The East is WIDE OPEN next season

LoveMyRaps · Post #21 » by **LoveMyRaps** » Mon Jun 23, 2025 4:25 am

Raps in 4 wrote:1. Cleveland
2. NYK
3. Orlando
4. Detroit/Milwaukee/Toronto/Philly

We've definitely got a shot at top-6, but competition from the other mid teams will be tight.

Championship or bust

littlerock2277 · Post #22 » by **littlerock2277** » Mon Jun 23, 2025 4:27 am

Honestly definitely time to attempt to make the playoffs next season. As you can see from the pacers anything can happen, players find their stride , confidence the right matchups, injuries we can definitely fight to make the playoffs, timeto start building a winning culture again.

Appostis · Post #23 » by **Appostis** » Mon Jun 23, 2025 5:47 am

Big man with one of the picks and this team has depth...if one or two of the younger players pan out
We have. Solid chance tomaake done noise.

All this assuming the Scotty /Bi combo works as well as I hope.

Clutch0z24 · Post #24 » by **Clutch0z24** » Mon Jun 23, 2025 10:18 am

Either the 9th pick would have to be near all star production or we would need a couple big moves to go our way to be legit contenders even in he weak east....Ingram is good but he is not leading a team to a finals birth....

Post #25 » by **CPT** » Mon Jun 23, 2025 10:40 am

LoveMyRaps wrote:

How do you -1 a post?

ArthurVandelay · Post #26 » by **ArthurVandelay** » Mon Jun 23, 2025 11:12 am

Calf strains no joke. Play on them and Achilles could be next. Seems that is what happened to Dame, Tatum, and now Hali

Post #27 » by **Duffman100** » Mon Jun 23, 2025 11:20 am

ArthurVandelay wrote:Calf strains no joke. Play on them and Achilles could be next. Seems that is what happened to Dame, Tatum, and now Hali

Yeah the connections between injuries is interesting. I saw something once about how hamstring issues could lead to ACL tears.

And then remembered I badly sprained/tore my hamstring 6 months before i blew my knee out.

M3tro · Post #28 » by **M3tro** » Mon Jun 23, 2025 11:22 am

It's wide open and we're outside the club stuck in line with the rest of the plebs.

ArthurVandelay · Post #29 » by **ArthurVandelay** » Mon Jun 23, 2025 11:31 am

WuTang_OG wrote:We are on the right track. Draft a gem at 9 and keep growing young players. Young depth wins in playoffs now. Masai and bobby alluded to it. Thats where this is going.

There is no superstar swing that is going to put this team in championship contention without draining the depth of the team or relying on rookies and 2nd year players (or a still physically immature Dick).

I agree with this wholeheartedly. Keep doing what they are doing, developing and acquiring on the cheap.

djsunyc · Post #30 » by **djsunyc** » Mon Jun 23, 2025 12:01 pm

Basketball_Jones wrote:Yeah I don’t think Sabonis or Malik Monk is gonna cut it

did you think 35 win indy trading for pascal would get them to game 7 of the finals?

djsunyc · Post #31 » by **djsunyc** » Mon Jun 23, 2025 12:03 pm

MiamiSPX wrote:A couple of weeks ago the Indy media was saying that Pacers ownership was willing to go into the tax next season, presumably to re-sign Turner. Not so sure either of those things happen anymore.

they are. it's why they traded this year's pick to the pels. that's guaranteed money they didnt want to pay to lower the tax burden. they can also dump jarace or someone like toppin/mathurin into another team's cap. they are definitely re-signing turner.

causal_fan · Post #32 » by **causal_fan** » Mon Jun 23, 2025 12:14 pm

ArthurVandelay wrote:
WuTang_OG wrote:We are on the right track. Draft a gem at 9 and keep growing young players. Young depth wins in playoffs now. Masai and bobby alluded to it. Thats where this is going.

There is no superstar swing that is going to put this team in championship contention without draining the depth of the team or relying on rookies and 2nd year players (or a still physically immature Dick).

I agree with this wholeheartedly. Keep doing what they are doing, developing and acquiring on the cheap.

Count me in - I want to see what this squad can do when playing to win and hopefully healthy - then we can judge if an all-in type move is the next step or we have to continue to build up.

Post #33 » by **tsherkin** » Mon Jun 23, 2025 12:15 pm

Sucks that it is an Achilles injury, though I don't think anyone is too surprised after having watched it. Boo.

But yeah, no Tatum, Hali probably missing for at least a large chunk of it, the top end of the East has changed dramatically since the end of the RS going into next year.

MiamiSPX · Post #34 » by **MiamiSPX** » Mon Jun 23, 2025 12:25 pm

djsunyc wrote:
MiamiSPX wrote:A couple of weeks ago the Indy media was saying that Pacers ownership was willing to go into the tax next season, presumably to re-sign Turner. Not so sure either of those things happen anymore.

they are. it's why they traded this year's pick to the pels. that's guaranteed money they didnt want to pay to lower the tax burden. they can also dump jarace or someone like toppin/mathurin into another team's cap. they are definitely re-signing turner.

I will believe it when I see it. Their owner is pretty cheap and now we're asking him to go into the tax in a "throwaway" seasons. As deep as they are, they are going nowhere without Haliburton. In the Finals, Turner also did the opposite of showing he was worth 30M per season.

Post #35 » by **niQ** » Mon Jun 23, 2025 2:18 pm

I think they mentioned Tatum's injury to be 8-9 months. So that would be roughly Feb 2026. Some slow ramp up but he should be back for playoffs, no?

ishoy123 · Post #36 » by **ishoy123** » Mon Jun 23, 2025 2:24 pm

djsunyc wrote:
Basketball_Jones wrote:Yeah I don’t think Sabonis or Malik Monk is gonna cut it

did you think 35 win indy trading for pascal would get them to game 7 of the finals?

I agree no one really knows just exactly how good a team could be.

But this Indiana run was basically unprecedented in the history of the NBA where everything just clicked at exactly the right moment, and where even dedicated Pacers analysts didn't see this coming

YogurtProducer · Post #37 » by **YogurtProducer** » Mon Jun 23, 2025 2:32 pm

Zeno wrote:We’ll have to see what the Celtics do. But even without Tatum or Hali, I got the Celtics and Pacers as a higher seed than the Raps. Philly depends on Embiid obviously so we’ll see. But Cleveland Knicks and Magic are likely above us too. As it stands it is likely play-in or 6th seed. Oh and I forgot Giannis and the Bucks. Not saying it isn’t possible but I will believe in a team that doesn’t know how to win when they start winning.

Without Hali the Pacers likely miss the playoffs. The guy was one of the most impactful players in the entire NBA this season, and the Pacers in all honestly had one of the luckiest finals runs in recent memory (Bucks injuries, Cavs injuries, Tatum going down, etc.).

Celtics are probably still ahead, unless they sell stuff off.

YogurtProducer · Post #38 » by **YogurtProducer** » Mon Jun 23, 2025 2:33 pm

Raps in 4 wrote:1. Cleveland
2. NYK
3. Orlando
4. Detroit/Milwaukee/Toronto/Philly

We've definitely got a shot at top-6, but competition from the other mid teams will be tight.

Philly could easily be in the top 3, and I am not ready to crown Orlando as a top 3 team. They won 41 games last year and Bane is not some huge difference maker IMO.

YogurtProducer · Post #39 » by **YogurtProducer** » Mon Jun 23, 2025 2:35 pm

Duffman100 wrote:
ArthurVandelay wrote:Calf strains no joke. Play on them and Achilles could be next. Seems that is what happened to Dame, Tatum, and now Hali

Yeah the connections between injuries is interesting. I saw something once about how hamstring issues could lead to ACL tears.

And then remembered I badly sprained/tore my hamstring 6 months before i blew my knee out.

**** me - I never really pieced together my sprains that occurred before I blew mine out as well.

LoveMyRaps · Post #40 » by **LoveMyRaps** » Mon Jun 23, 2025 2:35 pm

YogurtProducer wrote:
Raps in 4 wrote:1. Cleveland
2. NYK
3. Orlando
4. Detroit/Milwaukee/Toronto/Philly

We've definitely got a shot at top-6, but competition from the other mid teams will be tight.

Philly could easily be in the top 3, and I am not ready to crown Orlando as a top 3 team. They won 41 games last year and Bane is not some huge difference maker IMO.

I honestly think Embiid is done.