NBA Season Preview 2019-20: The 5 biggest questions for the Indiana Pacers

The Pacers have backcourt depth, a twin-towers frontcourt and, hopefully, an All-Star guard returning to their lineup. Here are their five biggest questions for 2019-20.

1. How long will the Pacers stick with Domantas Sabonis and Myles Turner in the starting lineup together?

The Pacers, as they have the past two seasons, are walking a fine line here. Turner and Sabonis are both terrific young big men but their skill sets don’t overlap much on paper, and they haven’t overlapped much on the floor either — over the past three seasons Indiana has essentially played even, outscored by a total of five points in the 703 minutes they’ve been on the floor together. By contrast, Indiana has outscored opponents by an average of 3.4 points per 48 minutes when either has been on the floor alone.

Keeping both on the roster means the Pacers can count on having at least one on the floor for any meaningful minutes, and it provides insurance if one of them is injured and has to miss some time. Keeping both in the starting lineup is a symbolic move that sacrifices some level of effectiveness in trying to keep them both happy. No matter how optimistic you are about the Pacers this season, it’s hard to envision any realistic scenario where the Pacers are better with both on the floor than they are with them playing separately, or, for that matter, the Pacers being so dominant with them on the floor together that it doesn’t matter.

They’ll keep both in the starting lineup for as long as they can, but right from Game 1 the challenge is going to be figuring how to separate them as much as possible.

2. In a more featured role, we will find out that Malcolm Brogdon is actually                        .

Brogdon is going to get more minutes and more opportunities with the ball in his hands but I’m skeptical that his role is going to be that dramatically different this year with Indiana. He finished about a quarter of his possessions last season as the ball-handler in the pick-and-roll or in isolation, a mark that I would expect to be similar this season. He’s going to be playing off the bigs, off T.J. Warren and sharing creation responsibilities with Jeremy Lamb. And, eventually, Victor Oladipo will be back and theoretically picking up Giannis-sized responsibilities.

So, yeah, we’ll see a bit more volume from Brogdon, but doing the same kinds of things. He’s going to shoot efficiently, protect the ball, exploit some mismatches, contribute on defense and generally look like the splendid complementary piece that he has.

3. How much are Pacers’ fans going to love T.J. McConnell this season?

Every fanbase loves the manic bench player who runs through walls. The fact that McConnell is undersized and looks like he could have played for Norman Dale certainly isn’t going to hurt either. Hopefully, he’s behind Brogdon, Aaron Holiday and maybe even Edmond Sumner in the rotation but he’s going to get some standing ovations this year for sure.

4. How many minutes per game does Aaron Holiday play this season?

As a rookie, Holiday appeared in 50 games for the Pacers, totaling 646 minutes. On paper, he’s the back-up point guard but things could get tight with McConnell and Sumner. McConnell is limited but a veteran and at least reliable in what he offers. Sumner’s upside is tied to his length and defensive ability right not but given that this is the polar opposite of Holiday, there may be situations where Nate McMillan opts for him. The Pacers could really use Holiday as an offensive burst off the bench but he’s still learning the playmaking role and his jumper hasn’t been falling consistently. If he’s playing 1,000 or more minutes this season, it’s because things are working. If he’s back around 750, it’s a bad sign.

5. When Victor Oladipo is healthy the Pacers’ ceiling will be                       .

Long-shot contender. The Pacers will still be fun and competitive without Oladipo but just don’t have the playmaking or shot-creation chops to break through the kind of diverse matchups it will take to make a deep playoff run. If Oladipo can come back and be the kind of player he was in 2017-18, then things get a little more interesting and you (I) could talk yourself (myself) into them catching a couple breaks and shutting down the Celtics on the perimeter or matching the 76ers brawn-for-brawn and surprising their way into the Finals. But they’d need Oladipo to be special for that to happen. Anything less and it’s definitely not happening.