What is a season worth without a title? Everything if you’re the Indiana Pacers

In a season where the Indiana Pacers defied expectations by winning 48 games and making the playoffs, some argue the made a mistake. Those people couldn’t be more wrong.

The Indiana Pacers defied any reasonable expectations for their season by making the playoffs, much less pressing the Cleveland Cavaliers to seven games. Yes, they came up short, but the ride was worth it. Seeing a group of players with a collective chip on their shoulder go out and prove everyone wrong was worth a summer of questioning how long it would be before the Pacers mattered again.

But for some people, it was a missed opportunity to tank. In their eyes, undergoing several years of forfeiting any chance of the title is the only way to go. A season that doesn’t end in a title must end in a high lottery pick, or it was a wasted opportunity.

Those people are wrong.

The idea that teams have the binary choice — tank or compete for the title — came in vogue thanks to the Philadelphia 76ers and “The Process”. In a calculated plan of fielding terrible, unwatchable, and probably unlikeable teams for years, the 76ers are now a playoff team thanks to a pair of high lottery picks.

This concept wasn’t foreign to Indiana. It is an idea that any team that might be on the wrong side of a .500 record should actively try not to win. In this scenario, winning is bad. It’s an impediment to a chance at a higher draft pick, and in theory, a chance at a title.

To be fair, the idea wasn’t one that we didn’t consider here. The predictions of a 31 win season in the wake of the Victor Oladipo-Domantas Sabonis trade made sense. And if you consider the type of deals Bojan Bogdanovic and Darren Collison signed, it appeared Kevin Pritchard had that option on the table.

But after about a dozen games, it started to become clear that Indiana wasn’t tanking, or if that was the plan, things had gone off course, in a good way.

Oladipo looked like an eventual All-Star, Sabonis showed promise. Bojan had his ups and downs but was a solid starter. Darren Collison evolved into the best version of himself and Cory Joseph was a solid backup point guard. Thaddeus Young was the glue guy he always has been and Lance Stephenson remained a positive for the Pacers.

All of this quickly made the bitter memories of Paul George and is the awkward exit fade. Once the Pacers were done with their season series with the Oklahoma City Thunder, his name wasn’t one heard often because talking about these new and improved Pacers was just, frankly, more fun.

That’s because we watched a group of players that were everything we say we want from a team. They never gave up, they always rallied back from deficits, they played like a team that loved each other.

Even before that February 27th game against the Atlanta Hawks where seemingly the entire Pacers team picked Cory Joseph off the court, you knew this team was special.

They were expected to win 31 or so games. They had hit that mark by February 9th. Indiana was supposedly shafted in their big offseason trade. Instead, Oladipo and Sabonis thrived. Even though Turner’s season was not a huge step forward like everyone expected, he showed signs of improvement after the All-Star break.

Air Guitar Lance Stephenson happened.

Don’t forget the Oladipo game winners.

There were great moments sprinkled in that perhaps only Pacers fans could appreciate. Occasional moments of greatness from Al Jefferson, Joe Young finally figuring out his role. Even part-time Pacer Damien Wilkins left an impact on the team.

We saw that T.J. Leaf’s offense is NBA ready even if his defense isn’t. Glenn Robinson showed in the regular season’s final games that he still could shoot and defend while Trevor Booker was a solid rotation player from the moment he arrived.

The Pacers set a foundation that didn’t cost them years of losing

The season may have ended at the hands of LeBron James, again, but the ride wasn’t just fun, it will play a part in the team’s future development.

If Oladipo and Sabonis aren’t given the freedom they were in Indiana, they never develop into the All-Star and future starter that they are. Indiana traded an All-Star for an All-Star, that alone is a decent trade. The fact Sabonis is above average is just an added bonus.

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And let’s talk about that missed opportunity cost for a moment. Let’s say the Pacers tanked this season instead of trading for two good players. Let’s say they even got decent picks instead of those players. What are the chances they draft both an All-Star and a talented center?

Slim, if we’re talking about All-Star level talent, much less multiple time All-Star like Oladipo looks to be.

It’s hard to hit picks, and even though sometimes you get Ben Simmons in the top 10, there is a chance you get a Kris Dunn or Marquese Chriss, two players taken before Sabonis in that draft.  Andrew Wiggins and Jabari Parker went before Joel Embiid, and understandably so at the time. The draft is far from an exact science.

And even if you made the trade for Oladipo and Sabonis, you would have needed to trade Thad, Collison, and maybe others to make sure the team didn’t win games. And do you get the same player development from Oladipo and Sabonis? Maybe, but it’s hard to know for sure.

So, if the cost of tanking was at best ‘only’ losing Thaddeus Young and an aging Collison, maybe it would have been a good idea. But perhaps the cost of tanking would have been not trading for Oladipo and Sabonis, two players that figure into the Pacers future and are both under 25.

You certainly wouldn’t create the culture the Pacers had this season, one that saw the players ask Pritchard to keep them together instead of trading off parts at the trade deadline.

Are you really going to do better than them in the draft this year? Maybe, but if you could travel back in time, would you do it? Would it be worth it?

And let’s back out from this view that only title seasons have value, and just look at it as fans.

Would all that be worth not going on this ride? Not having a team you could love because they play hard and never give up in a real an actual way? A team with a hometown kid of sorts in Oladipo? Not enjoying the moments where the team floored you with comebacks and wins that defied even your expectations, even within the season?

The Process doesn’t guarantee a title. If tanking is so you can win a title, if five seasons worth of unwatchable basketball worth anything but winning a title? In my mind, unless the 76ers to win a title — and there’s a decent chance they may — then the Process was a waste of time. You can’t brand losing a unique idea unless is produces unique results. Merely competing for one doesn’t seem worth the cost in my eyes.

Maybe the 76ers  win a title, but what about all the other teams tanking? Did you want to watch 82 games of the Sacramento Kings this season? The New York Knicks? The Chicago Bulls? And what are their chances of winning a title any time soon?

Look at the Orlando Magic, proof that just having top picks don’t produce wins. Funnily enough, they drafted both Oladipo and Sabonis (who they dealt to Oklahoma City before he ever played a game there) yet they never got this out of Oladipo.

Building a team is all about culture. Indiana was a win away from the NBA Finals just a few years back when Larry Bird nailed a few draft picks. From 2011-2014, it would be hard to argue the Pacers did something wrong while competing. It’s easy to forget that guys like Danny Granger and Paul George weren’t top 10 picks.

While that era got close and came up short, it’s hard to say Indiana’s plan didn’t work to build a contender. Bird made some mistakes near the end, but it would be wrong to call his time running the team a failure or a waste of time.

A new era in Indiana

Last summer, Pritchard stepped in and gave Indiana a team worth cheering for. One that actually did more with less when compared to last season’s roster. More importantly, he put together a decent core to build with — as players or trade assets — going forward.

And isn’t it selfish as fans to say to players we supposedly like that we want them to waste their time, maybe four or five years, in the hope we as fans see a title, likely after they’re gone? Yes, they get paid millions, but for all of the wanting to connect with players on some level, it’s hard to see a connection when some galaxy-brain view of fandom deems critical years of their career worth wasting.

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This season, and as silly as it may sound in such a cynical world of fandom, they gave us something to believe in. You believed the team was capable of crawling out of any hole they dug themselves, beating any team, and just surprising us every game. They were worth watching because you knew every game was going was entertaining.

They were fun.

Isn’t that the point of watching sports? A title is the team’s goal, but as fans, we want to be entertained. A title should bring that, but if you aren’t enjoying it, what’s the point? A title is the ultimate goal, but every season can’t always be defined only by that.

This season was fun. This season set a decent foundation to build on. This season Indiana got a new star to cheer for, one they can call their own. They created hope, which is really what draft picks are about, anyway.

Hope wasn’t something the Pacers had in July. Outside of the post-Brawl years, there wasn’t a season I was less excited about going into this one. But I’m proud to say I was wrong. These guys proved everyone wrong.

It was fun. That’s worth it to me.

Next: Important Pacers offseason dates to keep an eye on

And I can’t wait for next season.