The 3 (okay, 6) biggest storylines for the Indiana Pacers the rest of this season

The 3 (okay, 6) biggest storylines for the Indiana Pacers the rest of this season

The All-Star break is over Pacers Pistons tonight and with the All-Star break over what are the three AKA six biggest story lines to watch with the Pacers the rest of the way will fur is goingon to join us to break them all down today on the lock on Pacers podcast

You are locked on Pacers your daily Indiana Pacers podcast part of the locked on podcast Network your team every day what up y’all happy Thursday and welcome into another edition of the lon Pacers podcast where are we of course talk about the Indiana Pacers as always my

Name is Tony East I cover the team for Forbes and Si and today we’re done with the allstar break Pacers Hoops is back taking on the Detroit Pistons tonight in gamebridge field house we finally have real NBA basketball games to talk about again and there’s a lot to cover for the

Pacers who are have had up and down results of lates to put it nicely uh and would like to recover with a tight playoff race coming for them in this final third of the Season clean break is a good time to reflect and look ahead

And will fur is going to join us to do exactly that we’re going to talk about the biggest storylines to monitor for the Pacers down the stretch of the Season we each came up with three which means there are six of these even though it’s going to say three in the title of

The show most likely lots to talk about with their rotation with roster spots with defense a lot of Pascal seum chat it’s all coming let’s just get right to it the season is back no more talking about Allstar the regular season Returns the Pacers haven’t played in Eight Days

Remember the Pacers they’re a basketball team in the NBA who are six in the Eastern Conference and they play about a third of their season still and a lot of people including myself we going to call this the air quotes halfway point that’s wrong but either way let’s talk about

The the rest of the season and the biggest storylines to monitor for the Pacers the rest of the way I have come up with three and my guest today a very frequent visitor here former Legend at 8 points9 seconds and contributor at the Fieldhouse it’s will for will stop

Beating me in fantasy football how are you are you ready for the last half air quotes of the Pacers season I keep offering you excellent trades and you just tell me you don’t know who those players are and I can’t help you this is a thing that happens this is a frequent

Problem for me oh I’m excellent Tony how are you doing man I’m good I finally have recharged from the event that was all-star weekend I’m ready for games again it’s going to be very interesting going from an event where there’s 500 media people interviewing every player to Pacers

Pistons where there will be four of us probably so that will be interesting um in theory a good nice cushiony start for the Pacers who won’t have Ain nemith and we trying to work some stuff in they finally got to do practice two days in a

Row which is like unheard of during the season would you like to go first for your late season story lines will or would you like me to go first oh I’ll go first I don’t want you to steal my good one good good okay um my my biggest

Question my number one uh who starts next to halberton who starts next to Tyrese wow I know it’s been Aaron nart for like the last came back yes Andrew nard yes if I could combine Aaron n Smith that would be a great player right there um I know it’s been Andrew nard

And he was he was okay starting last year uh but he just leaves a little to be desired for me I don’t know if he’s that guy that is the the fifth piece because the four obviously we got Inc who’s our fifth yeah I’ve long thought of like and

I was even thinking about this earlier today but not for the same reason you’re asking the question of like who is the ideal two guard next to to tyres Alberton you know like can I give you a name it like Casey P kavus called all

Pope like that is as you know as as close to like the guy glue fit and he’ll be too old by the time he’s available to like be the guy but know someone like that and Andrew neard certainly has a role on this Pacers team you need more

Ball handlers you need Juiced up bench guys he’s good he’s shooting well since coming back from that inseason tournament injuries over 40% from three I also look that up today right so he’s a good player I think he I am of the opinion that he should be the fifth

Starter I said that after the yakum trade because I like the defense he provides in that starting group but if he’s shooting better there is value to having him with the bench and I think the other question is and I’m sure this is part of why you’re asking this is

They said at the trade deadline they’re thinking long term well a big long-term question for the Pacers is the fit of Ben Maan and tyres halberton together so I would be curious if they would like to explore that in the halberton SE yakum world is that what is that part of your

Thinking what else goes into this for you I that is part of it yeah and that that touches on another thing that I was thinking about you know whether or not mathin can bounce back I know he was sick for a while and then I didn’t even

Realize he had a knee injury I thought he was just out with more illness um I missed that designation specifically but I just think the lineup lacks uh some dynamism with nard he’s pretty thin he’s not gonna get to the rim you know he’s he’s got a great floater game he’s years

Ahead of his age with his his finishing in like that 10- foot range that 7even eight n area but I I think the Pacers need another Dynamic Physical player there and the player that mine can profile to be awesome the player he’s been this year not

Sure can I can I pitch you two ideas and it’s really one idea with two other ways of doing it can I pitch you Erin n Smith at the two Pascal sakam at the three and then one of McDermot topping at the four I had thought about almost the

Exact same thing but Jaylen Smith at the four okay yeah see lot lot of ways to go with it that’s so huge that is a massive group with Smith yeah so so top and Smith is about rebounding right they’ve been crap on the boards of late and then

McDermott’s just like okay you know we’re just gonna light you up the second we’re just gonna light you up the second of the game starts so I agree that they’re I so if I were in charge if I’m R Carlile I’m starting Andrew neard the

First game out of the the break but I am also open to we have Doug mcder now we have Pascal seaka if I’m Rick thinking about tinkering even though I think that leaning as heavily into defense as they can is what they should be doing with

The starting five even though I get the other arguments certainly especially not they’re thinking long term again right explains the uh the trade deadline flurry that they had yes okay um so I’ll do I’ll do a rotation one to for my and this one’s kind of boring I probably should do someone more

Interesting than this n never mind screw it we’re on the topic of the rotation let’s do it can I can I pitch you what I think is an interesting potential battle coming for the Pacers because we just saw it a little bit in Toronto maen out

He’s sick and hasn’t e and then n Smith gets hurt mid game and N Smith is going to miss at least this first game coming back and then they have two days off so that’s good Doug McDermot played and played pretty well in Toronto they needed those threes that they got from

Him he almost H the 60-footer still missed some shots but figuring it out and then Ben Shepard had the game of his life is there would you be willing to think if you’re the Pacers hey let’s be open-minded about who our backup Wing is between those two guys because I think

MC D’s going to get the spot he’s better right now but I think there is a consideration if Shepard defends continually at this level to have him be the 10th guy in the rotation I know I I can tell that Rick has has some real love for Shephard which is weird I know

That his a lot of his coaching career is ignoring rookies uh that’s that’s been a trend in his past I was not a Shepherd guy I he’s he’s real thin I don’t think he has necessarily the strength or quickness to guard wings but every time I say

Something like that he comes out and he you know bangs with RJ Barrett on the closing possession of a game and on okay sure uh I would have pitched I I want to see Walker I want it also also an option yeah yes I maybe I’m just too hesitant at

This point like I keep watching jarus the G his offense is way better than it was four months ago I just don’t think he’s going to be able to guard and maybe that’s fine and they’re willing to live with that and if they’re already thinking about doing a young guy instead

Of Doug mcder maybe you go with the lottery pick maybe that is the answer I just think that they’re in too tight of a seating race to me to do that I if they had any sort of playoff cushion I think that would be much more of a

Discussion but I don’t know at some point if you were in the lottery last year if you were the seventh worst team in the NBA last year you know there is some well let’s maybe continue on the path we were on even though clearly by trading for SE yakum they are on a

Different path than that yeah yeah absolutely and that would be obiously the risky play although I don’t think you’re going to get worse defense from him than McDermot uh McDermot is obviously the highest level shooter on the team and feels the need that with the Pacers lost when they

Traded buddy like I I get that uh Walker has been a surprisingly good shooter I watch him shoot and I don’t think it’s going to go in and it does so that’s exciting development he he looks like he can play defense and maybe I’m just getting

Mesmerized by that but he’s big and he’s Burly and he’s quick and I just think that’s a dimension that the Pacers don’t have outside of seum and if you can get him to even be like a a sea level Defender just in understanding of Defense than his physical tools his

Physical assets are going to let him do a lot of things that mcdermid and Shephard just can’t do I don’t think that’s going to happen though I think it is going to be Shephard when they need a little more ball handling McDermot when they need a little more shooting and I’m

Fine with that that’s the way it’s going to play out you called him a sea-level Defender and I wanted to make a global warming joke but I I am restraining myself from a sea level joke yeah and the other so the other small part of this is again if they had

Any wiggle room to explore this maybe they should like with toppin free agency and maybe jayen Smith free agency coming like you’d like to have some idea that jerus Walker can be your reserve next year right so I I and maybe they’re happy with the G League progress and

They already know but that is certainly an aspect I I did not consider but I think I think the most likely outcome and I’m I think this is reasonable is that just McDermot gets the 10th spot and that’s fine and maybe the play doesn’t play but for now I am open into

Them thinking about the youth there hey guys let’s take a short little break to talk about LinkedIn jobs because when you’re hiring for your small business you going to find quality professionals that are right for the role and that’s why you have to check out LinkedIn jobs LinkedIn jobs has the

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Could be next post your job for free at linkedin.com lockdown MBA that’s LinkedIn / lockdown NBA to post your job for free terms and conditions apply number two rest of season storyline from you wil fur yeah can can the Pacers avoid the play

In on my list that is on my list I have no doubt the the standings are mess the the Pacers are what uh couple games they’re two and a half games out of fourth and a half game ahead of eighth it’s crazy so and keep going

Sorry I just looking at the teams in in that list you know number four is the Knicks they’re dealing with Robinson Randall OG are all hurt the Sixers are missing in beid uh the heat don’t care about the regular season they’re number seven right behind the Pacers

Uh I also know that Rosier is hurt I don’t know how much that matters for them uh just he hadn’t really had a chance to establish himself and then the magic or the magic they’re an eighth but they’re also seven and three in their

Last 10 um so you could look at it and say well the the Pacers you know kind of took their lumps when Tyrese was out and they they played much better without halberton than they did last year certainly didn’t I think they went like one and 12 last last year without him

They did considerably better than that this year uh maybe it’s the time for the Pacers to be healthy and kind of make a little run but it is it is such a jumbled mess right there and I could not tell you if you forced me whether the

Pacers are better or worse than almost any of those teams I would say they’re worse than the heat I feel pretty confident about that yeah it’s so it’s true Ry okay lot of Dynamics here the healthy Nicks are one of the best war teams in these to me

They are awesome I’m I’m terrified of the healthy Knicks yeah uh I was thinking today I was listening to someone else’s podcast talking about the Knicks and I was like man it would not be unreasonable to me at all if the if the freaking Knicks were in the

Conference Finals this year like they’re that good um but we got injured reports today finally after eight days away ogan anobi still out they play the Sixers fit one of them will lose tomorrow Oobi still out Julius Randle still out his shoulder is bad uh and Mitchell Robinson

Still out so yeah Jaylen brunson’s awesome and they’re healthier than when they played the Pacers in that game before the break but like they’ve got to hold on and the Sixers without embiid are a miracle winning Cleveland away from being two and eight in their last

10 games so on one hand I’m like oh the Pacers play reasonably well for the next three weeks they’re going to be right in the think of it with with the fourth and fifth seed the other hand I’m like well well the heat are playing good again

Right and Bam looks great and they added Terry rier and I never will bet against the Heat ever or Eric spola and the magic are rounding into form after missing France Vagner for a while and they didn’t add a guard so I don’t know that they can have a ton of upward

Trajectory but they’re good they’re a good young team they’re going to be hard to hold off too and pointedly for tiebreaker reasons they’ve kicked the Pacers behind twice this season so I think the odds to me kind of level out on the top and low ends but they’re only

A half game ahead like if the magic and he had an extra game before the Pacers played again after the break it they could be tied for eighth right so it’s like they have no margin for error so that is of course the biggest storyline like for them away like every night

They’re going to be checking the scores beond their own to see what goes on right so that’s huge and matters a great deal and I think that there’s no way they’ll fall tonight so they’ll have I talked about this yesterday pretend every playing game’s a 50-50 chance I

Don’t think that’s exactly the case but close enough you have a three and four chance to make it through the plan that’s not like a guarantee but it’s good odds but if you can avoid that and have a 100% chance of playing a playoff game you’d certainly prefer that so that

Is of course a big deal you also get to avoid the Celtics in that scenario which would be great yes so here’s a stupid question I was thinking about will would you be willing to if you are the ma if you’re the master of all the seed you get to decide

And you’re and you’re the Pacers in you’re picking Let’s Pretend the Bucks finish second would you be willing to risk the play in to try to get seven because that’s probably the team you feel the best against if you’re the Pacers of the top teams in the East

Maybe Cleveland but I think they’d feel pretty good against a team they beat four times I I want the Pacers to play the Bucks especially after Dame over Allstar Weekend taking the MVP from halberton come on uh I want the Bucks it’d be the perfect series it’d be awesome but I don’t I

Don’t think a young team with not a lot of playoff experience just throughout the roster could ever be like yeah it’s fine we’ll tank this last game so we get into the S eight playin against the Goa baz Leed Magic I I don’t think there’s enough veteran experience to uh to sell that

Plan that’s fair yeah that that’s like that’s like believing very heavily in your ability to be a team but I want to Flo it uh okay I have the standings as one of mine so I will do a small one that maybe isn’t that important or consequential but I think is important

Because I’m a nerd and I think about the salary cap too much they have an open roster spot what are they thinking about out with that thing because there’s not like a great use for it right you saw if you paying attention to what just Twitter feed on Wednesday and for those

Of you that didn’t congratulations for having a life I’m very happy that I didn’t have to care about Justin Jackson 10 days on Wednesday but like the timing of you know the 21st 22nd 20th whatever especially with the leap day is that 10day will run out right when the buyout

Market fully materializes in early March and on March 1st I’ve play his way before 5: pm it’s playoff eligible for other teams and maybe that’s what the Pacers are waiting for right they’re over the cap they can but they have their room exceptions they can sign

Someone to a like they have enough money to outbid other teams in theory on the bio Market but they have literally no minutes to offer because no bought out player is good enough that they’d be better than any of the Pacers top 10 right now to me so can I can I just

Throw some names at you and you tell me would you play this player I mean the the 10th guy on the Pacers is is like one of top and McConnell mcder whatever it’s probably Doug mcder do any of these players are they better than Doug mcder are you

Ready yeah I’m ready Daniel house in some matchups yeah most no but like sure he’d probably be their second best defensive B okay chedy Osman forgot he existed no no okay didn’t know the Spurs cut him he didn’t get cut he did I’m saying these are guys that could be bought out makes

Sense to me most gotcha and then the last one is Davis Berton uh probably extremely likely he would get bought out because he has some guaranteed money next year but if I’d still say no right agreed no not not over McDermot I agree so the top end of

The buyout Market might be like Daniel house right I don’t even know if the Pistons would buy out they might just keep it so to me their their buyout Market plan is confusing because you’d like like to have more depth like you’d like to hit the postseason and say well

If we get hurt in the front Court we have this guy we can play that’s great or something but maybe you just want AET who can play if needed but shouldn’t most kns right they had George Hill last year in that almost exact role even though they weren’t necessarily chasing

Class so the names for that list would be tell me if any of these are intering to unaa guaranteed contract would does not play a minute for the Pacers role I’ll say it first you’re welcome listeners you get to pump fish in the car Lance Stevenson potentially uh would not play

But you know 15th guy gonna get crucified for this but I’m good no thanks um jichael green not good enough sure your paw said a lot uh Stanley Johnson I don’t need to read you all the names and let you react to all of them I’ll just read the entire list of names

I type I’m gonna tell you I love Stanley Johnson I have a thing for him bring him in give him a chance man okay well the other names I typed down were George Hill uh Juan Tuscano Anderson TJ Warren and Danny Green so like those guys would

Be what I think makes the most logical sense of what a player would want and what the Pacers want of like if we’re absolutely screwed and we have to play this guy it’s not the end of the world and we can give them money but they they

Would understand that they’re not in our rotation right so that seems like the medium for what makes sense because the actually like useful is you know Thad young immediately going to the Suns Spencer dity level buyout guys it’s over they’re done they’re going to go somewhere where they can play or they

Were getting paid the most so right I don’t know what they’re gonna do at that spot maybe they do a 10day tomorrow after I put this out and I sound stupid but I kind of think they’ll just do some if they if they’re going to fill it

Which they don’t have to do something like that makes the most sense to me kind of inconsequential in fact if it becomes consequential that probably mean something bad happened for the Pacers but yeah uh still something noteworthy as they try to finish their team one more break here y’all so we can talk

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Winning $5 bet you get 150 bucks in bonus bets on FanDuel an official partner of the NBA all right give me your last one for the rest of the season storyline wise yeah let’s see I’m ready to go now if you want me to go

No I’m good um is is seum shooting for real 40% from deep I mean he he’s never been this open right his whole career I he was he was pretty open when he played with kawhai I I have a feeling kawh Leonard’s pretty good at basketball yeah especially that season

Um so I have wondered that myself my hak question is is his defense really this level and I don’t mean that in a positive way I mean that in a negative way he has not defended very well since coming to the pict so you know my

Feelings I do I do we damed about this today the trade so it’s been funny because it balances it’s balanced out so far that he’s made up for being less than I thought defensively by making a bunch of Threes he’s been great from the corners right so if the shooting’s real

And the defense isn’t as good as I thought maybe you’re okay with that if you’re the Pacers but maybe you’d like those to stabilize a bit in a more known commodity kind of way I don’t know if he can shoot that’s a huge deal obviously that’s why you’re asking the

Question right and he’s only taking three a game with the Pacers that’s that’s not enough to matter you know capital letters matter but if he’s gonna hit 40% for the Pacers maybe you can get that up to four or five if he’s if it’s a product of am open I’m not used to

Being open so I am getting better shots and that’s the process behind the percentage bump he he could really help if he’s you know 36% on five attempts um close closing out on him is hard because he’s fast right like this has been talked about for like people

When Ben Simmons was good which was a thing believe it or not that happened in the NBA like when he would catch it on the perimeter you can’t just run out to him and get all up in his face because he can’t shoot because he’s so fast that

The step before he’s actually done you’re done closing out he just dribbles right past you right so like even if sakam is just an average shooter because guys have to like chop their feet perfectly to not get dusted by him the second he fakes a shot and drives he’s

It’s still important for him to take those three or four a game even if it’s not providing a ton of spacing so if he’s making them that’s that’s huge that’s absolutely huge for the Pacers then their whole starting five is just like average or better Shooters with

Tyrese Halburn and that’s like the dream right so I don’t I don’t I don’t know that I buy this 40 plus percent he’s at right now but I think it’s possible in this ecosystem he could hit that number you just said 36 37 is that that would be

Fantastic would also would be great too yeah I was gonna say that it would also be nice if his defensive level was higher than it feels like it has been so far and maybe that’s new scheme maybe I was just wrong but yeah it has not felt

As impactful with this team and I think his biggest defensive impact has honestly been twofold one is that he’s just 6′ n and that’s great they don’t have anybody else that size but two Erin n Smith’s life on defense is way easier he’s guarding threes instead of fours

And Miles Turner doesn’t have the crossmatch anymore so like yeah yakum getting better on defense would be awesome fantastic even but he’s still helping right it’s not like the end of the world yet we’ll see yeah the the the Pacers are getting killed by scoring fors still always just

My whole lifetime that’s that’s the way it works but I I do agree that he makes the defense better just by existing he’s athletic he’s tall he’s smart let let me poo poo are he makes the defense better take right away by giving you my last storyline for the

Rest of the season are you ready okay yeah can the Pacers find the magic on defense again which I phrase it as is that because let’s do some splits let’s do some arbitrary random cut offs just for funsies the last 15 games you know I picked 15 there are two reasons one is

That is the exact number of games Pascal sakam has played with the Pacers 15 two is it is the farthest back nba. Comm to go when going back individual game numbers convenient yes it is very convenient that those are the same number last 15 games for the Pacers will

What do you think they rank in defensive rating oh no this is going be bad isn’t it I’m going to say 24th 26th 11 18.2 defensive rating the four teams below them are this morass of 120 awfulness they are the worst team of like the serious teams okay bad that’s all

Siakam’s games with the Pacers they played good teams in that stretch like their schedule was hard but that’s awful it doesn’t matter what your schedule is when you are in the bottom five would you like to know their defensive rating in the 15 games prior to that I know it

Was much better because they were doing great with uh Jaylen Smith and Miles Turner starting next to each other I know that was a lot of the consensus for the trade is oh we get a power forward we’ve seen this is proof of concept so

The 15 games before that and if you want you can use 16 and I only say that because if you use 16 you get to that Charlotte game on December 20th which was the first game after they had that I’ve talked about this too much but that crazy intense practice where they really

Ironed out some defensive stuff the 15 games prior to cakam their defense of rating rank was 18th 11 16.7 that’s not awesome that’s with Tyrus Halbert running your offense good enough to win a lot of games if you add that 16th game in they played the Hornets but they’ve lost the Hornets

Twice so I guess they get some credit a little um it goes to 11 16.6 and it gets to 16th and it’s 0.2 away from League average defense for 16 games and that sounds like I’m hurrahing a below average number but given their offense that’s awesome and you know what they

Went the games well 11 and five 11 and five Caitlyn said it perfectly so early in the season they don’t have to be good on defense they don’t even have to be average they just have to be bad and they’ve been terrible can they find that magic again where they’re just bad or

Mediocre on the defensive end or is that a symptom of that one practice and that starting lineup change that to me could be the biggest storyline because they cannot win a playoff series if they’re the one of the worst five defenses in the league they have got to get back to

Being a little more threatening on that end I do I’m I’m going to uh contradict my the some of the discussion we’ve had for a long time I had major concerns about SE aum’s defense falling off when the Pacers traded for him I had discussions with a lot of Pacers fans in

My life about it got lambasted by a lot of the Pacers fans in my life about it I do think those numbers aren’t quite worth taking on their own yet uh halberton wasn’t in the lineup for a lot of that and I know the initial kneejerk response is well he’s not a

Great defender that probably helped but when your offense stinks when the guy who makes the entire engine run is out uh that’s that’s going to make the defense worse you’re not playing set defense as often whether it’s Miss shots or turnovers the other teams are getting transition and they’re getting cross

Matches and they’re they’re getting to face the defense before the defense is ready um so I I don’t know I I don’t have the mathematical uh brain to to break down all the plays and say oh no actually it didn’t matter or yes that’s the whole

Difference um but I know that on on a general sense that does matter and I think the defense will get better especially if they settle on Andrew nard I’ll get the name right this time at the two uh because that’s that’s what he does he’s a good Defender as long as

He’s not trying to defend like Jaylen Brown he’s he’s awesome don’t put him on somebody’s 6 eight in that 15 game stretch that I’m referring to they played at Phoenix versus Denver versus Philly and embiid played in that game versus Phoenix again at Boston at New York twice versus Sacramento and versus

Golden State so like that’s pretty freaking hard for a hobbly team in terms of opponents now granted they also played at Charlotte and lost and they played at Toronto and gave up an F ton of points and you know played Memphis who that should be easy to control and

Houston like there were some games in that should be enough of a buffer to not be 26th but I would expect their defense to be bad in a stretch like that so I think that’s going to be the thing for me because I have zero doubt if Tyrese

Halburn and seak are playing they’re going to be a top pick your single digit number offense I would say five probably can they defend well enough to make that an awesome advantage or is it just going to be this wobbly mess of outscoring your opponents and

Winning in Toronto 127 125 or is it g to be a game that they win did they win any games like really comfortably since uh they they beat Philly pretty handily um let’s see they beat Houston pretty yeah I was kind of they were bad in the first

Half of that game yeah they haven’t had any like awesome wire wins stretch either so defense key to me I don’t have anything I have a lot of other stuff I had but none of them I have a lot of deep Dives for so unless you have anything you want to really dig

Into no no that took care of all my questions the only one that I had the only spare I had remaining was will they ever stop a power forward from scoring and we know the answers we know the answers to these question the only thing we didn’t really touch on of mine was

Can the bench recover cuz that’s been a weird sub plot of these of late is like their benches really kind of falling apart and some of that’s maing being hurt some of that’s losing buddy and some of that’s Jaylen Smith being heard and maybe all that corrects itself very

Soon out of the break but having a bad bench in games where halber and seak look great has cost them at least three wins in the last couple weeks well this was great it’s a big stretch coming up and we’ll be covering all these topics

Many of times down the stretch I I don’t know when I get to start doing standings watch but it’s getting close given how tight this race is for four through weight in the East where can people find you and your musings on the Indiana Pacers and where you think we don’t

Tweet about how bad you beat me in fantasy football ever because I’m currently uh air quotes rebuilding and Will was chasing a title this year uh you can find me on Twitter Willer NBA um that’ll be mostly my basketball thoughts I will not tweet about Tony and

I’s matchups or if I do I’ll make sure to block him from the Tweet it’s okay it’s okay yeah the so here’s the thing for everybody who who doesn’t know why I’m clowning myself in fantasy football I usually don’t know who a player is in football until they

Become good like I can see their stats or I hear their name somewhere else so that’s bad in Dynasty football because you need to have those players before they get good so it is very tricky for me to make trades or figure out what the heck I’m doing and the secondary problem

Of that is as a currently rebuilding team who got lucky and won the first year when it was basically a redraft league is I have a lot of picks and I have no freaking idea who anybody I’m picking is so a lot of people are waxing

The floor with me and taking my money but I am having a good time so I think they’re happy to take my money as long as it’s not ruining the league and rant so folks give tony your worst Dynasty draft advice oh man the lottery coming up for

Me I’m uh I’m freaking out a little even though it’s not of major consequence we were one QB league so getting the first pick not a big deal pretty nice but not huge will this was great everybody oh I should have asked you this actually well

We’re not done yet do you have any thoughts about the Pistons tonight they do play a game tonight I always like to bring up the opponent I I think the Pacers will be better for Isaiah Stewart probably not playing I think that’s probably helpful uh given that I don’t know if Jaylen

Smith’s going to play either I saw he’s questionable with his back so we’ll probably some bigs against the team with 15 bigs uh I if they don’t handle the Pistons that’s that’s a problem but Isaiah Stewart’s questionable maybe he will play maybe he will be a king

Disruptor but we’ll see um the thing that would be alarming to me as the Pacers is that the the Pistons are great on the glass and the Pacers are not very good on the glass so per possession I think the Pacers will be the better team can they string together enough

Possessions and win that game that will be it to me this was awesome as I said now I can put pistons in the title if I want to I probably won’t though we will see they aren’t a joke anymore they’re one win but away from not having the

Worst record in the league even though yes obviously they still suck and if the Pacers lose at home it would be an epic disaster and we’ll be back tomorrow talking about whatever happened in game as the Pacers come back from the break well thank you very much for the time

Everybody have a wonderful rest of your day we will see you soon

The NBA All-Star break is over, and the Indiana Pacers resume play tonight. What are the biggest storylines for the team for the remainder of the 2023-24 season? Host Tony East is joined by Will Furr formerly of 8 Points, 9 Second and The Fieldhouse to discuss six things to monitor in the final stretch.

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