NBA Offseason: Indiana Pacers Need Bench Help

The first priority of the off season is to get David West resigned and coming back for the Indiana Pacers.  Next up on the list is doing something about this second unit. This bench wasn’t the best at times, and really struggled to get going.  Gerald Green and D.J. Augustin were brought in last summer to help improve the bench, but neither guy provided that consistency that was needed.  Both guys showed up at different points, but ultimately, I don’t think what they brought helped the Pacers out as much as was needed.  Green is under contract for a couple more years, so he’ll have to improve so that he can help out this Pacers team.  But Augustin was just under contract for last season, and I don’t believe we’ll see him around again unless the Pacers can’t find that back up point guard that they want.

That’s one area this Pacers team needs to find someone, a reliable point guard. I’d probably go with some veteran guy that won’t cost you an arm and a leg. I don’t think the Pacers will have much money to spend this summer anyways, so finding someone on the cheap that could be a great asset for the bench would be ideal.  I was looking over the free agents available this summer, and one name did jump out to me, but I am not sure he would come here, Derek Fisher. He’s a guy that always knows how to hit that big shot. He’s going to be coming off the bench wherever he plays, but he could be a wonderful veteran presence, and someone that feels like that leader type. Indiana is a contender, and that’s probably where Fisher would want to go, so that might be something the Pacers explore for the right price.

Shooting guard wise, it’s hard to find that name that this Pacers team could bring in.  J.J. Redick is someone I thought the Pacers could have made a run at during the regular season, but he might be out of the Pacers’ price range.  He’s a scorer that could do some good off the bench for those big shots that the Pacers could use. I would say that Lance Stephenson ends up playing more with the second unit, especially if the Pacers keep up their style of keeping one starter on the floor at all times.  The shooting guard and point guard are the positions where I believe the Pacers will really want to explore options as there’s still Tyler Hansbrough and Jeff Pendergraph to fill out the power forward positions.  Ian Mahinmi is set at back up center, so no need to explore anyone there.

But I think we might see the starters just end up playing a lot more, and one of those guys would be on the floor at most times. It would be great to have at least one or two consistent role players off the bench.  But I just don’t know if the Pacers can find those guys they want with the lack of cap room available. The Pacers will have to do some wheeling to get the right pieces here.  But this team is so close to being right there for a contender, I will strongly believe in whoever they want to bring in to help the bench.  As long as that bench can hold the fort down till the starters come back in games, that’s ultimately the goal of the second unit.