With the offseason still young, where do the Indiana Pacers go from here?
Through the first day of free agency, the Indiana Pacers are already up to 15 players with the additions of Chris Duarte, Isaiah Jackson, Torrey Craig, and of course the retention of T.J. McConnell. This leads to the question posed above as trades are the only way to go from here unless someone is waived which I just don’t see coming.
The obvious candidate for a trade has to be Jeremy Lamb. As the season dwindled down so did his production. I’ll try to show some optimism from his perspective and say that Nate Bjorkgren was running him at the backup PF which makes absolutely no sense. I don’t think he is a bad player by any means.
With his cap hit at $10.5 Million and his spot in the rotation looking lost, I think it’s time to move on. Easier said than done though. The Pacers will probably have to attach something enticing for a team to take on his contract. A contender could always use his services but another good route to look at would be trading him along with some other assets to get a more solidified 6th man, a Terrence Ross-esque player for example.
Other expendable options off the bench include Goga Bitazde, Justin Holiday, and even Edmond Sumner, only for good returns, of course. They aren’t the type of players to just give away. I don’t see us moving any of them, so I won’t go into detail about what we could get because I honestly don’t know.
Time for the controversial one…
Now that I covered the bench it’s time for everyone’s favorite game, Turner vs Sabonis. The Pacers currently have four centers on the roster. Yes, I said that right, four. I’m not using the drafting of Isaiah Jackson as a reason to split up the frontcourt. I know he’s a young guy that could take some time, but I do like what I’ve seen from him.
Everyone has their own opinion on which big they want to keep but I’m not using this as a time to drop my opinion on the subject. The NBA offseason is a crazy time of the year where nobody truly knows what is going to happen. For the best interest of the team, the team needs to be taking calls and fielding offers for Turner and Sabonis. If a superstar comes available you jump on it immediately. Kevin Pritchard is smart when it comes to trades so I believe in him from that facet.
To trade or not to trade? That is the age-old question. I just personally do not want to see the same team run it back, but with Duarte and Craig replacing Doug McDermott being the only major changes.