April Fools: The Indiana Pacers tricked us all this offseason

2020-21 was a respectable season from the Indiana Pacers and the absence of Domantas Sabonis in the bubble made the playoff sweep a lot more understandable. That made expectations for this season jump off the page and for good reason. The Pacers returned most of the roster from last year and brought in a new head coach.

Nate Bjorkgren has certainly raised some eyebrows with his rotations lately. Struggles in the fourth quarter of games have cost the Pacers several times as well, putting Bjorkgren on the hot seat pretty early into his tenure.

The Indiana Pacers fooled us all this season

I was among the people who believed the Pacers could make some serious noise this season and carry that into the playoffs. After numerous sweeps and first-round exits, this felt like the year the Pacers would get over the hump. That, unfortunately, does not seem likely at this juncture.

While they’ve had their bright moments, the Pacers simply have not been good this season and Wednesday’s collapse against Miami is just another example. Myles Turner is a legitimate DPOY candidate, Domas is an All-Star, and when things click, the Pacers are incredibly competitive.

Malcolm Brogdon has been far too inconsistent after having a hot start to his campaign. Caris LeVert, while he’s had his nights, has also struggled to get things going on a consistent basis. Injuries are playing a factor once again, which is part of the game. Somehow, it feels like everything is crumbling at once for Indiana and fans went have completely flipped their vision of Indiana, myself included.

There is too much pure talent on this team for them to be as poor as they have been so far this season. Even aside from the loss of T.J. Warren, there was supposed to be a lot of offensive firepower across the first and second units. Jeremy Lamb and Aaron Holiday have been underwhelming given their preseason expectations and that has put a damper on the bench scoring.

Young guys like Goga Bitadze and Edmond Sumner have not been given the minutes they deserve, though Sumner is getting into that territory. The youth isn’t developing through live reps despite a disastrous season up to this point. Sure, Indiana could still get into the playoffs and perhaps even win a game or two, but they are not the team we thought they would be.

There’s still time to work some things out so I’ll try to be optimistic but this season has been quite the letdown.