- The Pacers‘ starting lineup appears set entering the preseason with the exception of shooting guard, which may see last year’s starter Monta Ellis shift to a role off the bench, Greg Rappaport of NBA.com writes. The move may be necessary due to the addition of Jeff Teague, who, like Ellis, is not known for his ability to consistently hit shots from deep, Rappaport notes.
- The Rockets, Spurs, Lakers and Pacers are among the teams who are interested in Carl Landry, who was waived by the Sixers this week, Darren Wolfson of 1500 ESPN tweets.
Kevin Seraphin will remain in the NBA for the coming season, after agreeing to a two-year deal with the Pacers this week. However, for most of the offseason, Seraphin had been expecting to play overseas in 2016/17, with FC Barcelona viewed as his likely landing spot. In an interview with Jorge Sierra of HoopsHype, the veteran big man explained why a deal in Spain didn’t materialize.
“Barcelona was my first option,” Seraphin said. “I talked to the GM. He called me. After that, I talked to the coach and they were my first option. But they made us wait. They were like, ‘We have to make room.’ Then they told us they could not do it because they couldn’t make room.”
Last week, a report indicated that Seraphin had switched representation, hiring Bouna Ndiaye after having been previously represented by Klutch Sports. The same report suggested that NBA opportunities were in play for the former 17th overall pick, and that was no coincidence. According to Seraphin, his new agent was calling NBA teams in search of a deal.
“I was looking forward to an opportunity to play a lot and show people what I can do,” Seraphin said. “Since it didn’t happen with Barcelona, we looked at opportunities in the NBA… And then Barcelona came back! But it was too late then because we were in the process of talking to NBA teams, then I tried out for a couple of days and now I’m with the Pacers.”
While Seraphin likely would have had a bigger role on the Spanish team than he will with the Pacers, he got a guaranteed deal worth more than the minimum salary from Indiana, and looks poised to be a part of the team’s regular-season roster. Indiana now has 16 players on guaranteed contracts, meaning someone with a guaranteed salary will have to be waived before the season gets underway.
- The Pacers‘ agreement with Kevin Seraphin should have little effect on a planned long-term extension for Paul George, tweets Steve Kyler of Basketball Insiders. Indiana needs to free up just $3.802MM to get George to his maximum salary for this season, Kyler notes. George will become eligible for an extension on September 25th.
- Several European teams, particularly FC Barcelona, had expressed strong interest in Seraphin before he signed with the Pacers, according to Orazio Cauchi of Sportando.
Jeff Teague is eligible for a contract extension, and the Pacers hope he can become the team’s long-term answer at point guard, but they may not be able to extend him before he reaches free agency next July. As Steve Kyler of Basketball Insiders details, Indiana currently has just over $6MM in cap room, and likely wants to retain that space for a possible new deal for Paul George, who becomes extension-eligible later this month. To entice either player to ink a new deal sooner rather than later, the Pacers will almost certainly need to provide a raise in addition to an extension, and George figures to be a priority over Teague.
That doesn’t mean that a new, in-season deal for Teague is out of the question. However, unless George decides not to sign an extension this year, a trade would likely be necessary to clear the cap room necessary for a Teague extension. And as Kyler writes, the Pacers don’t seem overly concerned about making a deal at the moment.
- Alex Poythress isn’t discouraged about his NBA dream despite being bypassed on draft night, writes Scott Agness of Vigilant Sports. The 6’7″ forward, who spent four years at Kentucky, recently signed a partially guaranteed deal with the Pacers and is believed to be ticketed for the D-League. Poythress has been working out in Indianapolis for the past few weeks. “Things are going good,” he said. “Going through the draft process, [the Pacers] really liked me. I’m just trying to make best of this opportunity.”
Kevin Seraphin continues to look for a new NBA home, and is reportedly working out for the Pacers, per Yann Ohnona of L’Equipe, via Twitter (hat tip to HoopsHype). Although Seraphin hasn’t officially confirmed the report, he published an Instagram photo of himself in Indianapolis this afternoon.
We heard last week that Seraphin has been rebuffing contract offers from overseas in the hopes of getting an opportunity with an NBA team. The veteran big man has reportedly received interest from teams in the Chinese Basketball Association, as well as Euroleague clubs, including FC Barcelona.
A former 17th overall pick, Seraphin spent five seasons with the Wizards before playing for the Knicks last season. For his career, he has appeared in 374 regular-season contests, averaging 6.1 PPG and 3.5 RPG to go along with a .483 FG%.
Indiana bolstered its frontcourt this offseason by signing Al Jefferson as a free agent, but the team doesn’t have a ton of depth at center. The Pacers may have interest in Seraphin as a player who could provide some value off the bench on the defensive side of the floor, and as a rebounder.
The Pacers have announced a pair of signings, revealing today in press release that they’ve added veteran guard Julyan Stone to their roster. The club also confirmed and formalized the previously-reported signing of undrafted free agent Alex Poythress.
Stone, 27, entered the NBA in 2012, and ultimately appeared in 47 total games over the course of three seasons for the Nuggets and Raptors. He didn’t see much action in those games, averaging just 1.3 PPG and 1.1 APG in 7.0 minutes per contest. Stone was in camp with the Thunder last fall, but was cut and signed with Gaziantep in Turkey — he averaged 4.4 PPG, 4.7 RPG, and 1.8 APG in 25 games for the Turkish club.
As for Poythress, he missed the bulk of the 2014/15 campaign due to a torn left ACL. Returning to Kentucky as a senior, the forward made 31 appearances and averaged 10.2 points, 6.0 rebounds and 0.6 steals in 23.6 minutes per contest. Poythress’ shooting line for the Wildcats was .601/.304/.706.
[RELATED: Indiana Pacers’ depth chart at RosterResource.com]
The Pacers already have 15 guaranteed contracts on their roster, so Stone and Poythress aren’t great bets to survive preseason cuts unless Indiana has injury problems heading into the season. Poythress could end up playing for the Pacers’ D-League affiliate in Fort Wayne, while Stone would be a candidate to head back overseas.
Eddie Scarito contributed to this post.
- The Mavericks paid $3.2MM to the Pacers in last month’s Jeremy Evans trade, according to Pincus (Twitter link). Dallas had to dump Evans’ guaranteed $1,227,286 salary to create cap room for new, incoming players, and Indiana made a profit by agreeing to take him. Teams can send out a maximum of $3.5MM in trades during a league year, so Dallas used nearly all its trade cash in that move.
Having Nate McMillan as his head coach should accelerate the development of Pacers big man Myles Turner, states Ric Bucher of Bleacher Report. In a video interview, Bucher names Turner as one of the NBA’s young players to watch for next season, and part of the reason is the addition of McMillan, who was hired in May to replace Frank Vogel. Bucher notes that Turner has many qualities similar to LaMarcus Aldridge, whom McMillan helped to develop into an All-Star as head coach of the Trail Blazers nearly a decade ago. Bucher believes Turner will also benefit from an upgrade at point guard, where Jeff Teague was picked up in a trade with the Hawks to replace George Hill. The 20-year-old Turner averaged 10.3 points and 5.5 rebounds in 60 games last season.
There’s more news out of Indiana:
- After an offseason spent acquiring offense, the Pacers must prove they can be successful with their new approach, writes Lang Greene of Basketball Insiders. For about 20 years, Indiana has been a physical, defensive-minded team that won with hard-working overachievers, Greene notes. But team president Larry Bird decided he wanted to build a better offense, which is why Vogel was let go. Bird followed up that move by dealing for Teague and power forward Thaddeus Young, then signing center Al Jefferson to a three-year, $30MM deal in free agency. Teamed with Paul George and Monta Ellis, the Pacers can now put scorers on the floor at every position.
- The Pacers have named José Luis Galilea as their new overseas talent evaluator, according to Scott Agness of Vigilant Sports. He replaces Pete Philo, who left the organization in May. Indiana now has eight full-time scouts and 11 overall.