Indiana Pacers: 2017-18 player grades for Domantas Sabonis

Weaknesses

The idea of playing Domantas Sabonis big minutes raises a major question that plagues many a big man in the modern game. Years ago, someone like Sabonis would have been a prototypical power forward: someone with just enough range to stretch defenses and big enough to body up when need be.

The game though, well…the game done changed, as these playoffs are making painfully obvious. With the league’s elite teams getting smaller, more versatile and better equipped with a healthy dose of shooting, slotting a player like Sabonis at the 4 is asking for trouble.

The numbers back it up. With Sabonis in the middle, the Pacers had a +2.7 net rating and gave up only 107 points per 100 possessions, according to CleaningtheGlass.com. With him at the 4, those numbers were -2.3 and 111.3, respectively.

So play him at center, right? While the Pacers clearly got by with Sabonis in the middle, that’s also Myles Turner‘s position, who Indiana still considers a franchise cornerstone. Worse, with the former Gonzaga bulldog in the game, Indiana opponents took three percent more of their shots at the rim, and converted 1.7 percent more of those opportunities. Both numbers were in the bottom third of the league.

It begs two questions: how high a ceiling does a team have with Sabonis as its starting center, and do the Pacers want to find out?