The Indiana Pacers have their own array of questions to answer in the offseason. While they have already answered one by firing head coach Nate Bjorkgren after a turbulent year, roster decisions are starting to loom largely on the front office.
While the Blue and Gold is currently set on the starting lineup, two key rotation players are entering free agency: TJ McConnell and Doug McDermott. Both had career-years in the previous campaign and will certainly be interesting commodities who can each plug in instant impact to team in need of playmaking and scoring. Indiana would be better served keeping both, but the two players are legitimate flight risks.
Will the Indiana Pacers break the bank for Doug McDermott?
In this piece, we’ll focus on McDermott. The 6’7 sniper has been one of the standouts for the Pacers in this underachieving year. Tabbed for his biggest role yet after the season-ending injury to TJ Warren, the seven-year veteran managed to respond by tallying career-highs in points with 13.6 per game on a wildly efficient 53.2 percent shooting from the field in just 24.5 minutes. His three-ball slightly declined, but he still cashed in 38.8 percent of his triples.
He’s not much of a defender, but Dougie can but the ball in the hoop in a multitude of ways. He’s one of the league’s best cutters. Among all players who took more than 10 percent of their shots through cuts, McDermott was sixth in points per possession with an eye-popping 1.57. His prowess as a shooter is no secret, but he can also fire away from virtually everywhere on the floor. Among all qualified forwards, he ranked 9th in effective field goal percentage, tied with… Zion Williamson.
Teams in need of scoring, especially shooting, will come calling for the services of the Creighton product. That being said, he won’t be cheap, especially with players like him netting booming contracts in recent years. The Indiana Pacers have his Bird rights, meaning they can go over the cap to re-sign him, but the franchise has historically avoided the luxury tax. Thus, which teams are threats to pry him away from the Circle City?
Threat to sign Indiana Pacers’ Doug McDermott: Miami Heat
Like the Indiana Pacers, the Miami Heat are also looking at two flight risks this offseason who are important pieces of their team with Kendrick Nunn and Duncan Robinson. The former is certainly replaceable, but the latter’s prowess as a defense-breaking shooter is matched by only a few in the league.
The Heat never shy away from throwing big money at players, but re-signing Robinson to a projected deal worth more than 20 million per season may prove to be too much, especially with Miami constantly in pursuit of grander plans with upper echelon talents in the league. After a disappointing postseason, their current core revealed itself to be lacking and their cinderella run to the Finals in 2020 may be a deviation from the actual norm.
Doug McDermott will instantly bring much (and then some) of what Robinson brings to the table. A career 40.7 shooter from downtown, he will be a welcome addition to a team that boasted an 18th-ranked offensive rating in the regular season. Alas, he also fills in their need for a spacing forward, a duty spearheaded by Trevor Ariza and Andre Iguodala who don’t necessarily scare defenses away like he does. Most importantly, he’ll likely be substantially cheaper than Robinson.
Threat to sign Indiana Pacers’ Doug McDermott: Dallas Mavericks
Led by generational talent Luka Doncic, the Dallas Mavericks figure to be one of the West’s heavyweights for a long time. However, the team saw their title aspirations crash this year after falling to the LA Clippers in a thrilling seven-game series. Into the offseason, the cap-rich Mavs should be able to splurge in free agency to install better pieces around their superstar.
One thing that hampered Dallas this season was their subpar three-point shooting, registering a 36.2 percent mark on triples which ranked 18th in the association. The trade that sent Seth Curry away clearly bit them back, but so was the decline of Kristaps Porzingis and Josh Richardson whom they acquired from the trade.
Tim Hardaway Jr., one of their most dangerous shooters, will be in line for a hefty pay day this summer. They can easily re-sign him to a new deal, but it’s becoming clearer that Dallas needs a star to pair with Doncic. Assuming they accomplish that, they will still have loads of wiggle room to snag fitting pieces for their team. That can very well be Doug McDermott.
Banking on low-volume shooters like Dorian Finney-Smith and Maxi Kleber to get the sniper duty is not ideal for a high-octane offense. McDermott’s quick trigger all over the floor and off-ball movement will easily thrive with Doncic’s playmaking. Also, he can arm the Mavericks with a switchable forward to avoid their overreliance on plodding bigs who don’t have the mobility to keep up with guards in switches.
Threat to sign Indiana Pacers’ Doug McDermott: Los Angeles Lakers
After cruising in the Bubble last season to win the championship, the Los Angeles Lakers failed to defend their title in eventful fashion after succumbing to the Phoenix Suns in the first round of the playoffs. With a bevy of health issues hampering stars and offensive problems plaguing the team, A LeBron James-led team lost in the first-round for the first time.
Despite possessing the league’s stingiest defense, the Lakers simply trotted out an anemic offense that ranked a paltry 24th in the league. They were deliberately slow with their personnel, but their lack of a reliable fallback option aside from James and the oft-injured Anthony Davis proved to be their downfall.
Unlike previous LeBron teams, their offense didn’t rely on pace and space, but on aggressive rim dives, post-ups and fast breaks off turnovers. As a result, they ranked 25th in three-point makes, 24th in attempts and a measly 21st in accuracy. As they were flirting with their elimination, it became clear that their plodding attack cannot be offset anymore by their excellent defense, especially in this offense-oriented league.
As it currently stands, the Lakers don’t have the room to sign Doug McDermott, by they can easily move some of their pieces, such as Kyle Kuzma, to make room for a better-fitting shooter who doesn’t make boneheaded plays. McDermott can certainly thrive next to LeBron in a Mike Miller-type role as a potent shooter who can punish defenders for doubling their stars.
Threat to sign Indiana Pacers’ Doug McDermott: New York Knicks
After an essentially renaissance season, the New York Knicks managed to climb in the top-4 of the conference with a 41-31 record and halted a tumultuous seven-year playoff drought. Behind breakout star Julius Randle and Coach of the Year recipient Tom Thibodeau, the Knickerbockers finally attained an identity to build on for the future.
While they went out embarrassingly to the 5th-seeded Atlanta Hawks in the playoffs, the Knicks will have a world of flexibility going into the offseason. Projected to have the most cap space in the league, New York will have loads of cash to spend in free agency, despite the upcoming crop being relatively weak with stars having re-signed with their teams already.
New York will hunt stars like DeMar DeRozan and Kyle Lowry, but they will still have substantial money to throw at players if they acquire the big names. In this sense, Doug McDermott can easily find himself with the Knicks, especially with the team struggling on offense despite bannering a suffocating defense.
The Knicks were second in the league in three-point accuracy, but only hoisted 30 triples per game, good for 27th in the campaign. The Hawks exploited this, as Randle and Derrick Rose, their only reliable creators, are not reliable from downtown. Reggie Bullock and Alec Burks, their best shooters, are impending free agents and while both would certainly want to return, they won’t be nearly enough. McDermott can easily be a 20-25 minutes guy who can give Randle more room to isolate and cause damage.