The Pacers won the Paul George trade, even if the Thunder happened to win it as well, Gregg Doyel of the Indianapolis Star writes. The scribe, who memorably critiqued Indiana’s handling of the George saga prior to the deal, says that he didn’t initially appreciate Kevin Pritchard‘s haul for their disgruntled star.
While it seems likely that Victor Oladipo won’t end up averaging the 23.8 points per game he’s averaged through eight games so far this season, he’s a more valuable player than what he came across as during his lone season with the Thunder. It’s reasonable to expect the Pacers two-guard to continue to post a scoring average in excess of the 17.9 points per game he posted in his career-high season with the desolate 2014/15 Magic.
Of course the component that makes or breaks the deal will be Domantas Sabonis. Fortunately for the Pacers, the 21-year-old big man has looked excellent averaging 13.1 points, 11.1 rebounds and 3.0 assists per game in just 27.1 minutes.
Doyel compliments Pritchard for winning a trade that seemed unwinnable, considering the lack of leverage the Pacers were left with after George’s agent leaked that George wanted out.
There’s more from the Central Division:
- The Pistons have had success running Andre Drummond and Reggie Jackson in the pick-and-roll. Lately, Rod Beard of The Detroit News writes, the big man has added a new tool, the ability to take his man off the dribble, giving the club another option to utilize on offense.
- The business partner of Cavaliers forward LeBron James – long-time friend Maverick Carter – says that location won’t influence where James signs as a free agent next summer. “Could he sell a few more sneakers if he was in a gigantic market like Boston, Chicago, New York, or L.A.? Maybe. But not as much as if he wins. What matters the most is if he wins. When you win as an athlete that matters the most,” Carter said in an interview on The Rich Eisen Show (via Chris Fedor of Cleveland.com).
- After vastly improving his free-throw shooting over the offseason, Pistons center Andre Drummond should look to get to the line more, Ansar Khan of MLive writes. Historically terrible from the free-throw line, Drummond has shot 70% from the line in 2017/18. He could now benefit from attacking the basket more aggressively.
Keep in mind Dipo has always been revered as a defense first player. If he drops 20 PPG and still plays top notch defense, and Sabonis pans out, Indy will have gotten a good return on George.
I still wouldn’t have made the trade, the offer would’ve been there a couple days later, and Boston could’ve offered Smart, Amir, Zeller, Celtics ‘19 first, Yabusele, and the BKN pick, (before the end of the league year like the CP3 trade), and that would’ve been better.
I don’t think Boston would’ve offered the BKN pick without an assurance that George would resign. I’m sure if the Brooklyn pick was truly on the table, Indy would’ve made that trade depending on the secondary piece in the trade. But if the Brooklyn pick isn’t/wasn’t on the table, I’m not sold on a future first rounder plus salary filler and a young guy like Smart or Yabusele being significantly better. The Celtics’ future firsts (their own, the Grizzlies, and the Clippers) aren’t that valuable when you consider they are likely to be late lottery/just outside the lottery/late first round picks. The salary filler hardly does anything to move the needle especially if the idea is to cut the player eventually. Not many big name free agents are going to Indy so it’s not like the salary relief is going to help them there. And with a young core and an high salary cap, they aren’t in a pressing situation to save money for an extension. Then you get to the actual players. Yabusele or any other young player is nice, but are they (outside of Tatum or Brown) anymore proven or possess significantly more upside than Sabonis? And is Smart that much of a better player than Oladipo? Smart is more versatile defensively but his main advantage over Oladipo would be his cheaper salary for this year. If Smart were to ask for Oladipo-esque money, then I’m not sure Smart is all that more valuable than Oladipo either.
Yabu has more upside but is less proven. I’d probably take Sabonis right now as a safer bet. I forgot Smart was an RFA next year, thought it was the year after. You’re right.
@Conner- I thought (read) Boston offered their 2017 overall #3 or #1 for George straight up. That too would probably require an extension but IDK. An Indy writer wrote that, maybe dreaming about the #1 overall.
There was also in some plans that for some reason involved Hayward, Boston sending Crowder, Bradley and two desirable future #1s.
Never heard of your deal.
Minus 1 pick
Jeff Foster rules
So to recap, iron man Hayward is out for the season, Magic are 6-2, Cavs 3-5, and Drummond is 70% FT shooter. I knew this year was going to be interesting but this is just plain weird