Indiana Pacers: Two players at-risk of getting squeezed out of playoff rotation

If the NBA season picks up the Pacers playoff rotation needs to be set

It remains to be seen how the NBA season will continue and if it will continue at all. The Indiana Pacers and all 30 teams must sit and wait, but stay prepared.

Part of that preparation is visualizing and planning out potential playoff rotations. With the playoffs potentially looking different this year with one and three-game series possibly in play, strategizing through lineups is going to be more important than ever.

The remainder of the season under normal circumstances may have been utilized to play around with funky lineups and tweak rotations to find the best fits for the playoffs. Now, the team may have to jump right into postseason play with little warning, depending on how the rest of the social distancing situation goes.

With that in mind, Nate McMillan should be finalizing his theoretical rotation.

As is normal, some players will be squeezed out. Playoff rotations generally consist of 8-to-9 players, with the remaining only seeing time in very unique situations or in garbage time.

Goga Bitadze, T.J. Leaf, Brian Bowen, Edmond Sumner, Naz Mitrou-Long, and Alize Johnson are all likely out of the rotation. With that said, who is on the fringe, and under what circumstances should McMillan look to include them in the rotation?

JaKarr Sampson

JaKarr Sampson might be one of the only players that has averaged south of 15 minutes per game this season that has a shot at getting some regular minutes in the playoffs.

The reason why? His defense.

Situational planning becomes more and more important in the postseason with particular matchups proving to be issues for teams throughout the course of a 7-game series.

While Sampson is going to provide little to no positive impact on the offensive end, you can stick him on an offensive weapon on the opposing team and genuinely expect him to do quite well. While you don’t expect him to guard a player like Giannis Antetokounmpo, you can slide him in while the best defender takes Giannis, and JaKarr can pick up the next best guy.

With a number of strong duos in the Eastern Conference, that could prove impactful.

It’s far more likely, however, that someone like Justin Holiday simply sees a minute increase rather than JaKarr getting time.

If we see Sampson, it’s likely going to be in just garbage time, but this is one of the players McMillan may have to deliberate over and keep on his list to be ready at any moment.

T.J. McConnell

Most are going to suggest T.J. McConnell should be in the playoff rotation. At the end of the day, I do agree, but I don’t think it’s as much of a foregone conclusion as people might want to say it is.

McConnell is an undersized guard, plain and simple. Yes, he makes up for his physical limitations with high energy and a hounding full-court press.

In the playoffs, though, larger and more athletic players can mismatch hunt with him all day long, and he’s going to bleed points or exhaust his teammates with having to cover up for his deficiencies that are no fault of his own.

McConnell also can not create his own shot and on the offensive end relies quite a bit on his teammates. While a facilitator is good to have, one that can pass and score would be useful.

Holiday excels on offense when he can push the pace, something that might not be an option in the postseason.

While he’s been a massive energy boost all season long, he may get squeezed out in the playoffs.