Analyzing the Indiana Pacers’ depth chart post-free agency
By Ian Hansen
The Small Forwards
Small Forward: T.J. Warren, Doug McDermott, Alize Johnson
With the departure of Bojan Bogdanovic, T.J. Warren now steps into the role of the starting small forward, which was not the plan when Indiana initially signed him. Luckily for the Pacers, Warren is another guy who can play multiple positions and score the ball at will.
Last season for the Phoenix Suns, Warren played his minutes at the power forward position due to how small the Suns are. In reality, Warren is a small forward because of his scoring ability. He has no desire to rebound, he is not a playmaker, and similar to Lamb, drives to the basket with tunnel vision.
Negatives aside, if Warren can stay healthy and build on his 42.8 percent shooting from three, he can be another deadly weapon on offense for the Pacers. Warren is also a talented spot-up shooter and will most likely come around down screens from either Turner or Sabonis to create much-needed spacing in the offense.
Doug McDermott will be in “competitive mode” just to simply crack the rotation (barring any injuries) come time for Oladipo to return. To perform at a higher level than last season, he will need the ball more as he was severely underused last season. With that being said, in the opportunities he did have, he did not execute.
He struggled mightily at home last season compared to how he played on the road shooting just 31 percent from three compared to 40 percent on the road while shooting 52 percent from the field on the road compared to 45 percent at home.
Those numbers may seem fine, but keep in mind he only got 5.5 shots up per game. No, scoring does not make or break how a player performs, but McDermott would just run to the baseline the majority of the time and not provide too much to the offense.
The small forward position has the potential to be equally good if not better than last season. Since Warren and Bogdanovic had near-identical stats, it will just depend on the health of Warren and if the players fit in with each other to determine if the position is truly upgraded.