The Indiana Pacers finished the shortened 2019-20 season with a record of 45-28 grabbing the 4th seed in the Eastern Conference.
The Pacers had high hopes going into the playoffs but were ultimately swept, not having the roster at full strength. Let’s take a look back at this weird season and hand out some awards along with the runner-up.
Still, there were plenty of bright spots for the Pacers as they closed out another disappointing season. With young players shining and players battling injuries and an unfortunate delay to the season, the Pacers can hang their hats on a few things in particular.
Individual performances came and went, some more than others, and we saw some potential stars rise in Indiana. Domantas Sabonis became the best player on the team in the absence of Victor Oladipo. Myles Turner was still a force on the defensive end of the floor.
With some breakout stars as the season closes, let’s hand out some Pacers awards for the 2019-20 season, shall we?
MVP – Domantas Sabonis
I think this is a very obvious choice for the Most Valuable Player for the Indiana Pacers this year. Domantas Sabonis finished the season with averages of 18.5 points, 12.4 rebounds, and 5.0 assists on .540/.254/.723 shooting splits earning himself a spot on the All-Star team. The numbers he finished with are fantastic, but his impact goes way beyond the stat sheet, and that showed when he missed out on playing in the playoffs.
Although Sabonis was inserted into the starting lineup this year, he was the main reason for the bench success this year. Having shooters around Domantas really shows his overall impact on the game, he can get them open on and off the ball with his fantastic screening ability, his high-level passing ability for a big man allows him to find cutting teammates or teammates getting open from the perimeter, and lastly, with his great average of 12.4 rebounds per game he finds shooters or cutters right after getting the ball off the glass.
That being said I’m not saying he only had success with the bench unit. In the beginning stages of the season it seemed like the duo of Domantas Sabonis and Malcolm Brogdon was going to pick and roll themselves both into All-Star selections. He was also a great fit alongside T.J. Warren and Jeremy Lamb getting them open to do what they do best, score the rock.
MVP Runner-Up – T.J. Warren
Sixth Man of The Year- Justin Holiday
Yes, you read that right, one of the last signings of the offseason turned out the be the most important bench player this year. Justin Holiday‘s season averages aren’t going to jump off the stat sheet and slap you in the face, but man was he good this season. Justin Holiday finished the season with averages of 8.3 points, 3.3 rebounds, 1.3 assists on .428/.405/.791 shooting splits, making him one of the league’s top three-point shooters percentage-wise.
Beyond his great three-point shooting year, the defensive end was Justin Holiday’s bread and butter. His defensive stats of 1.2 steals per game and 0.6 blocks per game are great as a bench player, with a few starts here and there. Justin also provides so much flexibility for any NBA team because he can play SG, SF, and PF on both ends of the ball.
Like Sabonis, Justin’s overall impact on the game doesn’t fully show up on the stat sheet, his great perimeter defense and his role as a leader and a veteran on this team (being the oldest at 31) don’t show up on the stat sheet but are huge parts of his game.
Justin Holiday hits free agency this upcoming offseason and teams are going to bring out the money bags for him. Hopefully, the Indiana Pacers can resign him but not at an unreasonable amount, although he had such a positive impact on this team.
Sixth Man Runner-Up- Domantas Sabonis (I know he started, but his impact playing with the bench was too great to not be recognized)
Defensive Player of the Year – Myles Turner
I’ll start with the elephant in the room, yes Myles Turner does usually get exposed by any center bigger than him in the paint, but you can’t use that one point to take away from his entire defensive game. Myles Turner was the anchor of the Indiana Pacers team that finished the season sixth in defensive rating.
Along with that Myles Turner averaged 2.1 blocks per game putting him among the top in the league at fourth overall, and in the short postseason that average went up to 4.0 blocks per game.
The part of Myles Turner’s defensive game that people tend to overlook is his perimeter defense from an almost seven-footer. Myles slimmed down and did yoga in the offseason to be able to fit alongside Domantas Sabonis and play the PF position on the defensive end.
Perimeter defense isn’t a stat but as someone that watched all of the Pacer games, it’s easy to see how impressive Myles Turner is at keeping up with many different positions outside of the ark and even when they drive at him. That’s something that two-time DPOY Rudy Gobert can’t even do on the level of Myles Turner.
Myles Turner never gets the credit he deserves for the All-Defensive team or DPOY voting, but what do you expect? It’s Indiana we are talking about here.
Defensive Player of the Year Runner-Up – Justin Holiday
The Obvious Choices
There are a handful of awards that are obvious. Not all awards are created equal after all. In the case of the individual teams, there are some awards that only have one candidate, but that does not mean they do not deserve credit for their job.
Coach of the Year- Nate McMillan (Weird seeing a Pacer fan have Nate as COTY I know)
Nate McMillan was let go after signing an extension prior to the playoffs. Still, he carried an injury-plagued to a would-be home-court advantage in the first round of the playoffs. While he never had postseason success in Indiana, he put his team in a position to win in the playoffs.
Rookie of the Year- Goga Bitazde
Executive of the Year- Kevin Pritchard (He should get consideration for this in real life sometime, or am I just biased?)