The Indiana Pacers had a strong offseason and were expected to contend in the Eastern Conference in 2016-17, but things haven’t gone according to plan.
When the seventh-seeded Indiana Pacers pushed the No. 2 seed in the East, the Toronto Raptors, to seven games in their first-round playoff matchup last season, anticipation began to build that the Pacers were on their way up the Eastern Conference ladder.
Then, Indiana made several moves during the offseason that further stoked the fire: Jeff Teague was acquired from the Atlanta Hawks to run the point, and Thaddeus Young came over from the Brooklyn Nets to give the Pacers the stretch-4 they needed to fulfill Larry Bird‘s vision of playing a more up-tempo, high-scoring style.
Indiana proceeded to upgrade its bench unit, adding veteran center Al Jefferson and point guard Aaron Brooks, among others. On paper, these moves appeared to improve the team, and with talented young center Myles Turner expected to make significant strides in his second NBA season, the Pacers seemed positioned to make a move in the East.
The preseason media consensus on Indiana was that it were likely to grab a top four position in the Eastern Conference, and some analysts predicted that the Pacers could end up as high as second in the conference behind the defending NBA champion Cleveland Cavaliers.
With only 14 games remaining in the regular season, the Indiana Pacers are No. 6 in the East with a 35-33 record — two games behind fifth-seeded Atlanta, and only 1.5 games ahead of the Miami Heat for the eighth and final playoff spot.
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Clearly, the Pacers haven’t taken the leap forward that many expected in 2016-17, but the question is: Has Indiana underachieved, or were the high expectations placed upon them unreasonable from the start?
Any time a team adds talent to its roster, expectations rise. However, people tend to forget that when multiple changes are made to a team’s core rotation, it usually takes time for those new pieces to jell — and sometimes, they never do.
Early in the 2016-17 campaign, Indiana experienced plenty of growing pains associated with their new-look lineup. Point guard Jeff Teague was having a particularly difficult time finding his role as the Pacers’ new floor general, but over time he has (mostly) found his groove. Even 68 games into the regular season, however, the team is still working on its on-court chemistry.
Another issue that perhaps wasn’t given enough weight by fans and media was the fact that while Indiana seemed to be building a more proficient offensive club, the defense was probably going to suffer as a result of the team’s offseason transactions.
Point guard George Hill, center Ian Mahinmi and small forward Solomon Hill were all considered defensive stalwarts — and they were no longer with the team.
In turn, the group of incoming players (namely Teague, Jefferson and Brooks) were known primarily for their offensive prowess, although it should be noted that Thaddeus Young has been a pleasant surprise on the defensive end of the floor for the Pacers.
Offense grabs headlines, but if a team’s defense suffers markedly in an attempt to score more points, it isn’t reasonable to expect significant progress in terms of playoff positioning. According to Basketball Reference, the Pacers’ offensive rating has improved by 3.0 points this season, but their defensive rating has plummeted by 5.3 points.
The Indiana Pacers have been battling to overcome this offense/defense trade-off all season, and the results have been predictably mixed. Larry Bird got his wish of having a more dynamic offensive team, but the challenge then became to minimize the negative impact that would have on Indiana defensively, and that is an issue that is yet to be conquered.
The Pacers added some nice (offensive) talent during the summer, but projections that they would finish anywhere from second to fourth in the East were misguided.
Defense is 50 percent of the game, so when Larry Bird decided to “rob Peter to pay Paul” so he could have the high-scoring unit he coveted, it put the coaching staff in a position where they had to rebuild the team’s defense, and do it with a group of players generally not known for being strong defenders.
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The Pacers may yet figure out how to streamline their team defense to a point where it will complement their offensive firepower, but the bar was simply set too high going into the season with a new nucleus — and a defensively-challenged nucleus at that.