Mailbag! Answering Indiana Pacers questions on the value of draft picks, Jarace Walker minutes, more
For the first time in a long time a Pacers mailbag answering the questions that you guys want to hear about including on Allstar stuff on minutes for rookies on trades on second round picks and so much more on today’s lockone 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 Wednesday 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 we’re
One day away from Pacers basketball being back tomorrow we’ll look ahead at the second half of the Season which means today is the perfect time for something I’ve been wanting to do for a while and finally have the time to fit in a mailbag here about the stuff you
Guys want to know more about or are curious about and diving into it today F in questions from Twitter I’m on there at Tony R East also we got updates on Erin nmi that practice on Tuesday night I talked one-on-one with ronard test if you want to read stories about those
Things Pacers ji is the way to go because that information matters let’s dive in to the mailbag if you see me looking down a lot I got my phone I got my screenshots up of the tweets first one comes from Gan turnbloom at G turnbloom says did it feel like jiannis
And Dame intentionally kept the shine away from Halbert during the All-Star Game think they were getting back at him for the Dame time moment during the inseason tournament and will it be extra motivation come playoff time for Tyrese I think the last one would require the
Pacers to play the Bucks in the playoffs I saw this Theory being floated a lot and there’s like one clip of an inbounds play uh during the game where Giannis is like pointing at Dame to tell the inbounder who pass the ball to Dame also remember the Bucks head coaches the head
Coach for this All-Star game uh my answer is no I don’t think they were intentionally freezing him out I think what they were doing is trying to get Dame MVP uh I don’t think that they were saying don’t give the ball to Tyrese I think they were specifically saying yo
Let’s get Dame going because he hit two have court shots he was hot in the first half he had the assist numbers so they’re getting the ball that’s kind of what teammates would do that looks like if you’re rooting for the Pacers guy that’s going to look like what the
Question suggests that’s not what my take necessarily is uh Dame played it very well he had many highlight plays in the game and that’s what the All-Star game’s kind of all about nowadays so I don’t necessarily think they were freezing him out or it has any to do
With you know that moment I mean you gianis spoke glowingly of Tai like at Allstar Weekend and even the miked up conversation before the game right on the floor so uh no I don’t think he had anything anti halberton involved I think it was more Pro Lillard and pro bucks uh
Is my take but I understand why it certainly looks that way uh throughout the game uh but will Hal I mean look I’m not going to be the one to guess Tyrese Halburn motivations anymore like he was motivated by a tweet from an account with 106 followers while shooting
Jumpers on the Pat McAfee show during Allstar Weekend like he will be motivated by anything if he thinks this is a slide against him he will use it as motivation uh anything is motivation for Tyrese halber if I say Tyrus hurn is a bad game and he hears it perhaps he will
Use it as motivation though I certainly hope he does not need me as a motivator Brock filburn filbrun excuse me at the boss 1196 says when will jarus get consistent minutes consistent is a key thing here because uh answer might be next season but even then you got to do some roster
Counting and trickery right so I don’t think let me be clear I don’t think the answer is going to be this season they just sent him on a road trip with the Mad ANS in the g- league right after notably the trade deadline because there’s no minutes for him on the Pacers
Right now there’s not um that whether you think there should be or shouldn’t be is a different question than this one which is when will jarus get consistent minutes you know I thought he’d start before the season right during the season my take has been I think he
Should play not because I think he’ll help the Pacers any way because it’s good for his development but the Pacers aren’t in the business of developing right now they’re trying to win and make the playoffs and I understand their decision and so it’s easy to talk about
That no they’re not they’re playing the 10 guys they give them or nine or whatever give them the best chance to within their reasonable rotation every night and jerus Walker’s not one of those guys and as it stands Doug McDermot would probably be their third four if they really needed it right that
Kind of happened in on their road trip just now so not this season is the answer to me um you know they have 10 guys Ben Shepard has been guy number 11 for much of the Season I’d say jarus is probably guy number 12 although they
Have three centers that kind of make it cloudy because Isaiah Jackson is certainly above jarus the pecking order can only play on position I’m saying too many words it doesn’t matter uh so to answer the question of when you kind of have to look Beyond this season right
Because barring injuries I don’t think jarus Walker is getting consistent playing time the season outside of maybe like if the Pacers playoffs he’d get settled or they’re like playoff fate let’s say they’re locked into the S8 game or they’re locked into the six seed or whatever but that might not happen
There’s a very tight race this season uh either way I don’t think it would be this season now here’s what’s noteworthy Doug McDermot free agent after the season Obi toppen free agent after the season Jaylen Smith potentially a free agent after the season I think we’ll learn a lot about
What timeline the Pacers have in mind for jerus Walker with their actions in the summer because think think interestingly about the Pacers and their competing goal something that I actually think is is one of the things this front office has done that confuses me the most they they are very opportunistic I
Think value wise they they get good value in a lot of their transactions but they’re doing something that I think is so hard and oftentimes kind of ill advised to do for teams and that’s try to tow two lines at once with short-term and longterm and sometimes
You have to in certain moments but you know they’ve talked about wanting to think long term and some of their moves trading buy healed away how they spent last summer prioritizing flexibility and making lots of draft picks right suggesting that yes they they are prioritizing long term they also traded
For Pascal cakam and are a good team and all the players are saying we want to make PLS so balancing the long and short term is tricky but for a team that says they want to think long term you’d think there’d be minutes for their lottery
Pick at some point maybe not in his rookie season given the current state of their team but at some point soon so my answer to the question is it kind of depends on the summer but if if what they’re saying is truly what they’re hoping is the case I think that they
Would like jarus to be playing next year so locked into the team next year I’m under operating under the assumption that Pascal seak resigns Pascal sakam Miles Turner T.J McConnell Ben Maan Tyrese halber Aon n Smith all returning Andrew Mard returning like that’s already a really full rotation
And you could add one more guy probably to that right maybe it’s Ben Shepard maybe it’s Jaylen Smith opting in because you still need to backup five with that group honestly maybe it’s a Jackson who knows but maybe it’s jarus Walker and then Obi toen would not be on
The team anymore and Doug mcder would not be on the team anymore and you’re more beat up about one of those than the other and there’s sign and trade options and there’s lots of confusing stuff but that was a lot of sput out thoughts to say I think what they’re doing is fine
This seon it makes sense they can justify it that he needs to develop he’s playing a lot in the g- league I we talked to him practice today Tuesday for you listening yesterday and he said he noticed his you know he’s noticed his Improvement as a shooter throughout the
Season I’ve noticed his Improvement as a ball handler throughout the season he’s clearly getting better I promise I know people don’t watch the man ends but I promise he’s getting better I think he’d get better faster in the NBA but they don’t have room for him and that’s fine
I’m not killing them for that because I everything they’ve done makes sense but at some point they have to play him so to answer the question specifically after blurting out a million thoughts about it I think my answer is going to be I think next season but that we learn
A lot in the summer because they’ll have to make some decisions on their front Court rotation and that flux will be important to jarus Walker potentially getting opportunities because at some point either he’s going to be a guy they hope he can be and he’s going to be in
Their rotation and helping them win or he’s going to be a part of a trade that helps them get someone who can do that and that depends on their timeline with competing last one in this first segment comes from Tim manzela at Tim Manzel that’s an easy one what would you
Consider more likely the Pacers getting homecourt advantage or the Pacers not making the first round of the playoffs at all well I would certainly say not making the postseason and that’s just because of the standings although the niick skid into the break losing four in a row makes this plausible so here’s
What I would say is the play in tournament is the reason I’m going to pick not making the playoffs because there are currently a half game away from a situation where two losses knocks them out completely right versus they are not they’re two games away from
Fifth and they’re two and a half games away from fourth now they’re very far ahead of the Bulls the the Pacers as it stands uh of me talking right now four and a half games ahead of the Bulls they are closer to the three seed than the
Nine seed right now uh and they’re playing fine enough Pacers five and five in their last 10 that’s not good that’s good enough to stay well ahead of the under 500 blls for the rest of the season so two let’s just pretend every game in the plan tournament is a 50/50
Chance that gives you a three and four chance to get out of the plan tournament if you’re in the 7 eight right so that’s really good that so their chances of making the playoffs are still pretty good even if they end up in the plan tournament and that’s already you know a
Chance they could hold it off but I think getting to four is very hard because I think the Knicks went healthier good so the reason this is a question though is the Knicks are manged up and who knows how healthy they’ll be coming out of the break and the Sixers
Are missing Joel and beid for a while they’re catchable they’re three and seven in their last 10 and that includes a miracle win in Cleveland right they’re not playing well so it’s possible the Pacers could catch the 76ers it’s possible they could catch the Knicks and let’s talk about something noteworthy in
This discussion as well they have the tiebreaker over both of those teams which matters potentially a good deal as the season progresses holding off the Heat and Magic is going to be tricky for the Pacers I think that the Pacers you know assuming they finish uh the season roughly at their current winning
Percentage will probably be closer to a playin team than a homecourt team just because I think it’s more likely that one of the knicker Sixers closes the season strong and I would guess it’s the Knicks when they get healthy but of course if they never get healthy that
Matters I think they will though they upgraded at the trade deadline so I don’t I think the odds are more likely the Pacers fall back to seventh and then there’s a 25% chance they don’t make the playoffs at all and I don’t think there’s a 25% chance they catch the New
York next that was a very Matthew way to answer that uh but I think there’s a chance they could make the playoffs as fine uh and that’s not home court advantage I think there’s a chance they can make it a six you kind of depends on a lot of
Things but health will be a big factor for them and games against the Heat and Magic very critical for the Pacers going forward plenty more to come on the Pacers and this mailbag including some post trade thoughts stuff in gamebridge Fieldhouse all sorts of stuff before we continue to dive into all
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Job for free terms and conditions apply and we are back here on lock down Pacers thanks for making this your first listen today and every single day for your second listen man have been quieter on the NBA front of late lots of random little 10day signings squeaking in those
Can be your second segment but your real second segment should be locked on Nets because they fired their coach the day after the All-Star Game Jac Von out Jac Von one of my favorite interviews in the NBA and that is no longer the case uh but the Nets little stale they needed to
Do something I’m not sure if that’s what I had done as the Nets but hey they did it the lockdown Nets guys will explain it all and the Nets last 12 months crazy the Pacers meanwhile let’s answer some questions about them from Twitter listeners Scott sting 284 653 says where
Does one go to eat in the Fieldhouse what’s the goto spot and meal and why are regular NBA halftime shows so superior to the NFL halftime shows I don’t know a ton about the second part of that answer because I don’t see very many NFL halftime shows um love red
Panda as I’ve said many a time love frisbee dogs there’s just a lot I think I think you’re farther from the court in the NFL uh which maybe is a factor in what you can do and the field is so big that like it’s almost too big for
Entertainment like the people are right by the Entertainer when they’re at midcourt on a basketball course which is there’s just more you can do it’s Warner active it I don’t know um halftime I I I used to enjoy like I still watch a lot of halftime shows while I’m walking
Around the arena there’s some sitting my C4 I think it’s a fun part of games that they can get fans involved where does one go to eat in the Fieldhouse I don’t eat in the concourses a ton because we have some media dining uh there’s Chick-fil-A of course if you’re into
That sort of fast food if you’re not uh there’s a really good barbecue place on the the top floor Concourse of the foods that uh people eat in the arena I think that one is probably my favorite um there’s a there’s a candy and dessert bar that rolls around on the
Sweet level that always looks really good I think those would be some recommended ones uh and then again sting at sting 24635 says sure the Pacers keep Jen Smith seems like he is out more than he plays start of the Season he was great yeah well his injury history H has not
Been bad until very recently this season um because he was phenomenal and he still is phenomenal he’s playing this season like he’s reached the point where I think every shot he takes is going to go in but yes he has missed a lot of time he missed four the last seven
Heading into the break he had that big stretch of like playing one game out of 12 or something uh in late November and mid December so in a season where the Pacers are now at 55 games played I believe I should have that number uh readily available Jaylen Smith has
Played 38 right so he has missed a big chunk of this season they are lucky to have Isaiah Jackson playing and playing so well um that is something to consider with his player option his level of play specifically uh would indicate he would opt out and the Pacers would have to think about
Paying him more if they wanted to keep him that is of course potentially a factor what does the rotation look like towards the end of the playoffs Scott asks uh or towards the playoffs not the end of the playoffs excuse me I’d imagine late in the regular season it
Depends on their situation right if they look pretty secure in getting a top six seed they could probably stick with what they’re doing and you know keep guys at reasonable minutes and even steal some rest when you can ahead of the postseason if they’re really fighting for seeding I mean obviously Starters
Play more and in turn others play less I think that you’d see less T.J McConnell you’d see you know tyres Halburn would be the the uptick minutes guy and then Andrew nard could seize some other ball handling duties if need be and with Pascal sakam now a guy that you can rely
On to create you don’t need the other point guard as often you know nard can be your secondary Creator in some of those situations if possible I think Obby toppen could be a guy who loses some minutes maybe that’s in lie of a Doug McDermot maybe that’s in lie of an
Aaron n Smith playing more maybe that’s L yakum just getting more minutes but that is also something that would make a lot of sense to me basically anybody who’s in the same position as a star player and it’s already a reserve is gonna potentially be hurt and then at
All the other positions depends on kind of what the matchup requires right if you need some offensive punch maybe you turn more to Ben Maan if you need more defensive punch maybe Ben Maan loses time for inre nard you know if you need some rebounding Jaylen Smith certainly
Gonna be a guy who you go to turn to all the time you know they have a lot of options if you need shooting McDermot like you could go on and on but McConnell and top and seem like the two to me that in a pinch would be the two
That the Pacers kind of turn away from I’m not completely abandoning their production but uh changing it up and how will the team chemistry without buddy spacing positivity and work ethic lost yeah I don’t you know he’s a very positive guy like most days all days he
Is someone that the Pacers liked being around now granted remember he Greg Doyle had it had it out there that you know he his he as a part of the trade as I bump my screen to the side on accident as a part of the trade like he kind of
Welcomed one right that’s what Greg put out there and so maybe that doesn’t Shake Up chemistry that much right if it’s somebody who um had the desires of potentially or was was open to being elsewhere and the the real loss in chemistry is on the court right like him
And Tyrese fit very well together they played off of each other very well Tyrese had played one game prior to the trade deadline his entire career without buddy heel right undeniable on court chemistry uh and yes he does he’s in the gym all the time grinding um so that is
A loss in that way the hope would be that mcder can fill enough of that shooting that it’s not as big of an on Court impact loss as maybe something else could be or that other step up and fill the void as much as you can I’ve
Said that I think they got worse at the deadline not significantly so but somewhat uh we’ll see if that actually Bears out and happens but yeah I mean it’s going to change some things and others will become more important voices for the team buddy Hill wasn’t the
Loudest voice uh but he was an important one at still uh Pacer faithful at jlh 0215 says with Buddy gone what do you think is the best way to make it for the spacing and gravity loss with losing buddy trying to play mcder and hopes he’ll return to form or play Shepard and
Hopes he finds his three-point shot between those two options I think it’s a a lock that for the rest of the season McDermot will be more valuable for spacing and gravity just because he has a reputation right like on scouting reports a lot of times these rookies or
Guys that don’t play much they don’t get as long of line are they’re so unproven or their samples so small that it’s hard to make big decisions on how to guard them you know so they’re just guarded for regularly and you know even decent Shooters like Miles Turner is a team a
Guy that other teams sometimes are willing to leave open in the same way that Brook Lopez is for the bucks like you have to leave somebody open at times to clog up the paint and MC Thurman even in in the at this stage of his career
And I think he’s like three for 11 from three for the Pacers so far like there is a fear of like uhoh you know if this guy gets a SLI over space his release is quick it’s up high it’s going to be a good shot he was at 44% for the Spurs
The Spurs had little creation and gravity and he was just whipping them in for them so I think he’ll settle in at roughly that level of shooting for the Pacers he’s a known commodity guy with gravity so of the two options presented I think if you’re trying to replicate as
Much as you can of what buddy heal’s departure is gravity wise it’s going to be mcder even if those two guys shoot the exact same percentage the rest of the season now if it’s like 20 games of Shephard at 45% and mcder can’t make anything maybe that would change stuff
But I’d imagine mcder is what they can get but maybe they can get creative in other ways right like maybe with sakam in the fold now they can use him as a screener more to make defenses Panic on the perimeter and yeah seak as a shooter isn’t going to make defenses panic and
Create spacing but as a screener as a guy who gets involved in in screener actions you got to panic a little bit he can get aead of steam going to the rim there are other ways to manufacture spacing granted the the you have to be good at other off offensive stuff to be
Able to do it like Demar de rozan still provides spacing and he can’t really shoot so I think that there are other ways for them to do it but of the options presented I would say by far but Doug mcder is the more capable guy when it comes to potentially replacing buddy
Hill gravity couple more questions to get to before we get you out of here uh but before we get to any of them we have to have to talk about eBay Motors passion in the drive and patience what brings home the winning trophy is also what keeps you’re Rider die alive
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Your second listen the Sixers signed Darius basley the buck signed Ryan Rollins I’m trying to do this off the top of my head I should be doing better a couple other signings trickled in throughout Wednesday uh Jaylen Martin who had a draft workout for the Pacers from overtime Elite signed with the Nets
Lester kones got a promotion with the Warriors lots of those shows to get to for the transactions that are coming in after the traded line teams had to fill roster sponse for example or make various sorts of moves we’ll cut get into a trade question right now from Bob
Cook Bob you always ask good questions and have interesting things to say on Twitter thank you for that at notgoing process can you explain and then parenthesis again why second round picks are such valuable assets and why that is what buddy heeld fetched well first part
Of this um they’re not like okay why why buddy heeld fetched a second round pick I have a theory I don’t I don’t know this right the Pacers didn’t take back any bad salary in the Buddy hee trade in fact from the Sixers they got two expiring contracts and in total they
Summed more money than buddy heeld was getting paid this season but not that much right so he’s a better player obviously than the two guys they got from the Sixers Marcus Morris and Veron corm but in terms of just pure finances they took back no bad money and then
They got McDermot who is of some positive value around the league but all that to say without taking back bagged money I don’t think a first round pick would have been out there for Buddy heeld and my proof is or my at least proof uh via looking at what the Pacers
Did is if they could have got it first I would have think they would have done it right and so I think my theory is without taking back bad money that would be prohibitive for the Pacers right now with some tax potential concerns coming up and their flexibility now much lower
Is that they got the best draft pick they could in this trade without taking back bad money and I think they did a good job of that they still have flexibility the summer they could be able now to potentially use their full non-tax mle to get a rotation player and
They got a pick that should be top 38 top 37 I highly doubt the Raptors are going on a run in the second half of the season so why second round picks were valuable well of course a draft pick but the changing landscape of the league in
The new CBA is there’s this new second round exception so the problem used to be and the Pacers would in theory have been impacted by this because they’ll be over the cap now next season is you used to be able to sign second round picks to either a minimum contract which can only
Be up to two years in length or you can sign them to a three or fouryear deal using cap space which spacers W have or part of your mid-level exception and so teams would have less of their mid-level exception available to sign other players because they use a chunk of it
On a second rounder right so that like Andrew neard got signed uh with cap space for example that’s why his deal is longer than two years but the Lakers were notorious for like all these two-year deals for their second round picks but now all of them can get three
And four year deals because of the second round pick exception and so that makes it more reasonable for really expensive teams to have their full resource of the mid-level exception and get their good second round picks on a fair contract you know you don’t have to
Kind of pick one or the other and so those picks have become slightly more valuable and Thing Two is second round picks have lower minimums right years of service minimums uh when they apply to undrafted players or a little higher than drafted players and of course zero
Years of service is as low as you can have in the NBA so second round picks are cheaper so in the new MBA where your exceptions are so valuable because you can trade them and you can do all sorts of stuff uh and because second rounders are more valuable because they’re cheap
Potentially if you’re running against the apron and because it’s a draft pick in general they have got especially the good second rounders that like actually could be of interest Pacers have done well with the top of the second round they traded one of those picks in the Isaiah Jackson deal they had drafted
Injur Mard with another having that as valuable right so even if they don’t make a pick with it if they try to move up if they use it in a trade for somebody else there’s a lot of ways it could go it isn’t it is more valuable
Than it was two years ago even if it’s like only very slightly right and it’s still whatever the 37th pick is the 37th pick and it’s not a good draft uh at least that’s what it’s considered but that does change the value of it and
That was a very wordy answer but a lot of the Dynamics of the league changed and that’s why that’s the case Ryan at the Hasselhoff says what defensive change do you most want to see after the All-Star break and what was the coolest moment for you as a journalist covering
All-Star Weekend yeah it’s hard to say what defensive change I’d make because you know it’s interesting the big change that helped them defensively earlier in the season when they started jailing Smith was they had more rebounding on the floor and that size mattered and so I I honestly think that seum has not
Been up to the defensive level that I thought he’d be he’s been better offensively but not as good defensively so can he be a little more impactful on the defensive end is not really a change but it’s just something I’d be curious about because they were scooping up a
Ton of rebounds and the size was valuable when they made their December starting lineup change well seeum has size but he’s not as good of a rebounder as Jaylen Smith so can you get more stops so you don’t need the rebounds as often like The Possession battle becomes
Less important if you get more stops and if not can you find a way to rebound better without sacrificing your transition game because the basers are so good at that you know that’s a very that’s not an answer to your question that’s just kind of something I’ve
Thought about for them because they had that run where you know I I talked about this and this wasn’t a compliment but it was kind of a compliment given how bad the Pacers defense was at times when they were playing for like a month and a
Half like the 17th best defense in the NBA that’s all they needed that’s all they needed given how good their offense was right now they’re not a second league in offense shout out to the Celtics but um if if they can play top five offense and 17th defense that’s
Very good if they’re back to being top two offense bottom four defense that’s not as good so I don’t in terms of just straight up changes I mean they’ve just I think their closeout technique and and is pretty poor like when they’re rotating a lot they just get blown by in
The perimeter being able to stay in front of guys in scramble situations would be the most valuable tweak for the Pacers it’s not a tweak it’s not even a scheme change it’s just something that they could get better at I think that would go a long way for them it’s really
Hard to think of stuff schematically because they don’t want to get into drop with Miles Turner I mean they you’re just you’d be rotating too much you’d be conceding so many pick and rolls there’s so many good jump Shooters now it’s just hard without a lot of length to get away
With dropping all the time they just have to kind of be better as individuals right all the one they did so many one-on-one drills in the summer to try to get better in that way and of course practice doesn’t guarantee success or Improvement but uh that is what I would
Think would be the most important thing for them to get better at defensively what’s the coolest moment for you as a journalist covering All-Star Weekend great question I mean it’s just for me it’s always like I’m around people who just like crush it as journalists like I
Read everything this guy puts out or I listen to a podcast with that guy like four times a week like I get star struck by those people which is really embarrassing um and it was also of course the first time I covered that Marquee NBA event I’ve now done I would
Like to do all of them some point obviously but I’ve now done the draft lottery the draft combine Allstar and the inseason tournament and a play the playoffs is a thing I’ve done that but you know the finals and the draft are the two left that I would like
To go to and and cover the draft is a little different just because there’s a lot you can gain from being in Indie as well uh but especially the finals and it’s hard because I can’t just go to that but you know that that’s two left
So it was just kind of a check mark moment for me too of like okay this is cool I got to cover another thing see what it’s all about um and yeah just people people being it being in Indie made it cool too because I knew more
People in the arena and around things it was just awesome uh and AJ Reese and His Four parters is back to close us out part one what was your welcome to the NBA moment interesting to ask a a writer podcaster this instead of a player um it’s a good question one was asking
Steph Curry an awful question on a zoom during the co year uh it taught me a lot about prepping better I asked him about Edmond Sumer and it was like they weren’t raising hands you were just like screaming at Steph Curry through your computer so I blurted it out really
Poorly and I got a bad answer and I deserved a bad answer because the question was bad um one was I think about this a lot like I’m around tall guys all the time right like everyone in the NBA is tall so so so height doesn’t
Like Star you know you don’t I don’t look up at tall guys and I’m like so taken back star struckle of like whoa that dude’s 74 but the first time I saw boban I was like whoa boban is huge I I just can’t explain why he looks so
Different than other guys um and I think in person like just covering a playoff series with LeBron in it was a welcome to the NBA moment two what are you looking forward to seeing from teams other than the Pacers that’s a great question the Bucks are the most
Interesting team in the league to me now they’re not playing well with Doc can they figure it out the the second air quotes half of the Season uh or not or are they going to be a team with a lot of roster questions going forward they’ll be fascinating to
Me are the Cavs as good as their recent stretch and then in the west who is what who is great who is good who is not their top teams are so close they could have the greatest playin Tournament of all time if the if the Warriors and Lakers are in it and
Maybe even like a rivalry Suns Mavs playin game could be there or maybe the Kings or are playing The Warriors for a northern California spot in the playoffs like it the West is awesome and so just in general watching how the standings unfold like every three days will be
Crazy out there three Tyrese hinted at a possible uniform change recently H thoughts on what you’d like such what you’ve heard haven’t heard anything um what I would like I mean they did this year what I’ve wanted for a long time I thought it would be cool
For the Pacers to have a jersey that says indie or Indianapolis even though the Indiana Pacers I just think leaning more into the local part would be cool especially they did it correctly this year to me with the city quote City Edition I love that they did that um
Somehow leaning more into that with their third Jersey would be cool to me but it’s kind of hard to just do rebrands right like it takes a lot of thinking and it takes the right timing and they’re not necessarily in the perfect time to do so like it would be
Like when tyres halbert’s time with the Pacers ends would be a good time to do uniform changes ironically enough giving the phrasing of this question um I don’t know I like really boring jerseys like I think the Celtics and the Bulls have my favorite uniform structures in the NBA
Lakers are really good like there’s too much there’s too much color and pop and you know people always say they want the 90s jerseys back I I disagree I like oh the Heat have good jerseys um now I’m just thinking about uniforms the Spurs have good uniforms uh for example to me
Four what’s the timeline of filling that 15th roster spot I can’t believe this is the last question I thought this would be one of the first ones I got uh when I put this out funnily enough uh there is no actual timeline so the reason that some teams have timelines when it comes
To roster spots is if you want you have to have 14 guys under contract uh when you for a percentage of days basically so you can’t go more than two weeks without having it filled so teams that got down to 13 roster spots because they’re juggling the tax or because the
Trade are way more players than they got they had to sign somebody uh the trade deadline was now 12 days away 13 days away actually of me talking right now right so some teams that had to sign a guy for example but the Pacers have 14
They don’t have 13 so they are not required from a timeline perspective to sign a player that said I mean it right now it’s 21st you know perhaps I thought it would be interesting for them to sign a 10-day guy maybe like right after the allstar game or right after all-star weekend and
Then just have it expire right when the buyout Market kind of forms and it becomes obvious who’s there they could even still do that they could do that on Wednesday or Thursday and then that 10day would end you know March 1st March 2nd whatever right when the buyout
Market done forming or being fully formed and then see if there’s someone out there that actually makes sense for them but I mean they’re such a deep team like it’s hard to think of a bio guy who’s good enough they would play for the Pacers and would also be bought out
By their former team so it you know they’re an interesting spot in terms of feeling that with what makes the most sense perhaps the answer is just a vet again you know another James Johnson EV vet someone who’s not going to require minutes but will still be a positive
Asset to your team and it’s not again require ired for them to fill it we’ll see but I mean if you if you are willing to spend the money as an organization it is preferable to have someone there then not my if I were running the Pacers what
I would try to have done is just sniff someone in for a 10day and then sign somebody on a buyout Market if possible uh but it’s hard you know the bio Market is going to be tough for them because it’s gonna be hard for them to find somebody who’s impactful enough to
Actually be able to play for them down the rest of the season and and not you know complain if they aren’t playing we’ll see lots of fun stuff coming games are back tomorrow and a guest is back tomorrow will for will join us to talk about the biggest storylines for the
Pacers for the second air quotes half it’s not the second half it’s the last like third but whatever of the Season post All-Star break and then of course we’ll be talking Pacers pistons on Friday heading into their weekend of fun thank you all for listening today and submitting questions much appreciated I
Like doing mailbag stuff and learning about what people are interested in or stuff I haven’t covered well enough here plenty more to come here on the lockdown Pacers podcast hope you guys enjoyed hope you enjoyed the All-Star coverage back to normal tomorrow have a wonderful day we will see you soon
The Indiana Pacers season restarts soon, but in the meantime, host Tony East answered your questions from Twitter. Tony answers questions on the team’s defense, playoff push, Jarace Walker’s minutes, draft pick value, and more.
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