A lot of expectations were placed on the Indiana Pacers after they acquired guys like Jeff Teague, Thaddeus Young, and Al Jefferson during the off-season.
The Indiana Pacers finished the 2016-2017 season with a 42-40 record. They’re the 7th seed in the Eastern Conference. Despite being over .500, this season could still be looked at as a disappointment, considering many people thought the Pacers would be the 2nd best team in the East.
Personally, I had the Pacers winning 46 games. That would have been 1 more win from their 45 wins in the 2015-2016 season. I tampered expectations a bit because of all the new faces. Let’s take a look at what was disappointing and what was satisfying for the Indiana Pacers this year.
Defense
The Pacers lost some of their best defensive players, guys like George Hill, Solomon Hill and Ian Mahinmi. Despite that, they were about league average defensively. They dropped from the third best defense to the 18th, but that is expected with the moves they made.
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It could have been much, much worse. The Pacers allowed 105.3 points per game, which ranked as the 14th best in the NBA. I would say that overall and considering the circumstances, the defense was not disappointing at all.
Offense
The Pacers went all in during the summer on scoring more points and playing faster. They made a slight improvement on the offensive end. During the 2015-2016 season, the Pacers averaged 102.2 points per game. That was the 17th best ranking in the NBA. This season, they averaged 105.1, which ranked them 15th in the NBA. As you can see, the offense was average. The offense could be labeled as a disappointment, especially considering Paul George once said he thinks they could average 115 points per game.
Pace
This is what I would consider a major disappointment. Despite Larry Bird making it very clear he wanted the Pacers to play at a faster pace, the team played at a slower pace compared to last season. During the 2015-2016 season, the Pacers ranked 11th in the NBA in pace at 96.6. This season, they ranked 18th at 95.9. The personnel brought in definitely should have helped improve that number, but it just didn’t happen.
Next: Looking at the Potential Playoff Rotation
In my book, making the playoffs is never a disappointment. That being said, I won’t call this season a disappointment. The Indiana Pacers did not live up to expectations. They still have time to solidify themselves as that team we all thought they would be, though.