As the Indiana Pacers’ offseason continues with pre-draft workouts commencing, it has a lot of people thinking about how bright the future of the Pacers really is. After a few disappointing seasons, the franchise is in a good spot to draft high this offseason and bring in more young talent.
Some members of the Indiana Pacers have stayed in town to get some extra work in during the offseason. Seeing the young guys working to improve is promising.
Recent pictures show that most of the young guys stayed in Indiana to work on their game and improve their chemistry with each other. Even some of the Veterans stayed around to help out the younger group and build on the last few games of the season.
building. 📈 pic.twitter.com/MIMTyHj1rl
— Indiana Pacers (@Pacers) May 12, 2022
The roster is looking like a team to be built around Tyrese Haliburton and other talented young players in Isaiah Jackson, Duane Washington Jr, and Chris Duarte to name a few.
With Haliburton learning to come into his own, take shots, and facilitate at a high level. Pacer fans should expect an increase in his scoring production on the court.
Tyrese Haliburton with the Pacers: 17.5 points, 9.6 assists, 4.3 rebounds, 1.8 steals on 50.2% from the field, and 41.6% from three. While Tyrese did struggle for a six-game stretch at the end of the season it should only be looked at as growing pains nothing more.
Looking at the Pacers’ young core, Isaiah Jackson looks to be a great piece on the pick and roll side of the ball. He proved this season he has the essentials to be a great roller for whoever may be handling the ball. Isaiah also showed flashes of being a great shot blocker and could possibly play around Myles Turner in the paint.
Isaiah Jackson since January 19th: 11.1 points, 5.2 rebounds, 1.9 blocks, 57.4% from the field, and 31.3% from three.
The only knock against Jackson would be that he gets into foul trouble early in games, if this problem can be whittled down, he will be a great piece to have in the rotation.
Duane Washington Jr. came onto the scene as an experiment to see what the Pacers had through this season. He became a real sparkplug off the bench leading to some solid scoring in limited minutes.
Washington with more practice and work this offseason could be that reliable scoring the Pacers need coming off the bench for the future.
Last but certainly not least is the Pacers’ first-round pick from 2021, Chris Duarte. If there could be two words used to describe Duarte’s rookie season it would be potential and instability.
In his first year, Chris showed flashes of great potential to be the Pacers’ future shooting guard. For example, he got himself 27 points against the Hornets in the first game of the season and his first career NBA game. His role wasn’t stable for most of the season until the trade to Caris LeVert was made, then Chris got hurt and we didn’t get to see much else from him after.
Other nights he struggled just trying to knock down shots such as against Golden State on Dec. 13th only scoring 3 points on 1 for 6 shooting. With some offseason work, Chris should improve in his sophomore season.
The good news is three of the four players mentioned are locked into contracts 2024-25 season so these guys could be part of the Pacers’ future barring any trades.
With that being said, how bright is the Pacers’ future really?
It will depend on the development of these young guys and which players the front office can bring in to support their young core. The main focus for the next few years will be on development and growth to see what these young stars really have.