Quick Thoughts on the Pacers’ universe
By CHRIS GOFF
ISL Correspondent
The word ‘gregarious’ was invented to describe Roy Hibbert, whose social media initiatives are never-ending.
A wild card next season is the Pacers’ ability to field a lineup of four above-average 3-point shooters surrounding Hibbert. Use Chris Copeland at power forward, Danny Granger at the 3 and C.J. Watson as an off-guard alongside George Hill, and that’s floor-spacing nirvana. Will Frank Vogel ever go there? Don’t bet on it.
Occasionally, readers express concern over the future of Paul George. Based on my conversations with him, George seems content playing in Indiana. He’s primarily concerned with winning and with becoming a franchise player. As long as the Pacers offer him the maximum extension he desires, he’ll commit. Both sides have incentive to do an extension before the Oct. 31 deadline. George will never hit restricted free agency.
Last season, the Pacers’ bench harmed their offense more than anything else. Watson and Copeland are offensive specialists. That’s no coincidence.
Tyler Hansbrough was the best reserve, and he officially joined the Raptors on Monday, leaving behind a mixed record in four seasons in Indianapolis. He was strong, tough and physical, but didn’t block shots, became infamous for a lack of assists and struggled to find a rhythm off the bench. The Pacers had little interest in bringing him back. That’s why Hansbrough told me in April that the playoffs presented an opportunity to “up your value” and “show your worth.” He knew.
In writing the epitaph on Hansbrough’s Pacers career, it’s impossible not to think of what might have been. In selecting the North Carolina product No. 13 overall in the 2009 draft, Indiana passed on Jrue Holiday, Ty Lawson and Jeff Teague. The team needed a point guard and dealt double-double machine Troy Murphy for one a year later. Then when Darren Collison disappointed, the Pacers swapped a first-rounder for George Hill and paid him $40 million to be the starting floor general. All of that might have been avoided if Indiana had drafted Lawson or Holiday instead of playing it safe with Hansbrough.
Don’t discount a player’s rookie season as a predictive indicator. Lance Stephenson was a good rebounder in his first year, and look at what he did on the glass in the 2013 playoffs. Right off the bat, we should have an idea of how Solomon Hill shapes up. It’s a matter of identifying where he shows potential.
New York’s addition of Metta World Peace was met with amusement by Pacers officials, especially those employed by the team in 2005 when World Peace – the former Ron Artest – triggered a downward spiral by demanding a trade. Many believe that the brawl in Detroit caused things to fall apart. More directly, it was World Peace stabbing Larry Bird in the back and quitting on his teammates in the following season.
The Pacers were one of the worst wing isolation teams in the league in 2012-13, according to Synergy Sports. If Danny Granger is still in town come October, he’ll be the go-to option for a perimeter iso.
Speaking of Granger, it’s not hard to read the tea leaves. Bird mentioned, without prompting, the possibility of doing a trade after the free agency dust settles. “That’s when teams start calling about different things,” Indy’s president of basketball operations said at a July 10 news conference. Don’t put too much stock in Bird’s public stance that he’s not seeking to deal Granger. Remember, Bird once said he would use the full 2010-11 season to evaluate Jim O’Brien, then made a change halfway through.
On Twitter, @rynoman16 posed to me an excellent philosophical question: “Does a Granger trade really make them any better at this point?” On talent, no. The Pacers won’t receive equal value. No player they could get in return would help this season more than Granger. But a chance exists that the current pieces fit better without Granger, who’s never come off the bench or shared minutes and touches with another perimeter star.
The best short-term decision is probably to hang onto such an accomplished scorer, but short-term decision-making is often what causes trouble. As a small-market franchise, the Pacers must always take the long view, and that calls for fetching some retainable value before Granger inevitably walks next summer.
The best part of summer league was seeing Miles Plumlee show off his great athleticism.
