IUfan_Charlie

Zion helped his stock in college for sure but the g league wasn’t really an option a few years ago. But Zion is an all time high school mixtape player. He was way more famous than RJ Barrett. I agree the g league isn’t for everyone, but neither is college. I’m just saying I fully understand the decision to make real money as soon as possible. Look at LaMelo Ball. College wouldn’t have helped him in any way and he was killing it this year. There are more paths these days.

Or Okung. I’ve heard rumors that Villanueva is heading to Baltimore after the draft when they get their comp picks.

I mean Holmgren is the closest thing I’ve seen to AD. He has to completely change his body though. He’s less of a sure thing. Both have huge talent.

Jalen Suggs is an outlier though because he was on a top 2 team and hit an insane shot. That won’t happen for most of these guys. Jalen Green has the type of game that draws eyes in the NBA and he has a lot of star potential imo. Emoni has been hyped as the next KD since he was in middle school and has been living up to the hype every step of the way.

That pick doesn’t make sense to me. Especially coming off an Achilles. I think Ballard missed out on all the tackles and picked someone he think has upside. His track record of 2nd round DEs is abysmal... No clue who plays LT. I just don’t get it.

He’s so good that it doesn’t make any sense for him to play college ball. Go make $500K and play against pros. No brainer to me. Worked out for Jalen Green.

I like the Kwity Paye pick. Edge was a huge need and he has huge upside. I understand wanting Darrisaw, and he would’ve been a good pick too but I think we will see a tackle in the second round.

Basketball is a game of momentum. Big plays lead to more energy = more points/better defense.

I agree that Rhodes and Kenny are good CBs. But you need more than two good cbs. Maybe our young guys already on the roster will step up but you realistically need 4 quality cbs to be in good shape there imo. Rock was a bottom 20 cb graded by pff last year and tends to grab receivers for PI. TJ Carrie is a solid corner but not someone you want starting every down imo. Not to mention Rhodes only got signed for 1 more year. As far as draft misses: Malik Hooker, Banagu, Basham, Rock, and too early to tell on Turay and Campbell. Injuries play a part in some of these for sure. He has drafted well and I agree he’s a good gm but he has had some whiffs at DE and CB. The two most important spots on defense.

Ok. So I think Rock is among the worst corners in the league. He knows that this year is make it break for him so maybe we will see improvement. It would be huge for the team if he was good but I’m not going to hold my breath on that one. Tell and Rogers are depth pieces. I think Ballard will absolutely take a CB on the first couple picks this week. I like Ballard, he’s made some great picks but he’s definitely missed some too. This team is going to have to be reliant on rookies at key positions to be a contender. And Wentz has to be good of course. Edge might be the biggest weakness on this team. He can’t miss there again.

Please. No team is going to give up any meaningful assets for Cory Joseph. Please tell me how the Brogdon deal hasn’t worked out? He definitely has his flaws but he has generally lived up to any reasonable expectations that you could put on him coming in. No one thought he’d be an all star. He’s not overpaid in comparison to his production, and he’s currently having the best season of his career. Who would you have wanted at PG? Chris Paul, Steph, Dame? We had no options. Try to convince Collison not to retire? I mean Jesus. You have to remember that this team was a couple plays away from beating LeBron and the Cavs in 2018. Expecting the team to blow it all up after Oladipo’s injury just isn’t reasonable. They had no idea how he would look when he returned. They didn’t know how players on the roster would progress. If you projected all these things happening I guess you should be leading a front office somewhere. No reasonable person would just destroy an above average roster like that midseason. I’m not a huge fan of a lot of the stuff this front office has done, and they very may well need to blow this team up, but no one would’ve made the moves you said we should have. That’s just not how it works.

Right? There were so many rumors flying around months before the news broke too. He was a disaster in every aspect.

Tyreke Evans had literally zero value. He was horrible and had serous off court problems. Cory Jo is a league average backup guard, and Kyle O’Quinn was out of the NBA a year later. They had no value. We couldn’t pay Bogie what it would take to keep him and we got a good replacement for nothing in TJ Warren. Thad young is the only questionable move. This is such revisionist history. Who would the pacers have played at the 3 in we traded Warren? Justin Holiday/Doug? It’s been clear this year that doesn’t work. It’s not like we could’ve gotten a lottery pick for Warren. Teams knew that bubble was a fluke in a lot of aspects.

This is an insane take. Unfathomable.

I mean last year, at age 23, was when he made a jump to all star and he missed the playoffs due to injury. I have issue calling someone bad in the playoffs when they have never even started a playoff game in their career. He barely played in 2 games as a 20 year old rookie playing as a stretch 4. He played well in the series against the Cavs in 2018 and struggled in 4 games in 2019. The whole team did. That’s just not a fair complaint against him. And of course if they are your best players you aren’t going to be competing for chips. No one would argue that. However, that is not their fault. They are both on extremely reasonable contracts for the level of player that they are. The pacers mediocrity is due to poor team building, injuries, and coaching more than any couple of players. I just don’t see getting a return from them that would raise our ceiling. If you are a mid tier small market team this is life in the NBA. You have to draft well and that’s where we fail. This team is in a different place if we take guys like OG or Collins over leaf and don’t spend a first rounder on a 6’0 shooting guard. Prioritize defense, athleticism, and upside in free agency and the draft and hope they pan out.

Then you also have Ja Morant who played with Zion and got pretty much completely ignored and went #2 overall two years later. Can’t believe no one realized how good he was.

The 2015/2016 alone roster has insane talent in hindsight. Crean had his chances.

How are they low ceiling players when they are the two best players on the team? They are flawed players for sure but both are very good NBA players. I like LeVert but he’s flawed too. He’s a ball dominant guard that is a below average shooter and an average at best defender. This entire team is flawed and we have a shitty coach at the helm. If you can trade Domas for another all star or a top 6-7 pick then you should absolutely consider it but other than that... it’s not like we grow all stars in Indiana. If we knew how to draft this team would be in a much better spot.

I’m very confident Jalen Green will be a top 10 scorer in the league at some point. He has Zach LaVine, Bradley Beal type scoring upside. I think he’s gonna go #2. I just know we are gonna end up with Franz Wagner or Kispert or something. We desperately need high upside wings.

I think there is a strong argument he’s top10 but I’d probably have him somewhere around 12. In my mind he’s the second best PG ever behind Magic and his influence on how the entire game is played now is pretty much unparalleled. His championship window is probably over at this point but he could still conceivably win another MVP before he’s done. It will be so interesting to see if another player can replicate his kind of shooting in the future. You know there are an army of middle schoolers out there trying to replicate it.

Dudes averaged 40.7 points per game on 55-50-91 shooting splits in 10 games so far this month. He's 72-of-143 from 3.

I think it’s a very real possibility our lineup is 3 guards with Hunter at the 4 and TJD at the 5. Race 25 mins off the bench.

Man Arkansas likes to battle back from deficits. Imagine if they start hot.

Big shot making guards are what win you games in March.

You gotta foul there