How Paul George Trade Created a New Indiana Pacers Era

How Paul George Trade Created a New Indiana Pacers Era

The Indiana Pacers. After their finals loss in the 1999 2000 season, things were all over the place when it came to them having success. They’re one of the few teams in the last 20 years that stickked around and made things work regular season wise, only missing the playoffs seven times ever since that finals run, which is great, but could never make it back to the finals no matter what they did. But starting off in the 2010s, there would be a short time where Indiana would make a comeback led by their lottery pick in the 2010 draft in Paul George, taking them to two conference finals. But after a brutal injury to him, missing the playoffs and two underwhelming seasons, the GM at the time and Kevin Pritchard saw the writing on the wall. This era was over and it was time to start a new one. So on July 6th, 2017, Indiana opted to rebuild their team and start it from scratch. But this one trade only eight years ago jumpst started what is quite possibly one of the most unlikely revivals in NBA history that ended up in an eventual NBA finals appearance just this season and now solidifying themselves as threats for many years to come. But how did this happen? Well, that’ll be the subject of this video as we go over this 8-year period and cover the one trade that led to the Indiana Pacers unlikely revival. the many trades, key signings, unforeseen jumps in development, and much, much more. With that being said, if you want to see more videos like this, be sure to like the video as we are now officially on the road to 100,000 subscribers. So, be sure to subscribe to be a part of that and of course to catch more videos. But, as usual, this will be a long one, but you already know who it is. Wally, before we go any further, [Music] It’s over. It’s over, ladies and gentlemen. So, once again, let’s start from the day of this infamous trade. July 6, 2017, the Indiana Pacers would come to a deal with the OKC Thunder to match him up with Russell Westbrook, who was just fresh off winning the league’s MVP after averaging the first triple double season since Oscar Robertson long ago. But the way this trade came to be was an ugly one. And the divorce between Paul George and Indiana was very much drama-filled. with Paul George seeing the writing on the wall of things himself. The man who said he wanted to stay in Indiana just like he said the same thing with OKC soon after and the same thing with the Clippers. Do yourself a favor and never believe PG. Anyways, Paul George seeing the writing on the wall and only having one more year left on his contract would let the organization know that he will be leaving in free agency at the end of the next season. And with that bombshell being dropped on the league, it put the Pacers in a really complicated situation because he was basically requesting a trade, knowing the Pacers would just let him leave for nothing when he made his intentions known early. So now it became a race to find the best package available while also finding a team who would potentially risk him leaving being a rental in the hands of the wrong team who could equally get screwed over. But guess what? His only preferred trade destination was the Los Angeles Lakers. Not helping PG. Not helping at all. However, the teams who were interested were the Cleveland Cavaliers, who originally was going to be the landing spot to match him up with LeBron James in the three-team deal with the Nuggets where Kevin Love, Gary Harris, and the 13th pick of the 2017 draft would have been sent to Indiana. But the Pacers backed out at the last second, and honestly, luckily they did. There was also the Celtics who were going to give the Pacers three future first, but none of them were going to be the picks that turn into the eighth pick next season from Brooklyn or a future Lakers or Kings pick that they had the rights to. So, that fell apart. Then lastly, there was the Rockets, but the contract and asset matching just didn’t work out for both teams. Then, the Thunder came in with two promising young talents who simply couldn’t find their way. Victor Oladipo, who was banished from the Orlando Magic to OKC, who looked pretty solid as Russell Westbrook’s right-hand man. And the 11th pick of the 2016 NBA draft, Damontus Sabonis, son of Arvdus Sabonis, who everyone knew was being used the wrong way in OKC, being utilized as a stretch power forward, was thrown on deal alongside Oladipo. The Thunder wanted to win now and will deal with the potential of PG’s looming free agency decision and made it happen. The Pacers get two young players with potential in the future who will get all the opportunity to make something happen. But that also has the Pacers in a weird spot roster construction-wise, still holding on to players who might not fit the now rebuilding timeline. 30-year-old Darren Collison, 29-year-old Thaddius Young, 28-year-old Boydovich, and whatever was left of Lance to make them dance Stevenson. It wasn’t a complete rebuild. They only have their own pick in 2018. And their only young talent they had to make use of is the two players added to the team. 2015 pick Miles Turner and the beneficiary of Lonzo Ball UCLA TJ Leaf with the 18th pick of the 2017 class. So in this new era, how did the NBA media world view the Indiana Pacers? Well, ESPN’s yearly record prediction had the Pacers at a projected win total of 32 wins, noting their loss of PG and Jeff Teague to Minnesota. And with a day one lineup of Baron Collison, Victor Olado, Hoyan Bogdanovich, Thaddius Young, and Miles Turner, you really can get a good feel of what this team is going to be, especially with Victor Oladipo coming into the starting lineup immediately to try and make something happen after his entire timeline with the Magic and Thunder last year. But what the world didn’t know was a certain person on this team was looking for an opportunity to shine. And now being on a team with no true alpha dog was going to be the one he’s been training himself to be this entire time. And switched it. 15 seconds to play. Seven. Here’s a three by Olivo. He hit it. Victor Olado from threepoint range. LeBron James. So they made the switch. Well, the defense turns the corner. A three. Oh yes, you can see that one. Lost it in on the dribble. He was strategic by Victor who has to work on showing you what he’s got. Falls the steel. Have to rush. Have to rush. Here’s the deep for the lead. Indiana has the lead on a three by Victor Oladipo. For many years, Victor Oladipo has been trying to show what he’s made of in his first four years in the league. And he’s either been limited in some way due to his team, or in the case of his time in OKC, just wasn’t his role to be the true number one option. But with all the lessons he’s learned over that time, the many hours of training and waiting for his opportunity, we get the most out of nowhere explosion we’ve seen from a player in a long time. Victor Oladipo turned a team looking to rebuild into a team who placed themselves into the realms of a darkhorse contender in a matter of months. And it started quite literally immediately, winning the NBA player of the week award in the East for the week of October 30th, averaging 28 points and looking absolutely brand new. And it was honestly like Paul George never even left Indiana. He was just a couple of inches shorter. However, things weren’t perfect for the Pacers in this new era. While Victor Odiva played on an all-star level and the supporting cast, he did have doing what they could offensively and defensively as the remnants of the PG days, the Pacers were inconsistent when it came to putting wins on the board. But you couldn’t deny that they were a fun team to watch. seen Victor Oladipo truly turning himself into an NBA star. Victor would average a career-high 23 points per game, which was top 10 in the league, came equipped with a knockdown three-point shot, dunked everything he could, and most impressively led the NBA in steals that year. The Indiana Pacers truly did become a nice team to root for, being led by a player like him and a true underdog in this league after his somewhat rocky start to his career. But of course, he can’t get all the credit. The remnants of the PG era all contributed in keeping this boat afloat with five other players scoring ton more points per game, making them a very unpredictable offense. And we’d even see Damonte Sabonis finally play his natural center position, backing up Miles Turner and looking much more comfortable while at the same time showing a lot of potential at that position. So either way you cut it, whether it’s now or later, the Pacers are once again set up for a bright future. Barring any tragedy. So let’s skip to the All-Star break. Victor Oladipo becomes an all-star reserve for the East. The Pacers are sitting at the fifth seed with a 33 and 25 start. And it’s not like it’s anything extraordinary, but it was back to business as usual for this team. And the Pacers should consider themselves a few moves away from being at the top of the Eastern Conference, especially one that is as unstable as this. And with the strong end of the season post All-Star break getting 15-9, they own a better record compared to last season with PG owning a 48 and 34 record, a fifth seed ranking, and are now in the NBA playoffs in a year most people see them just accepting a rebuild. A great start to this rebuild and video or I guess you can argue more of a retooling because this to many is the best case scenario from this trade and can potentially they can win this trade long term, especially with Victor Odipo earning a spot on the AllNBA third team. same as Paul George, but alongside that earned the 2018 most approved player award in near unanimous fashion and was first team all defect. A very great all-around season and it could be built upon with this Pacers team with him only being 25 years old and again only being a few moves away from really taking over the conference. The future is looking bright for the Pacers, but there is one thing they can never avoid, no matter how many times they try to, and his name is LeBron James. Ever since his time with the Heat, he has been the main brick wall that stops the Pacers from ever touching the NBA Finals, knocking them out twice in the conference finals and once more last year as a part of the Cleveland Cavaliers in a sweep. And once again, in a four versus five matchup, the Indiana Pacers have to deal with LeBron in an attempt to make a run at the Larry O’Brien Trophy. But this wasn’t any normal LeBron led team. This was the worst team he has had since leaving Cleveland for the first time. Kyrie was in Boston. They were the second worst defense in the NBA. They single-handedly tore down the roster during the trade deadline. And outside of LeBron James, there was no true guarantee to this roster to be a threat. But still, you’d never bet against LeBron. And ESPN thought the same way in a 22 to0ero tally, all predicting Cleveland to win this first round series. And some even argued that it could happen in five measly games. But it was up to the Pacers to prove them wrong and continue the Cinderella run of a season. And it was going to be a very rough one. But if you looked at how game one ended, it would send a strong message out the gate in Cleveland. Victor Leipo make his Indiana playoff debut, scoring 32 points by making six threes. And the Pacers would lock up the Cavs to win by 18 and showing that this broken Cavs team is going to need to bring a lot more than what they did in game one. Then LeBron James would start what is quite possibly the best single season postseason run, at least from one particular player of all time. 46 points, 17 of 24 shooting. And the Pacers, while being in the game the entire time, never even led for a second. If LeBron James can damn near score half of your points and win games, that’s a problem. And the Pacers going to have to figure out how to slow him down or they’re going to have to simply outscore the king of basketball. They’d escape game three with a tight two-point win headlined by Boyanovic, scoring 30 points and making seven three-pointers with four of them in the final frame. But the Cavaliers struck back in game four to tie things up as LeBron scored 32. Kyle Corver and J.R. Smith combined for eight made threes. And unfortunately, the starters for the Pacers would combine for shooting a horrible 26 of 68 from the field altogether in a very much winnable game that could have gave them a 3 to1 lead. And due to that and LeBron looking to strike back in Cleveland, he once again scores another 44 points, but this could have been a game that Indiana fans were fine with if they came out with a win. And with Damont Sabonis making a game-tying shot with 33 seconds left and LeBron James turning over the ball the next possession. The Pacers call a timeout to discuss how they were going to escape Cleveland Ohio with a game winner. However, it didn’t work the way they wanted. LeBron James would block Victor Oladipo. Fine. I guess we’re going to finish this off in overtime. Not necessarily, because you still have to stop LeBron James one more time. And with 3 seconds left, Cleveland triggers in. James 2 seconds, 1 second to the win. LeBron James delivers. Once again, another winnable game escapes the hands of the Indiana Pacers. And a very important one at that, as the Cleveland Cavaliers only need one more game to make it to the next round. The Pacers need to find a way to stop him to go on to the next round themselves because if they do, they will not be dealing with a player of his caliber again. until the NBA finals. They do get off easy though, forcing a game seven with an all-around team masterclass, beating the Cavaliers 121 to 87 with seven players scoring 10 more points and being led by Victor Oladipo’s 28 points. But now they have to return to the belly of the beast. Cleveland, Ohio said literally nobody ever. Game seven, win or go home once again. But this game showed that unfortunately the Pacers were just not ready for the limelight or at least just yet. A perfect 505 start for LeBron James in the first quarter made this team go down 31 to 19 at the end of the first frame. And from there the Cavaliers controlled the entire game. There were attempts to make a comeback and take the lead or at least tie the game. But with LeBron scoring yet again another 40 points, he was able to pull off another solo act. seeing the Pacers lose to LeBron James yet again, 105 to 101 in game seven and showing once again why the media predicted this exact outcome. The Pacers just did not have enough to deal with a LeBron level player as usual. And despite the team around him, he is used to this and went out there and did exactly what he needed to. Again, there were opportunities they had to win a few key games in the clutch, but those games are what dictate a series as we have shown here. But while the Pacers would lose once against LeBron, there is nothing truly to be disappointed by considering the original outlook of the season before it started. Victor Oladipo is a star in the making in this league. This team is only a few pieces away from being something great. And you have other young pieces who could potentially be great alongside Oladipo. So, as the season comes to a close, all you can hope for as a Pacers fan in this new era is some type of move to keep this team closer to the goal. as you now have a new star to root for for many years to come. The Indiana Pacers are way above schedule when it comes to their rebuilding efforts going from a possible rebuild with two young players to an immediate retool in a matter of a few months. Without Victor Wadipo led, this team is still having much more ahead of him in his prime. This team is a few changes away and some luck from making it back to the NBA finals. But despite their early exit due to 2018, probably off LeBron, there isn’t much talk about a potential upgrade in Indiana. In fact, the summer of 2018 was a very much quiet one. Indiana had over $20 million in cap to play with in the summer, which could have been utilized in some big trade or signing. But the GM Kevin Pritchard opted to add more to their death and continue their death by a thousand cut strategy that worked so well last year. In the draft, they picked up Aaron Holidayiday, brother of Drew and Justin Holidayiday with a late first round pick to help out with their incoming point guard issues and to see if he can meet and become useful like his brothers in the league, known for their defense and ability to make the right plays. But the real change came in free agency where they would sign three main names to an already deep roster. First, they signed the 2010 Rookie of the Year, Tyreek Evans, who’s coming off of a career revival after a stint in Memphis, where he was able to play his natural position as a point guard and produce great numbers off of it, bringing him in with a one-year, $12 million deal to see if his production stays sustainable and even risking losing him if he happens to do that again and could potentially lead them in free agency to make even more money next season. Second will be the signing of 2014 lottery pick Doug McDermott, who at this point has been on four different teams in four seasons already, but his role will be as a shooter off the bench with a new three-year $22 million deal. And lastly, for some more big men death after Trevor Booker and Al Jefferson left the team’s books. Kyle O’Quinn joins as another solid bench player replacing them. Now, is this the biggest thing to jump for joy over? No. Can the Pacers still level up somehow? Maybe. A 50- win season isn’t out of the realm of possibility, especially after LeBron left for LA. So, you can even say there’s a real chance the Pacers could do something in the playoffs if everything goes well. But honestly, it’ll probably be for the best with the Pacers didn’t make a very hasty move and take things a little bit slower. So, honestly, can’t complain. It’s time to see if Victor Oladipo can build upon his allNBA worthy season last year and continue to show that this Pacers team can thrive together and turn things into a playoff run. Because with so many different people who can score and defend, this team is going to stay dangerous even if the names do not pop out at you. And you know what? Things went back at the same pace as last year. A 9 to6 start isn’t the best thing in the world, but it’s something to build off of and potentially go on a strong run to jump other teams in the standings once their chemistry builds more and more. But that very next day, Victor Oladipo goes down against the Atlanta Hawks after he aggravates an injury that he has had in his right knee and only lasted four minutes before he had to be taken out. The Pacers had him on day-to-day status for the entire time as he was being treated and missed 11 games. But the Pacers were surviving without him as they went seven and four when he was out. And at the time, again, that just shows how great this team was all together. They just needed a few pieces to take them all the way. But this team was built off of numbers and not straight off star power. They can win just off of sharing the ball and playing the right way. and Victor would start the season well enough before the injury, averaging 22 points and being the main guy once again. But once he returned, you can tell that he just wasn’t himself. His numbers started to drop. His efficiency started to dwindle. And while you can argue it didn’t matter because they were still winning games, it’s still a slight cause of concern considering that you’re trying to make a deep playoff run. And that concern will be truly felt all around the NBA world. On January 13th, as Victor was chasing after a pass to Pascal Seiakum, his knee goes into an awkward angle and his season ended right before our very eyes as he ruptured his quadricep tendon and his knee and the very same knee he was already having issues with. It was a very unfortunate injury as we all were only gifted only one season of Peak Victor Oliv before it ended way too soon because as most of us know it would never be the same ever again. But despite him being gone and things changing from that, the Pacers remained a well coached and welloiled machine. At the All-Star break, they were again at a relatively similar spot they were last year record-wise with a 38 and 20 record. Victor Odipo, despite the injury, made the All-Star team again and you really couldn’t complain with how things were going. There were even new developments from this season that caused a lot of intrigue all around. The biggest one being the rise of Damont Sabonis who compared to last season was given more responsibility and showing true glimpses of becoming a beast as a center if given more time. The only problem is the fact that Miles Turner is having his own great season leading the NBA in blocks and the two are basically splitting minutes at this point because when they share the court together, it’s basically a repeat of OKC where Damontis is very much misplaced and it becomes a disaster. Who knows what the future will bring from these two, but the most possible outcome is the worst one out of the two is going to be traded in a Ysef Nerk and Nola Jokic in Denver scenario. And despite the injury to Victor Oladipo, the Pacers once again surprised the NBA with yet another near 50 win season, going yet again 48 and 34, owned the third best defensive rating, and most impressively owned the best scoring defense in the NBA that year, only allowing 104 points a night. No matter what, you truly just cannot get rid of the Indiana Pacers as they remain still decent in some way. And even with their allNBA player down to an injury, they still find a way to have an above average season with a mix of great depth, coaching from Nate McMillan, and of course, execution. But once again, they are met with the same issue as last year. A much more talented team is going to be facing them in the first round of the playoffs in a yet again four versus five seed series with the Boston Celtics. This time with Carrie Irving, Jason Tatum, and many more scorers off that team. But these scores are a much better quality than what the Pacers had and they were also a top 10 defense. Kind of a matchup nightmare in the playoffs all things considering for this team. And just like last year, not one expert on the ESPN panel seen this Pacers team winning the series. Last year they almost proved them wrong, but without Victor, this is going to be an even taller task than last year. Not impossible, but going to be requiring a lot more perfect basketball. And game one was not an example of perfect basketball by any way. A 74 to 84 L where they only scored eight points in total in the third quarter. And the confidence in this team drops hard from everyone watching. Game two would end in yet another L scene. Kyrie Irving and Jason Tatum scored 63 points together game with a blew a 12-point fourth quarter lead and the game ending once Jason Tatum took back the lead with 30 seconds left. Game three was a near 10-point loss in Indiana where they were fighting with the Celtics until the fourth quarter. And now in game four with their backs against the wall, we see some real fight from the Pacers this time around. But once again, the fourth quarter frame came, the Celtics go on a late run and the Indiana Pacers were swept in the first round in a series that most people had them losing anyway. I don’t think you were really going to win a series when your best scoreer on this roster was Boy and Bob Donovich in the playoffs shooting under 40% in the series. But again, it was the expected outcome. And that’s exactly what we got. So now you are in a very weird spot to be the Pacers after this playoff exit. They are officially in the realm of good, but not good enough. They didn’t want to buy in and they just signed some deaf and even though they still had the same outcome regular season wise. They were going to be in a tough situation where the playoffs are near impossible to get through and in all honesty wasting season after season because they are not contenders in their current form and this outcome outright proves it. And with Vento Odipo coming back from that brutal injury, there’s a low chance he’ll be able to bounce back like PG did after his infamous injury not too long ago. So, as the season ends, there’s going to be a very interesting off season to come through to test to see what the Indiana Pacers will do decision-wise. So, remember what I said about the Pacers being ahead of schedule last year? I take that back. They’re officially in the same space they were already in when Paul George was about to leave just a few years ago. Good enough to make the playoffs, but not good enough to compete for the title. Granted, it’s a better space to be in than the alternative, but Kevin Pritchard sees something here. It’s just the names that he has at the top and isn’t good enough to make enough noise to give many fans hope. And now in Indiana waiting to see if Victor will bounce back for his brutal knee injury. We are once again back to another offseason to see what moves the Pacers will make in the draft. They pick up more frontcourt help by getting George in center goataz day. And considering this was the 2019 draft, they were most likely trying to get the best available player. But the real action for the Pacers this time around is trying to add more talent and free agency. And this was going to be a huge roster overhaul for many reasons. Tariq Evans money is now off the table like he’s being disqualified from the NBA due to drugrelated reasons. Darren Collison retires from the NBA for religious reasons as a Jehovah’s Witness. Boy Ddonovich signs a nice payday to play in Utah. and Thaddius Young signs with the Chicago Bulls. Just like that, there’s a giant hole on their team that jeopardizes the identity of this squad being propped up through their death. But Kevin Pritchard went cooking to build up this team with a lot more new names. On July 6th, 2019, the Indiana Pacers would trade literal cash to the Phoenix Suns in a three-team deal to receive back TJ Warren from the Suns and an absolute win for their team. And what’s even wilder is the fact that the Suns gave up on him due to the fact that he was making too much money and simply wanted to get off his contract. Let it be known he made $11 million a season and he’s been flirting scoring 20 points a night in the league. But the true reason was because they wanted to open up even more money to make the Suns a good team with DBook and DeAndre Aan. And I really can’t hate considering that they made the finals the very next season. But still wild nonetheless. But the moves don’t end there. TJ Warren finding a new home, but they’d also trade a 2021st and two second round picks to the Milwaukee Bucks for 2017 Rookie of the Year, Malcolm Brogden, in a signing trade deal for four years and $85 million. The most aggressive move since the PG trade. Now at 27 years old, Brogden has had an interesting state in the NBA so far. But while he is a good point guard in this league, after his rookie season, he has had injury issues galore. And the Pacers were still giving him a very steep contract to him nonetheless. Finally, we have regular free agency signings in Jeremy Lamb, TJ McConnell, and Justin Holiday to round out the team. So again, it looks like the philosophy of this roster is staying the same. Keep the depth deep, keep the ball shared, and win through strength and numbers. Only problem is is they still need an alpha dog on this team at the bare minimum come playoff time. But Victor Oladipo’s recovery is still going to take a while as he’s going to miss the beginning of the regular season. Despite all that, ESPN has learned their lesson. They gave the Pacers the exact same record they had the last two years as their prediction for this upcoming season, 48 and 34. But a new development has come out of the coaching staff that will be need to be looked at. Coach Nate McMillan has confirmed that the starting lineup for the 201920NBA season will include Damont Sabonis and Miles Turner in the front court for the foreseeable future. Obviously, this idea has big advantages written all over it, especially with Miles Turner being able to space the floor while Sabonis can dominate the paint. But the main question will always be the potential abuse taken from either of them on the perimeter, especially Deontto Sabonis. But with Thad Young now in Chicago, there’s a giant hole at power forward and it is only practical for Damont Sabonis to at least be given a chance there. So as we roll into the 2020 NBA season with a day one lineup of Malcolm Brogden, Jeremy Lamb, TJ Warren, Damont Sabonis, and Miles Turner. This lineup screams above average, but considering the huge turnaround this team had from the summer, we still have to see if they can make it work together and if Victor can return to make things even better. However, this time we see someone else take the jump. A lot of fans have been waiting for big fella. What’s the right thing to do? start good by Gorford. Just a real good read there by Holiday to know get a little over the top. Despite his potentially weird placement at the power forward position, the chemistry on offense that Sabon has had with the rest of his team made up all four. Coming out of Gonzaga, Zabone has shown himself to be an all-around center who excels working out of the post and having a lot of powerful plays with his athleticism with the mix of his playmaking sense to make him one of the few hubs at his position. And the Pacers seen this skill set and finally let Sabonis play his ball and it proved to be successful. Sabonis averaged a dominant 18 points, 12 rebounds, and five assists. Stuffing the stat sheet on many occasions being treated as the number one option. But another surprise to some and to others not really was TJ Warren coming to Indiana and putting up his usual numbers on this new team. Once again, flirting with a 20 point per game average. And he was unstoppable as one player can be, scoring under 20 points per game. His efficiency was off the charts, flirting with a 50/4090 season and being the respected top scorer of this team and working very well off of Damont Sabonis. But as usual, it’ll never end there. The entire starting lineup averaged 10 or more points per game. And even Doug McDermott would be their flamethrower off the bench, stacking yet another 10 points per game. Once again, it’s the same strategy. death by a thousand cuts, one of the best defenses in the NBA, and a very good coaching strategy from Nate McMillan to make this team a threat in the regular season. They even be greeted back by Victor Oladipo, who finally got cleared to play basketball in late January. And by this point, he could take it slow when it comes to trying to work his way back up since everything is going so well. Not 50 win season well, but again, hovering around that point. But for his efforts at the All-Star break, Damonte Sabonis will be awarded a spot on the 2020 NBA All-Star team as a reserve for his efforts and play on the court as a top four seed in the East. And the Pacers once again making people’s head turns at how well things are going without a potential, let’s just say top 30 player, top 25 player. Again though, they will forever have the same criticisms again until they are proven to be able to make a run out of this very deep roster. But as the season continues, it might be time to admit defeat when it comes to seeing the best of Victor Oladipo and the injury he sustained last season, really prematurely altering his career. Eventually, he returned back to the starting lineup. the man, you can just tell that he just isn’t anywhere near the same level of player he was before the knee injury. 14 points per game and shooting under 40% from the field. I mean, sure, he is trying to work his way back up to his former self, but this is sending a message to the front office and his time on this team might be coming to an end and the same for his career outright. But it just really sucks to see honestly because every once in a while I will see his highlights online and be reminded of what we had for one lone season. Also, you already know I have to say co 19 is here. A younger Alvini has a very long spring break alongside the rest of the world and Rudy Gobear shuts down the league as to DPI. You may or may not get that bubble video eventually, so I’ll have to keep saying this every single time we go over the season. But anyways, the Pacers have to deal with a new problem in the NBA bubble in Orlando, finishing off the rest of the season there. But crazy enough, we’d see one of the weirdest runs we’d ever have in TJ Warren looking like basketball Jesus for a six-game period where he averaged 31 points per game. ungodly efficiency, but it sure did help them stack the wins at the end of the season as the Pacers would finish as the fourth seed, a 45 and 28 record and a lot of confidence for a run this time around off of TJ Warren’s sudden explosion playing in the NBA bubble. But we already know that the bubble brought a lot of weird performances. Maybe this time around it’ll be to their benefit coming into the postseason. But just like usual, they’ll have to face the team who will own the best player in the series, and that’ll be the fifth seated Miami Heat, led by Jimmy Butler and Bam Adabio. You can argue both teams are somewhat similar, but the playoffs are led by the Stars, and it’ll be up to the Pacers to once again try and prove themselves on the biggest stage, even if that stage doesn’t have a crowd. Co basketball is weird. And just like clockwork, like last year, the ESPN experts see this Pacers match up and have absolutely no hope for them in once again a 17 to0 tally sweep. Can they prove them wrong? Well, game one would see the Pacers play from behind most of the game and a usual suspect peeps its head again. The fourth quarter was dominated by Jimmy Butler and Goran Dracha combining for 24 points in the final frame to have the Pacers lose by 12. Game two was dominated by the Heath in the second half, keeping the Pacers away from making any type of comeback, losing by nine. So, off the jump, we’re already seeing yet another time the Pacers find themselves outclassed in the playoffs too early. And it doesn’t get any better from there. Game three had a halftime score of 74 to 56 at the Miami Heat started raining threes on the Pacers. And despite a nice attempt at a comeback, the Pacers shouldn’t have been down 20 in the first place and ended up losing once again by nearly 10 and are now down 0 to3. And once again, a weak second half ends up ending the season of the Indiana Pacers early for the third straight season. So we truly seen this team not even win a simple playoff game in two straight years. and the philosophy of this team never change one bit despite their failure over and over. And it’s not like it’s a LeBron issue like the early 2010s. It’s a roster issue. You don’t have a player who can truly take over games and their usual strategy doesn’t work when a true performer or another great coach comes in and flips the script on you. But you want to know what’s even funnier? The problem is visible to everyone. The roster needs to be better. But only two days later after this game, Nate McMillan will be fired for his shortcomings in the playoffs. Now, let it be known, he is doing a good job with the roster he is given, but it’s not good enough to truly go places. Yet, he gets canned. Being a coach in the NBA sphere is very frustrating. But, I’m not going to act like he was perfect, but I found the move very interesting then, and now doing all this research now, I find it very interesting 5 years later. Remember dear viewer, it’s always the coach fault, apparently. But this does mean that we might be in for a real change coming next season. We have a new coach. We have an obvious problem. We have a roster identity that hasn’t won a playoff game in two seasons. And will Kevin Pritchard get even more aggressive? Or are we going to have to continue the same thing with a new coat of paint and a different coach and expect a new result? Well, I guess we’re just going to have to wait and see. Well, with a playoff record of three and 16 with this team, Nate McMillan has been fired from his duties of being the head coach of the Indiana Pacers. So, now a new man must replace him, take over this roster, and attempt to do a better job. Maybe a new coach can get more out of this roster than he did. And honestly, that’s still going to be a pretty large task to ask. But this time around, I couldn’t find a list of the major candidates the Pacers were looking for. So, let’s go on and introduce the new head coach of the Indiana Pacers. October 20th, 2020, the Indiana Pacers would hire GLeague Championship coach and NBA assistant Nate Bjorkrren. He won the Indiana Pacers front office due to the way he wanted to improve and innovate the Pacers offense. And of course, due to his success under Nick Nurse all this time in Toronto, he was an easy shoein to get the job. So, his first NBA head coaching job is to try and turn a playoff team into an even better playoff team. We see examples of this working, and we’ve seen examples of this collapsing the team into a rough patch. I guess we’ll just have to see which one Nate will fall into, bringing this team to a better place potentially. But to put it simply, he just wanted to change the way they play and be a lot faster as an offense. For reference, just like last year, the Pacers were ranked bottom 10 in pace and bottom 10 in points per game due to that. but he wanted to make them a very different team. We’ll be a fun team to watch. He said, you’re going to see a lot of movement on both sides of the ball, different guys handling the ball, pushing it off the floor. You want to utilize the three-point line. My approach to defense is to change and change quite frequently between quarters after timeouts after an 80 run. I think that’s a disruptive part. So, with a new coach, will the front office bring anything different to the table, or will it just be a repeat of last year except with a new coat of paint in the form of a new coach? Not at all. The Pacers said run it back and not like they had much of a choice with a lot of their money tied up in their starting lineup. So, eventually something has to give. Whether it’s another all-star leap from someone, maybe some luck at playoff seating, who knows? But what I do know is that the season after the bubble brought about many challenges to many different teams. And the same can be said for the Indiana Pacers. One week after another, Sun was falling to injury, but was being limited due to CO regulations. Only four games into the regular season, we have our first tragedy. TJ Warren, the top score of last season, would be injured. And yet again, it’s another bad one for the Pacers as he would have to receive a major surgery to fix a fresh fracture in his left foot, leaving him out for the rest of the NBA season and beyond, forcing the Pacers to adapt. But one change comes with yet another one this season and it would be the bittersweet goodbye to Victor Oladipo as after nine games he would be a part of the viral James Harden trade to Brooklyn moving him to Houston while the Pacers received back Caris Levert in multiple second round picks again we all knew it was coming as Victor was currently on a contract year and the Pacers would rather get something out of him than to let that contract end and get nothing. In return though, they get yet another pretty good underrated player in Caris Levert, who is currently having one of his best seasons in the NBA as a scorer and playmaker and could definitely be a good contributor on an already solid system. But of course, that would have to wait as yet another wrench was thrown in their plans because Caris Levert during his physical was found out to have a mass on his kidney which needed to be taken care of first before he can even think about playing basketball. All that time during that, I was just thinking, how did the Nets medical staff miss that? But you know what? I think that trade was a miracle because if he wasn’t traded, he may uh never have known until it was potentially too late. Anyways, we have two months of straight setbacks. How is the team overall holding up? Well, there’s good news and there’s bad news. Good news is Damont Sabonis is leveling up his play and taking more responsibility on offense alongside Malcolm Brogden. And this was the plans of a new coach who wanted to utilize the many pieces on this team and make them a much more threatening offense now being top five in points per game as a team. Damonte Sabonis would even make his second All-Star appearance off of it. But with all those positives in mind, where does the bad news come in? Well, the Pacers can now not stop their opponents from scoring. Going from a top defense to now giving up as many points as they put up per game, now becoming a bottom 10 scoring defense. Not good considering what this team used to be. add alongside a banged up Miles Turner who’s missing games, Malcolm Brogden missing time, and a lot of changes to the starting lineup due to that. We go to the All-Star break with a 16 and 19 record and the Pacers struggling more than ever before. Now, like I said, other teams are having their own interesting set of circumstances, but the Pacers team this time around are one of the few teams taking the biggest beating from CO regulations and natural injuries. There is also something else happening in the background, but we’ll discuss that one later, which also adds a very big cherry on top to an already stressful year. So now this will be the time to say, “Okay, Alvini, things get better.” And they make another playoff push. And that’s when I rebuttal in and say, “Absolutely not.” Caris Levert returned from his surgery, good as new, and even scoring 20 points per game on this team to add to yet an already dangerous offense. But the Pacers just couldn’t find enough momentum to get a top eight seed and ending their season with a record of 34 and 38. The first time since 2015 since they finished with a record worse than 500 and is a horrible way to start the tenure of this new head coach. But that’s what I would say if the NBA playin tournament didn’t come in and potentially give them a bailout. Also, the Eastern Conference at this time was god awful. Seeing the Wizards led by Russell Westbrook being the AC seed with the exact same record, but now with the introduction of the playin only a few years ago, the Pacers can now just play their way in into the playoffs as a ninth seed. In the first game against the 10-seated Charlotte Hornets, they’d make easy work of them, winning 144 to 117 with eight players scoring over double figures and seeing Damont Sabonis come one assist shy of a 102010 game. But no one takes the Hornets seriously, and they haven’t since the ’90s. Check out my video on their history if you want to know more about that. But the real gatekeepers of them making the playoffs will be the Washington Wizards, who on equal footing to the Placers in this 8 versus N matchup with a chance to face off against the Philadelphia 76ers in the first round. And I won’t even sugarcoat it. The way they did the Hornets the last game was the same way they got done versus the Washington Wizards. with a near exact same score to boot. This was the season from hell for the Indiana Pacers, missing the playoffs despite a relatively talented roster. And most would say we can just run it back and hope for better results in a more normal season. But the Pacers knew that they had a big problem and had to take care of it immediately. In one of the craziest one-year hiring and firings of our time, Nate Bjorkrren would be fired after this season. Now, we rarely see a one-year hiring and firing done in the NBA. So, there has to be a major reason for this to happen. Well, unfortunately, the Pacers would have to witness from many complaints from their players and other coaches that Nate was a great basketball mind, but a horrible people’s person and constantly clashing with players while also losing the locker room as the season went by. And as just a reminder, Nate McMillan took the Hawks to the conference finals in his first season with the Hawks while the Pacers have to deal with a literal cancer on the team. Listen to some of these quotes from people around the league from his past from a Bleacher Report article. When he was hired, I was surprised because he was not the easiest to work with on just about anything, said one of Bjorkran’s former G-League players. He’s kind of stubborn, won’t listen. Even though it might be a good conversation, he’s a micromanager and he’s not for everyone. Bjorkrin’s communication style has been categorized as aggressive and abrasive with players and members of the Pacer staff. From his front of the bench assistants down to trainers and equipment personnel. That behavior was cited as a cause for one assistant coach resignation. But I think the funniest quote from this article was this. They didn’t do their background on who he was or how he treated people. Said one person close to the coaching search. They just talked hoops with them. So yeah, big mistake from the Pacers and they truly didn’t do their homework on who they hired and he came in and put up Jim Boan numbers when it came to toxicity on the team. But unlike the Bulls, they fired him immediately rather than to make it worse and fester over the years. A weird season turned even weirder. So this time around, the Pacers better pick up someone trusted and reputable than to not do their homework on an unknown product. Because this season was possibly as bad as it can get for a team of this caliber. So now I have to ask the same exact question. What would they do about this development? Pick up a better coach and try to just run it back. Try to mix things up considering the injuries on this team. Well, Kevin Pritchard has a record of making good decisions despite the one bad hiring he did. So maybe this one mistake can be put behind us as this next summer comes up. One little coaching change was all it took to tear down what could have been a decent season once again in Indiana, but that can be slightly forgiven since the coach was fired ASAP to not allow things to get worse and for him to cause more issues internally. So, at this point, as the Pacers, you got to take a deep look at yourself and ask, “What more can we do?” Because we are basically now given every reason to believe that a big- time move is not going to happen. And even Kevin Pritchard prefers that his teams are built in a more natural fashion, which nothing is wrong with that. Things are going to be taken yearbyear, make gradual improvements, add depth, find diamonds in the rough, and not make any hasty decisions that could potentially set your team back many years. That is absolutely fair, but we just got to see something come out of it first. But first, a new coach. And for the Pacers, this time around, they’ll bring back an old name, a successful coach in this league, and what will most likely be the best man for the job for a roster like this. June 24th, 2021, the Indiana Pacers will hire one-time championship coach, Rick Carlile, to the squad after his time in Dallas ended as he stepped down from his coaching position there. He had a short tenure in Indiana in the very early 2000s where he would see short success with them. But after missing the playoffs, he moved on to Dallas where he would create one of the most unlikely championship runs in history, taking an older Mavericks team to the finals and of course beating the big three Miami Heat in their first year together. But now a decade after that, he’s left and is now back in Indiana. Of course, he’s one of those coaches that makes the most out of his talent and is ready to use his many years of expertise to create another championship contender. But the only problem is the Pacers are in a banged up spot right now. TJ Warren’s rehab is going nowhere. He’s predicted to miss a lot of this upcoming season. Caris Lever’s in a similar position with a stretch factor in his back. And just like last season, a lot of their guaranteed money is stuck in their starting lineup. So they’re basically stuck in their current position and are going to have to wait this one out or hope that Malcolm Brogden and Deont Sabonis can level up and truly carry this team. And to support this further, they would use their 13th pick on Oregon shooting guard Quist Duete, a 24 year old rookie who was expected to immediately produce on this team due to their injury troubles. And this was a class with people like Quincy Grimes, Troy Murphy, Trey Murphy, I mean Moses Brown, and other young guards and forwards that they could have taken for a more long-term approach. But I really think this drives the message home that they need to have some immediate impact if they want to go on and upstart things with Rick Carlile on the team and make this team what they used to be. But despite their cap situation, they would make a few tiny moves like trading away Aaron Holiday, ending his time in Indiana in the Russell Westbrook trade to LA to receive back the high-flying center Isaiah Jackson from Kentucky and would do the sign and trade trading away Doug McDermott to the San Antonio Spurs. Outside of that, complete radio silence. So, what are the expectations of the Pacers in this first season with Rick Carlile? According to ESPN, a under 500 season. And honestly, you really can’t blame them. It makes sense what I talked about earlier, and they have a long road ahead of them when it comes to getting back to contention. And as the season began, you could tell it was going to be a long one. They were competitive to an extent, but truly didn’t have that same firepower that you would see to actually pull off some wins. But by New Year’s, they owned a record of 14 and 22. And you just knew this was going to be yet another wash of a season for your Indiana Pacers. And it wasn’t entirely their fault. Just a layover from the season before carrying over to this season. But you want to know what makes things 10 times worse? More injuries. In December, Malcolm Brogden would suffer from an Achilles injury that would shut him down for most of the season. And again, before they signed him a few years back, he was suffering from a lot of nagging injuries. And a few years later, that’s all they got from him for the most part. And Miles Turner would unfortunately fall to a foot fracture of his own in January that would sideline him for the rest of the season, making an already bad season worse. For the first time in a long time, the Pacers are truly in a deep hole and someone needs to pull them out. And soon enough, Kevin Pritchard would find a team looking for something he can take advantage of and took the first opportunity to get the deal done. Welcome you back with breaking news from the NBA. As the trade deadline approaches, the Indiana Pacers continue to make moves. Our agent Wardowki reports to Indiana trading Deanna Sabonis, Justin Holiday, and Jeremy Lamb to the Sacramento Kings for Tyreek Hallebertton, Buddy Field, and Tristan Thompson. Indiana just day trading Terrace Leverway. And now Sabonis, the big name in this six player deal as he goes to Sacramento. February 8th, 2022. One of the biggest trades of the season happens. The Sacramento Kings are looking to buy in now ASAP with the many talks of the Aaron Fox winning out of Sacramento and wants to go on and try to win something immediately. So, they asked for the service of Deont Sabonis who would make a great inside out two-man punch between guard and center as Damontes is a proven center in this league at this point. But in exchange, the Kings would have to give up the secondyear guard and Tyrese Hallebertton, who so far has been a coach’s dream and a statistical demon. In his rookie season, it would take him a while to crack the starting lineup. But as soon as he did, him and De’aran Fox was a match made in heaven with Halle Burton being a great on the ball and off the ball presence, showing himself to be an efficient playmaker and scorer and has plenty of upside to build around. To many, Tyrese should have been untouchable off of that alone. You have a rookie who came into this league with barely any issues adjusting to the NBA. It looks like a season point guard off the jump at 20 years old. But remember, this is the Sacramento Kings we’re talking about here, headlined by VC Ranivbe. So, expect the unexpected, but obviously as the Pacers, you will take this trade in a heartbeat. You already have a slight rebuild going on. Tyrese is 5 years younger and has all-star potential and fits what you want in your offense. potentially a win-win trade if the Kings can make this duo work. But don’t worry, I’ll speak on that short era on the channel later this summer. I’m feeling kind of evil. If you made it to this point in the video, shout out to you and leave me a what the hell of Burton in the comments. Anyways, Rick Carile sees big things in Tyrese and wants to utilize him immediately. After the trade, he said in the ESPN interview, quote, “An elite young point guard that affects the game positively in many, many ways. We’re getting three players who are good now. And in the case of Tyrese, he has a chance to continue to grow. Finding a franchise caliber point guard at 21 years old is extremely difficult to do. And guess what? The Kings were dumb enough to trade him. Everyone point and laugh. Yes, I know I’m the same person who supports the team that traded Shay Gilas Alexander for PG, but this isn’t about me. This is about you person watching my video on your TV. all 33% of you according to my analytics. Anyways, this trade was debated all over and some thought it was worth the risk for the Kings. Some thought the Pacers ran away with high rate robbery and some argued it was a fairly win-win trade considering what both teams needed at the moment and of course considering if the Kings were to make something happen in the immediate future. But the trades didn’t end there. The day before Caris Levert was traded to the Cavaliers, who were yet another team who wanted to win. now and wanted to have a win now piece and gave up a few picks for him to clear up where Cat’s face in the future. And the day after the Tyrese trade, they would trade yet another win now piece and Tory Craig to the Suns for yet another pick and lottery pick Jaylen Smith. Someone who the people in my discord, which you should join by the way, argues kind of looks like me. I disagree with that claim, but I’m told like I look like a lot of people apparently. So, as you can see, the Pacers are now officially selling and are going to take a few years to rebuild. A sound move now that you truly have a point guard of the future on this team and rather as well try to grow some talent around them since we already have been shown that the Pacers are fine taking more of a year-to-year approach to things unlike some teams who will make a drastic move as soon as they touch a potential contention year. But despite their willingness to tank, Tyrese Hallebertton now basically is the best player on this team and immediately shows that the impact he was going to give to the Pacers for a very long time. Tyres Hallebertton may have only played 26 short games for the Pacers, but in those games, once again, he showed himself to be an automatic threat in the NBA and a future all-star. 17 points, nine assists, 40% shooter from the three-point line. and he was doing this with more usage and being on top of scouting reports over the league. They weren’t winning games for obvious reasons, but man, once he gets a team that is more suited to benefit him more, the Pacers are going to be something to look out for. So, yeah, they would end the season 25 and 57, their worst since the 1980s, but they own their own pick, which will likely go top five. They own a promising point guard to be able to base their offense around. They have a lot of money in cash space to play around with and a proven coach who will bring results. Now all they need to do is put all these factors together and make yet another contending roster. It may take a few years, but this rebuild of the Indiana Pacers will be worth watching and especially the further development of Tyrese John Hallebertton. So, the Indiana Pacers have found their guy. Tyresese Hallebertton was a steal of a trade for them, and you know, he’s going to be a star in the making. You could even argue he’ll be a bigger hit than Damonte Sabonis will ever be in a Pacers jersey. But the next step in this rebuild is to add a team around them. Kevin Pritchard has shown time and time again that he and his team are solid at player valuation and getting a good deal on talent when it comes to trading. Whether it was getting the combo of Victor Oladipo and Sabonis, the TJ Warren deal, even though that didn’t work out, getting Carol Levert, and now turning Sabonis into Tyres Hallebertton, the track record runs so very far in this organization. But it’ll be keen to understand what more he does in the next few years, but the 2022 draft is here. The Pacers went from five to six, not the worst, but they still have a pretty good pick in a highly rated class. They won’t be able to get the clear top three in Paulo Cett and Jabari Smith Jr., But the second layer players are good themselves. It is up to the Pacers to make good use of that pick and their 31st pick, which is basically another first round pick. But as the names start being called in this draft, the Pacers can take about anyone at this point and at any position. So let’s see who they choose with their highest pick since the Paul George selection in 2010. With the sixth pick in the 2022 NBA draft, the Indiana Pacers select Benedict Matarin from Montreal, the NBA Academy Latin America, and the University of Arizona. Benedict Matre, one of the many success stories as a top 100 high school recruit who got his turn in the limelight of Arizona and turned into one of the best prospects in the draft and also an all-American in his sophomore year. But why wasn’t he rated higher in this class despite being an all-American sophomore and a killer scorer in college? Well, it came down to the relatively one-dimension of him as a player and of course his lack of defensive skills and awareness. Now, that ain’t the worst thing in the world, but it’s just that you really have to utilize his strengths to the best of his abilities and hope that he simply gets better at his weaknesses because you can argue his type of players are a dime a dozen. But using the six pick on him means they have a plan for him and hopefully it’ll be a very good one. But that wouldn’t be the only big pick they make because one of the picks they traded for in last year’s trade deadline with the 31st pick, they would also pick up Andrew Nimhard from Gonzaga. a player more suited for the Pacers system. A very calculated combo guard with a very high IQ and would nicely pair with another high IQ guard and Tyresese Hollowird. Both these picks were highly rated by reviewers. Matine being a prospect player in the aspect of his all-around game and them hard a four-year college player who can easily play immediately and provide impact whether it’s as a backup point guard or combo guard duo with Tyrese. But to be able to give him that role, someone had to be off the team. And it was someone the Pacers had to somewhat regret trading and signing for only a few years ago. July 9th, 2022, after the Boston Celtics would take a brutal loss to the Golden State Warriors in the finals, it is time for them to buy into this current core. And they would trade five players off their bench in a first round pick for the services of Malcolm Brogden. Now, while he would end up being the sixman of the year as a part of the Celtics, the Pacers were simply trying to look for as much value as they can get from this injury riddled player. They proceed to wave every player from that trade except two, Daniel Ty, who isn’t a part of the story. And the 14th pick of the 2020 NBA draft, Aaron Nith. Despite being a lottery pick, he’s been buried in the rotation of the Celtics, who were trying to contend and obviously didn’t have any space or time to develop anyone young. But the Pacers were able to convince the Celtics to give him up. And now he’ll be able to play in Indiana with yet another good move from Kevin Pritchard, who has all the upside in the world to become something good for this team. But remember, the current form of the Indiana Pacers isn’t much to talk about at the moment. It’s literally Tyrese and his Misfit toys. But Rome wasn’t built in a day, and there are plenty of pieces on this team to play around with to see who will turn into a real long-term asset for a future team. So, you know what that means? More tanking basketball, but not in the we want to lose as many games as possible type of way. No, they’re doing it more in the we’re going to try to figure out what works, but we’re not good enough to win games type of way. Think of the 2024 Rockets that turn into the 2025 Rockets who were the second seed this season. There’s going to be some rough spots. There’s going to be some flashes of future promise, but they do got to go through all that to find what works in the future. So, it might end up being a very long season and obviously some of the guys that don’t work out will need to be moved. But the funny thing was with the mix of Tyres Hallebertton and Rick Caral’s coaching, the Pacers were actually decent and hovering around a 500 record. They would start their season 23 and 18 and was the six seed and it was all headlined by the man of the hour, Tyrese Hallebertton. 20 points, 10 assists, 49 40 87 splits. Yeah, we are definitely looking at the 2020s age Steve Nash and this is only his third season. The Kings are missing out big time. The way he can elevate what is definitely a really mid- roster. Speaking of which, Miles Turner is having a career year for the impact of Tyrese. Benedict Matan is an amazing six-man from the team, averaging 16 points per game. Aaron Nesmith fits nicely as a starter, playing a three and role for the team. And of course, like many suspect, Andrew Nimhard is a highvalue pick, playing alongside Tyrese and doing everything needed of him as a scorer, playmaker, and defender. But to some, this was unexpected. But a great point guard who provide this type of boom to your offense, both to himself and for others is invaluable, and the Pacers are going to be enjoying this type of impact for a long time. But after this point, the Pacers would fall back to earth because only a few games after this, Tyrese would suffer a left knee injury and the Pacers obviously started to fall from there without their franchise point guard. But luckily, it wasn’t anything serious because if it was, he would have to give up his spot on the 2023 All-Star game, which he was brought in as a reserve. And for good reason. This dude is an absolute star and the future of his team and one of the best guards in the Eastern Conference. as soon as he gets a real supporting cast around him or core around him improves, things are going to get dangerous for the Eastern Conference. But for now, it is still rebuild time. So, with that being said, they would end their season 12 and 29 and finish with a record of 35 and 47. Way better than last year. And there is real progress being done with this team. If they can keep up their momentum for the beginning of the season, they would have been a playin team or the six seed at best. But honestly, this works out way better for them. With this record, they get yet another top 10 pick in the draft. And if they wanted to, they could trade for something bigger in the offseason. Things can start to get serious as soon as next year if they wanted to. But we all know there is no such thing as a hasty move from Kevin Pritchard. Just like his point guard, he’s all cool, collected, and calculated. So now the real question will be, are the Pacers just going to keep things as they are and hope for a season of development that will bring them further to the playoffs? Who will the next pick be in the draft? And will they make a move to inch themselves ever closer to contention? Well, we’re back at the same spot, but there is improvement. The Pacers are trying to make the most out of what they have, and so far it’s yielding more results than expected. If it wasn’t for a mid-season injury from Tyres Hallebertton, we’d be talking about how they were probably losing in the playoffs or losing in the playin. But again, you cannot complain about yet another top 10 pick with the future that the Indiana Pacers have. This time with the seventh pick. And with this seventh pick, this time around, the Pacers would surprise us with their draft day selection. At first, they would draft French forward Bal Koulali, a more raw but defensively smart and athletic prospect with a lot of potential. But the last few years, the Pacers have been a part of our removes. And we see them again be a part of another one. In the Bradley Beal trade to Phoenix, we see Bal Kulabali be traded to the Wizards, but the Pacers would swap picks and receive back another future first in return. And who is this player they traded for? One of the most interesting names and prospects in the draft, even more debatably, than Bal Koulali. With the eighth pick in the 2023 NBA draft, the Washington Wizards select Jarus Walker from the University of Houston. Yep, you heard the name. Jerice Walker, 6’8, 240 lbs, and a doit all threat in his one and only season in Houston. You need a three, he can do that. You need a strong defensive presence, whether on the perimeter, in the paint, he can do that. You need someone who will do all the dirty work, he will do that. Dice is the perfect hybrid forward in today’s league, and the Pacers are going to try to enjoy his versatility on an already versatile team. The only problem is he is so very rough around the edges and more of a jack of all trades, master of none type. But I will admit the 2023 class had a lot of question marks in the lottery. So they’re just going to have to see if their vision for Jerice Walker is going to turn into anything. But as the usual, the offseason for the Pacers stays soever quiet. Nothing ever big happens for them in the offseason. But they do work on things in the background. Yet again, we see another signing for another more underrated player. this time and Bruce Brown who was off a championship with the Denver Nuggets on a 2-year $45 million deal to bring this all-around game to the Pacers. But the immediate insurance is a team option in case they don’t go with the Pacers plan. And lastly, a move I absolutely loved at the time, simply trading two second round picks for the former lottery pick Obi- Toppin. I mentioned in my NYX rebuild video, which you should watch, oh, make sure your soda isn’t fizzy when you first open it anymore, that the selection of Obie Toppin, was a real headscratcher for New York. Without going into too much detail, because you know, you should watch my video. I think that Obie wasn’t a player that can give you a bucket on his own at the NBA level and was much more of an offball threat coming into the NBA. But why would they pick him when they already had Julius Randall and Tom Tibido was just going to put him in the doghouse anyways? Who knows, man? But as expected, Tom didn’t mess with him too much and he was just rotting his career away on the bench. So rather as well give him up for at least a little bit of value. But while he fit horribly with the Knicks, he will be amazing for the Pacers. A great offball threat, a lob target, a three-point threat, and he could be one of the best cutters, if not the best cutter at his position. Does that not scream I will work perfectly off of Tyrese Hallebertton? Yet again, an underrated and great pickup from Kevin Pritchard. So, we have an entire year development from the young core that was a budding playoff team. You add a few more pieces to the team that will work well and you have one of the best point guards in the Eastern Conference. This should mean that something big is bound to happen and that’s exactly what would happen. The high-powered offense of the Indiana Pacers would reach a height that has never been seen before. the 2023 2024 Pacers with a mix of their game planning. Tyrese Manning the point guard position and teammates around them who would start torching the NBA offensively on a league high and NBA history high of 123 points a night. Think about how much a team is required to do to score 123 points a night. Literal insanity. Tyrese Hallebertton once again is torturing the league with his playmaking and scoring capabilities. And now with yet another season worth of builtup chemistry with his teammates, he is flirting with an average of 11 assists a night. And due to that on this team, everyone eats. Miles Turner 17 points per game. Bruce Brown 12 points per game. Aaron Kneesmith 10 points per game and shooting over 40% from three. Benedict Matan 14 points per game off the bench. Buddy Heel 12 points a game. Obie Toppin now comes in and puts up 10 points a game. And even TJ McConnell in 18 minutes a night was scoring 10 points per game. Literally the on steroids version of the 2018 Pacers who was dominated by Victor Oladipo with many different scores. And now we have Tyres Hallebertton with even more scoring potential having the second fastest pace in the NBA. And as you’d expect, shooting over 50% as a team. I hope you understand how crazy making 50% of your shots as a team is. But this team wasn’t without weakness because every game was basically a contest of who can score the most points and sometimes they lose and by a lot. By New Year’s, the Pacers were 18 and 14. Still needing just a little bit more because at their current form, they’re basically the 2023 Sacramento Kings team, but on steroids. But like he always does, Kevin Pritchard would spill blood in the water and strike at an all-time great move for the Indiana Pacers. Kevin El back with you on Sports Center. The breaking news, the Pacers acquiring all-star forward Pascal Seakum in a trade that sends Bruce Brown, Jordan Warren, and three first round picks to the Raptor. Sources tell our Adrien Rojinowski on Wednesday. Sakim, who could be a free agent this July, is averaging over 22 points per game. Yet another upgrade has been made. And as usual, it did not cost the Pacers much at all. Three-time all-star, twotime AllNBA, and one-time champion, Pascal Seakum, has been traded to the Indiana Pacers for Bruce Brown, Jordan Nurora, and three firstround picks. Pascal Seakum’s time in Toronto was ticking down as the Raptors continuously got worse and worse over the years since the championship and their team of course getting younger and younger for a rebuild. And with Pascal Seakum’s current deal coming to an end this summer, it’s either lose him for nothing or get him for something. And man, this trade is pennies on the dollar for someone of a skill level, considering the Pacers will most likely be competitive enough to not even care about a bottom 10 first round pick. And all reports come back that Seakum wanting to stay in Indiana. So, the Pacers now have two AllNBA worthy players on the same team. So, you know what that means? The Pacers are now in the status of contenders from this point going forward. two allNBA level players, a really good coaching system, depth in every position, and one of the best offenses in the NBA of all time. But the cherry on top is with their caps base situation being one of the best in the league. They can either do a little bit more in the aspect of signing or even try to go allin this upcoming off season. But there were some rough patches here and there with the Pacers which kept them away from really being able to compete for a high seed in the East. From the time they obtained Pascal Seakum until the All-Star break, they’d go eight and eight and have a record of 31 and 25, showing they still got some kinks in the system that they’re going to have to iron out. But that can be ignored for the time being, especially seeing that Tyrese Hallebertton becomes for the first time an allstar starter for the Eastern Conference. and it is absolutely welld deserved for his play on the court and being the best playmaker in the league as he inches himself closer and closer to superstardom. But once again for the team overall it might not be their time yet. Still having their lapses from game to game. Every game is a battle to see who can outscore the other due to the Pacers pace and their real lack of all-around defenders on the team and sometimes another team can beat them at this battle. And I’m sure you used to be hearing this being said in the video, but the Indiana Pacers once again would have another season in the high 40 win range and are once again going into the playoffs as a lower seed. This time the six seed. And with this being the usual format of how successful Indiana Pacers season go, you can only imagine the expectations of a team with their structure being pretty leveled like in years past, especially when they’re about to face off against a rival from the regular season in the Milwaukee Bucks in the three versus six matchup. Or at least that’s what I would say if Giannis Antto Kmpo wasn’t predicted to miss the series with a strain left calf injury that he sustained at the end of the season. an absolute gut punch to Bucks fans, but a miracle for Pacers fans because the numbers he would put on them during the regular season would have been an issue in the playoffs. But before we continue, Tyresese Hallebertton once again ascends further in the NBA world, now becoming a firsttime AllNBA member, representing the third team for again being one of the best playmakers and efficient scorers in the league and for his leadership leading the Pacers back into relevancy. And having this type of caliber of player at 23 years old has to be a great feeling for both the organization and fans alike. But despite his good season, the Bucks injury with Giannis, and the clear outright advantage the Pacers have over the Bucks, the experts still won’t respect the Pacers, giving the Bucks winning in a 9-7 tally. Again, this is without Giannis being expected to make a return. At this point, it’s tradition to downplay the Pacers, but let’s see going into the 2024 playoffs if it’s warranted. Games one and two would be split one to one, even without Giannis onto the Koopo, and that’s because you still have to deal with Damen Lillard, who scored 35 points, and Chris Middleton, who’s been given the Kawhi Leonard treatment in the regular season and is now fresh for the playoffs, scoring 23 of his own to shut down the Pacers 109 to 94. But game two would see the Pacers come back to normal on offense with three players scoring 20 or more. and Pascal Seakum scoring a game high of 37 points. This series would be much different if Pascal Seakum was never traded to Indiana because so far he’s carrying the Pacers offense as Tyrese is looking more content being a game manager and getting everybody else heated up. Now in Indiana, this is a crucial game three to take. And both teams were going back and forth after the Pacers blew a 39 to22 first quarter lead as the game continued on. And the Pacers would start to show their inexperience once more in the clutch with Andrew Nemhard and Aaron Nesmith both splitting free throws in the final minute, which only gave them a three-point lead in the final six seconds. And of course, you know exactly what that means. Middleton was open. It’ll go to Lopez. Middleton got to look for three. Got it. Oh my. Oh my. A miracle in Indianapolis. Middleton drains it to not it at 101. Call it luck, call it fake, call it whatever you want. But all this can be called was the Pacers giving the Bucks an opportunity and they banked on it with Chris Middleton making a miraculous three-pointer to take the game into overtime because they didn’t foul up three to force two free throws. But in overtime, we’d see yet even more playoff madness. That Buff’s defense pointed it out. Hallebertton takes it in the back court. Six seconds to go. Crosses over on Beverly. Float game for the win. Tyrese the terror. This is where the legend of playoff Tyrese Hallebertton begins as one of the most clutch players in the 2020s. calm, collected, cool, and breaking down Patrick Beverly, getting him on his back, absorbing the contact, and making the and one floater to end the game. And with this momentum, they take back home, they earned a 3-1 leave from an otherworldly performance from their starting lineup. And enjoying even more security with an injury to Damen Lillard, which may sideline him for the rest of the series. They can consider themselves pretty fortunate in the circumstance, but as Stephen Curry said 5 years ago, I apologize for us being healthy. I apologize for us playing who was in front of us. Dem’s the breaks and the Pacers are just a luckier team here as they finish this series in six games with TJ McConnell and Obby to combining for 41 points in the final game. But this series also has more significance than you think because this is the first time they win a playoff series ever since 2014. Yes, an entire decade since they’ve won a playoff series. And while it wasn’t talked about above last year, I will bring it up now to you. But everyone is saying the same thing. They beat a broken down Bucks team. Their next opponent will be a much better test to see how the Pacers react in the playoffs and it’s against the New York Knicks led by allNNBA second team member Jaylen Brunson. Of course, they are without Julius Randall. But considering his playoff resume so far, that might have been the best for the Knicks. And as messed up as that sounds, Knicks fans, don’t act like you weren’t thinking the same thing last year. And as expected, this was going to be a much harder series for the Pacers because Jaylen Brunson would go off for 43 points with 21 of them coming in the fourth quarter to win the first game 121 to 117. And game two would see OG Dante Devinczo and Jaylen Brunson taking turns on the Pacers defense or lack of thereof. Each scoring 28 points or more to win by nine with Jaylen Brunson yet again taking over the fourth with 14 points. The Pacers obviously has had a defense problem all year. And with no true lock down defender for a talent like Brunson or even the other targets in the starting lineup, the Pacers are in big trouble of being exposed. And from this point on, this series takes a different turn. Back in Indiana, just like the Bucks series, they return back to form. Tyres Hallebertton has a signature game scoring 36 points and winning by five. But it helps that the defensive impact of OG Anobi was being missed due to the usual antics of Tom Tibido coming to bite his players in the ass now with a hamstring injury. And still without OG and less offensive firepower, the Pace straight up run the Knicks out of Indiana with a 40point massacre in the next game. But a pattern is seeming to be formed in this series with the Knicks winning every game at home with a near 50 bomb from Jaylen Brunson. And in game six to save this series once again, the Pacers all come together with six players scoring over double figures and Pascal headlining the team with 25 points. So there’s an obvious thing happening here. Homecourt advantage matters a lot to both of these teams. And for earning the second seat of the conference, the Knicks in the most crucial game of the season needs one more performance to take their first conference finals since the early 2000s. And for the Pacers, they are also playing for their first appearance since the Paul George era. So, what are we going to see in this game seven? Another Jaylen Brunson backbreaking performance. Maybe some clutch all-around play from the Pacers. Another signature Hallebertton game or even a gamewinner hopefully. Game sevens are meant to be the pinnacle of the sport. And will all time great moments happen. So, what happens in this one? We check in with Lisa. Mike just got this update from the Knicks and it’s not good for Jaylen Brunson. A fractured left hand. He’s done for the day. Just devastating news and what has been a de devastating afternoon. Oh, that’s a buzzkill. Jaylen Brunson breaks his hand late in the game and the final result is as good as predictable. The Pacers escape game seven with their one and only away win coming in the most needed time with the entire starting lineup once again smoking the Knicks with Tyrese Hallebertton leading the charge with 26 points in the final game. So, for the first time since 2014, the Indiana Pacers will make the conference finals in a miraculous season where everything has come together in a perfect storm. They still have one more opponent to hurdle before they can really celebrate anything because now they have to face off against the real juggernaut of the Eastern Conference and some would even say of the entire NBA. And of course, I am talking about the 2024 Boston Celtics. They’ve only lost two games so far in this entire playoffs. Own a better offensive rating than the Pacers and are only second to the Pacers in points per game. And the most crazy of all owns the third best defense with the fifth best scoring defense. What is the chance the Pacers can ever rise over this Celtics team who own Sar Power all over the starting lineup and with the potential for literally anyone in their starting five to score 30 if given a chance. It’s very low and everyone sees the Pacers as the clear underdog. And the very first game of this series was an absolute showcase on offense on both sides. Over the entire game, the Celtics would go on a huge run and go up large. And then the Pacers would have to go on their own run just to tie up the game. And the pattern repeated multiple times. But finally in the fourth quarter, we see a score of 93 to 94 with the Pacers only down one. And all they got to do is outscore this Celtics team by two points in the quarter to escape with a win. But once again, the Pacers broke down in the clutch. The Pacers are up three with 47 seconds left. And with the opportunity to seal the game, Tyresese Hallebertton turns over the ball. And then Andrew Nehar does the same with under 10 seconds left. So yet again, we’re at a situation that they’ve already seen. Do they foul up three and play the free throw game or do they allow a shot to be taken and hope for the best? Tatum trying to get free, throwing in the corner. Brown fakes, fires up the three. Bang, bang. Jaylen Brown knocks down the three to tie the game. Timeout, Indiana. Pascal Seakum did everything right in that play on defense. Allow Jaylen Brown to catch the ball in a compromising position. take away all of his space when he shot the ball and even avoided fouling him after the shot as he tried to force contact on him. But just because he lowered his chances of making the shot doesn’t mean he still won’t be taking the game into overtime with a three-pointer. And now going into overtime and with Jason Tatum finishing the game with 10 overtime points for the second time this playoffs, Rick Carile doesn’t do the mathematically correct thing and foul up three. But unlike the Milwaukee game, they lose this time around NOT. And it wouldn’t get any better in game two with Jaylen Brown scoring 40 points and losing again 126 to 110. And even worse news would come at the end of that game also. And it was a hamstring injury to Tyrese Hallebertton, something that he’s been dealing with over the last few years. To this, this should be your end. Your AllNBA point guard is out. And against a team as good as this, you rather as well call the season quits. But we’ve seen this Pacers team in this situation before, and they can bring it back as we return it to Indiana. But the same thing happens yet again. Nine-point lead going into the fourth. The Celtics go up one with 38 seconds left off and one from Drew Holiday. And the Pacers have all the opportunity in the world to ice this game with one final possession as both teams miss backto back shots. 7 seconds left. Andrew Nimhard with the rebound. No timeouts called. What happens next? Nimhard has it. Rick Car says go. Nimhard drives for the paint. Knocked away. Stolen by Holiday. Seakov trying to get him, but he’s fouled him with 1.1 remaining. Rick Carle thought there was a foul. He’s upset. You want to know what happens next? We see yet another example of the Pacers just not being ready for prime time. Drew Holiday, despite being by Nemhart’s dribble moves, he gets in the right position and strips the ball away to end the game. This is now a three to 0 deficit and no team has ever come back from such a deficit. And that remained true as the Pacers would lose yet again one last time. This time though from a gamewinner from Derek White with 45 seconds left and the Pacers missing the one and last possession after the fact. And now a 40 series sweep and the end of this miraculous season. But despite the questionable losses and the injuries to Tyres Hallebertton, you can’t be anything but hopeful if you’re a supporter of the Pacers. The Eastern Conference is starting to become more unstable. Your team just went through their first ever long playoff run, making them much ready for the next one. And if able, the Pacers can even buy more into this core and take another hopeful leap. Everything is pointing towards the Pacers either leveling up in some way, developing their young talent for an even better season or just making yet another deep run in the NBA playoffs in 2025. So, the Indiana Pacers have shown themselves to be legitimate threats, even if their regular season record says otherwise. Over the last 3 to four years, the Eastern Conference contenders have usually been the same. Giannis and the Bucks, Jason Tatum and the Celtics who just won a championship. And there’s usually one surprise team here or there who makes the conference finals. Notice how I didn’t say anything about the 76ers. I’m completely over them by this point. In this case, it’s the Indiana Pacers who now just confirmed that they are a legitimate contender. Now, with that information being known, are they going to try to level up and make something happen or just simply run it back? Well, if you have basic listening comprehension skills throughout this video, you already know what that answer is going to be. They are running this back. No first round pitch to be spoken of in the draft. And the free agency period is all about signing back their contributors to long-term deals. Pascal Seakum is expected is returning back on a 4-year $189 million deal. Obi Toppin gets a nice payday with a 4-year $58 million deal. And they even tried to increase their depth ever so slightly and potential by signing former second overall pick James Weisman to a small two-year deal. And guess what, dear viewer, that’s it. We are truly running it back with this roster. And that ain’t half bad at all considering where they got to last year and the potential the younger players have to build upon this next season. And lucky for them, the East stays with the same outcome when it comes to the top of the conference outside of the Knicks, who are now getting Carl Anthony Towns. So, they can really go into the season expecting better results than last if they get better matchups in the playoffs and just a sprinkle of luck going on their side. But, I shouldn’t talk too far in the future because the Pacers were not off to the best start. And it’s due to one of the main killers in the NBA, injuries. November 1st, 2024, Aaron Kneesmith suffers a major ankle sprain that will set him back a few months. Both of the backup bigs and Isaiah Jackson and James Weisman fall to seizing any injuries. And even Andrew Nehard missed of November himself. All these injuries turned into an abysmal start for the Pacers with a 9 and4 record in the beginning stages of December because their offensive firepower was getting weaker, but their defensive shortcomings still say the same. But once the injury started to clear up and the Pacers got their rhythm back, they became one of the hottest teams in the league once again. From December 5th until the All-Star break, they earned a record of 19 and8 and even had a near undefeated January going 10-2. And after that slow start to the year, they go into the All-Star break recovering with a 30-23 record and being placed as the fourth seed. A huge turnaround compared to how things started out. And it is all thanks to the three-time all-star Tyrese Hallebertton. Wait, he wasn’t an all-star this year. Pascal Siaka was. Okay, that’s cool. But who made it over Tyrese, though? Tyler Hero. Well, Giannis got hurt, so maybe he gets to be a replacement pick. What do you mean Trey Young? Okay, so Tyrese didn’t make the All-Star team for the third straight year, but congrats to Pascal for making it this time around with his first full season with the Indiana Pacers. Sometimes you just got to scratch your head at decisions like that. But while it would be nice to have those accolades, the real thing Tyrese wants this year is to run it back to the playoffs and make it back to the conference finals and this time make the NBA finals. The first time since the beginning of the 2000’s decade. And you know what? The good times keep rolling for the Pacers after the break. They finally figure out their center issue, picking up Thomas Bryant and Tony Bradley, who both provide completely different things for the team. Aaron Nesmith returns and the lineup healthy with no more issues. And from the all-star break to the end of the season, the Pacers finished one of the best records in net ratings in the league. And it sets a great preview of what’s to come in the 2025 NBA playoffs. And despite their start to the season, they end things with their first 50- win season since 2014. But this time around, they’re looking to go even further than the team from that time and not getting stumped again in the conference finals by a superior opponent. With this 51 season, for the first time in a long time, they actually would earn homec court advantage as the fourth seed and they would once again meet an old familiar foe in the Milwaukee Bucks and Giannis onto the Koopo. But instead of Giannis being out, it’s Damen Lillard who is unfortunately recovering from a surprise blood clot diagnosis, but he is potentially able to return later in the series. The Bucks are a team who is unfortunately on the decline. So, for the second year in a row, the Pacers have an advantage against them in the playoffs. But still, somehow someway, the Experts still had doubt with the Indiana Pacers. And no matter what, they’ll forever be the underdogs of the Eastern Conference. Game one and game two would have to immediately shut up the critics as the Pacers would run the Bucks out of Indiana because Giannis simply didn’t have enough help come playoff time and their defense just isn’t what they used to be. And it was all headlined by the team play of Pascal Seakum, Tyresese Hallebertton, and the rest of the Pacers crew doing their usual thing together. And with the prospect of his team being taken out without him, Damen Lillard came back in game three and beyond. But the true surprise of game three was Gary Trent Jr. doing his best Damen Lillard impersonation, scoring a game high 37 points with nine threes to give the Bucks a spark. and for sure made the Pacers go back to the scouting report and try to slow him down because a 30point score with Giannis can definitely be a lot of trouble. And with the aspirations of being up 3 to1, the Pacers once again overwhelmed the Bucks with their stacked offensive depth with eight players scoring 10 points or more and blowing out the Bucks 129 to 103. So, two straight seasons of taking on the Bucks in the first round and it looks like they’ll be knocking them out again. But Milwaukee is going to try their best to stop that because Gary Trent Jr. made another eight threes. Giannis had a 3020 10 triple double and even AJ Green came in with six threes of his own. In this game alone, they were flirting shooting 50% from three as a team and things were looking like the Bucks were going to steal game five and take things to six. But that was until we once again meet an old friend from last year. Got to get that ball to Yiannis on that block. No less. Slight difference. Game clock, shot clock. How amazing the rim ties it. 10.8 to go. Poor defense from the Bucks ends up pushing what should have been a win into overtime. And with the Bucks giving the Pacers a chance to end this series with extended time on the clock, we yet again see Tyres Hallebertton come clutch and end this series. Here we go. Hallebertton. 5 seconds. 4 seconds. Hallebertton for the lead. 1.3 to go. Yiannis just gets caught in between the attacks that front left foot. And as we’re seeing this tension, doesn’t matter if it’s Pat Bev last year or a DPOI candidate in Giannis. Tyrese Hallebertton looks those challenges and big moments in the eyes and ends this series with an amazing and tough acrobatic layup with Giannis literally inches away from stripping the ball from his hands. So with that being said, the underdogs once again blew away expectations and are now on to an opponent who have been compared to them a lot but with a lot more ability to dominate games. And that team is the Cleveland Cavaliers with three allstars. Donovan Mitchell, Darius Garland, and DPI Evan Mobley. The same team who went 15-0 to start the season, 121 points a night with a top 10 defense, second most made threes a night, and just like the Pacers last year, flirting with a 50% average from the field as a team. Despite the talent not being as intimidating as the Celtics last year, who knocked out the Pacers, their execution was just as good, being led by their coach and Kenny Atinson. Many people, myself included, saw the Cavs being a little bit better than the Pacers, especially considering that their defense still isn’t much to talk about, while the Cavs have so many ways to beat you on offense and of course have two defensive anchors in the paint. But coming into the series, the vibe was a little bit different because the Cavaliers are somewhat banged up, which doesn’t help what will be a potentially long series and a long road to the finals if they even make it that far. But guess what? The experts at ESPN and many others didn’t care about that. We would see the underdogs get doubted once again with a 13 to0 sweep from the council and it will be up to the Pacers to shut everyone doubting them up once again to make it to their second straight conference finals. And just like the Bucks series, the Pacers caught everyone by surprise, even with the injuries to Cleveland. But it wasn’t easy. Game one was a tight one midway into the fourth quarter where a late run put the paces over the Cavs. And it’s kind of hard to stop a team where four out of the five starters scored 17 or more, but game two was what everyone was expecting of this series with offensive master classes from both sides with no team being able to pull away from the other. But with a max backbreaking three with a minute left, all hope seems lost. The Cavaliers found their groove to tie this series going back to Indiana. And it would seem like even with the injuries, Cleveland is still a powerhouse to deal with. But once again, the Pacers would surprise everyone. Ice bat ready. Can they hold them off here? Final 66 seconds. Hallebertton chiseling to the cup. What Indiana did in that clincher against Milwaukee. Look at that stick back. Knee Smith on the wing. Seakum attacks and lays it in. It’s a onep possession game. Much better job of getting open. Misses Hallebertton. The rebound seconds. They do have a timeout. Carile is going to let him play. Hallebertton steps back and hits. Tyrese Hallebertton trying to take Cleveland’s heart. And a seven-point deficit gun just like that. And the cherry on top, Tyrese Hallebertton, not being satisfied, betting on the game winner and making it off of a step back three. If you were watching this live, all you can think was there’s no way they do this. Well, a few crucial mistakes dictated the entire game and the Cavs are down for it. But man, this is what the playoffs are made for. Moments exactly like this. And Tyrese already has multiple of them in his young playoff career so far. But Cleveland would have to get one eventually and it was in game three with Donovan Mitchell going nuclear for 43 points and that’s pretty hard to beat. Donovan Mitchell has never been to the conference finals yet in his career and he won’t let the best opportunity he has ever had in his career end so easily. But with three 20 point scorers including Obie Toppins 20 off the bench, the Pacers would win by commanding 20 points. And from there, it would be time to admit that the Pacers are a legit team. A 3-1 lead against one of the best teams in the league. It’s something that deserves praise, even if they are a little bit banged up. But don’t make me bring up the Stephen Curry quote again because I will. Sometimes that’s just how the cookie crumbles. And the Pacers weren’t about to let this opportunity go to waste in this series here. And it’s another ticket punch to the conference finals. And that’s exactly what they do. 31 points from Tyres Hallebertton, 15 made threes from the Pacers. The Cavs shot under 40% and a nine-point win sends the Pacers to their second straight conference finals. And what a way to do it. If they can beat the best team in the East, they can beat anyone. And like last year, they are four wins away from a Finals birth and eight wins away from an NBA championship. But instead of the Boston Celtics, who ended up losing and facing extra pain seeing Jason Tatum sustain an Achilles injury. So instead of a well- anticipated rematch, we get something even better, a revive rematch of the 2000 NBA Eastern Conference Finals with the New York Knicks. Remember that confident Towns trade I mentioned before? Yeah, that’s exactly what the Knicks needed. Remember the Knicks video I made earlier last year about their revival? Yeah, the Knicks are revived and now the Pacers and Knicks are both in each other’s ways to make the NBA finals for the first time in the 21st century and only one can move on. So I ask again, who did ESPN have winning? Well, how about it? No matter what the Pacers do, they will forever be doubted. So I guess that means the underdogs have to do it yet again. Except game one looked to be yet again another addition of Jaylen Brunson Cooks the Pacers defense for the second postseason in a row. But now added alongside that is Cat joining in the fun abusing the Pacers interior. And with the Knicks exploding early in the fourth quarter, the Pacers look like they’re just going to have to regroup and try it again in game two. Cat is destroying them inside and out. And Brunson is still on his usual king of New York thing taking over the fourth quarter with three and a half minutes left. The Knicks are up 11 and it might just be time to call it quits. But as usual, never ever call the Pacers out of a game too soon. 29 shooting threes about 38%. Hallebertton his three is good. A screen from Shepard. He’ll roll and he’ll climb the defensive heart. Knee Smith three. Good on one. I’m surprised they don’t have Miles Turner, the rim protector, on the floor as well. Smith three. Good. Another one from outside. Smith again. Three. Got it. He’s a flamethrower. Controversy there wasith. It’s a three. It’s a two-point game. Hallebertton. He’ll take it. He’ll backpedal. A three for the win. And he’s got Yep. I couldn’t believe it either. Aaron Nith nearly single-handedly brought this game all the way back with five threes in the final few minutes. And with every three getting more ridiculous than the last. And for the soul sucking one coming at the last three as Tyrese Hallebertton gives us a shot right out of the book of Kawhi Leonard with a super high bounce. And then it drops in and giving us some showmanship with the legendary choke motion replicating Reggie Miller. Even though he did that on accident thinking that he won the game, but I’m just going to continue. And with that momentum from the comeback, the Pacers would finish the job from an OB topping and dunk. And that is a 10-0 lead for the Pacers and probably the best game of the NBA playoffs. We should all know that even losing one game in a playoff series is absolutely an opportunity you love to have back. And the Knicks are for sure regretting letting game one escape them as the Pacers would take a decisive 3-1 lead from a 39-point masterclass from Pascal Seakum in game two. And game four had Tyrese and Pascal scored 30 while Benedict Matan gave some muchneeded support with 20 points off the bench. A lot of money and assets came together to create this Knicks team. But what they don’t have compared to the Pacers is absolute godlike dev off the bench that can come in, support this team, and give the starters a rest when it’s well needed. And while the Pacers would drop game five in New York after a poor team offensive performance back in Indiana, it was time for the Pacers to go to their first final since 2000 in front of their home crowd. 31 points for Pascal, 21 and 13 assists for Tyrese, 18 for Obie Topphen, and four other scores in double digits. 125 to 108 Pacers win and the biggest underdog and one of the most slept on teams we’ve ever seen has made the NBA Finals. And funny enough, just like when the Mavericks took it all the way in 2011, both teams are led by coach Rick Carl. With the context of how they picked things up after their slow start in the state the Eastern Conference at the moment, it makes sense that it wasn’t too far-fetched to believe in the Indiana Pacers. If they were even having a half decent start, they’d be closer to a 60 win season. But that start masquerades their real power together and turned themselves into the underdogs in the NBA and are now four wins away from winning their first championship since 1973 before the NBA and ABA even merged. So who will their opponents even be? one of the most annoying teams in the NBA, owner of the NBA MVP, owner of two AllNBA players, owner of one of the best defenses of all time, and the team with the second best net rating of all time, only being bested by the 1996 Bulls. Yes, this team is that good. The OKC Thunder. The success of this team and how they came to be doesn’t even be talked about anymore, especially if you watch my video on their rebuild, which you should, or your first round pick in the 2025 draft will be out of the league in 3 years. But the funniest thing about this matchup is how both of these teams got their jump start off their package of a Paul George related deal. SGA and JDub came from the trade from the Clippers and the Pacers, well, we already talked about that already. The context of this finals has insane lore, but it wasn’t a hyped up series as still no matter what the Pacers did in the East, they were still being doubted. And yes, I myself had the Thunder steamrolling the Pacers just off their defense and execution alone. With ESPN though, in a 32erson vote, they had the Thunder winning 29-3. So, you can only imagine it was the outright belief by everyone that this was the Thunder series to lose. For them to lose this series would be exactly like the Heat, losing to the Mavericks in 2011. But leave it to Rick Carlile to yet again get another upset in the NBA Finals. But game one would see exactly what people expected of the Pacers. 20 plus turnovers in a game is outright insane. How are you expected to beat one of the best defenses ever if you can’t even stop them from overwhelming you on that side of the ball? especially considering that the Pacers couldn’t even crack into this lead that they had or tie it up. The beginning of the fourth quarter starts with an 85 to 79 game. The Pacers are literally at the mercy of OKC at this point. But piece by piece, the Pacers will start to figure it out and cut down the turnovers the best they can. And of course, the threes started to fall. Finally, at the 48 second mark, Pascal Seakum would finish an offensive rebound for two more points. And the Pacers, for the first time in a long time, are in striking distance. One more possession. One more possession is all they need to finish what was supposed to be a loss and now being turned yet again into another comeback. And as SGA would miss his routine jumper to ice the game. He misses and the Pacers get that one last chance they’ve been looking for. Gildus Alexander spins, pulls up, jumper off the mark, won’t go. Rebound knee. The Pacers with a chance to win it. Final seconds. No fouls to give. Hallebertton looking. Hallebertton driving. Pulls off. Jump shot. It’s good. It’s gone with 3/10 of a second remaining. Time out. OKC. From the miss shot to the fortunate matchup with a shorter case Wallace and somehow shaking off Wallace for that one second and getting his shot off with no trouble. Tyrese Hallebertton does it again. That makes four times all postseason. He has either extended or ended games with the final shots. And at this point, he is truly creating a legacy of becoming part of one of the biggest upsets ever and being one of the clutchest players in the playoffs. He comes through every single time. And now that brings everyone in America outside of Oklahoma, of course, to become believers in this series that maybe the Pacers can pull off the statistically impossible. But that does not mean it’s going to be easy. By game five, it is a two- two series tie and you can see the Pacers are slowly figuring them out. But at the same time, slipping up and just dealing with one of the best teams ever by a statistical standpoint. Game two would see 20 points from Alex Caruso and 18 from Aaron Wiggins off the bench being the deciding factor as the Pacers would get outplayed. Game three would be the Benedict Matthering game where he scored 14 points in the fourth quarter alone and 27 overall to give the Pacers a 2-1 lead. But game four would yet again see 20 points to Alex Caruso and Jaylen Williams finally coming alive with 27 his own alongside Shay Gilas Alexander doing his usual. When Shay gets 30, that’s fine. In fact, many people would expect that by this point. But when the others on the team give you problems, it’ll be the Pacers downfall as an already pretty average to below average defensive team. And those slip ups come with real drawbacks, especially when Jaylen Williams runs that performance back with a 40point game. And once again, Sheay being unstoppable as usual. Now down two to three, their backs are against the wall. But taking it back to Indiana in front of a full house is exactly what the Pacers needed to take this thing to seven games. This one was done by halftime with a 64 to 42 score. Seeing the Thunder this time around, struggling with turnovers, but the job isn’t done. The Pacers are one game away from doing the impossible. Game seven, one of the most viewed NBA games in a decade. The first game seven since 2016 and legacies on the line for both sides. And halfway through the first quarter, Tyrese Hollow Burton would hit his first three, then his second, then his third and four possessions. The Thunder would call an early timeout with the camera panning to Tyrese looking hype and getting himself mentally ready for the biggest game of his career. Because if he pulled this off, the resume is going to the stratosphere. All the bad games he had, all the overrated allegations, and the status in the NBA is going to change if he can win this one and final game. But only a few minutes later, the NBA world altogether would see a very tragic sight. Nar kicks it out to good contest from Thor. Hallebertton falls down. He looks hurt. Here comes SGA the other way. Inside and Williams throws it down. Hallebertton’s hurt right away when he fell. Course that strained calf. He’s in pain. So emotional. I won’t even lie. Once I saw Tyrese Hallebertton crying after he tore his Achilles, I had to turn off the TV for a few minutes because that right there was probably the worst I ever felt for an athlete in a long time. The man leads the Pacers to a miraculous final game, start the Pacers off on a great run, and even looked better than ever, trying to be as aggressive as possible to win this game. to really shut up everyone who ever has had any criticisms of him this season from not being able to play that much in the Paris Olympics from being looked down upon by players and fans alike. And this one game was going to change everything about his career. But his body gave out at the worst time and putting a giant spotlight on a huge trend of players tearing their Achilles this season. Jason Tatum, Damen Lillard, Tyrese, Dejonte Murray, and even his own teammates in James Wiseman and Isaiah Jackson both went down to torn Achilles. It’s been a huge problem this year and very unfortunate. But with Tyrese going down, a huge part of their offense vanishes and the chances of the Pacers winning the series goes lower and lower with time. We see glimmers of hope at times during this game. Shout out T.J. McCollum in the third quarter. But the Thunder would eventually pull away and the Pacers would lose game seven 103 to 91, ending this amazing year for the Indiana Pacers in the most bittersweet way possible. And with Tyres Hallebertton suffering an injury that will take a year to heal and bounce back from, just like the Celtics, they probably won’t be competing for another conference finals birth or finals appearance until 2027. Throughout the tenure of Kevin Pritchard since 2017, he’s had a philosophy that we have only seen since a much older time in the NBA. He wanted to build something from the ground up and raise a core together and add little pieces here and there to improve that core to become a champion. He traded Paul George to get his first all-star duo in Victor and Damont Sabonis. and when they didn’t work out, quickly switched to what will be a perennial AllNBA talent in Tyrese’s Hallebertton and Pascal Siaka, who is a proven championship asset. Throughout the many rebuild documentaries I’ve made, we’ve seen time and time again how GMs are rushing a process that has no guarantees to succeed and how it backfires, whether it’s due to ownership pressure or seeing an opportunity that was very much misguided. The Indiana Pacers are a great example of how finding talent that others don’t see value in, maximizing their abilities, and profiting from it. And while it did take a while and a lot of trial and error, the Pacers so far have two conference finals appearances to show in an NBA Finals appearance. And despite how things ended this season with Tyres Hallebertton needing to nurse his body back to form, there is no doubt in my mind that the Indiana Pacers are going to continue to turn heads with the way they run their franchise. and the surprises along the way with the many players that they cultivated. Obie Toppin went from a player rotting on the NBA bench to a valued bench player. Aaron Nesmith was given the time to show why he was a lottery pick after the Celtics didn’t use him. They turned a second rounder and Andrew Nimhard into a valued starter. And they saw the value in TJ McConnell after his time on the process 76ers. And most importantly, they saw how dumb the Sacramento Kings was giving up on an already seasoned point guard and let him have his own team, a team he took to the NBA finals. Once he is back and healthy and back on the court, it’s going to be a pleasure seeing him lead this Pacers team back to a similar place and hopefully sometime soon to give the Pacers something that they’ve never been in the NBA postNBA merger, that being NBA champions. With that being said, tell me what team or player timeline you’d like to see next, your thoughts on this video and topic, and until next time.

After losing in the 2000 NBA Finals, the Indiana Pacers stayed competitive—missing the playoffs just 7 times since—but could never make it back to the big stage. A brief resurgence in the early 2010s, led by Paul George, gave hope, but a devastating injury and back-to-back letdowns ended that era. Then in 2017, one trade sparked what would become one of the most unlikely revivals in NBA history—culminating in a Finals appearance just this season. In this video, we’ll break down the trade that changed everything, the moves that followed, and how the Pacers became contenders once again led by Tyrese Haliburton and Pascal Siakam!

Chapters:
0:00:00 – 0:01:48 Intro
0:01:48 – 0:15:20 2018 The Indiana Pacers Strike Gold
0:15:20 – 0:23:50 2019 The One Year Peak of Victor Oladipo
0:23:50 – 0:32:12 2020 The Weirdest Season Yet
0:32:12 – 0:44:09 2021 A Break from the Action
0:44:09 – 0:53:44 2022 The Start of a New Age
0:53:44 – 1:01:25 2023 Tyrese Haliburton is the Future
1:01:25 – 1:22:22 2024 The Underdogs of the East
1:22:22 – 1:47:31 2025 A Bittersweet End
1:47:31 – 1:49:50 Conclusion

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