The Pacers took the conference champion Cavaliers to seven games in their playoff series and feel good about their chances to contend in the upcoming season, writes Gary Washburn of The Boston Globe. Coach Nate McMillan is especially encouraged by Indiana’s offseason moves, which included the free agent additions of Tyreke Evans, Doug McDermott and Kyle O’Quinn, along with drafting Aaron Holiday.
“We feel good about our draft picks and our free agents that we were able to pick up,” McMillan said. “We felt like we added a need to our roster. We felt like we were able to strengthen our bench. All of those were guys we felt like if we could improve that position, we wanted to. Aaron is going to be a real solid guard in this league.”
“Is it open? With LeBron [out]? Yes. We’re happy that he’s gone west,” McMillan said. “But we know that it’s still going to be a challenge and we have to make sure we work on us and not assume anything. It’s going to be a challenge for us to do the things we did last season and do it better.”
There’s more tonight from the Central Division:
- Victor Oladipo‘s summer is a mixture of workouts and marketing opportunities, relays J. Michael of The Indianapolis Star. The league’s reigning Most Improved Player adopted a new diet and upgraded his offseason routine last year before posting the best season of his NBA career. The Pacers star is also taking advantage of his new-found fame to help build his brand. “I decided to take control on and off the court and really make decisions that are best for me instead of relying on other people,” Oladipo says. “It’s about growth, getting a little wiser, a gray hair here or there. I’m trying to grow up.”
- The Cavaliers have 12 players on their roster with guaranteed contracts and are keeping two spots open for David Nwaba and Rodney Hood, tweets ESPN’s Bobby Marks. Cleveland was reportedly finalizing a deal with Nwaba at the start of the month, but nothing has been made official. Hood remains the top restricted free agent on the market, but has little bargaining power with so few teams having cap space remaining. Point guard Isaiah Taylor, who signed a non-guaranteed $1.5MM deal yesterday, will also compete for a roster spot, Marks adds.
- The Cavaliers were the second choice for former Bulls forward Noah Vonleh, who signed with the Knicks this summer, a source tells Marc Berman of The New York Post. The Bucks and Spurs were also in the running.
Myles Turner took up yoga this summer and is ripped!
His emergence, Oladipo continuing to grow into an All-Star and further getting to gel with his teammates, with McMillan continuing building this team’s chemistry, and with their new additions of Evans’ versatility, McDermott’s 3-point shooting, and adding a solid peremeter defender and high basketball IQ prospect in Holliday to their guard rotation, the Pacers are primed and ready to take another step forward this year…
Even with all of that being said, they’re still behind the Celtics in all facets of the game. They don’t have as much talent, they aren’t as deep, the Pacers are not as athletic as the Celtics, they don’t defend as well, they don’t shoot as well, and finally, Stevens is the better coach at developing talent, rallying his team together, he is better at designing plays, and he’s also better at making in-game adjustments..
Even so, injuries happen throughout the course of a season, and in the NBA crazier things have happened than the Pacers potentially winning a series against the Celtics..Once upon a time, no one gave the Warriors a chance against the Mavs, and we all know what happened then..
The Pacers should still be right there with the second tier of teams in the East, alongside the 76ers and Raptors..Then you have a couple of talented teams in the Bucks and Wizards with talent and star power; however, neither team has been able to put everything together and take that next step towards being a legit contender..
Either way you look at it, it should be a fun and competitive conference race this upcoming season. Whether it is the Celtics, 76ers, Raptors, Pacers, Wizards, or the Bucks (in that order), they’ll all have the chance to control their own destiny, and furthermore, there’ll still be two open spots in the playoffs for two other teams to suprise us.
Maybe it’ll be my beloved Bulls, or another up and coming young squad like the Magic, but I wouldn’t bet my money on either..lol
That isn’t even including the Western conference, which is going to be even more exciting!! The West features one dynasty, a great team that has taken a step backwards defensively, a very good team headlined by two superstars in Paul George and Westbrook, a young core that has added LeBron and a couple veterans, two talented and upcoming teams in Portland and Utah, and then there are several other teams with talented rosters that could suprise us if things work out for them i.e. Minnesota, San Antonio, New Orleans, or even a team like Memphis, if they can stay healthy…
Even the young teams that drafted early on, and added some extremely promising talents like Phoenix, Dallas, Sacremento, and even Denver. They will all be incredibly fun to watch, and it’ll be captivating watching these young prospects, like Ayton, Doncic, Bagley, and Porter Jr. all grow and develop with their teammates…
Good writing.
Sorry cannot see Indiana beyond the 1st round exit, I think they are the #6 seed, which would face them with Milwaukee & I cannot see them able to stop Giannis. Bucks have a better starting line up, Indiana have a better bench but the difference is Giannis, he is like LBJ no answer for him in Indiana, VO will never be that type of superstar.
Giannis has very little help. Middleton is the most consistent contributor. Bucks are going nowhere.
I’m sorry, but if the referees call goaltending at the end of game 5 by LeBron on Oladipo, maybe Indiana wins the series and it would have been Indiana against Boston in the eastern conference finals. Indiana outscored Cleveland by 40. They also won the season series over Milwaukee, Cleveland, and Philadelphia. We come from 2 different worlds. For some reason you think you are smarter than Kevin Pritchard. How many times have I said Pritchard said he doesn’t want superstars. He says they set you back 3-4 years when they leave. How many times have I said Pritchard says they just want to be competitive, like most teams? How many times have I said the Pacers won’t go over the salary cap and spend money like the title contenders do? Geez!
And you think Kyrie Irving and Steph Curry can’t pass the ball. Steph, Kyrie, Damon, CP3, and John Wall are the 5 best point guards in the NBA. Point guards are supposed to run the offense, not small forwards. It’s been that way since the beginning of time. I think Johnny Wooden started it. Even John Stockton and Magic Johnson ran their offenses.
Thompson’s dad said this weekend that Klay will be with the Warriors for the next 6-7 years. So will Steph and KD. It was the Warriors passing and unselfishness that destroyed Cleveland.
Westbrook is one of the top point guards too. MY fault. These guys are your all stars. They are not selected by biased Cavs fans on blog sites.
Sorry my friend mio, don’t know if you refer to me when you say Cleveland fan, I cannot like them at all, only have been interested in them because I am a great LBJ fan, so now I couldn’t care less about Cleveland, only interest is in K-Love left in Cleveland, the rest of the team no use to me.
By the way in my opinion, only mine, not saying I am right, but that is how I see it the top 10 PG’s last season, not by career just by last season alone performance, again not by their career were:
1/ Westbrook
2/ Curry
3/ Dame
4/ CP3
5/ Simmons
6/ Kyrie
7/ Lowry
8/ Wall
9/ Kemba
10/ Schroeder