ESPN recently released their “Way-Too-Early” NBA Power Rankings for the season and have the Pacers listed as, wouldn’t you know it, 26th out of 30 teams for the 2022-23 season. They list if we get someone to help immediately that we would compete for a playoff spot. While I won’t argue against this point too much as it is true to say this Pacers team couldn’t sneak into the playoffs is an outright tragedy.
With the growth, a lot of players are showing and the willingness to stay behind in Indiana to get shots up with teammates shows a lot about how committed these young guys are to the team and how badly they want to win.
ESPN is not the only guilty party in this underestimated mess of a ranking.
The famed Bleacher Report released their “way-too-soon” power rankings as well in mid-June.
They placed the team at 26th just like ESPN had due to the Pacers not having a set direction they want to head in and not having dealt Myles Turner or Buddy Hield for “younger assets”.
These were the first couple of paragraphs:
“Ahem…
BOOOOOORRRIIIINNNNGGGGG!!!
Sorry, but even if the Indiana Pacers aren’t the worst team in the league, they’re easily the least interesting.”
Hardly giving a real analysis throughout the overall ranking they finished off the garbage take by slandering the team altogether by saying:
“In conclusion, if the Pacers were a bagel, they’d be plain. If they were a paint color, they’d be taupe.”
It’s hard to evaluate something that doesn’t give real reasons other than the team being boring and the pace being slow as the main analysis.
Lastly, we look at the NBA’s official offseason power ranking for the Pacers. The NBA has focused on the analytical side of things applied stats and asked more questions about this new Pacers squad. Focusing more on the improvement of Tyrese Haliburton this season.
Once again focusing on the value the Pacers could get from trading Myles Turner and Buddy Hield for younger assets.
In 2017, the NBA wasn’t too sure what to make of the squad not focusing too much on the trade assets they got from the Paul George trade, instead focusing on the lack of shooting around Myles Turner and the development of rookie T.J. Leaf. Once again they listed us at 26th in the league.
Looking over all the rankings other than Bleacher Report they were all pretty consistent in ranking the Pacers 26th in the NBA for the 2022-23 season.
So, what have we learned from all the rankings?
It is that rankings, really do not mean a whole lot in the grand scheme of things. The Pacers are underrated like they have been. However every time we are underrated we somehow manage to exceed expectations.
There is a strong possibility with this team we see them at least competing for a play-in spot this year. One thing we know for sure is this team is not a plain bagel.