More Bad Injury News for Indiana Pacers

Even after last year’s infamous second-half slide, the overwhelming presumption was that things would get worked out and after the smoke cleared, the Indiana Pacers’ 2014 Opening Night starting five would look identical to 2013’s:  George Hill, Lance Stephenson, Paul George, David West, and Roy Hibbert, with C.J. Watson being one of the first guys off the bench.  Not too shabby.  Good enough to fend off the new-look Chicago Bulls and new-look Cleveland Cavaliers?  Maybe not, but the core was still there and would prove to be a tough out come playoff time.

Fast-forward to July 21.  Lance Stephenson signed with the Charlotte Hornets a few days prior and former Piston combo guard Rodney Stuckey was brought to Indy to join newly-signed and pseudo-replacement C.J. Miles.  Now, you’re looking at an assumed starting five of Hill, Stuckey, George, West, and Hibbert with Watson and Miles still being active off the bench.  Losing Stephenson is obviously a bummer, but given the financial limitations and what the free agency market had left, team president Larry Bird did about as well as he could.

Then, zip forward another week and a half and Paul George suffers the injury that news outlets used their “graphic nature of the video” disclaimer before airing it.  Even before an official diagnosis, you knew he wouldn’t be back for opening night.  So, then your starting five becomes Hill, Stuckey, a big ol’ question mark, West, and Hibbert.  Hmm, well, at least the question mark has been resolved if Chris Copeland’s preseason minutes are any indication.  Ready for the season, right?

Not so fast.  Just like from the 2014 All-Star break onward, the Pacers now have more setbacks to overcome.  As announced on Pacers.com, thanks to a variety of injuries, the actual Opening Night starting five will be a far cry from what we expected back in June.  The sprained ankle David West suffered against Dallas will have him sidelined for at least the first three games (at home vs. Philadelphia and Memphis, on the road in Atlanta), the knee injury George Hill sustained against Minnesota will force him to miss at least the first three weeks, a recent report from the Pacers’ Scott Agness has Stuckey listed as “unsure” about Wednesday’s tip-off because of lingering foot issue (and considering he reportedly hasn’t done any on-court work recently has to have him skeptical at best).  Oh, and backup point guard C.J. Watson’s foot injury will keep him on the shelf for at least two weeks.  Probably five players in street clothes, 10 dressed for game action.  If athletic injuries were a virus, consider the Pacers’ locker room like The Walking Dead.  So, yes, set your fantasy lineups accordingly because third string point guard Donald Sloan will be getting some serious run in the season’s early goings.  So much for those optimistic projections, huh?

That’s right, your 2014 Opening Night starting five is looking like Sloan, Miles, Copeland, Luis Scola, and the only original starter left – Roy Hibbert.  That’s a lineup that’s mediocre at best on NBA 2K15 with the difficulty turned down, but it’s the hand the team has been dealt.  They won’t cry over spilled milk, they’ll mop it up and press on.  Fortunately, the Pacers open up against the Philadelphia 76ers, whose roster is just as shaky, even if theirs is more by design.  So, at least Indy gets a bit of a softball to begin the year, even if this game has become progressively less of a “gimme.”  They might be able to survive a frontcourt of (officially listed as a) rookie Nerlens Noel and former cast-off Henry Sims.  But when the frontcourt matchups of Memphis’ Marc Gasol/Zach Randolph and Atlanta’s Al Horford/Paul Millsap, expect a LOT of defensive attention to be paid to Hibbert and Scola, meaning that it will be up to everyone else to keep the offense moving and doing so effectively.  Look for a lot of kickouts to Miles, Copeland, and rookie Damjan Rudez.  The thought of that offense isn’t exactly inspiring, but it will have to happen, and it also means that the team’s world class defense will need to be the best it has ever been to survive the initial gauntlet with a depleted roster.

I truly believe that Frank Vogel is a good motivator and I really feel that last season’s collapse was an outlier.  Let’s hope so anyway, because he will have his work cut out for him in the season’s early stages.  But if the team manages to squeak in the playoffs, expect Vogel to get some Coach of The Year votes his way.  Fortunately, the team’s best on-court leader, David West, will be one of the first ones back.

Either way, with every stumbling block that has come the team’s way since their playoff exit, the margin for error to make the 2015 postseason has shrunk.  In the Eastern Conference, there are six teams that are basically locks to make the playoffs:  Chicago, Cleveland, Washington, Toronto, Miami, and Charlotte.  After that you have about five teams you could argue as playoff-worthy fighting for two spots, the Pacers included.  I thought that, even without Paul George, the Pacers could still manage to outlast three of those five:  a mismatched Detroit roster, an aging Brooklyn roster, a mismatched New York roster, and a perennial middle-of-the-pack Atlanta squad.  However, every game missed with an injury and every lingering ailment to any key player will nudge them up closer behind the 8-ball.  The question of “to tank or not to tank” might be answered without the team having a fair say.

All of the good fortune player health-wise the Pacers had during their ascension to the league’s elite is gone for now.  For a beautiful game as the sport is, these are the times where it can rear its ugly head and injuries become a better equalizer than Denzel Washington.

Welcome to basketball.