Game Thread 11/1: Pacers vs. Cavs

[Pacers_Freak]

First of all Hi everyone, new member here, I couldnt resist to sign up here because I see that my fav team got much more interesting. Really BIG question in my head how will Turner/Sabonis will play out , both of them are starting calliber bigs, for now Sabonis doing really great as a C , but when Miles gets back what then? Put Miles in C and Sabonis in PF? If Sabonis will play as a PF he wont get as many rebounds like now, but could get more assists , What to do with Thad? He is really underrated player his whole career , and I would love him as a starter, but SF? I just wondering how that would work out, I dont get to see much games because i live overseas , so just living with replays and highlights

I personally like moving Sabonis back to the bench. And when I say bench I mean not starting (still get starter minutes). I liked what I saw early in the year with he and Lance in the pick and roll. And let's be honest.... our bench could use some punch. I think there are times you play Myles and Sabonis together. Nate has already said that will happen. The issue with starting Sabonis and moving Thad to the 3 is that Leaf and Big Al are the 2nd unit bigs. I don't think that is our best option for this year. If we move on from Thad and bring in another solid big then I am all for starting them together.

[Jake0890]

First of all Hi everyone, new member here, I couldnt resist to sign up here because I see that my fav team got much more interesting. Really BIG question in my head how will Turner/Sabonis will play out , both of them are starting calliber bigs, for now Sabonis doing really great as a C , but when Miles gets back what then? Put Miles in C and Sabonis in PF? If Sabonis will play as a PF he wont get as many rebounds like now, but could get more assists , What to do with Thad? He is really underrated player his whole career , and I would love him as a starter, but SF? I just wondering how that would work out, I dont get to see much games because i live overseas , so just living with replays and highlights

First of all, welcome. Glad to have you here.

But yeah, I think a frontcourt starting lineup of Thad - Sabonis - Turner would be really interesting. Thad has seriously developed his perimeter game. He may have trouble against some small ball lineups but the size and passing of those three can really create some matchup advantages of their own. More realistically, I think we'll see GRIII take over the SF starting position and Sabonis to the bench once GRIII is healthy.

[verysalt]

First of all Hi everyone, new member here, I couldnt resist to sign up here because I see that my fav team got much more interesting. Really BIG question in my head how will Turner/Sabonis will play out , both of them are starting calliber bigs, for now Sabonis doing really great as a C , but when Miles gets back what then? Put Miles in C and Sabonis in PF? If Sabonis will play as a PF he wont get as many rebounds like now, but could get more assists , What to do with Thad? He is really underrated player his whole career , and I would love him as a starter, but SF? I just wondering how that would work out, I dont get to see much games because i live overseas , so just living with replays and highlights

I hope Sabonis will start with 2nd unit. I mean, Sabonis definitely deserves a starter but our main unit is already PlayOff caliber. We need to improve our 2nd unit or at least give them a chance before they would be traded and Sabonis would be a perfect play maker to see who can improve and who should leave.

[Wizop]

The recap on NBATV was all about the Cavs being bad with little to no attention to us being good. They kept saying Cavs have 7 new players so it'll take time. Did they not count our new players? I count 8 of 15 and 10 of 17 being new.

[pizza guy]

The recap on NBATV was all about the Cavs being bad with little to no attention to us being good. They kept saying Cavs have 7 new players so it'll take time. Did they not count our new players? I count 8 of 15 and 10 of 17 being new.

Only national headline concerning Indy this year is "Pacers traded PG" and now OKC is a superteam as a result. We'll have to win about 50 games to force our way into national conversation, and that's not likely this year. So we'll get to enjoy this year in peace and then make a couple more moves in the off-season and maybe get some attention then. Especially if PG leaves OKC while Oladipo and Sabonis maintain this level of play. If that happens, people will start to talk about how foolish it was for OKC to trade two solid-to-All-Star level players for a rental.

The Cavs on the other hand are obviously a national headline because of LeBron, no matter how good or bad they'll be. If it's bad, it'll be "Is LeBron washed up?" and if they're good it'll be "Look how good LeBron is!" so not much changes. Boston was the only other Eastern Conference storyline, and with Gordon going down, it takes the wind out of that sail.

But that's alright. Maybe we'll get a "cuz y'all MFers don't watch us play" out of Sabonis!

[boomershadow]

I fell asleep on the couch at the beginning of the fourth and missed us pulling out a win in a game I thought we would lose.

[Nuntius]

If LBJ leaves then you know they'll have to trade Love and they will be horrible, like the Hawks and Bulls this year.

The Hawks and the Bulls are pretty young teams, at least. The Cavs only have two young players (Osman and Žižić) and they're not using them at all.

You're right but the Cavs will try to dump everyone for picks, love is the only one they'll get much out of other guys like Shump and JR won't bring much of anything. TT might get them a late #1.

They'll definitely try to do that if LeBron leaves but who's really gonna bite? As you said, a lot of their players don't really have good trade value.

[Tom White]

This is pretty fun... the most fun I've had since 2013. And really, those teams were not near this fun to watch. Thad's trade value is skyrocketing.

Why in the world do people want to trade a guy (Thad) who is contributing as he is? I don't get it at all.

[Yunsen]

This is pretty fun... the most fun I've had since 2013. And really, those teams were not near this fun to watch. Thad's trade value is skyrocketing.

Why in the world do people want to trade a guy (Thad) who is contributing as he is? I don't get it at all.

Thad wasn't putting up these numbers and we didn't think we'd be this good early, especially without Turner.