Official: Pacers Acquire Pascal Siakam

[Grang33r]

Look at who was picked after those guys!

Solo Hill - 23rd pick - Gobert 27th
Plumlee - 26th pick - Draymond Green 2nd round
Aaron Holiday - 23rd pick - Jalen Brunson
Goga - 18th pick - Keldon Johnson 29th
TJ Leaf - 18th pick - OG 23rd
Duarte - 13th pick - Jalen Johnson 20th

This is a terrible and very flawed way of looking at it.

Of course it's easy to look in hindsight. If it was as easy as you make it seem, those guys wouldv'e been picked top-5 im their draft classes, not late first round.

It's also crazy to me for someone to have the opinion that Pacers is what wasted Duarte (spoiler alert: it wasn't) but at the same time think picking Draymond Green in the 2nd round would've produced the same Draymond that Golden State did.

[basketballwacko2]

Look at who was picked after those guys!

Solo Hill - 23rd pick - Gobert 27th
Plumlee - 26th pick - Draymond Green 2nd round
Aaron Holiday - 23rd pick - Jalen Brunson
Goga - 18th pick - Keldon Johnson 29th
TJ Leaf - 18th pick - OG 23rd
Duarte - 13th pick - Jalen Johnson 20th

This is a terrible and very flawed way of looking at it.

Of course it's easy to look in hindsight. If it was as easy as you make it seem, those guys wouldv'e been picked top-5 im their draft classes, not late first round.

It's also crazy to me for someone to have the opinion that Pacers is what wasted Duarte (spoiler alert: it wasn't) but at the same time think picking Draymond Green in the 2nd round would've produced the same Draymond that Golden State did.

Not a flaw way to look at it at all. I'm not a professional basketball scout but I had Green as a #1 pick. He was a great player a few years ago but now he's a jerk who I would have traded 2-3 yrs ago and not resigned to his new contract. I had Brunson rated much higher than Holiday who I had as a 2nd round talent. Same for TJ Leaf who I said at the time was a late 2nd at best, I wanted Collins or OG, I saw no need for Goga and have no doubt I would have picked a better player. I'll admit that I never heard of Gobert before draft day, but then again I'm not a professional Scout.

For a guy who does this stuff for Sh*t's and giggle's I've been right more than I've been wrong. I practically predicted the PG trade to OKC if there was a search function I could find the post I made back then when I suggested Victor and Sabonis plus a #1 for PG. I called the Turner R/E perfectly right before it happened when 9 out of 10 posters were saying trade him to LA with Buddy for Westy and a distant pick. And I'm just a retired KIck boxer who might have been punched in the head one time too many. That and my IU degree in Economics, and 2 yrs of law school but who's counting.

[Topofthekey]

We were already likely to not see Toppin return because he was a free agent and he’s been tipped by Jalen Smith and Indy has made it clear he’s not a starter for them. I don’t think we were going to offer him a qualifying offer before the Siakam trade as they would fear he’d sign it immediately.

Agree with Toppin

Stix is the real casualty here. He's been playing well as the starting 4 too. He's too good a player to just let walk in free agency

I’ve projected it an it’s absolutely possible. Why do you think it’s impossible? I guess it could be tough if Mathurin, Nembhard, Walker, and Turner are all worthy of max deals, but I think that’s a problem we’d be ecstatic to have.

I hope I'm wrong

But this is how I project it. I'm taking an optimistic approach with our free agents. It's likely they'll cost more

For 25/26:
Siakam $45m
Haliburton $39m
Turner $25m
Total: $109m

For 26/27:
Siakam $45m
Haliburton $39m
Turner $25m
Mathurin $20m
Nembhard $15m
Total: $144m

$144m for just 5 players just doesn't look like something that a team can realistically afford

If the next 10 players on the team cost a combined $50-70m that basically puts them over the tax line

And that's not taking into account yearly increments

I think Turner can get $30-35m as a free agent, we'll be lucky if we can get him for $25m

[Hoop Hunter]

early reports say Siakim is happy to with the trade.

He should be. He wants to win, and with Hali he has a great guard to work with. Great trade for Indy. Will be missed on the Raptors.

Hey I've lived in and around Indianapolis all my life and I freaking hate it here I'm looking to move and get out of this crime riddled il-managed hellscape. Pascal is gonna love it when he goes out on Meridian street for a night out and some of our finest gang bangers start popping off shots all around. Seriously it's like the Wild West, you have to wear a bullet proof vest and Kpot to walk down the street. I'm seriously thinking about getting my Caddy Escalade armored up.

And I'm not kidding around about any of that. I haven't been to a game in 6-7 years because things just keep getting more and more out of hand.

[JMaster5K]

We were already likely to not see Toppin return because he was a free agent and he’s been tipped by Jalen Smith and Indy has made it clear he’s not a starter for them. I don’t think we were going to offer him a qualifying offer before the Siakam trade as they would fear he’d sign it immediately.

Agree with Toppin

Stix is the real casualty here. He's been playing well as the starting 4 too. He's too good a player to just let walk in free agency

I’ve projected it an it’s absolutely possible. Why do you think it’s impossible? I guess it could be tough if Mathurin, Nembhard, Walker, and Turner are all worthy of max deals, but I think that’s a problem we’d be ecstatic to have.

I hope I'm wrong

But this is how I project it. I'm taking an optimistic approach with our free agents. It's likely they'll cost more

For 25/26:
Siakam $45m
Haliburton $39m
Turner $25m
Total: $109m

For 26/27:
Siakam $45m
Haliburton $39m
Turner $25m
Mathurin $20m
Nembhard $15m
Total: $144m

$144m for just 5 players just doesn't look like something that a team can realistically afford

If the next 10 players on the team cost a combined $50-70m that basically puts them over the tax line

And that's not taking into account yearly increments

I think Turner can get $30-35m as a free agent, we'll be lucky if we can get him for $25m

From earlier posts on this topic:

"Saw this & had to go to spotrac. LOL 8/

Looking at the center salaries out there now,... & increasing them to a 25-26 timeframe... I have to think Myles new contract, if resigned, would be in the 25 - 28 M range? Maybe if there's more competition that year,. it could be a bit higher,.. but I was forecasting his starting salary that year around 26M.

With Pascal in his second year of a new, 30% max contract (46,008,000),.. and Haliburtons projections from Spotrac (38,340,000), the total is $110,348,000. The project cap for 25-26 is $156,200,000. This would make up 70.64% of the cap. More than enough space available (assuming we will be an 'over the cap', non-tax team) to have a good, even contending team. If the cap goes up 10% each year (it has the last 2) instead of the projections, the cap in 25-26 would be $164,585,410, and these 3 would make up 67% of the cap.

Once again,.. when I get into the details, I have to compliment the FO. By doing this now,... yeah, we've lost some flexibility, but it doesn't look like we've really compromised anything?.... thoughts?

(yes, if the cap goes up 10% for next year, then Siakam cap hit would also go up by 2.2M, but that wouldn't make a huge amount of difference.) With the tax apron, based on the projections & not a 10% increase, projected at $189.2M, that would leave us around $79M to fill out the team?

I-Jax is an RFA in 25-26. Mathurin in 26-27. Jarace & Sheppard in 27-28. Those would be the 2nd, 3rd, and 4th years of a Siakam contract. Considering the growth in the cap, it could be tight, but IMO,.. we should be ok. If it turns out that Mathurin, Jarace, and Sheppard are all in line for max rookie extensions,.. then we will have to pay some tax,... but I can't say there isn't a really good side to that problem. LOL =]"


I don't disagree with your estimates on the 26-27 year,... but in 26-27 the NBA is currently forecasting (less than 10% per year growth as mentioned above) a cap of $171,820,000, and a tax threshold of 208,120,000. So based on your estimates above that would leave us with $27M in cap space, and $64M in tax space to fill out the rest of the roster. If we have say 3-4 min contract guys,.. you are probably looking at $58M for 6-7 second team rotation level players,... which should be about right?...

[Wizop]

just a reminder. yes, we've made our share of mistakes over the years, but we also had an almost 30 record of winning records at home. as someone who had full or half season tickets for most of those years, I'm happy we were consistently good and didn't boom and bust. I remember the early NBA years when MSA had curtains in the upper deck to hide all the empty seats.

perhaps I should add that my decision not to keep buying tickets after the COVID years had nothing to do with the quality of the team. I simply decided it was time to stop driving downtown.

[Tom White]

Mods, does this site have a block function? I’ve never even considered it for any other poster but I’m truly tired of seeing your grumpy nonsense on here. You truly are a basketball WACKO

The forum does have this function. Go to User Preferences and their will be an area for Friends/Foes. You can add his screen name to your Foes.

I had done this with him some time back, but then cleared my list. The recent nonsense has caused me to add him back to the "ignore" list. I know some don't like doing this, but for me it makes the site more enjoyable.

[basketballwacko2]

He should be. He wants to win, and with Hali he has a great guard to work with. Great trade for Indy. Will be missed on the Raptors.

Hey I've lived in and around Indianapolis all my life and I freaking hate it here I'm looking to move and get out of this crime riddled il-managed hellscape. Pascal is gonna love it when he goes out on Meridian street for a night out and some of our finest gang bangers start popping off shots all around. Seriously it's like the Wild West, you have to wear a bullet proof vest and Kpot to walk down the street. I'm seriously thinking about getting my Caddy Escalade armored up.

And I'm not kidding around about any of that. I haven't been to a game in 6-7 years because things just keep getting more and more out of hand.

Do you doubt me? Do you remember what happened with the Dutch soldiers back in August of 22? I've been down there on Georgia St and Meridian waiting on one of my clients to come out of Pier 48 and some guy got shot 100 yards behind me in the alley. About the same time I was in the same area and some guy was shot right in front of the Indy Star on Meridian. I went thru Broad Ripple one night and heard about 200 gunshots and another time 3 people were shot while I was driving a top client of mine to a restaurant in Broad Ripple. I'm not even talking about the northeast side, 42nd and Post.

[basketballwacko2]

Mods, does this site have a block function? I’ve never even considered it for any other poster but I’m truly tired of seeing your grumpy nonsense on here. You truly are a basketball WACKO

The forum does have this function. Go to User Preferences and their will be an area for Friends/Foes. You can add his screen name to your Foes.

I had done this with him some time back, but then cleared my list. The recent nonsense has caused me to add him back to the "ignore" list. I know some don't like doing this, but for me it makes the site more enjoyable.

You people are weak.

[basketballwacko2]

just a reminder. yes, we've made our share of mistakes over the years, but we also had an almost 30 record of winning records at home. as someone who had full or half season tickets for most of those years, I'm happy we were consistently good and didn't boom and bust. I remember the early NBA years when MSA had curtains in the upper deck to hide all the empty seats.

perhaps I should add that my decision not to keep buying tickets after the COVID years had nothing to do with the quality of the team. I simply decided it was time to stop driving downtown.

Downtown has turned into a zoo, or carnival of freaks and miscreants. Some punk ran a scooter into the back of one of my guys car deliberately a couple months ago because he blew his or and the idiot who was going the wrong way on Illinois St. The creep turned around came back and rammed the scooter into the back of his car. Then took off running. This was with one of our clients in the car. Decent people can't go downtown or damn near anywhere in the city anymore without people like me and my guys escorting them.

[Scoot McGroot]

We were already likely to not see Toppin return because he was a free agent and he’s been tipped by Jalen Smith and Indy has made it clear he’s not a starter for them. I don’t think we were going to offer him a qualifying offer before the Siakam trade as they would fear he’d sign it immediately.

Agree with Toppin

Stix is the real casualty here. He's been playing well as the starting 4 too. He's too good a player to just let walk in free agency

Oh, I think with the way he was playing, Jalen was already walking in free agency unless we trade Myles Turner for a non-center this offseason. He's earned a starting role somewhere, and if he doesn't take it, he may not get another chance.

I’ve projected it an it’s absolutely possible. Why do you think it’s impossible? I guess it could be tough if Mathurin, Nembhard, Walker, and Turner are all worthy of max deals, but I think that’s a problem we’d be ecstatic to have.

I hope I'm wrong

But this is how I project it. I'm taking an optimistic approach with our free agents. It's likely they'll cost more

For 25/26:
Siakam $45m
Haliburton $39m
Turner $25m
Total: $109m

Salary cap is currently projected with minimal growth at $156.2m (more likely to be at $164.5m with 10% year over year growth) and luxury tax at $189.2m (though again, likely even higher).

For 26/27:
Siakam $45m
Haliburton $39m
Turner $25m
Mathurin $20m
Nembhard $15m
Total: $144m

$144m for just 5 players just doesn't look like something that a team can realistically afford

On a salary cap conservatively projected at $171.82m, but possibly as high as $181.04m, and a luxury tax conservatively projected at $208.12m.

If the next 10 players on the team cost a combined $50-70m that basically puts them over the tax line

And that's not taking into account yearly increments

I think Turner can get $30-35m as a free agent, we'll be lucky if we can get him for $25m

As you can see, in neither year does those numbers realistically put Indy over the tax line. And again, starting in 2025/26, the luxury tax penalties for being up to $10m over the tax drops precipitously, so as to make it affordable. Instead of $16.25m in penalties, it drops to only $11.25m in penalties.

There's not the worry. And even then, the "worst case scenario" financially would put Indy in a position to trade off a player worthy of a massive contract and probably recoup multiple draft picks or affordable impact players. And if one or more of these guys don't 100% hit, then we're nowhere near the "break up the team" financial concerns you're projecting.

Now, if we do something crazy like extend Buddy at $30m per year, then we have some worries. But if we think that Nesmith/Sheppard can continue to take Buddy's role, then we're pretty affordable that we can surround the team safely.

[Wizop]

But if we think that Nesmith/Sheppard can continue to take Buddy's role, then we're pretty affordable that we can surround the team safely.

after last night's Kings game, I have Walker and Nesmith at SF and Nembhard, Mathurin, and Sheppard at SG post Buddy.

[Topofthekey]

Oh, I think with the way he was playing, Jalen was already walking in free agency unless we trade Myles Turner for a non-center this offseason. He's earned a starting role somewhere, and if he doesn't take it, he may not get another chance.

I don't think so

He already has a starting role here right now

Salary cap is currently projected with minimal growth at $156.2m (more likely to be at $164.5m with 10% year over year growth) and luxury tax at $189.2m (though again, likely even higher).

Doesn't this support my point?

If the tax is at $189m, and we already have $109m invested in just 3 players, that leaves us only $80m to spend on the next 12 players

That's an average of about $6.7m per player

And this is assuming we get Turner at $25m, which to me is extremely optimistic

On a salary cap conservatively projected at $171.82m, but possibly as high as $181.04m, and a luxury tax conservatively projected at $208.12m.

It's the same thing here

If the tax line is at $208m, and we already spent $144m on just 5 players, that leaves us just $61m to pay the next 10 players on the team

It's not impossible, but just highly unrealistic

And this is with a very optimistic projection where we re-sign Mathurin and Nembhard at only $20m and $15m respectively

I think the most realistic outcome is that we get to keep one or maybe at most two of Turner and Mathurin and Nembhard

To avoid losing them for nothing in free agency, we should probably start looking at trades for them

By trading for Siakam, we've basically inherited Toronto's "I have to trade my players even though I'd like to keep them because I can risk losing them in free agency" problem

[Topofthekey]

Spoiler:

From earlier posts on this topic:

"Saw this & had to go to spotrac. LOL 8/

Looking at the center salaries out there now,... & increasing them to a 25-26 timeframe... I have to think Myles new contract, if resigned, would be in the 25 - 28 M range? Maybe if there's more competition that year,. it could be a bit higher,.. but I was forecasting his starting salary that year around 26M.

With Pascal in his second year of a new, 30% max contract (46,008,000),.. and Haliburtons projections from Spotrac (38,340,000), the total is $110,348,000. The project cap for 25-26 is $156,200,000. This would make up 70.64% of the cap. More than enough space available (assuming we will be an 'over the cap', non-tax team) to have a good, even contending team. If the cap goes up 10% each year (it has the last 2) instead of the projections, the cap in 25-26 would be $164,585,410, and these 3 would make up 67% of the cap.

Once again,.. when I get into the details, I have to compliment the FO. By doing this now,... yeah, we've lost some flexibility, but it doesn't look like we've really compromised anything?.... thoughts?

(yes, if the cap goes up 10% for next year, then Siakam cap hit would also go up by 2.2M, but that wouldn't make a huge amount of difference.) With the tax apron, based on the projections & not a 10% increase, projected at $189.2M, that would leave us around $79M to fill out the team?

I-Jax is an RFA in 25-26. Mathurin in 26-27. Jarace & Sheppard in 27-28. Those would be the 2nd, 3rd, and 4th years of a Siakam contract. Considering the growth in the cap, it could be tight, but IMO,.. we should be ok. If it turns out that Mathurin, Jarace, and Sheppard are all in line for max rookie extensions,.. then we will have to pay some tax,... but I can't say there isn't a really good side to that problem. LOL =]"


I don't disagree with your estimates on the 26-27 year,... but in 26-27 the NBA is currently forecasting (less than 10% per year growth as mentioned above) a cap of $171,820,000, and a tax threshold of 208,120,000. So based on your estimates above that would leave us with $27M in cap space, and $64M in tax space to fill out the rest of the roster. If we have say 3-4 min contract guys,.. you are probably looking at $58M for 6-7 second team rotation level players,... which should be about right?...

I hope you're right

I'd be beyond ecstatic if Pacers can somehow keep everyone worth keeping

[JMaster5K]

Spoiler:

From earlier posts on this topic:

"Saw this & had to go to spotrac. LOL 8/

Looking at the center salaries out there now,... & increasing them to a 25-26 timeframe... I have to think Myles new contract, if resigned, would be in the 25 - 28 M range? Maybe if there's more competition that year,. it could be a bit higher,.. but I was forecasting his starting salary that year around 26M.

With Pascal in his second year of a new, 30% max contract (46,008,000),.. and Haliburtons projections from Spotrac (38,340,000), the total is $110,348,000. The project cap for 25-26 is $156,200,000. This would make up 70.64% of the cap. More than enough space available (assuming we will be an 'over the cap', non-tax team) to have a good, even contending team. If the cap goes up 10% each year (it has the last 2) instead of the projections, the cap in 25-26 would be $164,585,410, and these 3 would make up 67% of the cap.

Once again,.. when I get into the details, I have to compliment the FO. By doing this now,... yeah, we've lost some flexibility, but it doesn't look like we've really compromised anything?.... thoughts?

(yes, if the cap goes up 10% for next year, then Siakam cap hit would also go up by 2.2M, but that wouldn't make a huge amount of difference.) With the tax apron, based on the projections & not a 10% increase, projected at $189.2M, that would leave us around $79M to fill out the team?

I-Jax is an RFA in 25-26. Mathurin in 26-27. Jarace & Sheppard in 27-28. Those would be the 2nd, 3rd, and 4th years of a Siakam contract. Considering the growth in the cap, it could be tight, but IMO,.. we should be ok. If it turns out that Mathurin, Jarace, and Sheppard are all in line for max rookie extensions,.. then we will have to pay some tax,... but I can't say there isn't a really good side to that problem. LOL =]"


I don't disagree with your estimates on the 26-27 year,... but in 26-27 the NBA is currently forecasting (less than 10% per year growth as mentioned above) a cap of $171,820,000, and a tax threshold of 208,120,000. So based on your estimates above that would leave us with $27M in cap space, and $64M in tax space to fill out the rest of the roster. If we have say 3-4 min contract guys,.. you are probably looking at $58M for 6-7 second team rotation level players,... which should be about right?...

I hope you're right

I'd be beyond ecstatic if Pacers can somehow keep everyone worth keeping

Yeah mate,.. Idk? but,.. it doesn't look impossible at this point for us to keep everyone and be in a good financial position. It may be by the time we get there. But, once again, our FO has been proving itself really competent at managing these kind of things when they seem likely to occur. =}

and,.. thank you for showing me what a 'spoiler' is and how to use it!! Now, when I get a bit to long-winded,... (as usual),. I can hide it! LOL =]

[Scoot McGroot]

Oh, I think with the way he was playing, Jalen was already walking in free agency unless we trade Myles Turner for a non-center this offseason. He's earned a starting role somewhere, and if he doesn't take it, he may not get another chance.

I don't think so

He already has a starting role here right now

.

Does he? Is Siakam coming off the bench? Did he think he could play PF long term? Or would it eventually bother him and he wants to play center like it bothered Myles?

Salary cap is currently projected with minimal growth at $156.2m (more likely to be at $164.5m with 10% year over year growth) and luxury tax at $189.2m (though again, likely even higher).

Doesn't this support my point?

If the tax is at $189m, and we already have $109m invested in just 3 players, that leaves us only $80m to spend on the next 12 players

That's an average of about $6.7m per player

And this is assuming we get Turner at $25m, which to me is extremely optimistic

Take a look at our rosters the last 20 years. That kind of split is pretty standard, no?

On a salary cap conservatively projected at $171.82m, but possibly as high as $181.04m, and a luxury tax conservatively projected at $208.12m.

It's the same thing here

If the tax line is at $208m, and we already spent $144m on just 5 players, that leaves us just $61m to pay the next 10 players on the team

It's not impossible, but just highly unrealistic

And this is with a very optimistic projection where we re-sign Mathurin and Nembhard at only $20m and $15m respectively

I think the most realistic outcome is that we get to keep one or maybe at most two of Turner and Mathurin and Nembhard

To avoid losing them for nothing in free agency, we should probably start looking at trades for them

By trading for Siakam, we've basically inherited Toronto's "I have to trade my players even though I'd like to keep them because I can risk losing them in free agency" problem

I think it’s not money that dictates whether we keep those 3. We can afford them. I think you’re also ignoring how rosters are generally built. 1-3 high paid guys, 2-3 MLE level guys (as they’re usually 1-3 year contracts each year on an MLE), and then A bunch of rookie guys, vet minimums, and salary fillers from the occasional trade. We’re set up for that, no? And we definitely don’t need to trade those guys now. We could seriously wait a couple years and see how the team is working, right?

[KL78192020]

Hey I've lived in and around Indianapolis all my life and I freaking hate it here I'm looking to move and get out of this crime riddled il-managed hellscape. Pascal is gonna love it when he goes out on Meridian street for a night out and some of our finest gang bangers start popping off shots all around. Seriously it's like the Wild West, you have to wear a bullet proof vest and Kpot to walk down the street. I'm seriously thinking about getting my Caddy Escalade armored up.

And I'm not kidding around about any of that. I haven't been to a game in 6-7 years because things just keep getting more and more out of hand.

Do you doubt me? Do you remember what happened with the Dutch soldiers back in August of 22? I've been down there on Georgia St and Meridian waiting on one of my clients to come out of Pier 48 and some guy got shot 100 yards behind me in the alley. About the same time I was in the same area and some guy was shot right in front of the Indy Star on Meridian. I went thru Broad Ripple one night and heard about 200 gunshots and another time 3 people were shot while I was driving a top client of mine to a restaurant in Broad Ripple. I'm not even talking about the northeast side, 42nd and Post.

lol what did I get myself into. I'm from Toronto, and I'm sure Siakim will miss the culture in Toronto, compared to Indy which he writes about in this article. But for the most part these guys are travelling and live elsewhere in the off season, so not sure how big of a deal it is. I think winning supersedes all the other stuff.

https://www.theplayerstribune.com/posts/pascal-siakam-toronto-raptors-indianapolis-pacers-nba-basketball

Toronto made me feel like I belonged from day one. I loved the diversity — I’d go out and I’d see Cameroonians, Ghanaians, Mexicans, Koreans, Jamaicans, Europeans, just all types of people from all types of communities. It made me feel comfortable. I remember during my rookie year, me and my brother, we’d go to all these amazing African restaurants and eat the food we loved from back home. Or even just these African stores we could go to, where they’re selling stuff that usually you only can find in Cameroon. Like this specific brand of fried plantains we’d get bags of. Or there’s this Cameroonian meat my brother loves, soya, and he could find that pretty easy in Toronto. Maybe it doesn’t sound like it should be so important, snacks and things. But discovering all of that, and just getting to live in such a diverse place, it kind of let me take my guard down and be me. It was like, OK, if so many people somewhere are foreign … maybe you’re not feeling as foreign.

[JMaster5K]

On a salary cap conservatively projected at $171.82m, but possibly as high as $181.04m, and a luxury tax conservatively projected at $208.12m.

It's the same thing here

If the tax line is at $208m, and we already spent $144m on just 5 players, that leaves us just $61m to pay the next 10 players on the team

It's not impossible, but just highly unrealistic

And this is with a very optimistic projection where we re-sign Mathurin and Nembhard at only $20m and $15m respectively

I think the most realistic outcome is that we get to keep one or maybe at most two of Turner and Mathurin and Nembhard

To avoid losing them for nothing in free agency, we should probably start looking at trades for them

By trading for Siakam, we've basically inherited Toronto's "I have to trade my players even though I'd like to keep them because I can risk losing them in free agency" problem

Based on the way all these projections started,.. we are paying these guys because they develop into players deserving of those contracts. So, we have this cost line because, essentially, everyone is a baller,.. and we are now a contender. The last time we were in the ECF,... we were a tax paying team. How many of the real, everybody is ballin, preseason contenders are not tax paying teams?

(Edit: The last time we were in the ECF,.. we weren't a tax paying team,... I screwed up.... ) ={

Boston, Milwaukee, Philly, Denver, LAC, Miami, Lakers... all tax paying teams. There are some good team, playoff teams, that aren't tax payers. However, when Indiana has been one of the top couple of teams in the east, we have been a tax paying team. As Scoot said earlier, the new tax structure isn't as costly, if you are just over the threshold, between the threshold and the 1st apron.

So, the year that the tax threshold is 208M, the first tax apron, where the real penalties start is 229M. Yes,.. we would pay tax, but that would still give you $82M to payout for the next 10 players,.. with 3-4 min contract guys,.. you are looking at what? 70M to payout 6-7, second unit rotation players?....

That would give you say,.. 3 guys at the 'then' MLE, 3 guys at rookie first round contracts (even if 1 or possibly 2 of them were lottery)?....

[basketballwacko2]

Do you doubt me? Do you remember what happened with the Dutch soldiers back in August of 22? I've been down there on Georgia St and Meridian waiting on one of my clients to come out of Pier 48 and some guy got shot 100 yards behind me in the alley. About the same time I was in the same area and some guy was shot right in front of the Indy Star on Meridian. I went thru Broad Ripple one night and heard about 200 gunshots and another time 3 people were shot while I was driving a top client of mine to a restaurant in Broad Ripple. I'm not even talking about the northeast side, 42nd and Post.

lol what did I get myself into. I'm from Toronto, and I'm sure Siakim will miss the culture in Toronto, compared to Indy which he writes about in this article. But for the most part these guys are travelling and live elsewhere in the off season, so not sure how big of a deal it is. I think winning supersedes all the other stuff.

https://www.theplayerstribune.com/posts/pascal-siakam-toronto-raptors-indianapolis-pacers-nba-basketball

Toronto made me feel like I belonged from day one. I loved the diversity — I’d go out and I’d see Cameroonians, Ghanaians, Mexicans, Koreans, Jamaicans, Europeans, just all types of people from all types of communities. It made me feel comfortable. I remember during my rookie year, me and my brother, we’d go to all these amazing African restaurants and eat the food we loved from back home. Or even just these African stores we could go to, where they’re selling stuff that usually you only can find in Cameroon. Like this specific brand of fried plantains we’d get bags of. Or there’s this Cameroonian meat my brother loves, soya, and he could find that pretty easy in Toronto. Maybe it doesn’t sound like it should be so important, snacks and things. But discovering all of that, and just getting to live in such a diverse place, it kind of let me take my guard down and be me. It was like, OK, if so many people somewhere are foreign … maybe you’re not feeling as foreign.

Oh well if Pascal want's diversity he can find plenty of it in Indianapolis, we have ever manner of lunatic and maniac you can imagine running the streets, gang bangers and car jackers, not to mention the straight up homicidal hooligans and homeless beggars! It's a real menagerie you can take your pick do you want to get stabbed, shot, thrown off a building or set on fire? Or for one low price of everything in your pocket you can have all that!

But really about 2 weeks ago they found a woman dead on top of the Slippery Noodle building. That's the oldest bar in Indiana, and they have no idea how she got up there!

https://www.wrtv.com/news/local-news/impd-investigating-death-of-woman-found-on-roof-of-downtown-bar

[Wizop]

The last time we were in the ECF,... we were a tax paying team.

as I remember it, we went into tax land to give Reggie his final contract. it was the price we paid to have him finish his career as a Pacer.