I want to say this up front, I do not know ball... I am only a Pacers fan, and I slightly keep up with the Heat.
As someone who has had little to be excited about in the NBA for a long time, this seasons Pacers are simply exhilarating for me. I've learned more about the NBA in the last year than I have my entire life, and that really only because of how big of a turn my Pacers have taken. That said I wanted to ask if this years pacer are legitimately on the rise as being a future model for NBA offenses, or if the stats are simply inflated. The reason I make this post is because I lack perspective. There's a lot I don't understand, so I'd like to gain some perspective.
My takeaways (Please feel free to use this as discussion points):
- The Pacers offense is statistically the best offense in NBA history
- Tyrese Haliburton is him
- The Pacers are criminally underrecognized by the media
- The Pacers have an incredibly young team
- Bennedict Mathurin is in a slight slump but if he comes out the Pacers could look even scarier than they already are
- Andrew Nembhard is surprisingly good and shows potential
- Jarace Walker is supposed to help us with our defense.
- Bruce Brown might be overpaid
- Obi Toppin could be an elite 6man
- Jalen Smith having a massive uptick in production
- The odds of the Pacers getting a chip in the next 5 years is a lot higher than most people in NBA may think
They are the Kings of last year. Offense is record breaking but they have to buy in and play defense. Which tends to take away from the offense. You can beat a lot of teams by running though. Just doesn’t hold of for postseason as the game gets slowed down and teams pick up the intensity.
I like their top end potential more than the Kings because in theory, Sabonis is harder to cover up defensively than Haliburton as the big structural weakness defensively.
But in practice, with neither team being a free agent destination, it will come down to drafting, trading and player development in the 2-4 spots and I do think Keegan Murray, Huerter and Monk is a better bet than Walker/Nembhard/Bruce Brown/Nesmith.
Both teams will probably end up bidding against each other and trading for a forward at some point in the next few years (one of Siakam or OG once they re-sign, say).
So, yeah, very similar teams with solid 5 year windows until Turner or Sabonis get old.