Pacers Off Season Woes

The NBA Playoffs are currently in the second round and all I can think about is what are our Indiana Pacers going to do next year. The Indiana Pacers will go into next season with a very different looking roster. PF David West and C Roy Hibbert have player options and could opt to go somewhere else. Team president Larry Bird has stated that he wants the team to play faster, basically shutting the door on players like Roy Hibbert. However with Roy Hibbert’s player option next season at over $15 million I don’t see Roy declining the offer to take less money some where else in the hope of getting more playing time. So unfortunately we will probably be stuck with this big contract until next year. David West has a player option of over $12 million next season. However, West plays good defense and can space the floor on the offensive end. He also has great command of the locker room and the team looks up to him as a leader. Next we have two restricted free agents in SF Chris Copeland, and C Shane Whittington. Chris wasn’t used very much again last season so I can’t see the Pacers matching any offer, and Shane Whittington saw time in the D-League last year and looks to be a player the Pacers can continue to build up and he will also be cheap. PF Levoy Allen, PF Luis Scola, PG Donald Sloan, SG Rodney Stuckey, and PG C.J. Watson are all free agents. I personally would bring all of those players back accept C.J. Watson. Our Guaranteed contracts for next season are SF Paul George, PG George Hill, SF Solomon Hill, C Ian Mahinmi, SG C.J. Miles, and SF Damjan Rudez. This group is a strong core with a healthy Paul George and an emerging George Hill leading the way. The team’s next step is the 2015 NBA draft will feature the Pacers at #11 and #43. http://www.nbadraft.net/2015mock_draft has the Indiana Pacers taking SF Kelly Oubre out of Kansas in the first round. For nbadraft.nets assessment of Kelly Oubre check out this link http://www.nbadraft.net/players/kelly-oubre. The Pacers have a lot to address before the start of next year, but will Larry Bird on the job I feel real good about our chances next year. Go Pacers!
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