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Christmas was the only one who didn't get any minutes in the final preseason game, so that doesn't bode well for him.

I rather see Joe Young on the Ants than on the Pacers to be honest and Stone was likely needed to teach some of our players how to play defense

Can't say I was impressed with our backup centers. Watching Jefferson trying to run is a bit weird and his defense is as weak as ever.
Being almost out of the league still didn't lit a fire under Seraphins huge ass, which is a pitty, because he is talented.

I like Niang. He looks like a boy between men, in size, but he sure knows how to play and is one of the better shooters on a team that lacks them.

My guesses are that Christmas and Stone are cut and Young is going to help the Ants together with Niang if CJ and Jeremy are healthy.

Also, our defense on opponents shooting seem to have mightily slipped. Forcing turnovers and committing less turnovers have been a strength. Playoffs should be a piece of cake with our firepower, but we are going to need more defense and better efficiency to advance some rounds.

They should cut Jeremy Evans and keep Young on the team for good. This kid is working very hard and he deserves a spot on the roster! Niang I like as well, he knows how to play the game, smart player!

GR3 looked really good out there, I like his 3pt shot a lot, if he can keep this up he will find himself in the rotation really quickly! Also very versatile with his length and athleticism.

We need two more cuts to get down to 15. One has to assume that Julyan Stone is an automatic. After that, I think it comes down to Evans vs. Christmas for the last spot, with a thin possibility that maybe Seraphin loses out instead.

I think it's maybe still possible that we could end up claiming someone on waivers in these last few days, either to re-waive a day or two later for their Ft. Wayne rights, or to possibly waive both of Christmas and Evans.

Also, I think that Joe Young needs to play in the NBA for the Pacers in order to get any better. I think Niang is likely to go down somewhat to Ft. Wayne, though, this season. If Christmas makes the roster, I think he's pretty much a lock for Ft. Wayne. I just don't see his skill set meshing in the NBA at this point.

Rumors have a new CBA coming with two minor league roster spots. Wonder if they will rush it done before cuts.

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I agree with Scoot re: the cut candidates. Evans looks like he's still not at 100% and Christmas kinda falls out of the rotation.

I doubt Seraphin will get cut, looking at how "old" Jefferson was playing this preseason, I think Seraphin and Myles could share most minutes at center while keeping Jefferson fresh for the postseason. Not to mention Allen could eat some minutes at center too.

Joe Young will be in the roster, and I don't think he'll be playing in the D-League. The guy is getting better and I am really not that sold on Brooks getting the primary back-up minutes. It also looks like Stuckey can get some minutes at the PG spot.

Niang, though he is not expected to make any big impact, I'd say he did good for a 50th pick. Smart basketball is what he does and it does not always reflect on the stat sheet.

The only glaring weakness I would say is the back-up shooting guard spot. For now it looks like GR III will get more minutes, and he deserves it. What I am saying is that other than GR III we have undersized guys at the 2 - Ellis, Stuckey, Young.

Not only do I think Young should definitely remain on the Pacers, I think he has a chance to gobble up some backup PG minutes. He was a rookie from the second round last year, so it's definitely not surprising that he needed more time to adjust to the NBA game before getting solid rotation minutes. And I know he looked pretty iffy at times last year. But to my eye he looks rather capable of getting that backup spot at some point. He also has room to improve whereas Brooks just kinda is what he is by now.

I like Aaron Brooks and the Aaron Brooks pick up, but no way Joe Young goes to Ft. Wayne. I think Niang is definitely a part time Ft. Wayner.

Aaron Brooks has been atrocious in the preseason and adds to our undersized problems at the guard positions. IMO Joe Young should get all of his minutes to develop him and because I seriously think he's better. Brooks looks to me like another in a long line of ill-fated Pacers point guard acquisitions.

Miller4ever wrote:Aaron Brooks has been atrocious in the preseason and adds to our undersized problems at the guard positions. IMO Joe Young should get all of his minutes to develop him and because I seriously think he's better. Brooks looks to me like another in a long line of ill-fated Pacers point guard acquisitions.

Ultimately, to me, Brooks is, and was paid like, a veteran safety net. He didn't quite get a true backup PG salary (which is roughly $4-6m). I think Bird signed him as a "worst case scenario" backup PG, if Young doesn't develop. If Young takes the backup spot, I think Bird/McMillan would be ok with that, and happy to give him the spot.

Scoot McGroot wrote:We need two more cuts to get down to 15. One has to assume that Julyan Stone is an automatic. After that, I think it comes down to Evans vs. Christmas for the last spot, with a thin possibility that maybe Seraphin loses out instead.

I think it's maybe still possible that we could end up claiming someone on waivers in these last few days, either to re-waive a day or two later for their Ft. Wayne rights, or to possibly waive both of Christmas and Evans.

Also, I think that Joe Young needs to play in the NBA for the Pacers in order to get any better. I think Niang is likely to go down somewhat to Ft. Wayne, though, this season. If Christmas makes the roster, I think he's pretty much a lock for Ft. Wayne. I just don't see his skill set meshing in the NBA at this point.

I'd cut Stone and Evans and offer them Ant's contracts if they clear waivers which I'm sure they will. Christmas and Joe Young play as much as they can in Ft Wayne and get Niang some time there as well.

I'd assume the last cut will be Evans, seeing as he's still injured and isn't good when healthy.

I was pretty disappointed with what I saw from Seraphin though, especially after the article with him talking about how he knows what he needs to do to be effective. Just seems like he's the same inefficient black hole he was with NY last year and we just got rid of one of those types of guys in Jordan Hill. And I personally would feel better if our 3rd center was a Jeff Withey type instead. As it stands now, we'll have 3 centers who all are thinking score first. With Myles and Big Al, that's more than fine. With Seraphin, not really.

I like neither of our 2 backup centers right now, so let us all pray for a Christmas miracle, now that Evans and Stone were cut.

Scoot McGroot wrote:

Miller4ever wrote:Aaron Brooks has been atrocious in the preseason and adds to our undersized problems at the guard positions. IMO Joe Young should get all of his minutes to develop him and because I seriously think he's better. Brooks looks to me like another in a long line of ill-fated Pacers point guard acquisitions.

Ultimately, to me, Brooks is, and was paid like, a veteran safety net. He didn't quite get a true backup PG salary (which is roughly $4-6m). I think Bird signed him as a "worst case scenario" backup PG, if Young doesn't develop. If Young takes the backup spot, I think Bird/McMillan would be ok with that, and happy to give him the spot.

Even if Brooks doesn't get better/healthier, we still have Monta Ellis to play backup PG when Robinson is added to the 10 man rotation.
3 has earned it to be in there before Young. Brooks has 8 years of experience in this league. If Aaron can get healthy, I think he will be back.

Niang, I think, has less lessons to learn about how to play BB than Young, so I rather keep him and his 3 point shooting on the bench.
Christmas might still be cut to add a waiver guy and another D league year isn't going to improve him much more.

Joe Young should be busy playing games focusing on positive things, so he has no time to focus on negative things or to leave messages for his haters. D league would be perfect for that. All his good stats happened against much weaker opponents.

Looks like ya'll have picked up Ben Bentil!
http://www.nba.com/pacers/news/pacers-sign-ben-bentil
This is a guy I was hoping Bucks would somehow get on the roster.

Do you think he'll make the 15 or just make his way to D-League?

Yoder wrote:Do you think he'll make the 15 or just make his way to D-League?

we'll know in a few hours when they cut to 15. unless we have a trade in the works, I'd guess we either signed him to a non-guaranteed contract so we could cut him and send him to Ft. Wayne, or we gave him a guarantee and intend to eat Christmas' contract.

Yoder wrote:Looks like ya'll have picked up Ben Bentil!
http://www.nba.com/pacers/news/pacers-sign-ben-bentil
This is a guy I was hoping Bucks would somehow get on the roster.

Do you think he'll make the 15 or just make his way to D-League?

He was a Pacer for roughly 4 hours. Was already waived. Just trying to get him to Ft Wayne it appears.