6. Figure out the Chris Duarte conundrum
Last season, Duarte came out on a hot streak and immediately impressed many Pacers fans. However since, he has come back to earth dramatically without much to show for it in his second season with the team.
In some ways this isn’t his fault, he plays a position that the Pacers are relatively stacked in. But also, the Pacers may be paying the price for developing a win-now type player that didn’t have the long-term development upside, something they may go back and redo if possible.
Because of this, Duarte finds himself in a conundrum. He’s not good enough to be a solid rotation player on a contending team, but he hasn’t got enough development upside to play ahead of players like Nembhard and Mathurin for minutes in the rotation.
The Pacers this offseason will have to make a decision to commit one way or the other on Duarte. Keep him? Then you have to develop him and play him. Unwilling to give him minutes? Cut your losses and trade him for a piece of value. There is no point to having him sit the bench without developing the young player.