Pacers off-season

EuroPacer · Post #1 » by **EuroPacer** » Mon Jul 22, 2013 9:27 am

Are there bright sparks? Yes of course, I am beginning to get really curious about seeing Plumlee get regular minutes. I hope we don't sign a back-up 4, let's see how it works out for him first.

Than there is the development, is PG going to continue going skywards? Is he going to make a legit claim for super-star status by following a good season up with a great? And what off Lance? Can he carry on maturing and reach that stratosphere that PG seems to be in at the moment? (But this is overshadowed by a fear that somehow we won't retain either of them...)

I loved watching big Roy this year, he is now a legit top 5 center in the league and I think he is going to carry on developing, especially offensively I expect to see some improvement after his slow start last season.

Even on the front of coaching there is development, I was thoroughly pleased with Vogel showing us a full season what he can do (Boy did he impress).

Then there are some negatives as well; we got rid of some dead wood, but to me it has been a boring off-season in terms of signings/trades. It feels like we replaced like for like all over the place. The most exciting news was the retention of West, something we all knew was going to happen. But on the flipside I actually hate seeing Tyler go, I was hoping he would have had a much better season than he did, yes, I did have faith in him.

I am not overly excited about signing Solo Hill, although I don't think he will be a bad draft pick, I just don't think he will be a Paul George or Lance Stephenson type player (please let me be wrong), I am not excited by the signing of Copeland, although I think he can be useful. I am curiously unexcited by DG33 coming back, I just worry about him really... CJ Watson? Yeah, better than Augustin, but exciting? Nope. Same for Sloan.

What do you make of it? Are you pleased about the steady building that is going on?

Post #2 » by **Scoot McGroot** » Mon Jul 22, 2013 2:24 pm

To me, the summer was very low on publicity, but I think all solid moves.

I ultimately think that Watson for Augustine is an upgrade off the bench. CJ is a career backup in a good way. He knows how to be successful and useful coming in cold off the bench. DJ just wasn't that guy yet. Sloan, to me, is very low impact but ultimately better than BHansbrough. Hard not to like.

Copeland is a terrific utility player coming off the bench for us that we lacked. Sure, he's a specialty scorer, but he's also a high effort guy that will do his best to not be a waste in the areas he normally lacks. Ultimately, we had trouble scoring with the second unit, and Cope directly helps work to fix that.

To me, the key to success this year isn't even necessarily the integration of the new pieces and the improvement of Hibbert, Plumlee, Lance, etc. The key is solely how well Danny can re-integrate himself into this roster, be successful, and still allow Lance and PG to be themselves and continue their growth. Danny's the type of player that can do this, I believe. He's a complementary player at heart, not a JR Smith kind of dominating player. But it still remains to be seen.

Wizop · Post #3 » by **Wizop** » Mon Jul 22, 2013 3:16 pm

Scoot McGroot wrote:To me, the key to success this year isn't even necessarily the integration of the new pieces and the improvement of Hibbert, Plumlee, Lance, etc. The key is solely how well Danny can re-integrate himself into this roster, be successful, and still allow Lance and PG to be themselves and continue their growth. Danny's the type of player that can do this, I believe. He's a complementary player at heart, not a JR Smith kind of dominating player. But it still remains to be seen.

looking only at 2013/14, I think Danny's health will be the key. long term though I think the improvement of Roy, Paul, and to a lesser extent George Hill is the key. I'd say Lance too but he can improve beyond our ability to keep him.

I suppose we'd be remiss if we didn't say having a backup at power forward is also important. we hope that some combination of Copeland, Plumlee, and Granger will get the job done but we'll have to wait and see. I don't think we need to rush to sign the first available option for this spot though. Hardly a day goes by without someone being waived. there will be new options. players will be cut. players will show promise in the d-league. our rotations will solidify or not.

Post #4 » by **Scoot McGroot** » Mon Jul 22, 2013 3:38 pm

Copeland is the backup at PF. He's a 4. Sure, a stretch 4, but a 4 nonetheless. He's playing out of position if he's at SF.

Wizop · Post #5 » by **Wizop** » Mon Jul 22, 2013 4:59 pm

yes, Copeland is in the rotation at 4. Vogel has also said he has an open mind to trying Ian and Miles there. Copeland is shorter and lighter than your typical 4. he is actually an inch shorter and the same program weight as Granger. Ian is bigger and slower. I have to assume that they don't really plan on playing Miles at 4 since they didn't try him there in Orlando. Hill played 4 in college but I believe he has thinned down since then.

I am 100% comfortable starting the season with the 14 players we have now. I feel very good about every position on offense. while I wonder about defending the 4 when DWest is resting, I'm in no hurry to find a 15th player to fix a problem that we might not even have.

mikepacernation · Post #6 » by **mikepacernation** » Mon Jul 22, 2013 6:55 pm

I feel like we had good improvements to our bench by signing Cope and CJ I feel like Danny or cope could play PF depending on who's out there. I think we all just hope Danny comes back productive cause that would be a huge boost to our team offensively.

Explicit · Post #7 » by **Explicit** » Mon Jul 22, 2013 7:19 pm

So What're we looking at here?
(not a pacers type of guy just looking at pacers nation intrigues me at how well their coaching staff is)

Hill-Watson
Stephenson-Johnson?
PG-DG33???
West-Cope
Hibbert-Mahinmi

I really think DG should back up West, Correct me if i'm wrong but DG plays the 4 spot decently and has the build for it. Plus Copeland can run the 3... he's did it while he was on my Knicks.

Wizop · Post #8 » by **Wizop** » Mon Jul 22, 2013 7:41 pm

It is possible DG will get some minutes at the 4 but it is definite that PG will get some minutes at the 2. he might even start there with DG starting at the 3. a lot depends on how healthy DG is particularly in the early season.

mikepacernation · Post #9 » by **mikepacernation** » Mon Jul 22, 2013 8:31 pm

Explicit wrote:So What're we looking at here?
(not a pacers type of guy just looking at pacers nation intrigues me at how well their coaching staff is)

Hill-Watson
Stephenson-Johnson?
PG-DG33???
West-Cope
Hibbert-Mahinmi

I really think DG should back up West, Correct me if i'm wrong but DG plays the 4 spot decently and has the build for it. Plus Copeland can run the 3... he's did it while he was on my Knicks.

I feel like Solo will get more time then Johnson to see how he does the 2 guard will be like a Stephenson then George at the SF or like a George at 2 guard and DG at SF. That's depending on how the PF situation is that game

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SmashMouthRod · Post #10 » by **SmashMouthRod** » Mon Jul 22, 2013 9:00 pm

I think all the signings were upgrades and am excited about the bench for next season. Im a little disappointed that George Hill wont be attending the USA camp. I was hoping he went and got better from being around the other great players for a week. Hopefully he develops his game pretty well this off-season; but I think that he shouldve been there to learn from the other young players and vets on how to prepare and improve. Paul George seemed to benefit from the USA camp last off-season and will be in attendance again this year which is a good sign.