21. Indiana Pacers
Well that got out of hand in a hurry.
There aren’t many ways you can botch the gift of an All-NBA level player like the Pacers just did. If he walks like LeBron or KD, fine, whatever…you tried. If you trade him for 65 cents on the dollar, like prime KG or Shaq, it’s not ideal, but it’s the best of several bad options. If you hold on to the guy for too long and then he falls off a cliff, at least you’re loyal and sell out games.
To let Paul George go and get back a player who isn’t undoubtedly worth his contract is a travesty. If this were a city on a coast, the level of ire would have been deafening. Instead it merely generated some loud grumbles.
A team that just committed this level of organizational malpractice shouldn’t be this high, but Myles Turner is that good. He’s a legitimate building block, and despite their attempts to avoid it, the Pacers could easily find themselves picking at the top of the lottery next summer.
But for God’s sake, strip whoever made the final call on the George trade of any power within the front office. The fan base will already suffer through stretches of Lance playing point; let’s not make it any worse.
Path to Glory: See just how high the ceiling on Myles Turner goes, find out if you can coax the player out of Victor Oladipo that we’ve thus far only seen flashes of, and don’t go doing something silly like chasing the eight seed in a moribund Eastern Conference. Draft high and wait for your cap to clear up in 2 years.