The Pacers were the surprise team of the NBA last season, easily surpassing their Vegas pre-season win total of 30.5 on the way to a 48-34 record. Indiana was the sixth-best clutch team last season, was 3-0 in overtime games, and won so many games through spectacular comebacks that Indy Cornrows felt compelled to rank them.
Unfortunately, lots of those stats are signs that point to a possible regression. (Not to mention Darren Collison leading the NBA in 3-point percentage.) And while they may have snuck up on teams last year, to build on their unexpected success they will have to overcome defenses being keyed in to stop them and 2018’s Most Improved Player Victor Oladipo.
So how do the Pacers plan to stave off regression? To cover that topic, Caitlin Cooper (@C2_Cooper) joins the latest episode of Fastbreak Breakfast. Indiana are returning the top seven players from their rotation and adding super substitute Tyreke Evans. So will that be enough to prevent any backsliding?
In addition to answering that question, we also cover the following topics:
- How will the frontcourt rotation with Myles Turner and Domantas Sabonis be sorted out? Will they be playing even more together or will Sabonis start to sop up even more of Turner’s minutes?
- How will Evans be integrated into the backcourt rotations? Why do people insist on comparing him to Lance Stephenson?
- Are the Pacers looking to trade away any of their guards?
- What was Kyle O’Quinn brought in to do?
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Original music provided by Codaphonic and New Man