The blueprint Pacers must steal from Rick Carlisle's former team
By Ryan Stano
The Indiana Pacers made the Eastern Conference Finals this year by building their roster piece by piece. A trade here, a signing there, a draft piece here. That's how they built a team that was one of the final four standing this season. It was a great approach over the last few years.
Part of that approach was trading for Pascal Siakam this year. They schooled the rest of the NBA on how to properly use the salary cap in order to trade for him. They identified a player that they wanted that filled a position of need. It was a great trade for Indiana.
Now that they know that they have a team that can compete, they need to slightly change their approach again. They are no longer in the rebuilding stages. It's time for the Pacers to go all in and start cashing in the many chips that they have to contend for a title.
The Indiana Pacers need to follow what the Dallas Mavericks did this year
Look at what Rick Carlisle's old team did this year. The Dallas Mavericks are playing in the NBA Finals because they were aggressive in filling team needs. They went out and got both P.J. Washington and Daniel Gafford at the trade deadline to improve their frontcourt, something they desperately needed to do.
Once those guys came in, their defense improved immensely. They had a guy who could protect the rim in Gafford and a guy who had length in Washington. Washington's ability to hit threes also filled a need the Mavs had. They needed guys who Luka Doncic and Kyrie Irving could kick out to.
The Pacers need to follow a similar blueprint. They need to trade some assets that they have in order to be a Finals team. Indiana has control of all of their draft picks moving forward except for their 2026 first-round pick. They also have some coveted players on their current roster.
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It's time for them to cash in some of these chips to go out and get a wing. They need a small forward who can play defense and isn't a zero on offense. Mikal Bridges, OG Anunoby, and Herb Jones all come to mind. All of those guys would be a great fit for this Pacers team.