Indiana Pacers: Reacting to ESPN’s Top 100 NBA players

The Indiana Pacers had four players listed in ESPN’s preseason Top 100 players for the 2021-22 NBA season. Despite missing the playoffs last season, the Pacers have quite a bit of representation on this ranking and that should excite fans heading into the new season.

Shockingly, T.J. Warren was not one of the four Pacers to crack the list but his injury is likely a big reason why. All four of the other starters made their way onto the list but the order may shock some of you.

Reacting to how ESPN ranks the Indiana Pacers

The first Pacer to hit the list was Caris LeVert who checked in at 80th overall. He ranked 46th in 2020 and had a very strong finish to his season after returning from surgery. Sliding 34 spots after the season he had is a bit confusing but LeVert will be higher heading into next season.

Either way, Caris is a very good scorer and will be a fun weapon for Rick Carlisle this season. The Pacers are in good hands with Caris handling some of the backcourt work with Malcolm Brogdon.

Speaking of Brogdon, he checked in at 65th on the list after landing 39th the year before. His slide is also a bit confusing given his strong season in 2020-21 but it is what it is. Brogdon is a very reliable point guard and was unstoppable to start last season. If he can do that again this season, the Pacers will be back in the mix.

I’m not quite sure how a player averaging 21.2 points per game with 5.9 assists and 5.3 rebounds can fall that far in the rankings. He may need to do exactly that to get back up in the rankings next season.

The first real shock to some will be seeing Myles Turner checking in at 44th overall. He was 74th heading into 2020 and was perhaps not THAT much better last season. On the other hand, a lot of Pacers fans will be ecstatic to see Turner finally getting the respect he deserves as one of the league’s top defenders.

It looks as if these rankings are not entirely focused on the offensive arsenal and have given some credit to the other end of the floor. Turner is a top-five defensive big in the NBA so this is not that bizarre of a ranking.

His running mate in the frontcourt, Domantas Sabonis comes in just a few slots higher at 40th overall. That should not only ease the idea that he is the best player on the team but also show that the gap between Sabonis and Turner is not that wide.

Sabonis and Turner being so closely ranked shows a lot about the idea of running a two-big lineup and how it can be hard to break them up. Both are very highly respected around the league for very different reasons.

From a general outlook, there are two major takeaways that I left with. Firstly, the Pacers have a lot of talent on their roster and should be a very good team this season. The other is that Indiana lacks any real star and will have trouble with the rest of the league’s top units.

With your best player coming in at 40th in the league – and your second-best player sharing the same position – the Pacers are not going to be all that competitive. Only have one wing in the top 100, if you even want to consider LeVert a wing, is not promising.

ESPN did a pretty good job with the rankings but there will be fans who disagree. The biggest issue almost certainly going to be Turner coming in so closely behind Sabonis but I think that is a fair assessment. Both guys are excellent at what they do but they are also limited on one end of the floor.