Depth at PF

[Grang33r]

Thad Young

TJ Leaf

Domantas Sabonis

How will the Pacers find enough playing time for these guys? Im thinking trade bait Young at/near the trade deadline?

[Miller4ever]

There's a lot up in the air right now, like a possible Jrue Holiday pursuit. It comes down to what we're trying to do in terms of fielding a competitive team vs. hardcore rebuild. Given we didn't get picks and instead got young-ish players, Thad Young might be more valuable for us playing while the young PF's develop as we play the "stockpile good contracts and assets while trying to get a playoff spot" game that we've played before.

[Jake0890]

With the roster Pritchard has assembled, I think it's clear he's going for high pace. From dipo to Leaf to Ike, he's trying something new here.

I think we'll see all of our power forwards play with Thad getting time at center and Leaf on the floor with him as a 4.

[Sakkreth]

Sabonis can play Center, but that position doesn't seem light either. Btw reason why Sabonis got so much minutes last season despite putting up poor stats was mixture of development and his defense. Even though he doesn't block many shots due to short arms, he somehow is decent at rim protection and can defend guards on the perimeter.

[Jstock12]

Yes, Sabonis doesn't have good length and that's something that's always going to bother him at some extent. Other than that, really good positional defender, good mobility, and can cover the PnR. The lack of length might be the only factor that's going to hold him back from becoming an elite defender. Though it doesn't mean he can't become very good at it.

His offense is also much better than what he has shown in his rookie season. He's not a naturally gifted shooter (though he should be able to knock down three-point shots down the road), but he's a good post-up player who can also pass the ball:

Watch on YouTube

[Wizop]

We've certainly got competition at the four which is better than what we had last year. Trading Thad is a tank move. He can play out his contract.

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[boomershadow]

Thad at one point in his career still thought of himself as a 3 and not a 4. That was a little while ago, but Pritchard did talk about having size for position. Maybe not that likely, I think there is much more chance he plays at the 3 than the 5 though.

[Jake0890]

I really don't think these guys are gonna conflict much. All of our PFs (and big men for that matter), Leaf, Thad, Sabonis (Turner) all fill different roles on the team and I think none are redundant. The team is trending towards versatility with guys who can all play more than one position and can do more than one thing on the court and so I would have no problem entering the season with the frontcourt rotation that we currently have.

The more worrying position, to me, if the SF one. We have GRIII and perhaps Dipo can fill in here and there, but nothing beyond that. We also lack a point guard that isn't a combo guard, but that's problem 1b I think. The big guys are where we're strong, I feel.

[Wizop]

Thad at one point in his career still thought of himself as a 3 and not a 4. That was a little while ago, but Pritchard did talk about having size for position. Maybe not that likely, I think there is much more chance he plays at the 3 than the 5 though.

If he can play SF, everything makes sense. Someone on one of the shows last night quoted Riley as saying to win you have to do something different as you won't beat the cavs or warriors playing their styles.

Lance Ellis Young
Dipo GRob Ellis
Thad GRob
Turner seraphin Jefferson Sabonis
Sabonis leaf

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[boomershadow]

Thad at one point in his career still thought of himself as a 3 and not a 4. That was a little while ago, but Pritchard did talk about having size for position. Maybe not that likely, I think there is much more chance he plays at the 3 than the 5 though.

If he can play SF, everything makes sense. Someone on one of the shows last night quoted Riley as saying to win you have to do something different as you won't beat the cavs or warriors playing their styles.

Lance Ellis Young
Dipo GRob Ellis
Thad GRob
Turner seraphin Jefferson Sabonis
Sabonis leaf

I saw a few Pacers fans last year wanting to move him to backup 3 because the Turner/Young front court just couldn't rebound well at all. I didn't agree with the idea, but I saw it mentioned. He's not Paul George by any means, but I watched him get switched onto Lebron a number of times during the playoffs this last year and thought he did a pretty decent job guarding him in limited time at least. He's just a tad small for a 4 anyways, even in the small ball era we live in now. He shot 38% from 3 this year, and it's not the first time in his career he's done that.

I also saw him try to handle the ball on a fast break at one point last year and I ended up laughing out loud, so there's also that, but if he could bring some defense, size, and an average-ish 3 point shot to the table then I would be fine with letting Lance, Oladipo, and/or Ellis do the bulk of the ball handling.

Idk, it's an idea.

[pacers33granger]

Sabonis can play center a bit can't he? We definitely need a consolidation trade with our bigs though.

[pacers33granger]

Also, nice to see some Zag fans on here. Appreciate the insight on Sabonis's game from those who have watched him more.

[8305]

I think Sabonis should be able to play with Turner and get backup minutes at the 5. I would also think Leaf and Young could be used as a 3/4 combination. Sounds like Leaf has wing offensive skills and Young could match up with 3's defensively. If I'm right everyone should get their minutes. Seems like Young's skill set fits with this group reasonably well.

This season will come down to Lance and Myles. If they click this could be an interesting team.

[glasket]

You are all forgetting Al Jefferson. In fact this is what the "bigs" depth chart looks like in my Opinion
Centre: Turner, Sabonis, Seraphin, Christmas
PF: Thad, Leaf, Jefferson, Niang, Anigbogu
I do think a move will be made perhaps with Jefferson on the block. Niang, Anigbogu and Christmas will be with the Mad Ants. Also I think Anigbogu will overtake Niang by midway through season.

[Wizop]

Jefferson and Anigbogu are centers.

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[boomershadow]

You are all forgetting Al Jefferson. In fact this is what the "bigs" depth chart looks like in my Opinion
Centre: Turner, Sabonis, Seraphin, Christmas
PF: Thad, Leaf, Jefferson, Niang, Anigbogu
I do think a move will be made perhaps with Jefferson on the block. Niang, Anigbogu and Christmas will be with the Mad Ants. Also I think Anigbogu will overtake Niang by midway through season.

I've been trying really hard to forget Jefferson, but there is no way he plays power forward in today's league.

I like Leaf, but how sure are we that our 20 year old one-and-done is going to be ready for rotation minutes right away?

[Wizop]

Sabonis played last year so we're OK if leaf needs time. We'll have a glimpse in today's summer league game.

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[8305]

You are all forgetting Al Jefferson. In fact this is what the "bigs" depth chart looks like in my Opinion
Centre: Turner, Sabonis, Seraphin, Christmas
PF: Thad, Leaf, Jefferson, Niang, Anigbogu
I do think a move will be made perhaps with Jefferson on the block. Niang, Anigbogu and Christmas will be with the Mad Ants. Also I think Anigbogu will overtake Niang by midway through season.

I agree that if you list all the guys who project as centers and power forwards it seems crowded. But, if you ween the list of guys who either aren't really NBA players (Christmas and Niang) aren't ready to be NBA players yet (Anigbogu) and aren't NBA players anymore (Jefferson) it leaves you with:

Pf Sabonis, Leaf, Young
C Turner and Serafin

Sabonis and Leaf both appear to have good ball skills and I think Young could defend 3's. With this in mind I don't see a crowd. I will also be surprised if Christmas, Jefferson or Niang make the team...... or any other team for that matter.

[Wizop]

it leaves you with:

Pf Sabonis, Leaf, Young
C Turner and Serafin

Sabonis and Leaf both appear to have good ball skills and I think Young could defend 3's. With this in mind I don't see a crowd. I will also be surprised if Christmas, Jefferson or Niang make the team...... or any other team for that matter.

too bad there weren't 2 way contracts last year as Niang should have had one. we only get two this year and Sumner should be one of them to keep his rights cheaply while he rehabs. does Ike get the second one or does he get a multi-year minimum leaving the second 2 way for someone on the summer league team? so far the only summer league stand out has been Leslie and he's a SG.

I do think Jefferson belongs in the rotation at center unless we move him in a trade for a one or a three. I also see Ike as a center.

if we don't pick up a three, GRob is really the only one we have unless we bring back Miles and so I think we have to start Thad at three rather than four. that not only solves a real shortage at the three but also is a proper rebuilding move as it allows both Sabonis and Leaf to get reasonable minutes. as young as they are the refs may punish them and Thad could move back to four when the youngsters get in foul trouble.

[Jake0890]

it leaves you with:

Pf Sabonis, Leaf, Young
C Turner and Serafin

Sabonis and Leaf both appear to have good ball skills and I think Young could defend 3's. With this in mind I don't see a crowd. I will also be surprised if Christmas, Jefferson or Niang make the team...... or any other team for that matter.

too bad there weren't 2 way contracts last year as Niang should have had one. we only get two this year and Sumner should be one of them to keep his rights cheaply while he rehabs. does Ike get the second one or does he get a multi-year minimum leaving the second 2 way for someone on the summer league team? so far the only summer league stand out has been Leslie and he's a SG.

I do think Jefferson belongs in the rotation at center unless we move him in a trade for a one or a three. I also see Ike as a center.

if we don't pick up a three, GRob is really the only one we have unless we bring back Miles and so I think we have to start Thad at three rather than four. that not only solves a real shortage at the three but also is a proper rebuilding move as it allows both Sabonis and Leaf to get reasonable minutes. as young as they are the refs may punish them and Thad could move back to four when the youngsters get in foul trouble.

I'm fairly certain one of the two 2 way contracts we'll be giving out will be going to Ben Moore, from SMU. The other, like you said with probably be Sumner to rehab his injury. I would bet Ike gets a guaranteed contract.

If we sign Leslie, I think we do it as a guaranteed minimum as well. Not sure if guys like Naz Long and Lima are doing enough to justify another minimum contract tho.