The Indiana Pacers Should Look to the Chicago Bulls for Inspiration
By Jared Wade
Just like the Indiana Pacers, 8p9s is in training camp mode. Over the next few weeks, we will be welcoming some new contributors. Some will make the team and some will just get a nice workout. Today’s entry is from Daniel Frank, who has a master’s degree in journalism from IUPUI and has been watching the Pacers for more than 20 years.
If you would like to try out for 8p9s, email 8pts9secs@gmail.com.
While many have already written off the Indiana Pacers’ 2014-15 season, there is another team that overcame similar setbacks. For hope, the team can look to its Central Division rivals, the Chicago Bulls.
Like last year’s Pacers, the Bulls finished the regular season with the best record in the Eastern Conference in 2011-12. Then NBA Most Valuable Player Derrick Rose suffered a season-ending injury in the first round of the playoffs against the Philadelphia 76ers. That catastrophe ended Chicago’s chance at a title, but it didn’t prevent the Bulls from remaining competitive.
Despite Rose’s absence in the 2012-13 season, the Bulls finished with a 45-37 record, fifth best in the Eastern Conference. They defeated the Brooklyn Nets 4-3 in the first round of the playoffs and took a game from Miami in the second round before getting knocked out in five.
The Bulls still had a successful season because they relied heavily on their two best remaining players, Joakim Noah and Luol Deng, and stuck with head coach Tom Thibodeau’s defensive strategy.
Deng played 38.7 minutes per game that season to lead all players and Noah played 36.8, tie d for 15th-most minutes. Noah also finished fourth in Defensive Player of the Year voting (DPOY), while Deng and Jimmy Butler finished in 15th and 18th, respectively. As a team, the Bulls gave up 92.9 points per game, third fewest in the NBA.
The road to competitiveness for the Indiana Pacers is similar, though getting there will be much tougher.
The Pacers didn’t lose one MVP, but they lost two key players. Rose left a gaping hole in the offense, but isn’t comparable defensively to either Paul George or Lance Stephenson. George led the league in 2012-13 in defensive win shares, a metric that estimates a single player’s impact on defense on a team’s season win total. Last season, George finished second and Stephenson finished sixth.
Part of the reason the Pacers had some success against the Heat and LeBron James is that they had two players that could defend James better than most. Now James has moved into the same division and the Pacers are without both players.
The Pacers are also unlikely to lean on David West and Roy Hibbert the same way the Bulls leaned on Noah and Deng. Hibbert has never averaged more than 30 minutes per game in a season and West is unlikely to play as many minutes since he’s 34 years old.
What the Pacers have going for them is their defense. The system should still work because their defensive anchor, Hibbert, will be on the floor. In its simplest form, the Pacers defense operates by staying close to shooters and forcing the other team towards the rim where Hibbert awaits. The wings will almost always fight through screens on the perimeter without fear of getting beat because of Hibbert’s presence in the paint.
Hibbert received plenty of criticism during his roller-coaster season in 2013-14, but he finished the season fifth in defensive win shares last year, fourth in blocked shots and second in DPOY voting.
If Hibbert can find his footing on the offensive end again, then the Indiana Pacers’ offense might actually improve over last year’s. With the addition of C.J. Miles and a move to small forward for Chris Copeland, there should be more space for the Pacers’ big men to work on the block.
The ceiling isn’t too high for the Pacers this season, but they have pieces in place to maintain a strong defensive identity that could carry them the same way it carried Chicago in 2012-13.