As August comes to a close, so much of the talk of the Eastern Conference has been about the Cleveland Cavaliers. After all, they are the last team to make a big move this offseason.
Instead of sitting on their hands and hoping for their holes to solve themselves, they did something absolutely insane. They did not fill their hole at small forward and instead made it even worse while simultaneously acquiring a player who made their roster more talented in a vacuum.
The Peyton Watson trade is fascinating. Even if they probably won't win a title, this approach of constantly adding more and more talent must be respected. If the Cavs have shirked the idea of fit, the Indiana Pacers are all in on it.
Indiana has one of the most prototypical rosters in the league. Each player is the dictionary entry of what coaches in the 90s thought they needed at their positions. While the point guard, power forward, and center spots are filled with some of the most well-rounded options in the league, the wing spots both leave a bit to be desired.
Wing gone wrong
The trio of Andrew Nembhard, Aaron Nesmith, and Kelly Oubre Jr. is a good set of options to have in the rotation, to be clear. The issue is not that the Pacers don't have any wings; it's that none of them solves all of the problems the roster still has.
There's a saying in the NFL that often doesn't translate to the NBA: "If you have two quarterbacks, you don't have one."
As the idiom goes, having two startable QBs means you don't trust either of them enough to feel good about them leading your team. In having two options, you've proven that neither is what you're looking for.
The Pacers have a similar problem with their wing options. They will need to start two of the three aforementioned names and bring one off the bench. As things stand, the expectation is that it will be Nembhard and Nesmith sticking in the starting lineup while the newcomer Oubre builds from a reserve role.
The issue is, however, that the bench is already so devoid of shot creation that Nembhard is likely the more ideal option to come in alongside TJ McConnell, Obi Toppin, and the rest of the backups. As a sixth man, Andrew could flourish in a Lou Williams role, eating usage in the non-star minutes and operating as a spacer and closeout attacker in the rest.
Nesmith and Oubre have overlapping skill sets, though, as slasher and shooter versions of each other. They both can defend effectively on the perimeter, but struggle to be their teams' go-to lockdown option. That's not even a role the Pacers have on the team.
Somehow, the best answer is moving both Nembhard and Oubre to the bench to create a platoon-style substitute system that would never leave the Pacers without rim pressure and shot creation.
There is no easy answer because the Pacers do not have two wings that give them what they need without damaging their bench or creating a logjam of players who want to do the same things.
It's a rock and a hard place situation, but nevertheless one that Indiana will need to solve. Fast.
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