Climbing Up. Falling Off. || Talking About the Pacers with Quinn Everts!!! || Collab Week!
Edition #71
Headlines:
MLB OPENING DAY STORYLINES, STATS, SCORES
DIAMONDBACKS... ARE Y'ALL MENTAL?
SO... TIMBERWOLVES SALE IS A... NO GO?
SPORTS SQUARE BRACKET CHALLENGE LEADER!
Intro:
The In-Season Tournament was crazy. Teams that don’t usually compete made it there with the usuals (Warriors, Lakers). One of those teams that usually don’t compete is the Pacers.
Now, argue all you want about the Pacers being in playoff contention, but have the Pacers received the same level of success ever since the IST? They’re beating teams like the Pistons, but can’t win against good teams like the Cavaliers or the Celtics.
Maybe I’m just looking at this at face value. Maybe I’m not. But, the best part about this is, I’m not going to talk about the Pacers alone. I’m welcoming Quinn Everts who writes The Broken Press on Substack to talk about the Pacers. To put it in his own words, “You won’t regret it.”
Alright then? Time to talk about the Indiana Pacers.
The Pacers
Smayan:
Alright, let me fix something on the Pacers side first. They’re 6th in the Eastern Conference while playing with serious nobodies. Alright. We know Tyrese Haliburton and Pascal Siakam (good players, but not well known), and to some extent, the world knows Myles Turner or Obi Toppin. But compare that to the Dallas Mavericks who have Luka Dončić, Kyrie Irving (good players, well known), and to some extent Daniel Gafford and Josh Green.
Quinn. What do you think about this? (I’ll add my point after.)
Quinn:
Hi Smayan, thanks for inviting me on! The Pacers are a fascinating team, and I’ve really enjoyed watching them this season. You’re right in saying that most of their players aren’t household names. Aaron Nesmith, Andrew Nembhard, and– as of recently– Ben Sheppard all play their roles really well, but the average NBA fan probably wouldn’t recognize them on the street. I think that’s part of Indiana’s charm; it’s a hardworking team in the Midwest that gets contributions from a lot of under-the-radar players. I’m not sure how deep of a playoff run the Pacers can make with this roster, but I love the direction the franchise is headed in nonetheless. How do you feel about the Pacers rebuild so far?
Smayan:
Very well. But, they need to do something big. I want to compare this to the Warriors. The reason they won back-to-back titles was because of Kevin Durant. Without him, the Warriors would still only have 2 titles in the Curry era. With that comparison, if the Pacers do not harvest bigger trades than Pascal Siakam, then there is no shot that the Pacers will go anywhere past maybe the first round. To put it in 13 words. The Pacers will be unlikely to reach the championship with their current path.
Domantas Sabonis is producing at such a high level for the Kings. In fact, he broke a record by producing 54 straight double-doubles. He averages a 60.9% FG% and 13.7 rebounds a game! Like, are you crazy?!
Quinn. How much did the trade impact the Pacers? After all, with him, they were a par team.
Quinn
I personally love both of the big trades this team made in the past few years. The Sabonis trade was necessary to acquire their franchise point guard Tyrese Haliburton, and the Siakam trade was great because it gives Haliburton another star player by his side to aid his development. Hail has been slumping a bit recently– averaging just 16.4 points and shooting 26.5% from 3PT this month– but long term I see he and Siakam developing a fun chemistry. I’ve always loved Sabonis’ game too, but I think the trade to Sacramento fully unlocked his game. He had kind of run his course in Indiana and a fresh start was needed.
I don’t think Indiana is done making moves, though. There is still so much young talent on the roster that I think another trade is coming over the summer to lock down another high-level player. What do you think is coming next for the Pacers?
Smayan:
Imagine D’Angelo Russell coming to Indiana. Yes. He’s a PG, but for him, a move to SG shouldn’t be super hard, especially since the Pacers current SG is Ben Mathurin who can also play small forward.
Aside from that? I expect Indiana to continue chipping at the trade market, trying to get a smaller-sized, big-name player (e.g. Pascal Siakam). Once they build up a decent core, that’s when they’ll go for the big fish (e.g. Kyrie Irving).
Hey Quinn? Let’s back it up a little. Who do you think would be a good trade piece on this team?
Quinn:
I think Indiana finding another versatile defensive stopper will do wonders for them in the future. Pascal Siakam remains talented on that end and Myles Turner is still a good rim protector, but Indiana is 24th in rebounding percentage this season, and another big, physical player would boost the team’s defensive potential greatly. I think Isaiah Jackson and Jalen Smith are fine projects but I don’t foresee them being on the team long term.
Jarace Walker, theoretically, could turn into that do-it-all player in the future, but he’s still super young (barely 20 years old) and raw, having played in just 29 games this season in which he’s averaged 3.7 points and 1.9 rebounds.
Isaiah Hartenstein will be a free agent this summer, so it’s not quite a trade target, but I think he would be a dream fit on this Indiana team. The defense he’s provided for New York in Mitchell Robinson’s absence this year has been a lifesaver for the Knicks, and bringing that toughness to Indiana would raise the Pacers defensive ceiling considerably.
I love what Indiana is building, and I think if you told Pacers fans at the start of this season that their team would be in the mix for the six seed with the second-best offense in the league (and still clear room for improvement) they would have taken it in a heartbeat. But the leap from good team to great team is always the toughest one to make. So, Smayan. Do you think the Pacers can become a dynasty?
Smayan:
A dynasty. That’s a hard one. We say that the Stephen Curry era makes the Warriors a dynasty, but what about the Celtics? I mean, they’ve been consistent in making the playoffs… But, they haven’t won a championship in this “dynasty” era. Just because you consistently make the playoffs, doesn’t mean that you’re a dynasty, it just means that you’re consistent during the regular season.
So, back to your question about the Pacers and a dynasty. I think it’s possible! There are only 3 people on the Pacers who are over 30, which is a very good sign.
Another very good sign is the draft picks. Here is a small diagram from Spotrac.
Yeah. Crazy.
The only one minus, (at least this season), is the cap space. Currently, the Pacers are sitting at about -10,408,278 dollars. That means they’re going to have to make cuts, and no ONE likes pay cuts, especially the good players.
Does this stuff matter? Yes. I remember reading a paragraph the other day on the site https://8points9seconds.com. Here’s what it said.
“Ever since the Pacers have been in the NBA, they have built their team through the Draft. It's really the only option they have as a small-market team.”
The more stars they get in the draft, they can make big trades (even though in the line below that, it says that the Pacers don’t make big trades). If the Pacers want to win a championship, let alone create a dynasty, it’s all going to start in the front office. They need to Bob Myers it out.
Quinn. Let’s finish off this article with a banger. Tell me about a few extra thoughts you have about the Pacers.
Quinn:
Sure thing. I don’t think Indiana has the defensive firepower to make a big run in this year’s playoffs, but I do think if they can lure teams into a track meet in the playoffs they have a real chance of becoming an extremely annoying first round matchup for one of the East’s top seeds. If the season ended today, they’d play the Knicks, which would make for a hilarious series because New York’s gritty style under Tom Thibodeau would be a stark contrast with Indiana’s fast-paced offense. I’d pick the Knicks in that series, but Indiana would be a pest for sure.
Also, regarding player development, Indiana has a few big question marks that I’m curious to watch unfold in the next few years. Ben Mathurin and Jarace Walker both have the talent to be huge cogs in the Pacers machine, and seeing how they grow will be the franchise’s X-factor going forward.
Mathurin, a second-year guard, didn’t take the leap that a lot of people hoped he would in his sophomore campaign. His points dipped from 16.7 to 14.5,his minutes dropped from 28.5 to 26.1 and his true shooting percentage stayed pretty much the same from his rookie year. I’m not giving up on Mathurin as a high-level player–especially because he’s exactly the type of guard that would fit perfectly next to Haliburton– but he has to prove next season that he’s capable of providing consistent, quality minutes.
And for Walker, this year’s number eight overall pick, staying the course and developing his raw skillset will be key to unlocking what he’s capable of. Walker can do a bit of everything– he’s strong, athletic, can shoot the ball and even recorded seven assists in a game this week– and putting those traits together to become a consistently productive player will be vital to Indiana’s future success.
Conclusion
. Thank you so much for talking about the Pacers with me. It was so much fun doing this article with you and you’re always welcome to come back!If you thought that concludes collab week, then you’re completely mistaken. What’s coming next? You can only find out by subscribing to Sports Square, and trust me, it’s very special.
Let’s finish this post off with a few polls.
 | A guest post by
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That first place bracket must have been made by a genius or something.
Halliburton may establish something but he’s not all NBA like many are trying to knight him.