...but you could go after a guy like Joseph to help your defense and he can guard both 1's and 2's. Who knows...maybe they can convince Jordan that if he is going to lose Kemba to do a sign and trade for Heyward or a 3 team deal...which would allow you to keep cap space open for another max player. Whatever they do they have a glut at the 3 if they bring in Kemba...because they already have Tatum on the wing as well and then you have Brown and Heyward too. They will have to move somebody as Kemba isn't playing the point.

I'd be in for getting Gordon but I'm not giving up a first. He will be a free agent after the year and could just as easily walk. Given we won't have Vic for most of the year and we likely will change up our team quite a bit I don't take a chance of giving up a pick unless it's lottery protected. I'd offer multiple 2's....otherwise just sign Gordon when he is a free agent next offseason.

Not only that but you have to gut your whole team. The heart of that team is Tucker and the guy that takes them from good to great when he is on is Gordon. Then no rim protector in Capella? He might be over paid but he is key to their having any semblance of a defense at all. They would be better off running the same team back who only lost to GS then to create the most mismatch team in the nba. I do think they need another wing defender especially to go up against Lebron but they have two ball dominant players...why get rid of your depth to land another ball dominant malcontent.

Houston would have to get rid of every player they have outside Paul and Harden to have enough cap space for Butler. Paul and Harden alone leave them with only 33 million in cap space. The only way they get Butler is to move Paul essentially...unless Butler opts into his contract and miss out on say 14 million (not happening) realistically Houston can’t get him. They need to move Paul...then re-sign several of their free agents and use say the mle to replace Paul at the point....question is...who would be crazy enough to take Paul.

Does Rocky count lol!!! I think I was searching for perhaps more diversity but I’m not going to go down this rabbit hole. Just speculation on my part.

Never lived there and wouldn’t want the same speculation about Indy either but again Boston gets rated over and over as the least welcoming major city to African Americans. Could it be perception or just looking for issues that don’t exist or have been remedied...who knows and I do not want to derail this thread so I apologize for suggesting it but I think it’s in some of these athletes mind when choosing a destination...just like sleepy Indy does I think as well. So I’ll leave it at that. Boston has a lot still left to fix its image. http://apps.bostonglobe.com/spotlight/boston-racism-image-reality/series/image/ https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.nbcsports.com/boston/boston-red-sox/adam-jones-says-fenway-park-fans-used-racist-terms-threw-peanut-bag-him%3famp

If Pacers go the Rubio I'd try to sign Jeremy Lamb. Not a big 3pt threat but he is a 15/5/2 guy who can play both wings (sg/sf). Problem is it would be suicide to sign two non-shooters in Rubio and Lamb. I like Lamb...plays pretty good defense and can fill two positions...not a guy that needs a lot of plays for him to be productive. Probably an 8-10 million guy. I'd love to make some minor moves to sign him and Russell. I think we are moving on from Bogs...no reason we go out and get a clone in Warren and pay $11 million for him if we weren't. I also think there is a snow balls chance in h@ll we go over the cap.

Yes....lot's of basketball players hate living in Boston. Whatever it's worth...real or perceived Boston has had a racist history and lacks the culture of say New York, Philadelphia, or of course LA. Boston has it's struggles...but I think a lot of that has been how they've been run. They have always been pretty shrewd with contracts and paying guys or moving on from them. But mostly I just don't think culturally Boston is a town a lot of NBA guys want to go play in. For that matter...Indy is as well. Very sleepy city.

Yes that was a great contract. I hope we do Domas like that too. Give them an extension before their current deal runs out so they get a raise but we get a discount on the deal. They get paid a little sooner and we get a break. It was a smart deal not to let him test the market even if he was restricted.

I guess I think we can. I think they have enough lateral quickness to cover most 4's but the other side of the coin is what stretch 4 could guard Domas in the post?? Everyone is going small....and we have a guy that we can do that with in Warren...but I think we need to punish teams for going small....beat them up in the paint and kill them on the boards. If our bigs can also stretch the floor (which they can) while being true bigs then even better. Eventually the pendilum will swing back some....NBA can't keep getting smaller. Someone will buck the trend and just smash mouth teams in the paint getting their stars in foul trouble and beat them on bunnies and free throws. It isn't like we wouldn't have guards and forwards that can't shoot either. I keep all 3...and Pritchard has pretty much said that is what he wants to do...and none of his bigs are tradable at this point and I believe him. This isn't like a Roy Hibbert situation with our bigs...they can still move and stretch the floor.

Option A all day. Russell is an all-star and skill set that compliments Vic and can even slide over to play some two when Vic sits. Kid is 23 and tons of upside left to grow. I'd hope it wouldn't take the max to sign Russell...maybe something just under it but to get an all star you will have to pay. We just traded for Warren who plays the same position as Bogs and can even slide over and play some stretch 4 if need be. I'm ok with letting Bogs walk although I would be surprised if he doesn't get close to 20 mill. The salary cap jumped up quite a bit...lots of cap room out there and I know San Antonio covets him. I think they were even trying to make a Derozan/Bogs deal at one point but that could have been a rumor. I know Russell would eat a lot of cap but if you want a Robin to Vics Batman you are going to have to sign a max player to get there....and he is much younger and cheaper than options that were discussed months ago like Conley, Paul, or even Kemba. Even with option B...I don't think we will be able to upgrade necessary level at both the guard spots...although I do like Jeremy Lamb as a guy that can play minutes at both the 2 and 3 and hopefully wouldn't be too expensive. We keep getting linked to Rubio so who knows....Bogs and Rubio could be the way we go. I just personally want to have a dynamic backcourt of young guys....and Holliday and Russell I think could play together and then when Vic comes back in January we would have a scary good back court to add to our bigs.

I just don’t get this. Turner signed an extension. We have Sabonis for two more and then he is a restricted free agent. We need more than one big...teams build around these kind of bigs not trade them. In today’s NBA it’s much easier to find shooting and wings then guys like Turner and Sabonis who both fit the new stretch bigs in the NBA. We have tons of cap space...we may make a trade but I don’t think we would trade either unless we get blown away.

Indeed...very talented young man. Honestly all these guys are too young to be getting rid of. Turner is only 23...people flake because he has played 4 seasons but he came in as a baby...just now getting his body right and improving his defense. I don’t trade either...why?? When others zig we zag...nothing wrong with 3 good bigs. We have plenty of cap space to land a max level player plus fill out the roster. Sabonis is best a 4. He doesnt protect the rim. He has short arms. I agree with someone else who said you play Myles at the 5....let this new kid back him up and then you play Sabonis at the 4 and use Warren and Leaf as stretch 4s. I’d like to see us land Russell who can score and also play off the ball at times especially while Vic is still out. Holiday is ready to back up the point. Use remaining cap for a defensive wing and more guard depth. I hope KP pulls off a better offseason than last year. We will see.

I predict more of a Thon Maker trejectory.

Robbie Hummel led team USA to a 3-3 world championship. I rememeber playing Gus Macker back in the day....fun times!