2011-2012 Finish: 32-34

Season Highlight

Before March, Indiana was atop the NLL at a point. They had teams concerned going into games vs them. That was all before March. After that, trades and questionable player roles within the team led to a free fall that saw the Pacers on the outside looking in at the playoffs. Indiana beat all the great teams in the Eastern Conference, with wins vs Philly, Cleveland, Miami, Orlando, Toronto, New Jersey. They were a force to be reckoned with.

Season Lowlight

The month of March. The Pacers won a total of 5 games out of 17 played. March had Indiana wishing the calendar went for February right to April. fter March, things just weren’t the same for the Pacers. They still won games, but they didn’t have that same fire. Eric Gordon being injured most of the season didn’t help, as he was the team’s #2 scorer. Indiana was forced to rely on lesser players to try to fill a void that would not close. In addition, they lost faith in a rookie PG for the hype of a league journeyman that exploded on the NBA scene. Unfortunately for the Pacers, Lin-sanity did not translate into the NLL this past year. It’s possible that he will become that player this season, but Indiana jumped on the bandwagon too early and it possibly hurt their playoff chances.

Best Trade
Many of Indiana’s moves were good, but just didn’t seem to help his team get over the hump and make the playoffs. We went with sending Jordan Farmar to Washington for Ersan Ilyasova. Farmer was the 3rd wheel on a team with 3 better PG than him. Moving him to get a sharp shooter was a good move. If the 1st rounder wasn’t in the Barbosa deal, we would have taken that as the best trade.


Worst Trade

Pacers send Nick Young to the Lakers for Shannon Brown. Nick Young was averaging over 21 PPG for the Pacers, but they felt they needed to tinker with a good thing and traded for Brown, who was averaging 18+ with LA. At the time, the move for a better defender seemed like it could work, but Shannon quickly made this the Worst Trade of the season for Indiana by dropping his scoring average to 6.1 PPG.

Other Notable Trades

Getting Dahntay Jones for 10 GM points.

Trading Jermaine O’Neal to Charlotte for Barbosa and a 1st rounder. Barbosa went on to score over 11 a game for Indiana. JO was only scoring 3.4 per contest.

Best FA Signing

Nick Young was the best FA signing for the Pacers. He averaged over 21 per game for Indiana. After being traded, he increased his scoring to almost 24 PPG, leading the Lakers to the playoffs. In the playoffs, he averaged over 30 PPG!!! Imagine if he would still have been a Pacer!!!

Worst FA Signing

Jeremy Lin. WHAT!!! Lin-sanity was the worst FA signing?? How could this be? Lin enamored Indiana so much that they pushed him into the starting role, when Knight was in the middle of a ROY season. Lin never lived up to the hype that his NBA counterpart did. Lin was an average PG, at best, in the NLL. This could have possibly been the single transaction that helped ruin the Pacers playoff hopes.

Star

Blake Griffin was the star on this talented team. He played in all 66 games and averaged over 22 points per game. He chipped in 9.2 rebounds also. Blake shot 58% from the field and if it wasn’t for injuries and lack of a real “Lin-sanity”, the Pacers could have made the playoffs. Blake will look to dominate again next season.

Surprise

Jared Dudley. Once a bench role player, Dudley took full advantage of the opportunity to start. 11.4 PPG, 6.7 Reb, 1.7 Ast, 1.0 Stl and 42% from 3. No one expected that kind of production from Jared. He was a welcome sight, partially making up for the disappointing play of the team’s Goat.

Goat

Shannon Brown. With the Lakers, Brown was scoring over 18 a night, but the move to the Midwest did something to Shannon. We don’t know if he feuded with the coach or just didn’t like Indiana, but only putting in 6 points per night after being such a great player in Hollywood had many shaking their heads in disgust!

Draft Report Card

Having a pick in the late 2nd round doesn’t really qualify for a good grade. The Pacers selected Tomas Satoransky. Tomas is a 6’7 combo guard that projects to be a valuable back up. His perimeter shooting is a question mark, but he has above average athletic ability, is a team player, and is a hard worker. Only time will tell about Tomas, but we’ll give him a C+ for getting a late NBA 1st rounder in the mid 2nd of the NLL.

Looking to the Future

Blake Griffin and Brandon Knight are excellent building blocks. Had Indiana’s GM not been so enamored with Lin, we may have seen Knight content for ROY. If they can resign Eric Gordon, they have 3 star athletes with high ceilings and all are extremely young. Indiana could have their PG, SG and PF locked up for long term and it is exactly what we are suggesting! Dudley made for a suitable SF and, if they bring Duncan back, Tim D provides experience and versatility at the C position. It is quite possible, actually, more probable, that the Pacers will make the playoffs next season!

Upcoming Free Agents

Tim Duncan, Eric Gordon(RFA), Jeremy Lin(RFA), Ersan Ilyasova, Shannon Brown, Leandro Barbosa, Derrick Brown(RFA), Earl Boykins, Brian Cardinal, Mikki Moore.

Half the team is up for contract negotiations this year. Boykins, Cardinal, Moore and Derrick Brown are expendable, but Barbosa, Shannon Brown, Lin, Gordon, Duncan and Ilyasova are not as easily replaced. Barbosa, Gordon and Duncan all scored in double figures. Lin is a crowd favorite, so we expect to see him return to the Pacers. Rumor is that Shannon Brown will be allowed to walk after his lackluster effort last season, but we really feel he can be a valuable asset if used correctly. Ilyasova is a good shooter and rebounder, but is really a tweener SF/PF. He’s great off the bench and can provide good perimeter shooting when needed.