2019-20 Indiana Pacers

2018-19: 48-34 (1st rd playoffs)
Draft picks: 18,50

Signed for next season ($60.1m): Victor Oladipo, Myles Turner, Doug McDermott, Domantas Sabonis, TJ Leaf, Aaron Holiday, Edmond Sumner, Alize Johnson
They really missed Oladipo in the playoffs--I was impressed how well they played without him throughout the season. A healthy Oladipo is the first step for this team.
Turner is a still-getting-better big man who scores a little and plays solid D.
McDermott can knock down corner 3's.
Sabonis is a smart player, good fit for the Pacers, still improving, too.
I dunno know enough about Leaf, Holiday, Sumner or Johnson, not sure how they factor into the Pacers' plans.


This summer's free agents: Thaddeus Young, Tyreke Evans, Bojan Bogdanovic, Darren Collison, Cory Joseph, Kyle O'Quinn, Wesley Matthews
The Pacers are in my League Pass blackout zone, so I don't have much of a feel for this squad at all or how hard they'll charge at re-signing any of these dudes but my gut feeling is: I think they have to bring back Bogdanovic and Collison, I think they'd like to bring back Joseph and Matthews, I don't think they'll bring back Young, I have no idea about O'Quinn and Evans has been banned by the league (so no discussion necessary).


#18 is tough to figure, in that zone where the players are a mix of overrated and underrated. Guess they'd want Romeo Langford (Indiana), right? Tough to pass up scoring like Nickiel Alexander-Walker (Virginia Tech), but I'm guessing they'll go for size like Bruno Fernando (Maryland) or they'd jump all over Bol Bol (Oregon), I reckon. At #50, maybe they nab Louis King (Oregon) for a little Pac-12 flavor.


Next year's lineup:
PG Oladipo, SG Bogdanovic, SF Matthews, PF Sabonis, C Turner with Collison, Leaf, McDermott, Holiday, Sumner and #18 off the bench.
Not a deep team but a smart, savvy squad where Oladipo sets the standard for everyone else. If they stay healthy, they should be 4th or 5th in the East (hard to imagine Orlando or Detroit getting ahead of them, but also hard to imagine the Pacers catching up to the Sixers or even the Celtics).