Indiana Pacers 2024 free agency preview: Point guard position

Indiana Pacers 2024 free agency preview: Point guard position

time to start taking a look at external free agency for the Pacers by going position by position today we start with point guards could the Pacers need one if they do who are the best players on the market and who makes the most sense we’ll run through them all today on the locked on Pacers podcast you are locked on Pacers your daily Indiana Pacers podcast part of the locked on podcast netor work your team every day what up y’all happy Saturday and welcome into another edition of the lockdown Pacers podcast where are we of course talk about the Indiana Pacers as always my name’s Tony East I cover the team for Forbes and Si and today it’s June it’s a new month and you’re getting one more bonus pod before we go back to five days a week because I missed one day in May and I’m making it up to you today officially uh and got the email from the league that no finals coverage for me because the team I covered didn’t make it which makes a lot of sense which means it’s the perfect time to deliver some more offseason content including free agency two days ago we talked about the Pacers offseason from their own perspective and their own free agents and how they might pursue th those guys and what the considerations are there yesterday we talked about the Pacers resources their salary cap situation what they can do to get better how they can twe tweak their team in the timelines now we look at the external stuff if the Pacers are going to add players who could it be what makes sense what fits into their constraints and budgets and is actually possible and I have found through the years the best way to do that is position by position that way even if it’s a surprise where the Pacers sign their best fit or a player you don’t expect you’ve covered them or at least you’ve covered why they might sign someone at that position no one thought the Pacers should be tripping all over themselves to get Bruce brown but at least we mentioned it on this podcast last year before it happened the reasoning was laid out no one thought the Pacers needed a center in 201819 they went and got kylo Quinn the very next summer after they drafted Aaron holiday no one thought they needed a point guard they got TJ McConnell right like you can go on and on through the many times that it positionally hasn’t felt like the biggest need and yet it’s still something they do and the reasons often turn out to be very sound or okay and that’s why I like doing it this way so we start today with Point cards and I did that leadup because I think everybody knows the piers uh if you had to rank the positions in which they need a player the most point guard would be last right I expect several comments on this video of people who didn’t listen to the first two and a half minutes of the episode that say why are we talking about point guards well I just explained it so now I can ignore your comments forever so let’s actually run through this position right and what it means and so as it stands very easily to to break down the depth chart here the basers have Tyrese halberton under contract for five more years they have Andrew art under contract for the coming season and potentially Beyond and they have T.J McConnell under contract for this season that’s three point guards that’s a lot of time so if they needed another one why would that even be the case right because first glance looking back at last season there were only in the regular season 116 minutes that the Pacers played with none of those three McConnell nard and halber on the floor 20 minutes in the postseason but all of those minutes were garbage time with jarus Walker in the game so not real minutes in the regular season at least there was some very small amount of real minutes without one of those three guys on the floor one of their three-point cards but let’s be clear about this 20 of those 116 minutes so almost sixth of them almost over 16% of them were Bruce Brown on the floor early in the season when mconnell was getting dnps for the first couple days or couple games and when nard roll was different every so often before he became a permanent starter Bruce Brown occasionally filled in as the backup point guard and there was a small stretch for like two weeks where Halton was hurt and Bruce Brown hadn’t been traded yet so there is 20 minutes of him in with none of those three guards you subtract data and you have 96 Minutes the entire season entire season with none of those point guards on the floor that probably answers the question I’m I’m asking here of do they need someone at this position no right usually what their choice was last year in these minutes was a combination of or just one of the following Ben maen running the show right their most used lineup without any of Bruce Brown McConnell nard or Tyra Talbert on the floor was eight minutes of Ben Shepard jarus Walker Ben matheran Jaylen Smith and Obi toppen so a young bench group that didn’t have a point guard but had enough ball hling with maen and Walker to get by their next group had Oscar sheway so clearly kind of like a garbage time group uh and so a couple of the next ones are actually garbage time groups and then the third most used one this one’s actually real is Ben Shepard Ben Maan buddy heeld Obi toppen and Miles Turner and heeld if you remember played a little more ball handling this year because he had that Summer with the Bahamas where he got to play point guard a little bit for them so this is two in the weeds to say even last year it’s very easy to point at the Pacers and say there was no need they had the right amount of point guard depth they did not need more they had another point guard on the team Isaiah Wong was on the roster and played four minutes the whole season right they didn’t need him ever and N hard missed time right he missed some time early in the season was in and out and then got hurt during the inseason tournament semi-finals and missed a couple games and they didn’t need to fill in they had halberton and McConnell and then halberton missed time and they rode with them hard and they rode with McConnell and sometimes seak was like around the show and we just went through some of the other groups like they had enough so just on that exercise alone the only reason they would squint and say they need someone is if they’re expecting worse injury luck at the position that’s just the start of their current situation right halton’s missed over 10 games each of the last two seasons n hard’s missed some time each of his two years although not very much McConnell is usually an Iron Man although he had the wrist injury a few years ago which is not a you know an injury-prone Player thing so if they thought they were going to miss significant time with one of those and particularly McConnell or halberton because nard doesn’t play the point all the time then I think maybe they’d sniff around like the 15th guy or a two-way slot but I don’t even think that they care about that because zakum can run the show or maybe they are fine with jarus or Maan doing it so to me just on what they have right now they would not pursue a point card in free agency but one that is just pure Inside the Box thinking about a point guard and two that does not account for the fact that they might not have all three of those guys to start next season now I don’t think they would trade any of those three but you never know you just never know what the Situation’s going to be maybe there’s a an A-list star out there that’s available and is willing to come to the Pacers and nart has to be in the trade package maybe some team blows the Pacers away with an offer from McConnell that would be a way that’s kind of unforeseeable and unpredictable and more outside of at least the Pacers control um but you know it’s still a reality that exists the other thing and this is something I talk about at this position every year every time since they’ve gotten halber this is the third one of these now right the summer of 22 23 and 24 that we’ve talked about point guard free agency knowing that they have hurn on the team and McConnell for all those and so it’s not the most important position here’s where it matters and we’ll talk about a lot of these guys is point guards that do that are point guards they often guard point guards but they’re good at other stuff like they can guard wings or they’re really tall or they’re good at rebounding any number of things that make sense or are possible are other reasons to pursue someone at this position and that’s how you end up with some names that were going to say today or some names on other teams in the NBA like the Warriors ended up with a very good other point guard even though they had Steph Curry on their team and Corey Joseph on their team entering the season they had lots of point guards on their team right it it’s a reality so what and what of those guys is coming up today who’s on that Warriors team so that is the point guard Outlook to me in free agency for the Pacers if you made me say how much resources they should put into this position nothing the minimum would be the answer maybe just a two-way to fill or keep Isaiah Wong spot but I’ll give you the options later after we run through the best players of the position and figure out does any of this make any sense for the Pacers before we get to that though really quickly have to talk to you guys about prize picks America’s number one fantasy sports app that has more than three million members it’s the easiest most exciting way to get in on the action you just pick more than or less than on two to six player stat projections and watch the winnings Ro and you can get in on the playoff action in the NBA or the NHL went up to 100 times your money on prize picks you can now up to 100 times your money with as L four correct picks you turn $10 into a thousand with basketball hockey entries today on prize picks America’s number one fantasy 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forward to the crossover episode between those two love talking with John and Nick two my faves at the network I’ve hung out with them in real life several times I’m sure to do a great job covering the finals fun finals looking forward to talking about it myself if I get a chance and watching it of course so we’ve established the Pacers need for a point guard is low do any of the good the so the the good players at this position are probably out is anyone so good that if they became available the Pacers would think about like a team identity change or some sort of rickety could we get away with this guy and that guy together lineup no not really the position is not very strong at the top of free agency this year there’s guys I like there’s not anybody who makes sense next to Tyrese Alberton or in lineups that make a lot of sense right the guys who made the most money last year entering for agency at this position there’s four who made more than 10 million per year on their last deal that’s Kyle Lowry D’Angelo Russell Marquel folz and tyus Jones none of those guys make sense on the Pacers to me unless Kyle Lowry is is done playing and is just like a James Johnson rooll kind of guy but a those so the problem with D’Angelo Russell specifically and maybe Ty Jones in the right situation is they’ll make more than the mid-level exception and if you we’ve already said the Pacers shouldn’t be using a ton of resources on this position if any why would they use their biggest tool to add a player so if the player’s already going to make more than that they’re the Pacers can’t get him anyway but they should don’t need any of those guys none of them I mean Russell kind of fits next to other good ball handlers because he’s a really good shooter that really evolved for him last year but for the Pacers specifically it makes a lot less sense if the ball’s out of his hands at his defensive level to bring him in and that’s the only four guys who were really expensive last year that doesn’t mean they’re the best guys on the market but the top players at the point guard position are just not really good fits for the Pacers in free agency this year the next crew is something like Monte Morris Reggie Jackson Kyra Lewis Russell Westbrook Patrick Beverly um Gary Payton the second we will talk about Gary pay the second more in the next segment so like Patrick Beverly is a guy that I’ll stop and talk about for a second like the Pacers do need defense in a world where they needed a fifth guard to play at all right to go out there and guard then maybe that is the type of thing they would consider is a Patrick Beverly type and then have Halbert and McConnell and them hard and whoever else as your five guards that soak up minutes but they have mine and Shephard operating at these positions too so they don’t have minutes available really at the two guard spot either right they already have five guards feasibly on their team ready for playing time under contract next season right so even guys with unique skill sets and abilities that could provide value at those positions aren’t valuable to the Pacers necessarily or have less value to them than other teams just because of the infrastructure the Pacers already have so even those Niche guys like Beverly who who have the skill the Pacers would want it this position aren’t that great um I use spot Trak and I will be I should have said this earlier for the whole series that is the how I’m defining positions so if you think I haven’t said someone who fit is a point guard they probably are listed at a different position we’ll get to them later and if I you think I say somebody who’s not a point guard well they’re listed as a point guard in these lists I say that say tyres Max’s next he has I guess a point guard but um he is the best player he if he somehow is available and the Pacers can get him yes they should just try and then figure out the fit later they can’t get him um I love Emanuel quickly same deal they just can’t get him Toronto’s not going to let him get away very good player those are like the actually High upside very very good player point guards on the market everyone else is either I mean maybe d’el Russell’s a starter maybe Kyle Lowry’s a starter like it’s not a good market for high and level Point cards that are going to even be obviously available that’s kind of how this free agency period has shooken out at a couple positions very weird class it’s a very odd time if you’re looking for some upside swings if you’re looking for some unique players this could be the summer for you I love Jordan McGloin for example not for the Pacers but on the market in general I love Jose Alvarado there’s no way he’s leaving New Orleans but you get to just there’s some unique stuff Spencer dwi’s okay Delon Wright’s okay but there’s nothing that really jumps out for even point guard needy teams teams that need depth at the spot and so if you’re the Pacers who don’t need depth at the spot um you could either just ignore completely or just wait until this Market is a bunch of desperate guys who haven’t gotten a job yet and if you want one you get them for the minimum but what really matters is is there anyone at this position are there any actual guys who are listed as a point guard here who do make sense for the Pacers who actually fit what they need or could have a role on this team in a not that crazy scenario I actually can come up with a few I’ll explain that that to close out this bonus weekend lock on Pacers and we’re back here on lockdown Pacers thanks for making us your first listen today and every single day here on the weekend short second segment there so hopefully this next one’s a little longer uh closing out with some actual targets at this position that again the Pacers probably will not prioritize at all barring trades this summer uh listen to lockdown NBA for your second listen because West Goldberg and I chopped up on the most recent episode about the finals we got lucky that we got the night the Mavs won and secured what the series would be so we get to look ahead at the final series the maav season the Wolves offseason all sorts of fun stuff there I love Chad with West so actual names that I think make sense as I said to me if the pitch are going to sign a point guard or someone who is listed as a point guard on this or someone with a pass as a point guard whatever they had to be able to do because H’s going to have the ball this time and when he doesn’t McConnell does and when McConnell doesn’t sakam does right and when he does it nard does and then Turner and D Smith also exist and toin like they don’t need guys to control the rock for them well if they’re going to sign someone at this position it’s going to be somebody who can give them a new skill or dimension in some way there are some of those guys I already mentioned one of them right Gary pyton II Warriors last year um behind Steph they also had Corey Joseph earlier in the season and gp2 was hurt right he had that weird stuff go on with the Blazers injury he only played 15 games for important last year only played 44 games for Golden State this season that just ended right so he had does have a very injury-prone recent passes only played over 30 Games once in his Hulk twice sorry in his whole career he’s only played more than 44 games once in his whole career which is pretty wild good Defender very scrap he plays way bigger than 62 H to the point that the Warriors played him at the three even on the play by positional play-by-play that basketball reference uses which is largely just height tallest player to shortest is how they sort their positions Gary pton I second with that year he had with the Wizards maybe the last year with the Wizards plus his first year with the Warriors when they were very good he was basically a wing right and so if you can all be part point guard part Wing that gives you something with the Pacers even if you’re not in the rotation there is you are one injury away at so many response from playing and for a veteran that’s valuable or for somebody looking to get a job that’s valuable and the Pacers would guarantee someone’s contract to play that role they just did it Doug mcder was on their team as the 10th guy he didn’t play all the time but they needed that and if you can be a wing guy who provides some value with a skill like I think G payon second could that is a point guard air quotes in theory worth kind of exploring on the market um there’s a couple guys that sort of fit that category as well this one’s really strange because he played for the Pacers before four and is now a totally different player that’s Aaron holiday Aaron holiday is short uh so it’s it’s funny to describe him like this but he a has really evolved as a shooter right he had that good season shooting his second season with the Pacers and that kind of dipped away uh but 39% this pass season 40% the year before that 44% with the Suns before that 38% for his career so he started slow with Indiana and then got it going from Deep so he’s a good shooter and he’s become an actually okay wi Defender not like big wings he’s six feet tall but good enough on ball perimeter Defender against non-point guards that he basically became a three and D wing with the Hawks and the rockets last year he’ll definitely have a spot in the NBA because of that so his height limits how serious you can be about like deploying him to guard all the time but I think Aon Alid has become a Defender worth exploring for some team I definitely think he’ll have a job next year and similar to gp2 know if the Pacers can can get a three and d air quotes kind of guy at a point guard position that is totally worth exploring so those two fit that bill to me um the next guy is a Tony East Crush I’ve talked about him basically every summer I’ve done the point guard show because he is a point guard and he’s ginormous and that’s Delano Banton Delano Banton is 69 and he never showed a lot before this past season right so torona the first two years of his career three points a game barely shot over 40% Five Points a game the next year barely shot 40% the passing was never there started last season with Boston wasn’t playing very much shot 37% for them o not very good and then with the Blazers still not that efficient 40.8% but the passing clicked a bit way higher assist rate than he ever had before I’m not talking per game that’s boring I’m talking per minute right that’s significant to see that kind of thing happened for him uh and he needed that assist jump to kind of prove he can run the show and 16 .7 points per game that is a factor of his minutes and everybody remembers the insane games he had late in the season uh 28 and 11 game for Golden State I forget what the really high one was where everybody was going nuts about Zano ban but he closed the season scoring really well excuse me I think he hit 30 uh more than once for Golden State so it did click for him a little down the stretch last season and he’s 69 which means he can guard a lot of positions he’s kind of rail thin but that has a lot of value to me and he can be not a point card right again same thing as Gary pton and Aaron holiday you saw on the play-by-play position estimate on basketball reference he’s got minutes at small forward in every season of his career because he’s so tall that he’s guarding Wings he can handle the ball if there’s a way that you could play One Two Three or even four if you’re 69ine although he’s probably too thin for that that is a point guard air quotes point guard worth exploring for the Pacers especially if they feel like they need more ball handling for for whatever reason the off season those are kind of the wing types or tall types that make sense the other three point guards I think if the Pacers kind of pursued I’d be like okay if they have this guy not playing but he’s a brick glass in case of emergency player whatever that’s anyone who can guard anyone who can play any defense because they defended so poorly last year they said they’d be looking for those traits defense and rebounding on the free agency market if you can get those things for the Pacers even if you’re not playing I suppose I could squint and say it makes sense again don’t think they’ll sign a point guard but if they’re going to guys that make sense guys that fit in their budget that’s what we’re talking about here three more um the the worst of the three is just a guy I really like now the way he’s kind of evolved as a player that’s Dennis Smith Jr finished last season with Brooklyn uh wasn’t as good as he was the year before that with with Charlotte but has certainly evolved into a useful NBA player because he can guard uh and is a little bit more efficient now than he ever was before and again playing defense at this level matters she’s played for Carlile before so the defense is the big thing that makes Dennis Smith shooter Dennis Smith Jr excuse me interesting to me um but a little shorter two-point guarding not as much Wing value there donon Wright uh mentioned him earlier good player did some good stuff for the Heat last season after get moving there from um the Wizards he can defend and he’s a little bigger I think he’s like 6566 so Wing sized again U not as good as the wing Defender but a good perimeter to defender in general so that’s always very valuable and he’s had a long career he’s a veteran he knows what he’s doing right same kind of thing if you know this guy can play one two and three allaha Bruce Brown then maybe you’re okay bringing him in not as a one but as a guy who can be a break glass in case of emergency one and I just happen to think he’s a good player the last one who fits the bill on this list that I have is Chris Dunn Chris Dunn almost was out of the league fought like crazy to get back in how did he do it by guarding great defender now much better than he was coming into the league remember he had that crazy good summer league and everybody thought he was going to be an awesome offensive player after being the fifth pick and that 2016 draft um turns out that never materialized but the defense is there now and much more efficient now than he used to be last two seasons shooting well from two and three with the Jazz and his defense is valuable he can kind of pass he’s on the shorter is side although taller than some of the guys we talked about today and again because he can guard so many positions logged some time at air quotes small for forward for the Utah Jazz last year if you catch the theme of what I’m saying if you’re a point guard who can guard your own position and also guard twos very easily that’s already great you can also guard threes in a pinch like Bruce Brown could and like some of these guys I’ve mentioned can that is where you become a person that the Pacers could say I guess this makes sense for us this is a wing who can also handle the ball they can guard and no one I’ve said so far is going to cost that much money I guess Banton could cost something but um you know it seems like they would all be within the Pacers price range or even minimum guys in some of these players cases that’s what they would if they did end up signing a point guard this summer right now that’s what would make sense for them if they did it but if they have McConnell if they have halberton if they have nard it doesn’t make a ton of sense for them to pursue a point guard if they need desperately ball handling or floor General skills to me they would turn to se yakum assuming he’s back otherwise jerus Walker Ben maen would be the break glass in case of emergency point guards but if there’s moves made if There’s an opportunity late in free agency perhaps one of these names could be one of the ones that sneaks in and every other position after this SN will be more interesting because there’s either better reason for the Pacers to pursue someone at that spot or there’s unlimited reasons to want a two three or four that are skilled and can play multiple positions but point guards that’s the gist and this is the third show in a row for me I that point guards alone because it’s going to be boring for other people um but all the rest of these will have a guest every other position Maybe centers by myself speaking of guests three days in a row for me by myself sorry for that uh we’ll have a guest Monday talking the draft for the first time the status of this draft what the Pacers picks could net how the middle of the draft shakes out all sorts of stuff they had their first draft workout on Friday so it’s a good time to dive into all that and then next week we get into some player free agencies for the Pacers Pascal cakam and I hope starting the player reviews next week we’ll see some coordination involved there hope you guys enjoy today’s show I am on Twitter at Tony R East and the show is there at lockon Pacers hope you guys are having or had a great weekend see you on Monday

NBA Free agency begins this month. What should the Indiana target or consider at the point guard position? Host Tony East breaks it all down, including the reasoning, resources, and targets that make sense at the position.

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