4. Indiana Pacers
Key additions: Tyreke Evans (FA), Kyle O’Quinn (FA), Doug McDermott (FA)
Key losses: Lance Stephenson (FA), Glenn Robinson III (FA)
THE SURPRISE TEAM OF 2017-18, Indiana didn’t sit quietly after pushing Cleveland to the brink in a memorable first round series. Tyreke Evans was their biggest signing, and at one year for just $12 million, they got him on a great deal. Whether he starts or is used as a sixth man, Evans should see big minutes on a team who recently outscored the East champs by forty points over the course of a seven game series.
He was low-key really good in Memphis last year (19-5-5 on 45-40-79 %’s, 21.1 PER, 4.4 OBPM) and his playmaking, shooting, and off-ball movement fit the roster like a glove. Like anything Evans-related, injury is a *large* concern. Otherwise, this was a smart move.
Hoops Habit
The team also brought in Kyle O’Quinn to bolster the bench. To get an idea of how underrated O’Quinn was last year, only Karl-Anthony Towns, Anthony Davis, Nikola Jokic, Andre Drummond, and DeMarcus Cousins matched his 20.0 PER and 4.5 BPM thresholds among bigs. Of the group, only Towns had a higher TS%. O’Quinn is a good interior defender and shot blocker, rebounder, finishes well, and can anchor a defense for small stretches. If fourth year center Myles Turner has another rough year, O’Quinn could steal a lot of minutes for this team.
The rest of the core is intact, but most importantly, Victor Oladipo is evolving into one of the game’s best all-around players. After leading the Pacers to 48 wins out of nowhere last year, Oladipo says he is still looking to get better. Both his game and leadership were displayed at a level never before seen from him last year and I give a lot of credit to Russell Westbrook for that. It was probably frustrating playing next to Russ, especially in his triple-double year, but yu could see a big difference in mentality from ’16 to ’17 with Oladipo.
There aren’t many guys ever who have played as hard as Westbrook does on a nightly basis, and being a student of the game, Oladipo picked up on that. Victor himself even credited Westbrook’s mentality rubbing off on him for his breakout season.
The rest of the roster is filled with forgotten guys who are actually good at basketball. Were you aware Darren Collison led the league in both 3P% and assist-to-turnover ratio last year? Nobody else has ever done that. Turner is a good shot blocker, Bojan Bogdanovic is a quality 3&D guy (defended LeBron well last spring), and Domantas Sabonis is lethal under the rim.
This team is athletic, deep, balanced, and can really shoot the 3. They will be in every game they play. Were you also aware this Thad Young graphic existed? The intern that dug that up deserves a full-time job.
It should be another fun year in Indiana. They are dark-horse contenders for the Conference Finals.
Pacers projected record: 51-31
Pacers chances of making the playoffs: 80%
Pacers chances of winning the East: 3%