Where are they now? Checking in on a few recent Indiana Pacers departures

Hindsight is 20/20, but let’s take a look at several recent players no longer with the Indiana Pacers and see how things worked out for both parties.

The task of running a team is far from easy in the NBA, just ask Kevin Pritchard. While the current head of the Indiana Pacers’ front office is feeling smug, it is easy to look back and second guess his and Larry Bird’s moves in recent years.

Hindsight is 20/20, making it easy to say whether a move was right or wrong, regardless of the context at the time.

And we’re going to do exactly that. Well, not exactly, as we will look at what other events were surrounding the Indiana Pacers when these recent departures left. Also, even at the All-Star break, these verdicts may end up being premature.

Let’s start with the most obvious…

Paul George — Oklahoma City Thunder

Yeah. This guy.

The most talented Indiana Pacers player ever, but not the greatest. His forced exit left plenty of negative feelings, but it is well past time to move on when it comes to talking about these Indiana Pacers.

It is hard to evaluate whether Kevin Pritchard made the right move in sending him to OKC. On one hand, he was worth more than Victor Oladipo and Domantas Sabonis as far as trade value goes. On the other hand, Sabonis stepped up sooner than expected and Oladipo is suddenly an All-Star after years of being good, but not great.

Throw in that the Pacers had limited options — they had little to no leverage in trade negotiations — and you end up with a complex situation with few simple answers.

With Oladipo and Sabonis defying expectations, Indiana can look back on this move as part of doing business. It helps they haven’t fallen back to earth despite early season fears.

But enough context, let’s look at the numbers on Paul George.

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The raw numbers say he took a step back, but that ignores that he shares the floor with Russell Westbrook. While his overall field goal percentage is down, he is taking and making more 3-pointers and his defense is still top-notch even if some of his suppressed offensives numbers.

I’m not going to tell you the Pacers ‘won’ the trade, nor do I think they ‘lost’ it at this point. Not to dip too far into war analogies, but Indiana might have had a ‘tactical retreat’ of sorts when they traded Paul George for Oladipo and Sabonis. They weren’t going to win that battle, but they gave themselves a better chance to win the war in the long run.

The way things ended with George is unfortunate, but it’s easy to move on when everything is fine with Oladipo and Sabonis

C.J. Miles — Toronto Raptors

Need someone to hit 3-pointers? C.J. Miles. Need someone to play power forward? C.J. Miles. Need someone to make music? Well, there are several Pacers who could do that, but you could get C.J. Miles to do that as well.

C.J. Miles did everything the Indiana Pacers asked of him, making him one of the most likable Pacers over the past few years.

But now he wears a Toronto Raptors uniform.

The good news for C.J. looks right at home with the Raptors. While is per a game numbers are down due to fewer minutes, he is making more 3-pointers. His percentages are down slightly from last season overall, but 38.8% is still very good.

Part of that comes from coming off the bench as one of the better players on the floor when he does compared to fitting in with other starters last season in Indiana.

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Generated 2/15/2018.

While Miles is still shooting the ball at a high level, that wasn’t the reason his time with the Indiana Pacers came to an end.

The 30-year-old C.J. was hoping that the Pacers were going to take care of him after three seasons of outstanding service, but Kevin Pritchard was more interested in younger talents. The Pacers didn’t want to invest the same money and years on Miles that the Raptors did, leading to Miles’ exit from Indiana.

The Pacers opted to go with the slightly younger Bojan Bogdanovic to fill C.J.’s role, opting to pay him more this season while remaining flexible with plans. Bojan stepped in and is putting up similar numbers, so while we miss C.J., thankfully Bogdanovic replaced his offensive production.

The fit apparently wasn’t right to keep Miles in Indiana, but they would have been in good shape if the kept him.

Jeff Teague — Minnesota Timberwolves

Let’s get it out of the way: Was it worth trading George Hill for Jeff Teague? Probably not. Indiana gave up a player who might have stayed with the Pacers for the rest of his career for a guy who played one season and left when it was clear the Pacers were retooling. Hill has injury concerns, but depending on his salary — maybe he takes a discount to stay — but with the power of hindsight, the Teague trade wasn’t the most prudent of moves.

But we’ll talk more about George Hill later.

Another question for Indiana is whether Darren Collison is a better fit for the Pacers than Teague.

While Teague’s scoring and assists are down in Minnesota as compared to his time with the Pacers, playing with a guard like Jimmy Butler explains the modest drops. His shooting is as good as it’s ever been, so it isn’t as if he’s in decline.

A few months ago it would have been hard to argue that Collison is bette than Teague, but as far as fit goes, DC has been a better option for Indiana.

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Teague racks up more assists compared to Collison, but he also averages more turnovers per a game. Collison is near the top of the NBA in terms of assist to turnover ratio. The Timberwolves point guard also takes more shots than Collison to score the same amount of points.

Teague does more, but if he shared the court with Victor Oladipo, one of their games would take a hit. Indiana is getting what they need from Collison. When the ball is in his hands, the assists pile up and the turnovers are kept down.

But if Teague were still in Indiana, Oladipo’s renaissance wouldn’t be going as well. If not that, then Teague’s game would take a hit. The two probably could make it work, but the process wouldn’t have been as smooth.

Whether or not they had a choice, the Pacers got it right by not chasing Teague on his way out the door.

BONUS: Aaron Brooks also went to the Timberwolves this offseason. While was lightly used by the Pacers, it didn’t seem right leaving him completely off this list.

However, his role in Minnesota is half of what it was in Indiana, which is to say he’s averaging 2 points and 0.7 assists in roughly 6 minutes a game.

With Joe Young finding modest success this season, and the fact he’s shooting better and doing more than Brooks, it’s safe to say they aren’t missing the former Pacer.

The rest of last season’s crew isn’t in the NBA

Lavoy Allen, Monta Ellis, Rodney Stuckey, Kevin Seraphin, Rakeem Christmas, and Georges Niang are out of the NBA right now.

That’s right: Just over a third of the Pacers roster from last season is no longer in the NBA.

The reasons vary as the group is a mix of young and older players. In most cases, it’s a matter of team’s making room for similar, but younger talent.

Ellis’ suspension is part of the reason why no one has signed him. That and the fact his 8.5 points and 3.2 assists a game are easily replaced. There are 39 guards that are averaging at least that according to Basketball-Reference, most of which are under the age of 30.

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There’s a little headache involved in signing a guy who statistically speaking, was only modestly above replacement level. The Pacers chose to pay him his $11.2 million owed over the next five years than keep him around for one more.

Minus the weed, the story is similar for Stuckey. Once you add in the fact Stuckey fought injuries all of last season and was waived, it’s easy to understand why no one’s eager to sign him. On the bright side for Indiana, Godney Stuckey died to Lance Stephenson could be Born Again Ready.

Seraphin served as one of Indiana’s best rebounders, but ultimately his game wasn’t built to keep up with the changes in the NBA. He didn’t have the speed and quick feet to guard smaller players nor the size when facing bigger bigs. He’s playing internationally now. The story is the same for Lavoy Allen.

Christmas and Niang are much younger than the rest but couldn’t stay on an NBA roster. Christmas headed overseas while Niang is a G-Leaguer on a two-way contract with the Utah Jazz.

While there are logical explanations for all of their absences from the NBA, it says something about Larry Bird’s miscalculations when assembling a roster the past few seasons.

Roster turnover is expected, but consider considering over a third from last season are out of the NBA, that’s not a good sign. Go back one more year and you can add Chase Budinger, Jordan Hill, and Ty Lawson to the list of players out of the league now.

Now that we have all of last year’s players out of the way, let’s take a look at a select few former Pacers from the past few seasons.

Ian Mahinmi — Washington Wizards

Ian Mahinmi’s final season in Indiana saw career-high in points and rebounds with 9.3 and 7.1, respectively. He started for Indiana as Myles Turner adjusted to the NBA, serving as the perfect transitional piece for the Pacers.

Indiana Pacers

The Big Baugette got paid when he left the Pacers and will nearly triple his career earning when is $64 million deal with the Washing Wizards is finished. Ian Mahinmi is one of the players who cashed in during the summer spending spree by teams a few years ago.

And that’s exactly why it was best the Pacers and Mahimi went separate ways. Teams overapyed that summer as the TV money hit but a year later the salary cap didn’t grow as much as expected.

On top of that, Mahinmi’s 4.3 points and 3.7 rebounds are costing the Wizards Thaddeus Young money while getting less than half the production. Mahinmi is a great bench option for the Wizards, but ultimately is ‘overpaid’ as far as the money and production calculations go.

It’s great to see Mahinmi get paid, but it’s for the best that the Pacers aren’t the ones doing it. He costs more than Al Jefferson and would be another big Indiana couldn’t find enough minutes for behind Turner, Young, and Sabonis.

Keep gettin’ them checks.

David West — Golden State Warriors

Call David West a ring chaser, but he got one.

His first stop with the San Antonio Spurs didn’t bear fruit, but then the Golden State Warriors came calling. His regular season with the Warriors last year was uninspiring, but once the playoffs came, it was clear why Golden State added him to their roster.

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West shot a ridiculous 57.6% in 17 playoff games and posted a +21 net rating, meaning when he was on the court, the Warriors outscored opponents by 21 points. The 17-foot Assassin lived up to his name as he took around a third of his shots from that range, making 47.4% of his attempts.

While West made the choice to leave Indiana for greener pastures after The Lost Season, he doesn’t fit into the Pacers current plans, anyway. Would he help Indiana? Of course, he’s David West. But his time had come and gone in Indiana, and he deserved to chase a ring.

He is playing a slightly bigger regular season role for the Warriors and in on tract for his best season since leaving the Pacers. His 61.7% FG% is absurd, but he is in the perfect situation with Golden State.

George Hill — Cleveland Cavaliers

It’s hard to know how George Hill would play if he were still with the Pacers, but he is scoring less this season — or at least he was with the Sacramento Kings — than either Teague or Collison. It’s too early to know how he will fit in with the Cleveland Cavaliers.

Collison’s passing fits perfectly with Oladipo, making him the best fit with Oladipo compared to Hill. It’s unfortunate that Hill isn’t with the Pacers anymore, but things worked all well for all parties now that he is plays for a contender.

It was a strange path that got him there, though.

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• 3 positives, 2 negatives in Pacers In-Season Tournament win vs. Cavaliers
• 2 positives, 3 negatives from first week of Indiana Pacers basketball
• Should Isaiah Jackson’s days with Indiana Pacers be numbered?

After being traded to the Utah Jazz in the deal for Jeff Teague, Hill had one of his best seasons in years, and maybe of his career. The 16.9 points a game were a career-high and a 40.3% mark from 3-point range led to his most efficient season on record as a scorer.

But he only played in 49 regular season games. Injuries kept Hill off the court nearly half the time in his season in Utah.

With Gordon Hayward’s departure from the team after the season, Hill elected to take the money and run to the Sacramento Kings, where he was miserable.

He didn’t play defense and limited himself to taking on 3-pointers for the most part as the malaise of the Kings made him a shell of his former self, scoring 10.2 points a game despite starting.

But then the King summoned him. Hill was traded to the Cleveland in a 3-team trade that involved way too many parts to track here. Hill already looks like a different player now that he is on a contender and once again he is proving he is a much better player than the average fan gives him credit for.

Next: Help Wanted: A Rebounder

For the former Pacers that are still in the NBA, the Pacers weren’t wrong to move on from them — whether they had a real choice in it or not — though most are still making an impact in the league.

But when you consider how many have washed out of the NBA in recent seasons, it’s hard to say Indiana made the right bets when they signed some of them.