Thunder @ Pacers 4/5

[Wizop]

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[boomershadow]

nevermind guys we don't really need to make the playoffs do we

[Wizop]

Monteith theorem game.

[Wizop]

Giddy would be a great sf for us. Maybe Walker can get there. I like Sheppard, Nesmith, and Mathurin but 6'8" would help.

[Pacers Forever]

Giddy would be a great sf for us. Maybe Walker can get there. I like Sheppard, Nesmith, and Mathurin but 6'8" would help.

I believe Nesmith will be the starter for quite a few years because he’s a dog on defense. I believe he’s going to mature his skills a bit more. I think he’s Carlisle’s favorite player.

I like Sheppard as eventually instant offense from the second team. Just a bit more work on his shot and he can be a knockdown 3 point bucket scorer like Buddy Hield was. I like Sheppard’s willingness to try and defend and think he’ll improve there also.

I think Mathurin is destined to becoming (the go to man) on the second team as a scoring guard who will sub in for Nembhard unless he can improve his defense to become more valuable starting than Nembhard. I can actually see him traded in the future.

Walker may take a few more years than normal to mature but I believe he will get there eventually. His defense is ok if he stays in the scheme positioning. He’s got the height to make most passes and rebound currently. His movement within the offense and his shooting has a ways to go before he can get more than 5-7 minutes occasionally.

[boomershadow]

okay i spoke too soon

[Pacers Forever]

okay i spoke too soon

All my faith in the Pacers making the playoffs in the 6th seed would have been crushed if the Pacers couldn’t have beaten OKC missing Shai and J. Williams.

Luckily our second team was again the saving factor.

[JMaster5K]

Giddy would be a great sf for us. Maybe Walker can get there. I like Sheppard, Nesmith, and Mathurin but 6'8" would help.

I believe Nesmith will be the starter for quite a few years because he’s a dog on defense. I believe he’s going to mature his skills a bit more. I think he’s Carlisle’s favorite player.

I like Sheppard as eventually instant offense from the second team. Just a bit more work on his shot and he can be a knockdown 3 point bucket scorer like Buddy Hield was. I like Sheppard’s willingness to try and defend and think he’ll improve there also.

I think Mathurin is destined to becoming (the go to man) on the second team as a scoring guard who will sub in for Nembhard unless he can improve his defense to become more valuable starting than Nembhard. I can actually see him traded in the future.

Walker may take a few more years than normal to mature but I believe he will get there eventually. His defense is ok if he stays in the scheme positioning. He’s got the height to make most passes and rebound currently. His movement within the offense and his shooting has a ways to go before he can get more than 5-7 minutes occasionally.

I kinda hope that Walker comes along & starts at the 3. I agree he still has a long way to go, but compared to where he was at the start of the season,.. he has made huge strides this year. Given a full offseason and training camp, I think he could be ready for a meaningful role by the end of next season?

He has the potential to be as much of a dog on defense as Nesmith. Just has a lot more to learn to get there. If his offensive game continues to improve at the same rate as this season, he can at least be a wing shooter, defender, secondary ball handler by the end of next year? If he can get close enough to either start or be a full 20-25 a minute player on the second team, we will be deep, and talented on the wing on both ends of the court.

Love Sheppard as the designated sniper. He's already a good, NBA catch-and-shoot guy, On corner 3's, he is 40.0%. He is learning to shoot off movement to expand his shot profile & be able to play more like Buddy. It's a learning curve, but he is starting to get the hang of it. Have to believe the defense will come as well. He was conference all defense his last year in college. His athletic tests at the combine were much better than expected. His IQ is also so high,... gotta think it's all just a matter of time & experience in the NBA game before he becomes a consistent contributor.

Agree with you on Benn. He is the one player on this team that can get his own shot anywhere, any time. But, he hasn't yet found his rhythm with the team consistently at either end. His numbers with Ty haven't been good, which puts him as the primary scorer on the second unit. I agree,... I can see him traded as well. I actually think Benn is probably Coaches fav,... which makes it all that much harder if it becomes clear that he won't really fit with the team?

I mean,.. if all these guys hit say 75-80% of their potential on both ends,... a rotation of Nembhard, Nesmith, Sheppard, & Walker,... would be a nightmare for opponents.

[Wizop]

I kinda hope that Walker comes along & starts at the 3. I agree he still has a long way to go, but compared to where he was at the start of the season,.. he has made huge strides this year. Given a full offseason and training camp, I think he could be ready for a meaningful role by the end of next season?

He has the potential to be as much of a dog on defense as Nesmith. Just has a lot more to learn to get there. If his offensive game continues to improve at the same rate as this season, he can at least be a wing shooter, defender, secondary ball handler by the end of next year?

I think everything except secondary ball handler also applies to K Brown. when we drafted him he was just a defender and a rim runner as he's very fast, but he's really improved his offensive game in the G-League.

[JMaster5K]

I kinda hope that Walker comes along & starts at the 3. I agree he still has a long way to go, but compared to where he was at the start of the season,.. he has made huge strides this year. Given a full offseason and training camp, I think he could be ready for a meaningful role by the end of next season?

He has the potential to be as much of a dog on defense as Nesmith. Just has a lot more to learn to get there. If his offensive game continues to improve at the same rate as this season, he can at least be a wing shooter, defender, secondary ball handler by the end of next year?

I think everything except secondary ball handler also applies to K Brown. when we drafted him he was just a defender and a rim runner as he's very fast, but he's really improved his offensive game in the G-League.

Very true. He's played most of his minutes at the 2,.. and really shown that he's got the quickness to defend there,.. eventually. If he can round out those skills,.. would give the team a legit 6'7-6'8, 2 guard that is fast & quick enough to play with almost anyone. It is really fun to see these guys grow. =]

[Pacers Forever]

Giddy would be a great sf for us. Maybe Walker can get there. I like Sheppard, Nesmith, and Mathurin but 6'8" would help.

I believe Nesmith will be the starter for quite a few years because he’s a dog on defense. I believe he’s going to mature his skills a bit more. I think he’s Carlisle’s favorite player.

I like Sheppard as eventually instant offense from the second team. Just a bit more work on his shot and he can be a knockdown 3 point bucket scorer like Buddy Hield was. I like Sheppard’s willingness to try and defend and think he’ll improve there also.

I think Mathurin is destined to becoming (the go to man) on the second team as a scoring guard who will sub in for Nembhard unless he can improve his defense to become more valuable starting than Nembhard. I can actually see him traded in the future.

Walker may take a few more years than normal to mature but I believe he will get there eventually. His defense is ok if he stays in the scheme positioning. He’s got the height to make most passes and rebound currently. His movement within the offense and his shooting has a ways to go before he can get more than 5-7 minutes occasionally.

I kinda hope that Walker comes along & starts at the 3. I agree he still has a long way to go, but compared to where he was at the start of the season,.. he has made huge strides this year. Given a full offseason and training camp, I think he could be ready for a meaningful role by the end of next season?

He has the potential to be as much of a dog on defense as Nesmith. Just has a lot more to learn to get there. If his offensive game continues to improve at the same rate as this season, he can at least be a wing shooter, defender, secondary ball handler by the end of next year? If he can get close enough to either start or be a full 20-25 a minute player on the second team, we will be deep, and talented on the wing on both ends of the court.

Love Sheppard as the designated sniper. He's already a good, NBA catch-and-shoot guy, On corner 3's, he is 40.0%. He is learning to shoot off movement to expand his shot profile & be able to play more like Buddy. It's a learning curve, but he is starting to get the hang of it. Have to believe the defense will come as well. He was conference all defense his last year in college. His athletic tests at the combine were much better than expected. His IQ is also so high,... gotta think it's all just a matter of time & experience in the NBA game before he becomes a consistent contributor.

Agree with you on Benn. He is the one player on this team that can get his own shot anywhere, any time. But, he hasn't yet found his rhythm with the team consistently at either end. His numbers with Ty haven't been good, which puts him as the primary scorer on the second unit. I agree,... I can see him traded as well. I actually think Benn is probably Coaches fav,... which makes it all that much harder if it becomes clear that he won't really fit with the team?

I mean,.. if all these guys hit say 75-80% of their potential on both ends,... a rotation of Nembhard, Nesmith, Sheppard, & Walker,... would be a nightmare for opponents.

Nesmith played 2 seasons with the Celtics and now 2 with the Pacers. Nesmith was touted as a shooter coming out of college I believe. He didn’t fare well enough with the Celtics in 2 years that he became expendable in their future plans when they traded him for Brogdon.

In my opinion Nesmith leaned on his defense his first year with the Pacers to contribute as his shot needed work still. Of course Carlisle loves defense skills in his players.

The Pacers were patient and saw potential after just 1 season and extended Nesmith 3 years. So in 4 NBA seasons now Nesmith has become a defensive dog and regained his shooting touch.

To your point of Walker becoming a defensive standout like Nesmith. Walker has 3 more NBA seasons to gain experience. That amount of time validates the possibility you’re absolutely correct about Walker’s future development of defensive abilities with the improvement he’s made this season and his physical build.

Carlisle in an interview recently was talking about his great game recently and about Walker’s season. The biggest compliment that caught my attention was alluding to Jarace Walker being very intelligent.
It’s great to see the coach’s praise especially for as little of time he’s seen NBA action.

To me that says the sky is the limit and he just has to learn and apply what the coaches teach him daily about the NBA game.

[JMaster5K]

I believe Nesmith will be the starter for quite a few years because he’s a dog on defense. I believe he’s going to mature his skills a bit more. I think he’s Carlisle’s favorite player.

I like Sheppard as eventually instant offense from the second team. Just a bit more work on his shot and he can be a knockdown 3 point bucket scorer like Buddy Hield was. I like Sheppard’s willingness to try and defend and think he’ll improve there also.

I think Mathurin is destined to becoming (the go to man) on the second team as a scoring guard who will sub in for Nembhard unless he can improve his defense to become more valuable starting than Nembhard. I can actually see him traded in the future.

Walker may take a few more years than normal to mature but I believe he will get there eventually. His defense is ok if he stays in the scheme positioning. He’s got the height to make most passes and rebound currently. His movement within the offense and his shooting has a ways to go before he can get more than 5-7 minutes occasionally.

Edited:

Nesmith played 2 seasons with the Celtics and now 2 with the Pacers. Nesmith was touted as a shooter coming out of college I believe. He didn’t fare well enough with the Celtics in 2 years that he became expendable in their future plans when they traded him for Brogdon.

In my opinion Nesmith leaned on his defense his first year with the Pacers to contribute as his shot needed work still. Of course Carlisle loves defense skills in his players.

The Pacers were patient and saw potential after just 1 season and extended Nesmith 3 years. So in 4 NBA seasons now Nesmith has become a defensive dog and regained his shooting touch.

To your point of Walker becoming a defensive standout like Nesmith. Walker has 3 more NBA seasons to gain experience. That amount of time validates the possibility you’re absolutely correct about Walker’s future development of defensive abilities with the improvement he’s made this season and his physical build.

Carlisle in an interview recently was talking about his great game recently and about Walker’s season. The biggest compliment that caught my attention was alluding to Jarace Walker being very intelligent.
It’s great to see the coach’s praise especially for as little of time he’s seen NBA action.

To me that says the sky is the limit and he just has to learn and apply what the coaches teach him daily about the NBA game.

As good a Nesmith is,... (IMO, he's a legit starter in this league on any team. He probably isn't in the top 3 or even 4 on a contender, but's there a lot of contending teams that would love a player like him as their 5th starter.) ... I just hope that we develop someone that is good enough on both ends, that Nesmith becomes the 6th man?.... Cause if that happens, the Pacers will almost have to be a legit contender. Same holds for Nesmith,....

Agree completely with your points above,... Nesmith was evaluated as 'the best shooter in this draft' prior to his selection. He was also noted as being a 'better than average',.. at the very least 'good' defender. It took him 3.5 years to put it all together to be able to use both sets of skills at an NBA level,... and 4 years until he could do both at a + level.

I'd like to think Walker could get there faster,... but he was pretty clearly behind where Nesmith started when he was drafted. So?...

Maybe we do need a couple of veterans like Pascal,... that fit now to start winning some games,... and play while our young guys develop?....

Does anyone think the fair-weather fans, or non-analyst sportswriters will give the Pacers the time?....

(Really interested in some takes on this?.....)

[Pacers Forever]

Edited:

Nesmith played 2 seasons with the Celtics and now 2 with the Pacers. Nesmith was touted as a shooter coming out of college I believe. He didn’t fare well enough with the Celtics in 2 years that he became expendable in their future plans when they traded him for Brogdon.

In my opinion Nesmith leaned on his defense his first year with the Pacers to contribute as his shot needed work still. Of course Carlisle loves defense skills in his players.

The Pacers were patient and saw potential after just 1 season and extended Nesmith 3 years. So in 4 NBA seasons now Nesmith has become a defensive dog and regained his shooting touch.

To your point of Walker becoming a defensive standout like Nesmith. Walker has 3 more NBA seasons to gain experience. That amount of time validates the possibility you’re absolutely correct about Walker’s future development of defensive abilities with the improvement he’s made this season and his physical build.

Carlisle in an interview recently was talking about his great game recently and about Walker’s season. The biggest compliment that caught my attention was alluding to Jarace Walker being very intelligent.
It’s great to see the coach’s praise especially for as little of time he’s seen NBA action.

To me that says the sky is the limit and he just has to learn and apply what the coaches teach him daily about the NBA game.

As good a Nesmith is,... (IMO, he's a legit starter in this league on any team. He probably isn't in the top 3 or even 4 on a contender, but's there a lot of contending teams that would love a player like him as their 5th starter.) ... I just hope that we develop someone that is good enough on both ends, that Nesmith becomes the 6th man?.... Cause if that happens, the Pacers will almost have to be a legit contender. Same holds for Nesmith,....

Agree completely with your points above,... Nesmith was evaluated as 'the best shooter in this draft' prior to his selection. He was also noted as being a 'better than average',.. at the very least 'good' defender. It took him 3.5 years to put it all together to be able to use both sets of skills at an NBA level,... and 4 years until he could do both at a + level.

I'd like to think Walker could get there faster,... but he was pretty clearly behind where Nesmith started when he was drafted. So?...

Maybe we do need a couple of veterans like Pascal,... that fit now to start winning some games,... and play while our young guys develop?....

Does anyone think the fair-weather fans, or non-analyst sportswriters will give the Pacers the time?....

(Really interested in some takes on this?.....)

This year in the inseason tournament final and the nationally televised Pacer game I felt the announcers
were biased towards the other team in their delivery of the play by play. I understand but don’t agree.

I think the national media always favor the big market east and west coast teams. They also favor the stars in markets such as Doncic because they’re easier to talk about since they see them more.

Until the Pacers pull another couple of bigger names to Indy as they’ve done with Siakam and Haliburton, or the Pacers become an interesting top playoff contender yearly they’ll continue to be the less talked about team by the national media outlets which far outnumbers our very good local coverage.

I believe if the Pacers follow up their in season tournament success with a deeper playoff run than expected it will be the first media building block towards a more favorable narrative.

More importantly I believe with the right moves this offseason the Pacers become a stronger contender and more interesting increasing their tv possibilities and their potential playoff presence long term.

If the Pacers front office isn’t successful in acquiring more top talent before next season they become that 6-10th seed team which is not going to get favorable media coverage.

Personally I think the Pacers will make huge strides this offseason with their maturing youth, player acquisitions, and coaching staff continuity.

[JMaster5K]

Nesmith played 2 seasons with the Celtics and now 2 with the Pacers. Nesmith was touted as a shooter coming out of college I believe. He didn’t fare well enough with the Celtics in 2 years that he became expendable in their future plans when they traded him for Brogdon.

In my opinion Nesmith leaned on his defense his first year with the Pacers to contribute as his shot needed work still. Of course Carlisle loves defense skills in his players.

The Pacers were patient and saw potential after just 1 season and extended Nesmith 3 years. So in 4 NBA seasons now Nesmith has become a defensive dog and regained his shooting touch.

To your point of Walker becoming a defensive standout like Nesmith. Walker has 3 more NBA seasons to gain experience. That amount of time validates the possibility you’re absolutely correct about Walker’s future development of defensive abilities with the improvement he’s made this season and his physical build.

Carlisle in an interview recently was talking about his great game recently and about Walker’s season. The biggest compliment that caught my attention was alluding to Jarace Walker being very intelligent.
It’s great to see the coach’s praise especially for as little of time he’s seen NBA action.

To me that says the sky is the limit and he just has to learn and apply what the coaches teach him daily about the NBA game.

As good a Nesmith is,... (IMO, he's a legit starter in this league on any team. He probably isn't in the top 3 or even 4 on a contender, but's there a lot of contending teams that would love a player like him as their 5th starter.) ... I just hope that we develop someone that is good enough on both ends, that Nesmith becomes the 6th man?.... Cause if that happens, the Pacers will almost have to be a legit contender. Same holds for Nesmith,....

Agree completely with your points above,... Nesmith was evaluated as 'the best shooter in this draft' prior to his selection. He was also noted as being a 'better than average',.. at the very least 'good' defender. It took him 3.5 years to put it all together to be able to use both sets of skills at an NBA level,... and 4 years until he could do both at a + level.

I'd like to think Walker could get there faster,... but he was pretty clearly behind where Nesmith started when he was drafted. So?...

Maybe we do need a couple of veterans like Pascal,... that fit now to start winning some games,... and play while our young guys develop?....

Does anyone think the fair-weather fans, or non-analyst sportswriters will give the Pacers the time?....

(Really interested in some takes on this?.....)

This year in the inseason tournament final and the nationally televised Pacer game I felt the announcers
were biased towards the other team in their delivery of the play by play. I understand but don’t agree.

I think the national media always favor the big market east and west coast teams. They also favor the stars in markets such as Doncic because they’re easier to talk about since they see them more.

Until the Pacers pull another couple of bigger names to Indy as they’ve done with Siakam and Haliburton, or the Pacers become an interesting top playoff contender yearly they’ll continue to be the less talked about team by the national media outlets which far outnumbers our very good local coverage.

I believe if the Pacers follow up their in season tournament success with a deeper playoff run than expected it will be the first media building block towards a more favorable narrative.

More importantly I believe with the right moves this offseason the Pacers become a stronger contender and more interesting increasing their tv possibilities and their potential playoff presence long term.

If the Pacers front office isn’t successful in acquiring more top talent before next season they become that 6-10th seed team which is not going to get favorable media coverage.

Personally I think the Pacers will make huge strides this offseason with their maturing youth, player acquisitions, and coaching staff continuity.

PacersForever,... Thank you.

You raise a very salient point that I often overlook,... the narrative does actually matter. This is likely where the real advantage exists for 'big market' teams. With all the Pacers have done over the last 2 years, your point may be the most important for this offseason in building a team moving forward?
(tip of the hat)....