Indiana Pacers: Five takeaways from Kevin Pritchard’s press conference

Friday after the NBA Trade Deadline, Indiana Pacers President of Basketball Operations, Kevin Pritchard addressed the media to discuss the moves the front office made during the week.

This year we clearly saw something out of the ordinary, but with losses piling up it was evident that change was not only needed, but all Pacers fans knew it was coming.

Since taking over as President for the Indiana Pacers, we have seldom seen Kevin Pritchard make in-season moves. That was not the case this season, as Indiana flipped its entire roster.

The massive trade to acquire point guard Tyrese Haliburton was as stunning of a move as we have seen from Kevin Pritchard.

It’s not easy to trade the best player on your team and a two-time All-Star, but when you’re trying to acquire a special player like Haliburton, you have to make some tough decisions.

Kevin Pritchard spoke with the media for about 30-minutes, and I found these comments to be the five most noteworthy to discuss.

Pritchard: “How we wanted to attack this trade deadline, let’s be super aggressive. That’s a little different than what we’ve done in the past. But I felt like this year, with where the team was heading, the trades pulled us in a nice direction.”

First and foremost, I love this comment from Kevin Pritchard. The team was aggressive in making moves and they ended up getting a promising young guard in Tyrese Haliburton. If this is the mindset Pritchard had at the deadline, what will his mindset be heading into the offseason?

With numerous picks, cap space, and trade exceptions at his disposal, I anticipate Kevin Pritchard and the front office having the “super aggressive” mindset.

Rick Carlisle was brought in here to win now, and now that they have a young point guard in Haliburton to build around, they can be more aggressive in finding the right pieces to place around him.

Pritchard: “Getting a point guard that is young with upside and you feel like you can build around for the next 10 years…those don’t come around very often. I feel like we have a foundational piece and a terrific piece moving forward.”

Did you hear that Malcolm Brogdon? Kevin Pritchard thinks that Tyrese is the point guard for the next decade. Brogdon has been adamant that he is a point guard. Well, this is Haliburton’s team now and Brogdon is going to have to adjust as an off-ball guard.

Rick Carlisle has already stated that he likes the ability to have multiple playmakers out there on the floor together. Brogdon and Haliburton skill-wise do fit together on paper, but Brogdon will have to accept a different role than what he was brought to Indiana for.

Haliburton is about to turn 22-years old this season and Brogdon is already 29-years old. If the Pacers are building around Haliburton, does Brogdon really fit? Probably not.

Pritchard’s bold statement here clearly identifies who the face of the franchise is going forward. It’s Tyrese Haliburton. With clarity on who the face of the franchise is, I am curious to see how the rest of the roster responds.

With Sabonis here as the face of the franchise, it was stated by Pritchard in The Athletic that the Pacers didn’t have a star. It was a built-by-committee format, but this feels much different.

Pritchard said the league is trending towards guards and that they had targeted Haliburton and they had wanted him. With an endorsement like that, there is no question that this is Tyrese Haliburton’s team moving forward.

Kevin Pritchard on the upcoming NBA Draft being one of the biggest in franchise history: “Without a doubt. I don’t know where we’ll pick, but maybe we have the draft capital now to get what we want.”

With another first-round draft pick from Cleveland (lottery protected), the Houston second-round pick, and the Phoenix second-round pick, the Pacers have the assets to move up in the draft. The Indiana Pacers also hold all their future first-round draft picks moving forward. If there is a player they like at the top of the draft, they could trade multiple picks to get to where they want to in the draft.

This draft class is viewed as a much lesser class than the 2023 draft class, but there are still some special players at the top. If there is a desperate team that wants to trade for the Indiana Pacers’ first-round pick, I wouldn’t be shocked if they traded their pick for a player to pair with Haliburton.

There are a lot of avenues the Pacers can take with this pick, so I think it would be best to leave all options open. Since Rick Carlisle has come on board, I think all fans would say they are happy with the moves this team has made.

The collection of Pritchard, Buchanan, Carlisle, Krauskopf and Wu have shown that they want to take this team from an underwhelming bottom-dweller to a playoff-contending team. Rome wasn’t built in a day, but the front office has made drastic steps to restore the future of the franchise.

Pritchard: “I think we are going to be opportunistic and when we see something, we usually pounce and we go all in. That’s how I think we’ll make big changes to help this team.”

I can’t think of one fan who anticipated the Indiana Pacers making such a big move to go out and trade for Tyrese Haliburton. The front office saw a guy they wanted and they pounced and went all in. This quote could be Kevin Pritchard foreshadowing what he plans to do this coming offseason.

Pritchard has to be feeling good about what he and his team pulled off during the week of the trade deadline and how they were able to negotiate with opposing teams until they got the deals they wanted.

The reshaping of this roster has only passed phase one. That phase was the most important because you have your guy to build around, but finding the right pieces to build around Haliburton will be the challenging part.

There are already a few players on this team that you would characterize as building blocks around Haliburton, but there are still holes that need to be addressed, and that can either come from the draft, the trade market, or via free agency.

With how respected Haliburton is across the league, you have to wonder if having a guard like that on your roster could impact other players’ desires to be in Indiana to play with him.

Pritchard: “The truth is if all healthy we don’t know what this team could’ve been. You can’t keep saying well if we’re healthy we’re gonna be a really good team. There’s a point in time when you say enough is enough and you go in a different direction.”

I never thought we would hear Kevin Pritchard make a comment on the “if healthy” narrative. This previous team was built on a starting five of players that have all missed significant time with injuries.

T.J. Warren has now played in just 4 of the last 130-games. Malcolm Brogdon has played in 138-games out of a possible 203-games since coming to Indiana. Myles Turner has missed 52-games since 2019-2020 and has suffered three-foot injuries (sprained ankle in 2019-2020, partial tear in his toe in 2020-2021, and a stress reaction in his foot in 2021-2022).

Warren has expressed his desire to be in Indiana, but with the number of games that he has missed, you have to wonder if Indiana has any desire to bring him back. The only benefit Indiana might get in bringing back Warren is if he takes a cheaper deal for fewer years to prove that he can stay healthy.

Brogdon, the team’s leader, and point guard might have already lost both responsibilities with the addition of Haliburton. If you factor in the history of injuries Brogdon has had since joining the Pacers in 2019, the writing might already be on the wall here for his future with the team. When healthy, Brogdon’s been one of the best players for the Indiana Pacers, but the best ability is availability.

Turner is still out with a stress reaction and it was part of the reason he wasn’t moved this NBA Trade Deadline. Carlisle has praised Turner’s defensive rim protection and the team has been drastically worse defensively with Turner sidelined, but this is three years in a row now that Turner has suffered from some type of foot injury.

With Brogdon being extended before the season started at roughly the same amount of money per year for two more years, I can see teams being enticed to inquire about him.

Warren will be a free agent so the ball is in his court with what he decides to do. If there is a team that is willing to offer him a long-term contract with guaranteed money, he should run with that deal.

Suffering multiple foot injuries in Phoenix before Indiana acquired him, was part of the reason the Indiana Pacers were able to acquire him for cash considerations. Bubble Warren was a fantastic experience, but he’s only played in four games since that moment.

Turner finally has the opportunity to showcase why he should be the center of the present and the future. He will be 26 in March and still has his prime years ahead of him. However, the injuries he’s suffered are worrisome.

When Turner came into the draft, the reason teams were originally scared off was due to his weird running form. There were serious concerns about his long-term health but the Indiana Pacers took a chance on him. Truth is, Turner has been more healthy than not.

Injuries are indeed a part of the game, but when it’s the same players who consistently get hurt, you can no longer rely on them to be there for your team the majority of the season. The front office really has to weigh their options moving forward to determine what injury-prone players are worth investing in.

Final Thoughts

I love the direction this team is headed. Tyrese Haliburton in just two games has showcased so much potential that you’d be a fool to not be excited.

Flexibility is the name of the game, and the Indiana Pacers are loaded in that area with: cap space, expiring contracts you can use to perform sign and trades, trade exceptions, and a plethora of draft picks. This team is in a great spot to get better.

Kevin Pritchard gave us a lot of great quotes in this press conference that shined a light on the hope and potential of the Indiana Pacers’ future. The front office has redeemed itself from some bad mistakes made over the past few seasons with the moves they have made since the 2021 NBA Draft.

The momentum from the great moves made can’t stop now. All signs point to Haliburton wanting to be in Indiana and lead this team back to their glory days.

Unlike the last three All-Stars who have been dealt with the fear they wouldn’t re-sign at the end of their contract, let’s hope Haliburton is here for good. Kevin Pritchard and company must build a solid team to complement the abilities of their future star, Tyrese Haliburton.