Step 4: Solve the frontcourt
A big problem with this Pacers offense is that they have two bigs who both work best as the only true big on the floor, and the Pacers are trying to play them together. Those bigs being Domantas Sabonis, and Myles Turner.
It’s reasonable to want both of these players on the floor because every team wants to have their five best guys out there, but Sabonis and Turner have two very overlapping games.
As much of an anchor as Turner is for this Pacers team, he is feeling like the odd man out. A lot of the time Turner has been used as a stretch-five for the Pacers allowing Sabonis to operate the inside, but it feels like that can only last so long.
Sabonis is an All-Star player who processes a brilliant passing ability for a big man. His potential is high enough that he actually deserves a chance to be the long-term center for the team, and initiate a lot of offense much like Nikola Jokic in Denver.
Advanced analytics even show the Pacers are better with just Sabonis on the floor, so the best move would be to trade Turner so he can flourish as a two-way center and add more pieces around Oladipo and Sabonis.
An advanced Pacers offense with a healthy Oladpio and Sabonis combo would be deadly. Add to that the Pacers players shooting more around the duo, and a wing upgrade. Then suddenly this Pacers team goes from one of the better Eastern Conference teams to a legit contender to make it out of the East. Now think about that.