Im still going to temper my expectations with this team, but I dont think that this start to the season (record wise atleast) should have come as such as a surprise to us as it did. I think there are a few things, in particular, that transpired last year that hinted to us that things would be much better for us this year.
Vogel
The first and most important one, in my opinion, is Frank Vogel. Now I was as much a critic last year of Vogel as anybody because let's be honest, he just wasn't a good coach last year. A portion of that can be chalked up to roster construction, but a large majority of that falls on him and his outdated coaching philosophies and rotations. But I think we all saw at the all-star break things didn't just change for our team because of the roster construction, we all saw a switch flip with Frank Vogel and saw him own up to his outdated style of play and state that in order to be successful in this league you have to be able to space the floor and get out on the break. When he implemented the new rotations and style of play the team immediately started to reap the benefits of it. The fact of the matter is Frank Vogel is a great head coach. He's proven that his entire career.
2011-2012 Pacers- First season as head coach. Coached the Pacers to a 42-24 record and a semifinals appearance against the Heat
2012-2013 Pacers- Coached them to 49-32 record and lost in game 7 of the eastern conference finals to the Heat
2013-2014 Pacers- Coached them to a 56-26 record and lost in game 7 of the eastern conference finals to the Heat
2014-2015 Pacers- coached a Paul George-less Pacers to a 38-44 record barely missing the playoffs
2015-2016 Pacers-Coached them to a 45-37 record and a game 7 loss against the Raptors in the Playoffs
He is a great coach that somewhere along the line got left behind by the new NBA and small ball movement. The fact that he has been able to reinvent himself changes absolutely everything for this team though. He has more talent with this team than he did for several of those playoff-bound Pacers team. He is one of the main reasons for the team's success this year and is going to continue to be.
Shooting percentages, AG's breakout, and Bench:
Augustins's career percentages: 40 fg% 37 3pt fg% Last year: 37 fg % 34 3pt fg %
Fournier career percentages: 44 fg% 38 3pt fg% Last year: 43 fg % 35 3pt fg%
Vuc's career percentages: 50 fg% Last year:46 fg%
Ross's career percentages:44 fg% 37 3pt fg% Last year: 43 fg % 34 3pt fg%
I know the popular thing for a lot of fan bases and media to say right now is that this isn't sustainable, and while that partly true due to the fact that we arent going to be shooting this absurdly good, the numbers that a lot of our guys shot last year weren't sustainable either. The majority were well below their career percentages. Now with these guys playing in Vogel's new system that suits all of their strengths, there is very little doubt in my mind that this cant be a top 12 offensive team this year. The talent on that end is there. With AG working with stephs trainer this year to revamp his shot, that only makes us that much better on that end as well. AG continuing to take the jump this year is what is going to determine whether or not this team can see that continued success or not, I believe that he will. When Payton comes back and gets us playing at that absurdly high pace that's when this offense will be at its best too.
Replacing Jeff green, Cj Watson, and Meeks with Simmons, Isaac, and Mack has also paid off big time. Isaac and Simmons bring a much-improved defense to that second unit with Simmons being the major component here as a leader and playmaker for them as well. Simmons is finally that vocal leader and playmaker off the bench that we have needed so badly to stop the second unit from coming in and crumbling and blowing leads. He's so important for this teams success.
What do you guys think? What is the ceiling for this team?
I think with all these things factored in this year we have potentially a 42-45 win team here and will finish somewhere in the 5-8 seed. While I could be wrong, I have much more confidence with this roster and new style of play that this is a team that Vogel can take places. Would love to hear what you guys think our ceiling is. Poll at the top.
