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Indiana Pacers Front Office Ranked 10th by ESPN

By Ben Gibson

Apr 19, 2014; Indianapolis, IN, USA; (From left to right) Indiana Pacers general manager Donnie Walsh, owner Herb Simon, and president Larry Bird watch the Indiana Pacers play against the Atlanta Hawks in game one during the first round of the 2014 NBA Playoffs at Bankers Life Fieldhouse. Atlanta defeats Indiana 101-93. Mandatory Credit: Brian Spurlock-USA TODAY Sports
Apr 19, 2014; Indianapolis, IN, USA; (From left to right) Indiana Pacers general manager Donnie Walsh, owner Herb Simon, and president Larry Bird watch the Indiana Pacers play against the Atlanta Hawks in game one during the first round of the 2014 NBA Playoffs at Bankers Life Fieldhouse. Atlanta defeats Indiana 101-93. Mandatory Credit: Brian Spurlock-USA TODAY Sports /
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The Indiana Pacers have faced injuries, more injuries, and more injuries this season as they’ve fought out to a 30-40 record with 12 games to go. While the on-court product has understandably been under-performing, ESPN ranked the Pacers front office 10th in the league.

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ESPN’s Forecast panel looked at how the front office handled their business and how it affects the team on the court.

"We asked our ESPN Forecast panel to rate every team’s owner, basketball decision-maker(s) and coach from 0 to 10, and we then asked the panel to tell us how important each role is.In particular, we asked the voters to rate each team’s front-office management on its guidance and leadership in terms of how it affects overall on-court success, both in the short and long term. From there, we calculated the ratings to determine the NBA’s best and worst front offices."

The Pacers scored a 6.92 out of 10.

The ranking seems fair as Larry Bird, Kevin Pritchard and Frank Vogel have been making plenty of good moves in recent years and for the most part avoided major mistakes, while the coach has kept Indiana competitive this season despite 199+ games-worth of injuries.

Fans weren’t happy with the Danny Granger trade last season, but considering he hasn’t played since February 20th for the Miami Heat, it is hard to argue that it wasn’t in the team’s best interest to ship him off when they did last season. Even if Evan Turner didn’t help out last season and then walked away, Lavoy Allen has played more basketball than Granger has in the past few months. Fans had mixed emotions about letting Lance Stephenson walk in the off-season as well, but considering he’s been far from impressive with Charlotte, it looks like again Indiana made a smart move.

The possible knock on the Pacers might be the hesitation to make a big move this season, or the lack of impact players acquired in the draft since Paul George.

Vogel coached the team while missing last season’s starting lineup to start the season and went to the All-Star break without his starting point guard, George Hill. It looks like the Pacers are running out of gas now, but it is hard to argue that Vogel didn’t do everything possible to keep the Pacers in the hunt for a playoff spot.

While this season’s outcome is still up in the air, with all the injuries a good or bad result won’t really reflect too harshly either way on the players, coaching, or front office.

The bigger questions for the Indiana Pacers come the next few years: Do they deal an aging David West? Do they trade Roy Hibbert and his rim protection for a more balanced center? Luis Scola, C.J. Watson, Lavoy Allen, Donald Sloan and Rodney Stuckey are all on the last year of their contracts, so who do they let go? Who do they re-sign?

Carefully managing the money they spend will be critical for a team with an owner who doesn’t want to pay the luxury tax. Keeping Paul George happy and building a team around him over the next few seasons will be Bird and Pritchard’s toughest task as the Pacers look to be championship contenders again.

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