Indiana Pacers hope roster changes can break 48-win ceiling
By Fox Doucette
The Indiana Pacers made big changes to their roster in the offseason, but will it get them off the 48-win plateau?
Two years ago, the Indiana Pacers, faced with Paul George‘s impending free agency and inevitable departure from the team, traded him to Oklahoma City for Victor Oladipo and Domantas Sabonis.
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Written off and left for dead, the team defied expectations in 2017-18 by winning 48 games and coming within a blown goaltending non-call in Game 5 from beating LeBron James and the Cleveland Cavaliers in the first round.
Last year, Indiana entered the season with sky-high expectations and spent most of the early season on pace to win 55 games or so, but a season-ending injury to Oladipo and a total collapse down the stretch left them with the same 48-win total and a meek first-round surrender in four games at the hands of the Boston Celtics.
This year, 48 wins and a first-round exit will be seen as an even bigger failure by fans, and it seems like the team’s top brass know it.
So the biggest roster overhaul since George left, combined with Oladipo’s return from injury and an intriguing new lineup featuring Sabonis and Myles Turner sharing the frontcourt may be the Pacers’ ticket to greatness.
Vegas has Indiana penciled in for an over/under of 48.5 wins, fourth-highest in the East. Is it worth taking the over? Let’s break it down.