Re-ranking the best Indiana Pacers 2019 offseason moves at the hiatus
By Josh Wilson
The Indiana Pacers had to make a flurry of moves this summer to keep the team moving toward a title. At the hiatus, here’s how each of those moves ranks.
Coming into this season the Indiana Pacers needed to fill out their roster just as any team does. Their unique challenge would be piecing together a team that could compete even without Victor Oladipo, yet remain cohesive once he returned from his injury rehabilitation.
While we haven’t truly seen how this team will come together since Oladipo is still getting into the swing of things, we do know how things have played out thus far. In general, things have been positive.
It’s no secret that the team would like to be higher than fifth in the standings, but their placement was expected to rise as they were surging (7-3 in their last 10 games) before the league suspended.
Let’s look at each summer signing and rank worst to best. We’ll start with some lesser impactful signings that weren’t necessarily bad (most of this list is positive), but were simply less present given roster makeup.
Pacers sign Brian Bowen II, C.J. Wilcox, Naz Mitrou-Long (two-way)
It’s hard to accurately measure two-way contracts, as the players are asked to succeed in the context of the G League organization and with the main squad. Players are pitted between two homes and it can be a tough kind of contract to navigate.
Neither of these three players has had a considerable impact on the big-league roster, but much of that has to do with expectations and playing time.
Bowen has carved out a nice role in the G League and has been a nightmare for defenses to guard. He’s averaging 16.2 points, 7.8 rebounds, and 1.6 assists per game. He’s a lengthy guard that, should he be able to put the pieces together, could carve out a nice role in the NBA.
C.J. Wilcox is averaging 12.7 points, 2.5 rebounds, and 1.6 assists in the G League this year. He has yet to appear for the Pacers.
Naz Mitrou-Long hasn’t been given enough minutes to properly evaluate him. He’s appeared in just three games thus far for the Pacers.
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Pacers sign Edmond Sumner (3 years, $6.48 million)
Another case of “not enough time to properly evaluate” Sumner has seen just 345 minutes this season. In the limited time (13.8 minutes) he’s seen, Sumner has averaged 4.6 points, 1.5 rebounds, and 1.6 assists per game.
Pacers sign JaKarr Sampson (1 year, $1.7 million)
JaKarr Sampson is an NBA journeyman and not a great offensive player. He provides situational defense for the Pacers and figures to be a useful piece in the playoffs if the Pacers get in some serious foul trouble, but his impact has been usually minimal at best so far.
It’s largely a case of not enough minutes, but this has been one of the lesser important signings for the Pacers.