Pacers forecast for 2023-24

[JMaster5K]

Recently, Hoops Rumors did a reader poll giving their predictions for the Pacers 23-24 record & asking for readers thoughts.

https://www.hoopsrumors.com/2023/09/community-shootaround-pacers-prediction.html

Most of the commenters thought the Pacers made major improvements & were most likely to be a play-in team. It made me wonder about the thoughts of the commenter's in this forum? (as this group seems to have a better handle on the Pacers!) Any thoughts? Comments? Ideas?...

(and yes,... I thought this might also be a way to for this forum to 'touch base' while we wait for the preseason.... Yawn,.... )

Very best to all,...

[basketballwacko2]

Now we're hearing that Buddy didn't like his extension offer and wants traded.

I'm not optimistic that 23-34 will be any better than the year before.

[Topofthekey]

I think they'll handle the Buddy situation like how they handled Brogdon. They'll accommodate him and trade him to a team where he gets to play for his new contract

He would have made an excellent bench vet, but it's understandable for him to want to chase the money


Unrelated edit:
So teams aren't allowed to rest star players during nationally televised games. Teams like Pacers get fewer nationally televised games. Which means Pacers opponents will have more opportunities to rest their stars. Will this result in easier matches for Pacers? Playing against the other team's B squad sounds great and terrible at the same time

[basketballwacko2]

I think they'll handle the Buddy situation like how they handled Brogdon. They'll accommodate him and trade him to a team where he gets to play for his new contract

He would have made an excellent bench vet, but it's understandable for him to want to chase the money

If they can do as good moving Buddy as they did moving Brogdan or LeVert I'll be satisfied with it.

[Topofthekey]

I think they'll handle the Buddy situation like how they handled Brogdon. They'll accommodate him and trade him to a team where he gets to play for his new contract

He would have made an excellent bench vet, but it's understandable for him to want to chase the money

If they can do as good moving Buddy as they did moving Brogdan or LeVert I'll be satisfied with it.

Buddy came as a throw-in in the Haliburton trade, so I'll still be satisfied even if they just give him away for free

[basketballwacko2]

I think they'll handle the Buddy situation like how they handled Brogdon. They'll accommodate him and trade him to a team where he gets to play for his new contract

He would have made an excellent bench vet, but it's understandable for him to want to chase the money

If they can do as good moving Buddy as they did moving Brogdan or LeVert I'll be satisfied with it.

Buddy came as a throw-in in the Haliburton trade, so I'll still be satisfied even if they just give him away for free

But they shouldn't have to give him away for free. He's one of the best three point shooters in the NBA. They also need the salary for this season. So find a trade getting salary and a future protected #1. The Lakers wanted him last season, there are other deals teams are trying to move players and the pacers could get involved as facilitators.

[Pacers Forever]

I’m for extending Buddy because his 3 point shooting is valuable to open up the floor. Then we can trade in future seasons if we find his clone.

However, I don’t want to extend if it financially makes no sense and unless it lets the Pacers continue to build for the future. We need a pure shooter from range and I’m not sure we have his replacement unless it’s Nwora ?

The younger players aren’t ready to assume that knockdown shooter role. I do hope Nembhard is working on his 3. Mathurin likes to drive and Walker’s shooting is suspect currently. Shepherd is too raw.

[Topofthekey]

If they can do as good moving Buddy as they did moving Brogdan or LeVert I'll be satisfied with it.

Buddy came as a throw-in in the Haliburton trade, so I'll still be satisfied even if they just give him away for free

But they shouldn't have to give him away for free. He's one of the best three point shooters in the NBA. They also need the salary for this season. So find a trade getting salary and a future protected #1. The Lakers wanted him last season, there are other deals teams are trying to move players and the pacers could get involved as facilitators.

They've been pretty good at getting sneaky value out of a trade, like getting Nesmith while dumping Brogdon

[xBulletproof]

We won 35, but it should have been 40 or so. If guys would have played and not sat the end of the year, we would have certainly won a few more games. Most fans of other teams won't realize that though. They'll believe we tried hard to get to 35, and think that's the starting point going into this season.

So I think just not tanking the end of the year would put us about 40 games this year. Hoping the improvement from Mathurin and other young guys pushes us to 45-50. A lot of people won't want to hear this, but losing Buddy will hurt in the short term, depending on the return. We had 3 guys who were positive in the +/- last year, if I recall correctly. Buddy was one of them. Haliburton, Buddy and Myles.

A lot of it does depend on Mathurin though. Last year he was a bad match with Haliburton on both ends. Buddy was only a bad match on the defensive end. Mathurin needs to make improvements to change that on one or both ends. He needs to improve his catch and shoot (shooting period), and/or defense. People wanted Mathurin to start so badly, but when he did next to Haliburton I think he averaged like 6 PPG or something, because they just don't fit.

The other big thing, is we actually have 2 PFs on the roster this year. Not 0. That should be important as well.

[basketballwacko2]

If anyone thinks this team as currently constructed can win 50 games. I have some swamp land in Alaska that is gonna be developed into a resort and golf course. I'll sell it cheap.

[basketballwacko2]

Buddy came as a throw-in in the Haliburton trade, so I'll still be satisfied even if they just give him away for free

But they shouldn't have to give him away for free. He's one of the best three point shooters in the NBA. They also need the salary for this season. So find a trade getting salary and a future protected #1. The Lakers wanted him last season, there are other deals teams are trying to move players and the pacers could get involved as facilitators.

They've been pretty good at getting sneaky value out of a trade, like getting Nesmith while dumping Brogdon

This is what they need to do with Buddy they need a veteran pf/sf type on a one or 2 yr deal and a #1 from 26 or further out.

[JMaster5K]

Now we're hearing that Buddy didn't like his extension offer and wants traded.

I'm not optimistic that 23-34 will be any better than the year before.

Yeah,... If Buddy is traded and we don't have an off-ball shooter (via trade or player development),... our offense could resemble the Raptor's offense from 22-23,... they couldn't stretch opposing defenses (they lacked a shooter at the lead guard, but effect is the same), and it allowed other teams to drop off & hedge. Made for a really ugly year for Toronto fans. I don't think we would be as bad, but it feels like it could be similar?

[JMaster5K]

Unrelated edit:
So teams aren't allowed to rest star players during nationally televised games. Teams like Pacers get fewer nationally televised games. Which means Pacers opponents will have more opportunities to rest their stars. Will this result in easier matches for Pacers? Playing against the other team's B squad sounds great and terrible at the same time

Hadn't thought about it, but you raise a really good point. You could have a late lottery team that really needs to get another rotation player & end up picking in the early 20's because teams could rest against you. The teams doing the resting would probably only do it once or twice against you, but being on the receiving end of the 'rest' from multiple other teams could significantly impact your season.

[JMaster5K]

A lot of it does depend on Mathurin though. Last year he was a bad match with Haliburton on both ends. Buddy was only a bad match on the defensive end. Mathurin needs to make improvements to change that on one or both ends. He needs to improve his catch and shoot (shooting period), and/or defense. People wanted Mathurin to start so badly, but when he did next to Haliburton I think he averaged like 6 PPG or something, because they just don't fit.

The other big thing, is we actually have 2 PFs on the roster this year. Not 0. That should be important as well.

Yeah,.. I'm not completely sold on Mathurin starting this year either,... If the interview comment about Coach telling Mathurin that he is starting is true, then that statement by coach & comment by Mathurin both happened before we signed Brown. I did a quick & dirty look at Brown's offensive profile compared to Benn's,... offensively, they are very similar players,.. they attack the basket from the wing,.. basically from the same spots on the floor, the same way. Benn is better at getting to the free throw line. Bruce is much more efficient, a better from range shooter, and a better defender. Bruce also would seem to mesh more completely with Hali's game. (can post the basic stats & shot charts if anyone is interested.) So, I have to believe that Bruce is going to start next to Hali, with the hope that Benn learns from him & improves his general offensive efficiency, shooting, and defense? IF,.. (the big 'if') Benn can learn these things from Bruce,.. he can be a monster! if he doesn't, he could be a guy that gets his stats, tries to play within a team framework, but just doesn't mesh well?

[JMaster5K]

We won 35, but it should have been 40 or so. If guys would have played and not sat the end of the year, we would have certainly won a few more games. Most fans of other teams won't realize that though. They'll believe we tried hard to get to 35, and think that's the starting point going into this season.

I think I would be happy with a 35 win season, if we make some real progress on defense and continue to improve the team chemistry. I do think you're right,.. we should expect a season around .500, with a few good breaks we could be a 45 win team.

(Of course,.. I was also fan from 82-83 to 85-86 when we went 20, 26, 22, 26,.. back to back to back,... so, maybe my perspective is a bit questionable..)

[boomershadow]

I predict 43 wins.

[JMaster5K]

As it's been a week since the last post. Thanks to all those that put in guess-timates on win numbers for the 23-24 season.

The Average of our guesses is 40. I pulled all the Vegas numbers for betting overs/unders, and all the major sports network predictions. That averaged out to 38. So,... sounds like overs are favored. LOL =]

[jowglenn]

The Indiana Pacers will win 44 games in the upcoming 2023-2024 NBA season.

[Pacers Forever]

I’m looking at our schedule and will post a win number soon.

[JMaster5K]

Thanks folks,. will have a combined, calculated re-guess when we have the other numbers,.. =]