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Random ruminations here. Anything concrete or major, feel free to please start a main thread to capture it.

Michael Scotto at Hoops Hype reporting that Aaron Holiday is available for a 1st round pick. Would be the first time the Pacers traded a player for a future undetermined draft pick since the 80’s, I believe, if it actually occurs. I absolutely cannot swear to Scotto’s reliability here.

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Im sure we'd ask for a first for Aaron but I don't know whose paying that. If true, it may signal that the team will try and bring back McConnell or plans to target a PG in the draft.

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Scoot McGroot wrote:Random ruminations here. Anything concrete or major, feel free to please start a main thread to capture it.

Michael Scotto at Hoops Hype reporting that Aaron Holiday is available for a 1st round pick. Would be the first time the Pacers traded a player for a future undetermined draft pick since the 80’s, I believe, if it actually occurs. I absolutely cannot swear to Scotto’s reliability here.

A FRP for Holiday? Yeah, good luck with that.

pacers33granger wrote:Im sure we'd ask for a first for Aaron but I don't know whose paying that. If true, it may signal that the team will try and bring back McConnell or plans to target a PG in the draft.

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I sure hope we get a 4 in the draft if we can't trade for one.

Sent from my phone.

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This is why I said if I had to trade someone, I'd rather trade McConnell over Aaron

There is no point trading Aaron if all we're going to get is another 2RP

McConnell otoh has been playing very well and I'm sure he will fetch a lot more than Aaron in a trade

I'd like to keep both of them of course, but given the logjam and the fact that one of them is going to end up rotting on the bench (it's Aaron right now), I'd rather cash in high on McConnell rather than sell low on Aaron

If a contender is willing to trade a FRP in the 20s for McConnell, I would absolutely take it

But if nobody wants to offer anything for McConnell either, then I'd just keep both of them. As an insurance plan, Aaron could be relevant again if contract negotiations doesn't go well with McConnell

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I’d be shocked if this was anything other than due diligence.

Scoot McGroot wrote:I’d be shocked if this was anything other than due diligence.

Yeah, that article just seems dumb since it lumps it in with players that the Clippers are pursuing who mostly have $20 ish million salaries. How are the pick-free Clips going to be able to make any deal for a player like that? Pacers have cooled off with a hard schedule and shipping Vic out for a guy that only recently became available, but this current roster seems like the kind of all-hands-on-deck type of starting five that the team has always liked building. I'd be surprised if they broke it up midseason.

granger05 wrote:

Scoot McGroot wrote:I’d be shocked if this was anything other than due diligence.

Yeah, that article just seems dumb since it lumps it in with players that the Clippers are pursuing who mostly have $20 ish million salaries. How are the pick-free Clips going to be able to make any deal for a player like that? Pacers have cooled off with a hard schedule and shipping Vic out for a guy that only recently became available, but this current roster seems like the kind of all-hands-on-deck type of starting five that the team has always liked building. I'd be surprised if they broke it up midseason.

Oh, agreed. I do think we are eternally going to have trouble guarding small/quick guards with Brogdon/Levert/Warren as our 1-3, but we’ll see if they’re willing to move one of them to solve it.

Topofthekey wrote:This is why I said if I had to trade someone, I'd rather trade McConnell over Aaron

There is no point trading Aaron if all we're going to get is another 2RP

McConnell otoh has been playing very well and I'm sure he will fetch a lot more than Aaron in a trade

I'd like to keep both of them of course, but given the logjam and the fact that one of them is going to end up rotting on the bench (it's Aaron right now), I'd rather cash in high on McConnell rather than sell low on Aaron

If a contender is willing to trade a FRP in the 20s for McConnell, I would absolutely take it

But if nobody wants to offer anything for McConnell either, then I'd just keep both of them. As an insurance plan, Aaron could be relevant again if contract negotiations doesn't go well with McConnell

But Pacers prefer to make the playoffs over anything else, so McConnell and his intensity + experience are much needed.

What I don't understand is why last season they were very high on Aaron and now all of a sudden so low.

I say give him more time. Get a new coach perhaps to get the best out of him .

We aren't getting a new coach already, even if we are under-achieving at the moment. Jeez.

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They've tried changing the coach already, and it didn't work, so it kind of makes sense that they want to change the roster.

Not saying that something will happen for sure, but it's certainly more rumors than the Pacers are usually associated with. Especially in midseason!

I'm actually kind of glad they're being proactive. Seems obvious to me that there's a mismatch between what the coach wants and what the players are capable of.

winter_mute_13 wrote:Seems obvious to me that there's a mismatch between what the coach wants and what the players are capable of.

I think just as it takes time for the players to learn the new coach's system, it also takes time for the new coach to learn what the players are capable of.

Sent from my phone.

I think it shows that the team hasn't been getting too many practices, especially on the defensive end

It might be ok if the team is comprised of veteran players, but with such a young team the lack of practice is a problem

For example, one thing that I've noticed about Pacers defense is the lack of chemistry

See, Myles is a great defensive anchor, and he's a great rim protector no doubt

But if you pay attention to him blocking shots, you will notice that when he tries to go for the block he REALLY tries

First of all, he's a little bit too jumpy, it doesn't take much prompting for him to launch himself towards the defender. This isn't a problem per se, but the best way to challenge a shot is not having to challenge a shot (if that makes sense?)

Instead of aggressively jumping at every shot attempt, he needs to get to the level where his presence and movement alone is enough to discourage the rim attacker from attempting the shot. It's a bit of a mind game thing. Just like how offensive players can bait a defender into jumping by bluffing a shot attempt, a defender can also deter a shot attempt by bluffing the block attempt. Just as how offensive players blindly chucking up bad shots is a bad thing, Myles aggressively jumping at any and every rim attacker when they get within 5 feet of the rim isn't a good thing, because it puts him in a bad position to grab the subsequent defensive rebound or to continue defending if the rim attacker ended up passing the ball

This is compounded by the fact that when Myles goes for the block, he REALLY takes off. As in, he really jumps and launches himself as far off the floor as he can. If you notice though, GOAT shot blockers like Mutombo don't do that very often. Instead, quite frequently their shot blocking attempts are more like a hop than a full on leap. The advantage of this is it allows them to quickly "reload" and hop again as many times as needed, it's how they can sometimes block 2 or 3 shot attempts in one single possession. But with the way Myles launches himself into the stratosphere, it usually takes him longer to get back into position

To his credit, Myles has already been a lot more selective in his shot blocking attempts, but it's still an issue

This all wouldn't be much of a problem if the team has better chemistry on defense

His teammates should learn Myles' tendency, and learn to help cover this shortcoming of his, just like how Myles is helping them erase their own mistakes

Knowing that Myles usually goes all in when he attempts the block, his teammates should help by keeping track of where the other offensive players are. Close the passing lanes so that the rim attacker cannot easily pass out of Myles' block attempt. Box out the offensive rebounders so that they don't end up giving up easy putbacks

Instead of trying to doggedly chase down the rim attacker all the way to the rim, learn to recognize when they should let Myles take care of the rim attacker and switch to the open offensive player themselves. You see this every now and then, a Pacer defender trying to chase a rim attacker from behind, and they only end up getting in Myles' way crowding the space and preventing Myles from properly challenging the shot, or them leaving another offensive player open because both they and Myles attempted to stop the one rim attacker

TLDR: Myles jumps too often and too hard. He needs to either learn to be more savvy about protecting the rim, or his teammates need to develop better chemistry with him and learn how to help him when he challenges a shot

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Mostly, New Nate can be a bit of a micro-manager and is still learning his way as a new head coach. He still has good relationships with Brogdon and Sabonis, though.

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This is circulating in Pacers twitter, but important to know that Jake Fischer has had a TERRIBLE track record for a VERY long time now.

Marvin Bagley might be an interesting guy to trade for. Seems to be available. I don't know what it would take but he is still only 22, 2nd pick of the 2018 draft and he has size and skills. Has some 20 & 10 nights. Sacramento doesn't have a good track record of developing guys and having alot of unhappy campers. Feel bad for their fans.

Kind of reminds me how people were down on both Oladipo & Sabonis before the Pacers got them. He might develop and be a guy to take on Embiid, other big guys the Pacers struggle with.

Maybe worth the risk for some package of like protected FRP, SRP's, Lamb, Aaron Holiday, Goga... Could be a homerun in a couple years buying on the low.