Pacers Off Season

Do you think they would move Granger so George would start?

 Since they need a SG and a PF send Paul George and Tyler Hansbrough to my Bulls so they can free up some cap.

I have Indiana taking Terrence Jones which is probably not a good fit for them.  At that pick the best option might be Jordan Hamilton.  I like Psycho T and Josh McRoberts at the 4.  They have 3 really good wing players in Granger, George, and Dunleavy, but they are probably all better at small forward than at shooting guard. 

Maybe Psycho T and McRoberts are better as energy guys off the bench, even though both can finish strong inside and hit open jumpers.  They might be better off getting a veteran power forward.  At shooting guard, it looks like Jordan Hamilton is the best guy as far as their draft pick goes.  I am wondering if Shelvin Mack might be good.  That might be a reach, but he can give them scoring off the bench and give them a good back-up to Collison.  At 42 I have them taking Ben Hansbrough in order to form the Psycho Brothers.  Ben gives them depth at point guard and a 3 point threat.  I think they should draft either Shelvin Mack in the first round or Ben Hansbrough in the second round. 

I think they would have their best offseason if they draft the best power forward at 15 (Trey Thompkins, Faried, maybe Terrence Jones if he is there), draft Ben Hansbrough at 42 to give them a local guy, another Hansbrough, a 3 point threat, and depth at the point guard position, then sign Jason Richardson.  J-Rich would be a good second option to Danny Granger and would form a balanced scoring core with J-Rich and Granger on the wings, Hibbert inside, and Collison on the perimeter.  The Pacers can start those four guys along with their power forward draft pick or a token veteran power forward and can bring the Hans Bro’s off the bench along with Paul George, Dunleavy 2.0, and Josh McRoberts.  That’s a very solid 10 man rotation pus they have rebounding-machine Jeff Foster. I think that the Pacers could use a veteran power forward like Kurt Thomas or Antonio McDyess who can give them toughness, experience, as well as some rebounds.  I think Psycho T/McRoberts is a good combination at the 4 so if would rather draft a guard at 15 and get a power forward in free agency then they should do that.

What they probably need to do is draft an active defender and solid rebounder.  I think they need to take Kenneth Faried.  I think they will have enough scoring, especially if they sign J-Rich, so they need to get a good rebounder/athlete to put next to Hibbert.

Indiana Pacers to-do list: Draft Faried, and Hansbrough. Sign J-Rich and maybe a back-up center. 

Hibbert, Faried, Psycho-T, McRoberts, and Foster is a good big man corp.

http://www.nbadraft.net/forum/pacers-begin-season

From yestarday

The first thing Indiana needs to do is assure Frank Vogel that he’ll be returning..guy did a hell of a job with a decent but not spectacular squad

lets trade our very promising Smal forward with athletic ability and length and a power forward who is more than capable of being a starter who can rebound and hit open jumpers when needed to our biggest DIVISIONAL opponent in the Bulls…. Really dude?

The Pacers have some cap space. They do need a 2-guard and honestly, I think J-Rich would be a good fit. He’s getting up on age so hopefully he’s not getting a huge long term contract but he would be a nice piece to Collison, Hibbert and Granger. If not, maybe they could pursue OJ Mayo again because I don’t think he wants to be a 6th man even if the Grizzlies are winning. My only question is this — When will the Pacers let go of Granger? He has value and can be a nice second piece to an All-Star but he cannot be the man for this team. I think if they wanted to make a bold trade, they should maybe try to get JJ Hickson (especially if the Cavs draft Williams) and take on vaerjo’s contract as well. This gives them some size upfront and a promising line up of Collison/J-Rich or Mayo/George/Hickson/Hibbert with Hansborough, Rush, Vaerjo, Dhantay Jones, and AJ Price.

Collison needs to show me something next year because he was kind of a let down after his crazy good rookie season. He played well against the Bulls and needs to be a more vocal leader out there and they need to push the ball if the make moves like this.

 The best SG’s that would be good for the Pacers that you listed are Jason Richardson, and Jamal Crawford.

The bad thing is Richardson is a little old and soon to retire. He will want to end his career on a contender and possibly win a championship before he finishes his career. The Pacers are not anywhere near contending for a championship. This year was a great start, and keeping Frank Vogel will certainly help but they aren’t contenders yet and nor do I expect them to be during the offseason. 

So with that I’d have to say that Jamal Crawford is the guy your Pacers should go for. He can create for his teammates. He can play the Point as well as the SG. JR Smith would not be a great fit. He plays a lot like someone the Pacers already have, Dahntay Jones. He is not a great passer, but a very good shooter. He also has kind of a prima-donna attitude and wants the ball in his hands a lot even though he doesn’t always necessarily deserve it. I don’t know if you want to put him next to Danny Granger with that being said. 

After Frank Vogel is named as the head coach and the interim tag is removed, then I definitely say the Pacers need to do one of two things. Either 1) trade Brandon Rush and sign Jamal Crawford to replace him or 2) draft a SG with the 15th pick like Jordan Hamilton and then trade Rush. 

Personally I’d do the first option, why because it gives the Pacers more defense and a veteran who the Pacers are going to need if they want to make the playoffs again.

As for the draft, with the 15th pick I’d go for someone like Tristan Thompson, or either of the Morris twins. Thompson might be a lottery pick, so you might have to live with one of the Morris twins. Although the Morris twins are not far off from Tristan so its not that much of a compensation. I don’t know what I would do at the 42nd pick, but don’t be surprised if the Pacers trade this pick.

If I was Indiana ( Call me crazy), I’d trade Danny Granger. He’s good, but he seems to have hit a wall with how good he can be. I think Indiana should move him before he gets to that Andre Iguadala level of being good, but not a all star, which makes it tough to get value for him

Principles

Indy- gets Bargnani a scoring big who can play nicely beside Hibbert. Lets George start.

Toronto-Gets Granger to play the 3 and help 3 point shooting.Allows Ed Davis to start.

Fillers may be needed.

 How about trying to re-unite the Georgetown pairing of Hibbert and Green at the C and PF spots?

 If toronto gets Granger for bargs, and lucks out in the draft we would easily be a playoff team next season.

I actually wouldn’t mind seeing a Bargs for Grangers swap. Pacers get a long PF who is offensively gifted and has length defensively, Granger gets to play next to a SG in DeRozan who has great scoring potential and whose driving game compliments Granger’s shooting.

 That doesn’t solve the Pacers problem though. They need two scorers that can drop 20+ a game and giving up Granger for Bargs just swaps one scorer for another. The Pacers need another guy to put next to Granger who can score. The Pacers could take Bargs off their hands and give them maybe Rush, Jones and picks, that would free up a lot of cap space and if need be they can take another big contract off Toronto as they have plenty of cap room.

 But by having Bargs instead of Granger it puts Paul George in a position to have many more minutes, and develop into a potential 20point scorer. 

It frees up George to play the 3, where he can be that 20+ ppg scorer, and you have Stephenson who could also be a big-time scorer with a more maturation over the off-season. I also wouldn’t mind if they brought in J.R. Smith as that other scorer.

Lineup would look like;

Collison, Smith, George, Bargnani, Hibbert.

 This is something along the lines i was thinking plus adding picks going to Toronto. I’m not sure Posey would need to a part of it when the off-season starts as the Pacers will have the room to take on the contracts without the Raptors having to take Posey.

http://games.espn.go.com/nba/tradeMachine?tradeId=3oed9te

 Paul George is my favortie player but be realistic he is not ready to be  20point scorer, especially not on a winning team.

 If he’s still available, I can’t possibly see Biyambo sliding past them at 15 after workouts and interviews. While he may be extremely raw and provide very little offensively, Hibbert’s offensive polish would compensate for it  allowing Hibbert to step out to the midpost like at Georgetown and Bismack to stay around the rim and gobble up bounds and prepare to block everything around the rim. I’ve been thinkin about the possibility of trading Rush and one of the forwards and a first for Kevin Martin. Second scorer who gets to the line frequently, and doesn’t really require a lot of touches to get his digits. Not a very good defender nor rebounder, but he’s a good clutch performer.

Hibbert/Bismack(until he shows his D is superior)/Foster

McRoberts/Posey

Granger/George’s 

K.Mart/dahntay/Stephenson

Collison/Price

Sign a vet 5 and sign perhaps a JR Smith for needed fire off the bench. Could be a start. But it’s just an idea. Peehaps I’m holding memories of Reggie  and wanna feel that again. They could be a poor man’s version of those Pacers teams thatt were a playoff mainstay in the 90’s and early 2000’s.