Chad Buchanan Media Availability (February 8, 2024) | Indiana Pacers

Chad Buchanan Media Availability (February 8, 2024) | Indiana Pacers

Um just start off real quick uh it’s been a busy dating back to um the move we made with Pascal which is seems like it’s been quite a while ago but um culminated today with the the trade deadline and a lot of activity as everybody knows and as aware but I want

To give you guys a chance to ask any questions about the moves that were made you know dating back to the SE yakum trade to everything that was done today so let you guys fire away Chad today what went into the thinking of moving on from Buddy Hill and the return you got

From Philadelphia yeah Buddy’s obviously a terrific player uh has meant a lot to our team the last you know couple years um he’s got a great spirit obviously a phenomenal shooter um we’re always trying to you know look look long term with this team um building this thing

Step by step I think you know dating back to you know last year when we kind of start went in this new Direction with this team it’s it’s going to be a process of building the team we want to get to the point where we’re contending for championships and that’s going to

Take some time it’s not going to happen immediately uh we feel good about the moves you know Pascal is going to be a big part of you know things moving forward um but you know buddy is is a player that you know contributed valuably to us on the court in the

Locker room um but we’re also in the situation where we got to make some tough decisions and building this team you know requires some tough decisions and today was one of them how much input did you have Tyrese halberton give you on all these moves including the seak trade especially considering his

Relationship with Buddy sure I mean not blind to their relationship very close guys uh close friends and you know play well together we know that um so you know Tai was aware of what we were planning to do and um Tai wants to win you know Tai’s you know wants is

Thinking long- term just like we are and realizes that there’s some tough decisions along the way but we’re also excited about the moves that we made today too um losing a valuable shooter and buddy but bringing in a a terrific shooter and Doug as well so um different

Types of players obviously but we know we’re losing that skill set but we feel excited about what Doug’s going to bring us you’ve alluded to several times in the past being you know chasing that strong forward or that two-way forward how long have you guys been interested

In Pascal and what made the time you actually did at the right time to acquire him oh I mean for me personally I’ve loved him since New Mexico State um but you know as a staff here we’ve been long long time in mys of Pascal we’ve

Had several you know attempts to try to get him to our team um but you know the circumstances matched this time with us and Toronto and I’ve always admired his two-way ability as his love for the game as his motor obviously as a player that just got better and better during his

Time in Toronto and I’ve always admired him from afar and felt like he would be a great fit with us and um so far he’s been phenomenal for us very happy with Pascal I guess to keep on that I mean guess were you bottom line were you

Surprised it didn’t cost you more I mean he was obviously an NBA player two-time All-Star um you know certainly Bruce was you know had contributed for you guys a lot in three first round picks but I guess were you I guess did did you expect the cost uh to get a player like

That to be higher oh I’d never diminished you know players like you know Bruce and Jordan I got a lot of respect for those guys um obviously we gave up some draft Capital um you know different you know times of situations you know the price will will vary um

Some of it’s contract related some of it’s you know direction of a team related but uh it felt like the right price for us at the right time and it was absolutely the right player to what extent I mean obviously the big question people have about that deal is you know

Is he going to be a long-term you know presence for the Pacers what um what kind of conversations have you been you know allowed to have so far I mean how how much of a sense did you have about his I mean at least I guess whether he

Was going to get keep an open mind about reigning Beyond this season sure I mean that’s a big part of of a trade is you you you trade for somebody because you want them to be here long term and we’re limited on some of the things that we

Can do with that um but you know the goal when we we attained him was to have him be a long-term piece for us and that’s still still the goal and um he’s been a great fit so far I think he’s happy so far um we’re happy with him so

It’s going to be a relationship building part here you know we’re only 11 or 12 games in so he’s still getting to know us and we’re still getting know him a little bit but I’m very optimistic about you know him being a big piece of us of

Our team moving forward you you talked earlier about just buddy just being one of those tough decisions youan you had to make I mean what um to Del guess a little bit further in that I guess what made now the time obviously you know that he’s got an expiring contract or

Whatnot but what made this the I guess best Collective move uh that you could put together if you felt like you were going to have to move on from him sure I think as a front offic you’re always is looking what’s the next step and as we

Looked into the offseason we got to start planning towards obviously we’re trying to maximize this season that’s our team’s done a great job of getting us in position to be a contender in a for a playoff spot and we don’t want to diminish that but we we as a front

Office always have to be looking to the next step we want to put ourselves in position to be good for a long time and so this today you know the decision we made with Buddy was more made for thinking a little bit down the road but

We also didn’t want to hurt our team you know too much and that’s why bring bring back Doug we feel like replaces a lot of the things that buddy brought from a shooting standpoint but we’re like I said it’s a step-by-step process we’re trying to think long term with this team

And try to be good for a long time and put ourselves in position to condem for a championship and uh today was one of those you know decisions that maybe feels like you know wasn’t helping the team now but we’re trying to look long term and I can’t emphasize that enough

With this group I guess to put a a finer point on that what what about this deal looks really good for the long term as far as you’re concerned obviously Doug’s in a similar contract position um you know he probably it might not cost you as much to resign him or

Whatnot but I mean what what are the what are the pieces of this deal that you look at and say that’s that’s the piece that makes this bigger better long term sure I think anytime you acquire draft Capital that puts you in position to make moves down the road improve your

Team I think you saw a lot of moves today that involved a lot of second round picks um you know players obviously involved but draft capital is a really important thing to building a team and we acquired a lot of that today uh that we think could be beneficial

Down the road to help you know build the team we acquired a pick last year at the draft that um helped us attain Pascal it’s draft capital is very valuable currency obviously in in the transaction business in our league and the more of that you can have the more in position

You are to make a move for a big time player and that’s what we’re trying to put ourselves in position to continue to add great players that can be long-term pieces for us Chad how do you on to that point how do you thread the needle when you know players are young they’re

Hungry they want to win like tomorrow but you have to look long term and knowing that there is an emotional side to it a relationship side to it as well yeah you never want to diminish you know the desire to win now I mean we’re we’re not out there trying to not be

Competitive I mean we’ve had a our coaches have done a phenomenal job this season with this group uh we’ve got young guys that are blossoming you know every game for us I know tonight was you know not our best night but you know the job that these coaches have done with

Some of these young players and where they’re going where they were at from when we obain obtained them to where they’re at now I I can’t say enough positive things about coaching his staff and the work ethic of these guys the unselfish team oriented hard playing you

Know style that’s what we’re trying to build this team with and so you’re trying to balance you know thinking long term but you want to put guys in position to develop and succeed and and grow and I think we’re seeing that with a lot of our young guys right now so

Excited about where we’re going with this group um and if we can continue to add to it more hard playing unselfish guys um we’re very very optimistic about our future and then with Buddy was it him asking for trade or was it just more of a team decision to move on from him

Uh I’d rather not get into the specifics of it um you know got great great admiration for Buddy and you know wish him the best in in Philadelphia and the last thing is I know it’s not related to like the trades and stuff but when you acquired Tyrese How much do you think

He’s changed the fabric of your decision-making period because of the leap he made particularly this year from being you know an allar to potentially an all-nba caliber player yeah Tyrese is obviously a foundational player and um hope he’s here for long long time hope he retires a Pacer um and he has changed

Our thinking a little bit some of it is his style of play you know it changes the type of players that you’re looking to put around him uh but also his elevation of where he’s taking our team in such a short amount of time you know we’re looking for players that maybe we

Want to have some young guys that are developing but we also got to have some veterans that are helping us win now because this team’s shown that we can be competitive with the very best teams in the league and if we can get into a playoff situation uh and Tai is our

Leader and you know playing with the pace we play and the confidence he exudes and puts in other players um that kind of elevates us to want to be good A little quicker than maybe we anticipated but we also don’t want to skip steps along the way when you talk about long-term

Benefit it would seem that Ben Benedict Ma’s going to get a lot more minutes or get some more minutes was that part of the equation as well yeah I think we got some young players that were you know behind buddy that we are optimistic about and believe in and wanted to see

You know this this move obviously like you said you know creates some opportunity for some of those players and you know Ben being one of them and we want to see what he can do with you know a little more of a of a role and a little more responsibility and we’re

Going to go through highs and lows with our young players we know that um but we’re also you know believ in these guys that’s why we draft them that’s why we brought them here uh we want to help them grow help them develop and help him

Turn into Big Time Players for our team Chad in what ways do you feel like he Pascal completely changed is your trajectory and where you guys are trying to get in the next year or two well he’s obviously he’s a champion uh he’s got a lot of experience under his belt um he

Gives a little you know a more layer of experience for our for our starting group he gives us some versatility in this you know sense that he’s a 69 you know versatile power forward it’s kind of a position we’ve been looking for type of player we’ve been looking for uh

But we also know we’re still a working progress I mean Pascal takes us to another level but we still know we’ve got more work to do is building the roster and developing some of these young players but uh I do feel like we’ve you know adding Pascal to this

Group has kind of elevated us to maybe the next step um and we’ve just got to find more pieces to put with this group having tracked him as long as you have what are some personality traits some skill set even off the court that has stood out to you that you’re excited

That he’s adding to this group yeah I really didn’t know him very well none of us did until the trade obviously you have very little exposure to other team’s players um in this league other than occasional off season bump in but um so far he’s been a very jovial joyful

Guy who uh you can tell he loves basketball I mean he knew a lot about our team from the day we got him uh he studies the league he loves to play he fits right in with our group and I think he’s you know so far he’s enjoyed Indie

It’s a big change all he knows is Toronto from his NBA experience so he’s getting to know Indie um and been very seamless fit with our group from our players in our locker room to our coaches to our staff um everybody’s just you know he’s been an easy easy fit like

We had hoped and uh what considerations did you guys give to keeping Corey keeping cork Ms within it much like last season I assume they maybe had a decision yeah uh you know some of it is trying to keep flexibility with our roster um you know we wanted to you know

Have the ability to maybe look at some other players with our last roster spot um we’re going to have an open roster spot and we might look at some different options there um there’s lots of you know different methods to do that um so that was kind of important to us you

Know Cory is a player that you know we had here before and I have a lot of respect for him but um we want to have the flexibility to maybe look at a different different player uh we may do it we may not we may haven’t decided for

Sure what we’ll do with that last roster spot but we have options there and um but you know I have a lot of respect for Corey as a person as a player too wanted to go back to what you said about Pascal in like positional versatility I mean how has he changed

The way that you look at this roster I guess kind of on positional level from a short-term to long term basis a short-term basis and a long-term basis in terms of what you feel like you need to put around him and just again just how it kind of changes the math and sort

Of I guess the geometry there sure I think we’re still feeling that out obviously it’s only been what it’s been 12 games or whatever and you know our players are feeling him out he’s feeling out our players so that’s that takes a little time to develop that chemistry um

But you know I think when we brought him here we felt like this is our long-term solution at a starting four position for us and him and Tyrese together we thought would be a good fit and they’re still figuring each other out but we’re very very hopeful and optimistic about

That fit moving forward and so it you know if those two guys are big pieces you know of your group it’s finding the pieces that fit around those two give them space to do what they do best um whether that’s shooting around them whether that’s physicality whether that’s Rim protection uh ball handing

Whatever it might be so you’re trying to figure out what complement your best players and we’re still kind of learning how those two guys fit together and how type Pascal fits in with the whole group um but been very very optimistic he’s still learning things I mean he’s he’s

Out there you know still kind of getting to know his teammates he’s learning the plays every day getting comfortable with what he’s doing and I think you see moments where he’s you know he’s very unselfish he’s hard playing uh which is exactly what we’re looking for in a

Player and um but we’re still learning that as as we go along Chad um how have you all as a front office as a team just kind of helped Tyrese navigate the 65 game rule you know he wants to play he’s working through the hamstring thing now obviously he’s not a selfish person

Selfish player but there’s a lot of lot writing on that if that makes sense yeah I think the core of it is Tyrese loves the game like he’s I take away the 65 game rule Tyrese wants to be out there playing because he loves basketball and

You can see you know when he doesn’t get to play is just it hurts and I think you know you can see right now he’s he’s finding his way back to being 100% he’s not there yet but uh we also want to get him out there you know as much as we can

Cuz he helps our team I mean we’re just a a better team when he plays um but you also want to be conscious of the long term for him uh for our organization but um we want him to get you know we want to be on the floor every night and

Trying to work with him on what’s right with his body every night uh you know there’s certain nights where you know he’s not going to feel as good and so you got to be conscious of that and not put him out there and put him at risk for something that might jeopardize

Things long term so our medical staff our coaching staff Tyrese you know it’s a lot of communication uh making sure we’re doing the right thing for him but trying to get him out there as many games as we can and he mentioned how it was kind of weird trying to get

Acclimated to Pascal because he wasn’t 100% healthy when he first got here how did that maybe factor into just how you evaluate evaluated your roster before the trade deadline yeah it’s it’s still so early with Pascal with us I mean it’s it’s like like I said it’s just been a

Limited number of games so far and it’s it might be in you know you may not know right away you may not know till a lot further down the road uh how they how they complement each other and fit together and it takes players a little while to figure things out now Tyrese

Can you know pick things up quickly on you know how to how to maximize another player and he did a lot of research on Pascal before the trade you know finding out you know how to play with him how where he likes the ball um a lot about

His personality so he’s done his background but I think Tyresa figure him out pretty quick and I think Pascal he’s just got so much smarts and so much experience that’ll it’ll he’ll figure things out as well but um helping those two guys together it’s it’ll take a

Little time but we have a Hall of Fame coach and a great coaching staff that are are working on that every day Chad with Doug was it opportunistic after getting Marcus in the pick was he somebody you identified earlier in the day how did that all kind of come

Together for you guys yeah I think we knew when there was a possibility we might be losing the you know caliber shooter we’re losing in buddy you your in first instinct is can we replace it and there were candidates we looked at for that you know some are available

Some are not and you know Doug is a guy who’s Rick’s coached before we’ve obviously had him here as a Pacer before but he’s never played with our our group you know things have changed since he was here last and we talked with him about that today quite a bit he’s super

Excited to come play with this group um you know the way we play the the way the ball moves the pace we play at the amount of perimeter shots Tyrese creates for other people uh as well as TJ and Drew I think he’s going to find himself

Very very comfortable very quickly as my guess and you know Doug’s another hardworking High character you know Pro who’s you know going to fit in great with our group a lot of our guys you know know him already from past you know being a teammate with him but he’s a guy

That I think is going to be a good good fit with the way we play yes um before the season out it goes to get into the playoffs but after the inseason tournament after the trade with piscal pagam do you have a higher goal as a fast forward for for teams a

Trajectory yeah I think the goal is is continue to get better and better um you know the inseason tournament was a you know great performance for our guys and now you know we’re kind of past that you know we’re moving on to the next step is

To to make the playoffs and um you know that is the goal of everybody in that room and in that locker room and you know us as a front office want to see that as well and we’re also trying to look long term and that’s why you know

The moves we made today you know reflect that but yeah we we’d like to be in the playoffs and everybody in that room is doing everything they can to get there

Pacers general manager Chad Buchanan spoke with the media following the 2024 NBA trade deadline.