8p9s Roundtable: Looking back at what the Pacers did; looking forward to what’s next
By Ryan Eggers
Which storyline do you think will have the most impact on the final few months of the regular season?
Matthes: The decision to not make a move at the deadline. Right now it’s celebrated – I think rightfully so- Pritchard’s banking on this team, only the Pacers can prove him either right or wrong.
Furr: It’d be easy to go with Victor Oladipo Oladipo-ing everywhere here, but I’m going to say Myles Turner’s struggles. Turner’s numbers are down pretty much across the board, and Domas Sabonis’ numbers are up.
At this point, they’ve been about statistically even – their shooting numbers are eerily similar (they have the exact same eFG, with Turner taking and making more 3’s, and Sabonis shooting a higher percentage inside).
Turner has a big edge in blocks, Domas in rebounding. If this team has designs on winning a playoff series, they need Myles Turner to be better. He’s fought through a couple of injuries so far this season and hasn’t really seemed to find a groove. He always seems to “break out” for a couple of games before completely laying an egg.
There’s no doubting Turner’s ability, but he’s got to show up. If he doesn’t, the Pacers uphill battle gets even steeper.
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Lane: The development of Myles Turner will definitely be what I’m watching for the final 23 games of the regular season. Turner hasn’t been bad by any means this season, no matter what over-dramatic fans have to say on social media. However, he’s also not developed as many would’ve expected him to in his third season in the league.
Turner’s scoring average, rebounding, and shooting percentage have all dipped from where they were last season as he’s shifted towards a more mid-range and 3-point shooting game (as has the rest of the NBA’s bigs).
While that’s not great you can let it slide due to Nate McMillan shifting the Pacers style of play a bit and focusing more on high screens. But nothing has been more disappointing than the poor defense, and lack of consistency that the Pacers have gotten from Myles.
If Turner is able to get healthy (he’s missed quite a few games this season), and put forth better effort on the defensive side of the ball, I think everyone and everything will be ok.
Gibson: The Turner-Sabonis situation. I still believe Turner’s the future of the team, but so is Sabonis if they figure out how to make it work. For the most part, though, the lineups with both of them are pretty meh.
However, when they have three shooters around them in the Oladipo-Collison-Bogdanovic lineup, or even Oladipo-Joseph-Bogdanovic has a +20 net rating. Problem is we’ve only seen about 30 minutes between those two lineups, so it is hard to know if that’s for real.
It the Pacers can make it work, they’ve fixed their problem of having two very good young centers. I don’t want to see either of them go, so Indiana must find a way to make them work.”
Eggers: Rather than pinning it on any specific player dynamic storyline, I’m going to go a bit broader and go for the team’s unusually excellent chemistry. Teams don’t just form together like this and have this much fun and success so quickly. Six guys asked for Pritchard to keep this squad intact at the trade deadline.
Given the regular season, it’s hard to argue with those six players. But, how far can their chemistry go? Can their confidence and togetherness win them a playoff series? That will be the most important question going into the final month of the season and playoffs, when every single team will be pushing harder than they have all year.