4 Certainties Indiana Pacers can hold onto during uncertain times for NBA
By Josh Wilson
Though the future for the NBA at-large is murky, the Indiana Pacers have some certainties they can hold onto for the time being to help guide their future.
Fans should be pleased that the team is in a position that insulates them from some of the standard volatilities that other teams are facing these days. It could position them to be top-tier competitors for next season and beyond.
Indiana Pacers development path is clear
The NBA Draft is one of the main ways to secure new talent and commit to a picture of what a team’s future will look like. Compared to the other ways of acquiring talent (trades, free agency) the draft is already the haziest due to the many unknowns surrounding each prospect.
Though 2019’s top overall pick Zion Williamson has panned out thus far, there were even question marks surrounding his physique coming into the NBA Draft and his placement as the top overall pick was debated by a small number of people.
This year, the draft waters will be stirred up and even murkier than normal due to the coronavirus. The date the draft is held, how the combine will take place, and how much access to players teams will have beforehand is all up in the air for the time being.
Player agents may exercise their rights to withhold information more than ever this year with players potentially unable to hold in-person workouts leading up to the draft.
The Pacers, contrary to most other teams making selections in the first round, have clarity and certainty on their developmental goals. Mainly, it boils down to their first-round pick from last year, Goga Bitadze.
Bitadze hasn’t been given a ton of minutes (410 total) this year because the team’s frontcourt has been championed by the likes of Myles Turner and Domantas Sabonis. In spurts, he’s flashed some defensive brilliance and workable offense.
For the time being, Domantas Sabonis functions as the team’s backup center in addition to his starting role and that arrangement has worked well. It would do Nate McMillan well, though, to have a true backup center to turn to night in and night out, not just when Turner and/or Sabonis are in foul trouble.
That’s what the Pacers are working toward with Bitadze, and this clarity they have in their development will help them.
The Pacers should enter the draft with as much research on prospects as they can get. Having familiarity with these players will help them secure a trade into the first-round if the right opportunity presents itself, but for now, the Pacers know — No first-round pick this year, and clear work to be done with Bitadze.