On paper, this is about the worst the Indiana Pacers' season could have possibly gone to this point. They are 2-6, just fielded a six man rotation because injuries have hit them harder than an Oklahoma drill, and there's not a lot of moves left to make.
In reality, it somehow feels so much worse than that. This was supposed to be the comeback season. Indiana was supposed to find themselves in the upper echelon of the Eastern Conference they had defeated just two years ago. It was supposed to be a glorious revival of a team that plays beautiful basketball and has put together a team of amazingly egoless pros.
That leaves fans with a pretty terrible taste in their mouth. It's hard to find things that anyone can get excited about right now. Is it all we can do to wait around for when players return from injury and to struggle through the days in the meantime?
That seems pretty dire but also pretty unnecessary. The truth of the matter is things are pretty bad. Luckily though, things don't usually stay this bad for long. The Pacers are in a bit of a stasis right now, in which there is not much else that can go wrong anymore.
It's time to embrace that and to trust that things will get better largely because they simply must.
Sunny times to find in this season
After last draft lottery saw the Pacers lose their top-four protected first-round pick, it may be hard for Pacers fans to trust the lottery again. However, Indiana does still own their own first round pick in this coming draft. As it was in last year's gap-year, this could be an opportunity to add a young franchise changing talent to what may be the best developmental ecosystem any star prospect could walk into.
Even beyond that, there is joy to find in a team not being particularly good as long as it does not stretch on forever or come at the expense of the players.
The current Pacers – i.e. the ones who suited up to play with one sub and still nearly won – are being given more opportunity than they could ever ask for and it'll be fun to watch what they do with it. Braden Smith has already looked impressive in his first real attempt at NBA game experience.
It seems torturous to try to reclaim another season so early into this year of basketball, but it can be fun and most importantly, it's necessary if you want to keep sane while also dealing with this apocalyptic luck the Pacers have somehow incurred from the basketball gods.
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