5 Pacers Storylines to Watch Next Year: Part 2
Offense and Where It Will Come From
Just over 35. That’s how many points per game the Pacers will be without on the wing when the season tips off next month. Lance Stephenson took nearly 14 of those with him to Charlotte as a free agent, and the other 21 and change came from Paul George who, we all know, is out of commission for a while with a broken leg.
As has been Indiana’s successful identity under head coach Frank Vogel, offense was secondary. Just look at the statistics – the blue and gold ranked in the bottom tier of the league offensively but were elite on defense. Most nights it worked. Two straight trips to the Conference Finals proved it. But there were nights that the defense wasn’t clicking or an opponent had the Pacers’ number and, for the most part, they rarely hung around in offensive shootouts.
Vogel had his flaws on offense. Just too predictable and too monotonous. No real room for error either. George is a playmaker, as was Stephenson, to a fault sometimes. This season will be a true test for Vogel without those two to rely on. Given the current state of the roster, the makeshift “Big 3” is point guard George Hill, power forward David West, and center Roy Hibbert. For the most part, it will be those three who Vogel and his staff will have to game plan around.
If only the NBA were a 3-on-3 Gus Macker format. The Pacers still need help offensively, which, to front office president Larry Bird’s credit, he tried to remedy this offseason. New additions C.J. Miles and Damjan Rudez are terrific spot-shooters, even if they’re a little repetitive to the skill set that returnee Chris Copeland brings to the table, but they are at their most effective when drive-and-kick situations take place, collapsing the defense. Which is where having Paul George on the floor would be nice. Without George, it will be up to fellow newcomer Rodney Stuckey and George Hill to create those opportunities.
There is also Solomon Hill, who is all but guaranteed to get much more playing time in his sophomore campaign, after barely seeing the floor as a rookie. Vogel has praised Hill this offseason, but has mainly highlighted his defensive abilities. Don’t get me wrong, defense is nice, and the Pacers will still need plenty of it to compete on a nightly basis this year. However, given how out of his element Solo looked last year on the floor, it’s hard to imagine taking such a big leap into becoming a reliable offensive weapon.
All in all, I think you can expect to see some improved offensive numbers from a few players, namely George Hill, Hibbert, and Stuckey, but overall, the team will remain in that bottom tier of offensive efficiency. But at least that side of the ball won’t be as predictable to watch.
Small forward will be the most up in the air in terms of who plays when and how much. Expect it to be primarily a time share between Copeland and Solomon Hill. Copeland was buried on the bench much of last year, despite being able to come in cold and display his phenomenal shooting skills, and even delivered when his number was called in a tight game in Milwaukee last year.
Obviously, this year is a step back for the Pacers. Some mainstays are still there, but the team is searching for an identity a little bit, meaning they’ll have to somewhat abandon their “defense or bust” mentality and will have to sacrifice defense purely to put points on the board. That all should translate to more playing time for Copeland, which will give the fans something to smile about this season.
And fans should take all the smiles they can get. They will be fewer and farther between than in recent years.