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Indiana Pacers Must Take Advantage of Golden Opportunity
This season has not gone the way that the Indiana Pacers, or its fans, have hoped. Even though everyone knew Tyrese Haliburton was going to miss the entire season recovering from his torn achilles, there was optimism that the team could still manage to make the playoffs.
The path to the Pacers making the playoffs were reliant on Bennedict Mathurin, Jarace Walker, Andrew Nembhard, Jay Huff, Isaiah Jackson, and some others stepping up to fill the void that Haliburton and Myles Turner left behind.
Instead, those developments haven’t resulted in success. Largely because of the number of injuries that the Pacers have dealt with. Pascal Siakam, Jarace Walker, Jay Huff, and Tony Bradley are the only players that haven’t dealt with an injury this season. The Pacers have had 24 players play in a game this season.
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But as it pertains to Walker and Mathurin, the development hasn’t been as notable as hoped. In 233 career games with the Pacers, Mathurin has more turnovers (441) than assists (423). In his 24 games this season, he’s turned the ball over 57 times while recording 52 assists. What made the Pacers so tough last season was their ability to keep the ball moving and not turning it over. It just does not mesh well with Mathurin’s skillset. The defensive improvements for Mathurin have not been fruitful either.
With Walker, he has been incredibly streaky as a shooter. He goes through moments where he is knocking down everything but goes through stretches where he wouldn’t hit water falling out of a boat. His shooting percentage has dropped ten points from last year (47.2% to 37.5%) and three-point percentage has dipped by four points (40.5% to 35.9%). The other part of Walker’s game that has gone up and down is his decision making as a ball handler, initiator, or shooter.
The NBA trade deadline is 3pm eastern on Thursday, February 5th and there have been discussions about whether the Pacers will trade Mathurin, Walker, or both. There seems to be a lot of reports out there that Indiana will move Mathurin at the deadline to find their starting center.
With the questions about the future of those two players, this just means Chad Buchanan, Rick Carlisle, and the scouting department have an opportunity to make do for missing in the lottery, as it sits right now, in their previous two swings. Being in a smaller market, in a city that isn’t an ideal free agency destination by free agents, and not having a lot of cap space, make it a very important next handful of months for the future of the franchise.
“If you’re really good, having really good players on undervalued contracts is hard and very important. That’s what the top of the lottery can be. If that player is good or has a lot of potential to be traded for something good, and they’re not being paid much, it’s so huge for your team. Top of the draft looks good and it’s critically important just to get good players when you can and if they have a chance to do it, they got it now.” Tony East from Locked On Pacers, Circle City Spin, and Forbes Sports on Query & Company Thursday afternoon.
Right now, the Pacers have the second worst record in the NBA. It is generating a lot of excitement amongst fans that they will have the chance at drafting one of three really talented prospects – Cameron Boozer (Duke), Darryn Peterson (Kansas), or AJ Dybansta (BYU). Pascal Siakam isn’t getting any younger, so being able to find the next piece of the future next to Tyrese Haliburton is now.
“You can draft for fit if you’re really good, and they are, but you have to think about who is going to be the best player. Who is going to be the best player on your team when they’re at their best for you. Not who is going to be the best player for you in the first two-three years of their deal. There’s a lot of considerations of getting the best player now and for that next era because a lot of their contracts are lined up for the next two or three years, but if you get a good rookie, you’re going to have them for at least five (years) if not up to eight or nine before you have to think about their future.” East added.
New Orleans has a half a game “lead” on the Pacers in the inverted standings for the worst record in the NBA. Washington “trails” Indiana by a game for the third worst record in the league. The Kings are two games “behind” the Pacers. Just as a reminder, it doesn’t matter if the Pacers have the worst record in the NBA or not when it comes to their chance at the number one pick:
Worst record – 14% chance number one pick & 52.1% chance at top four pick
2nd worst record – 14% chance number one pick & 52.1% chance at top four pick
3rd worst record – 14% chance number one pick & 52.1% chance at top four pick
4th worst record – 12.5% chance number one pick & 48.1% chance at top four pick
5th worst record – 10.5% chance number one pick & 42.1% chance at top four pick
To listen to Jake Query’s and conversation with Tony East, download the podcast containing the conversation below! You can always listen to the Query & Company from 12pm-3pm on 93.5/107.5 The Fan. You can also watch and interact with the show by going to the 107.5 The Fan YouTube Channel.