Indiana Pacers: Predicting Rick Carlisle’s rotations and minutes allocation for 2021-22

What could be Rick Carlisle’s primary bench rotation for the Indiana Pacers next season?

The Indiana Pacers have one of the deepest benches in the league, with the second unit possibly surrounded by an ensemble cast of established veterans and up-and-comers. While thinning the herd will be difficult, Rick Carlisle will have a bunch of options at his disposal.

• PG: TJ McConnell (21 MPG, all at PG)
• SG: Chris Duarte or Jeremy Lamb (16 MPG,14 at SG, 2 at SF)
• SF: Justin Holiday (18 MPG, all at SF)
• PF: Oshae Brissett (22 MPG, all at PF)
• PF: Torrey Craig (11 MPG, all at PF) or
• C  : Goga Bitadze (11MPG, all at C)

In this arrangement, McConnell will continue with the primary playmaker role off the bench. He will be a high-minutes bench guy, most likely playing more than 20 minutes per game, with all of it coming with him at point guard because of his marginal perimeter game.

Duarte, the Pacers’ lottery pick, should slide in as the backup shooting guard, though his court time will be quite modest to start the season. It’s also possible that he plays the three when Indiana goes with a two-point guard set. Veteran Jeremy Lamb is an option, but he could very well be traded before the start of the campaign.

The reliable Justin Holiday will continue to assume backup small forward minutes throughout the season. Meanwhile, the upstart Oshae Brissett could be the team’s de facto sixth man, with his versatility allowing him to play north of 20 minutes per game, with most, if not all of it, coming at the power forward position.

Finally, against smaller and more athletic teams, new addition Torrey Craig could assume frontcourt minutes in lieu of Goga Bitadze, who should conversely assume backup minutes at center against bigger and more physical opponents. Both players are in line for more minutes if one of Sabonis and Turner is in foul trouble or shelved with an injury.