Game 58 vs Minnesota 3:00pm

[Pacers Forever]

I going to say something I may never had said before.

If we had Turner in this game, I think we would have won.

Now before you guys start making plans to have me institutionalized, hear me out. It would only have taken a couple good offensive plays and a couple good defensive plays at the rim for him to have made the difference. He can certainly do that much, and Goga was giving nothing most of the game.

If we can find a way to convince Jalen Smith that "Hey, remember we were the team that wanted you while your previous team didn't. Stick with us and we'll show you how much."

Losing Duarte hurt as well, but he has to learn to take better care of the ball.

I'll still say I can't see a way Goga or Brogdon fit with the rest of this version of the Pacers.

Hield was really off with his shot tonight, but that just means he'll likely light it up in the next game. While talking about Hield, does anyone else think he looks like Paul Pierce in the face? Boy, I sure think so.

Tom I agree that if Turner or Jackson were available for the last two games the Pacers could have won. Goga is just not rising to the challenge.

About Duarte. He’s got a lot of talent. He’s got to trust in himself, get stronger off-season, and learn when to not defer and just finish underneath or on drives. Also he needs some work on shot clock awareness. I do see improvement since the start of the season.

Haliburton is everything and much more of what we think Duarte can be.

Haliburton is a STUD, a rising star. Today’s game shows me Tyrese will be much easier to build a championship around than Sabonis. Sort of like having a great quarterback in football = great point guard.

If Duarte can gain confidence and learn from Tyrese’s play he’ll mature faster and imagine two super effective scoring threats. Couple them with a couple of star non guards and we’re back in contention.

[Pacers Forever]

My take aways today:

Timberwolves shooters 53% from 3
and healthy talent laden team wins

Pacers didn’t tank today, didn’t choke, truly depth is killing them

Haliburton 50% from the field, rebounding, huge assists and only 3 turnovers GREAT

Brissett 50% from the field, huge rebounds

Smith 60% shooting, huge rebounds

Terry Taylor productive minutes

Lance good game stepped up for Duarte

Buddy bad shooting game
Goga better than last but disappointing
Washington and Thompson disappointing

[kb02]

Hali is a star.

Buddy is a tank commander. Dude does 1 to 5 stupid plays each game. When the Pacers are ready to win, best to offload Buddy beforehand. Good luck.

[Topofthekey]

Need to pair Haliburton with another star

Maybe that's Duarte once he learns to be more assertive

Maybe that's our pick this upcoming draft

Or maybe we move Brogdon (and maybe Turner) for one

I hope KP and Carlisle are working on it

[Wizop]

Need to pair Haliburton with another star

I feel pretty good about

Hali, McConnell, Sykes, draft pick
Duarte, Hield, Washington
Warren, draft pick, Brissett
Turner, Goga
IJax, Smith, Taylor


For simplicity, I've assumed Brogdon is gone, the two ways both move up, all three picks get regular contracts, and players are only shown at one position even though they play two. I doubt Smith can be resigned and we probably get a player for Brogdon.

[Topofthekey]

Need to pair Haliburton with another star

I feel pretty good about

Hali, McConnell, Sykes, draft pick
Duarte, Hield, Washington
Warren, draft pick, Brissett
Turner, Goga
IJax, Smith, Taylor


For simplicity, I've assumed Brogdon is gone, the two ways both move up, all three picks get regular contracts, and players are only shown at one position even though they play two. I doubt Smith can be resigned and we probably get a player for Brogdon.

I'm ready to move on from Warren though

Don't want to see the team having a hole at SF again due to him being unavailable. I'd rather the team just go ahead and plug the hole at SF this off-season, instead of gambling on Warren's health again

I doubt Smith can be resigned too. If he played well enough to warrant a contract, some other team will outbid us. If no one tries to outbid us, it probably means he didn't show enough to garner any interest. I suppose there that tiny sliver of runway in the middle where he played just well enough for us to want to keep him, but not well enough to register on any other team's radar, but this feels quite unlikely

I think he's the perfect type of young player to stash on the bench and develope though, so fingers crossed

Also, I notice the lack of Lance in your depth chart

You don't feel the team should bring him back?

[Pacers Forever]

Need to pair Haliburton with another star

Maybe that's Duarte once he learns to be more assertive

Maybe that's our pick this upcoming draft

Or maybe we move Brogdon (and maybe Turner) for one

I hope KP and Carlisle are working on it

Oh they’re scheming for sure.

KP alluded to different scenarios for the draft based on where our first round picks slot in plus the 2 seconds we own. One that shocked me was trading away picks to get a veteran star foregoing the draft. Or drafting less than the 4 choices combining picks to move up I think is most likely path.

Also 4 players are FA at season’s end not including current 2 way players.

Then you have Brogdon, Turner, Hield, Goga, and McConnell under contract which are possibly trade candidates.

Only front line players I believe to be in future plans are Haliburton, Duarte, Jackson, and Brissett.

Taylor, Washington, and Sykes possibly to round out the bench based on draft, trades,
and FA signings.

I get the impression that there’s a lot more changes coming due to them having flexibility he spoke of.

[Wizop]

I'm ready to move on from Warren though

Don't want to see the team having a hole at SF again due to him being unavailable.
Also, I notice the lack of Lance in your depth chart

I don't want to make that decision yet. I very much want to draft a SF, but if Warren gets on the court this season, I'd make him an offer. a sneaky tank move might be to sit him even if healthy.

You don't feel the team should bring him back?

I'm having a hard time finding a spot for Lance with TJ and Buddy as a second unit backcourt and 3 draft picks.

[Tom White]

I'm having a hard time finding a spot for Lance with TJ and Buddy as a second unit backcourt and 3 draft picks.

I have a hard time finding a spot for TJM with Lance and Buddy as a second unit. Don't get me wrong, I like McConnell. I think one problem they have is when they signed to that contract, they didn't know Haliburton was going to be available. I still think maybe having 3 PG's is doable though with those three being Hali, Lance and TJM.

[Wizop]

I still think maybe having 3 PG's is doable though with those three being Hali, Lance and TJM.

not just doable but mandatory. you need 3 to deal with injuries and foul trouble but the 3rd can be a combo guard who can play 1 or 2 and I'll concede that Lance is that. but I'm thinking that we could be drafting a PG with the Cavs or Rockets pick or a combo guard with our own pick.

[Topofthekey]

I agree they need at least 3 PGs. Starter, backup, depth

Starter: Haliburton

Backup: Rubio/TJM/Lance

Depth: Sykes/draft pick/Lance

Pick 3 or maybe 4 among these names

Rubio is a borderline starter and a great backup

Lance is flexible enough that he can be a backup, or just a depth piece (by backing up another position and only sliding to the 1 when necessary)

TJM is the most limited/specialized among the three of them. He's not good enough to be a starter, he can't backup other positions, and he's too expensive to simply be a depth piece

Sykes and/or the draft pick are ideal depth pieces, their contracts being small


Edit
To me, the ideal 4 man PG crew based on this group would be

Haliburton - starter
Rubio - emergency starter, strong backup
Lance - depth, primarily backs up 2 or 3, slides to 1 when needed
Sykes or pick - additional depth

Replacing Rubio with TJM is fine, but that means they don't have a good starter candidate if Haliburton misses games

[Pacers Forever]

Guards under contract heading into the draft are

Haliburton
Brogdon
McConnell
Duarte
Hield
Sykes?
Washington 2 way

Pool of associated guards
Rubio
Lance
Sumner

First move I’m trading Brogdon and McConnell to be able to sign Rubio, Sumner, Lance, Smith

I’m going with point guards

Haliburton starting point
Resigning Rubio for back up point
Signing Summer

That leaves as shooting guard
Duarte starter
Hield back up

Combo guard
Resining Lance

That leaves
Washington, Sykes, Taylor with 2 being 2 ways and the other gets spot 15

Only 2 high draft picks because I trade up combining picks = both wings
If this doesn’t work out due to availability of top talent wings I draft one wing and trade combined picks for an established wing.

Our 17
Halliburton/Rubio/Sumner/Sykes
Duarte/Hield/Stephenson/Washington
Warren/ draft/draft
Smith/Brissett/Taylor
Turner/Jackson/Goga

Of course these players can play different positions than I might have them at.

Also I am cool if Pacers have enough $$$$ to upgrade any of our weakest talent I kept.

[Scoot McGroot]

You might be able to keep Terry Taylor on a 2 way next year.

I think someone might throw an offer for a guaranteed roster spot at Duane Washington this offseason if you try and tender him as a 2 way, though. You could match, yes, but it'd be for a main roster spot.