[Charania] Sources: The Indiana Pacers are moving toward rebuild, receptive to trade talks centered

Pacers selected an all-NBA talent and an all-star with #10 and #11 picks, George and Sabonis.

Yet the Sixers, who were all-time bad for half of the decade, have only one fewer playoff series win in the last decade, and 3 more in the last 5 years.

The treadmill gets you nowhere, kids.

 

Treadmill got us James Harden.

 

"Bro it's easy all you gotta do is trade for a 22 year old superstar"

That move alone made Morey a top GM in the league, people on CF don't appreciate how insane that trade was. Still the biggest trade theft this century.

 

"Bro it's easy all you gotta do is draft a 22 year old superstar"

Equally as difficult, as multiple franchises can attest.

Just a few years earlier, we traded for Tracy McGrady, too, after being an 8 seed.

 

Considering how hard it is to trade for a superstar and keep him there, provided you're not the Lakers, Heat, Clippers, or Nets, I'd say it's rather difficult.

McGrady was nice, but was never a top 5 player in Houston, Harden won an MVP and should have two (either 2015 or 2017). They weren't on the same level. If OKC knew what they were giving up, Harden would still be a Thunder with a ring or three.

For this year and the next, I'd attempt to draft a superstar with a high pick. Even if a top player wanted to play for us or a top player became avalible, John Wall's massive contract makes any moves impossible with us nearly capped out.

 

Wall would be great in Indiana.

Come and get him Pacers!!!

 

More competition for a top pick. F.

 

Call me crazy, but I'd put a 25-27-year-old Tracy McGrady up there with just about anyone. He wasn't top 5 when we won 22 games in a row? Top 10 at worst, and that's coming from a documented Stacy hater.

In 2004 we did what you thought was impossible, and we did it again in 2012. Without a doubt, Tracy McGrady and James Harden were young generational players and were acquired via trade on supposed mediocrity treadmills. It was also a pretty massive deal at the time to steal Dwight from the Lakers in FA, while on the mediocrity treadmill, under Kobe's nose. We also convinced possibly the GOAT PG in CP3 to leave the Clippers. Sure, Harden deserves credit for that, but I wouldn't be so down on Houston as a city and its ability to attract.

 

I reject the claim that we were on the treadmill in 2004, we were only two years removed from picking #1 overall, the team was on the up-and-up with Francis and Yao. Going from abomination to acceptable in two years after picking #1 overall isn't a treadmill, its an escalator. That 2004 8 seed team was led by Francis and Yao Ming. If we make the 8 seed in 2024 with Green/Sengun/KPJ as our three best players, I'd say we're on the upswing, not the treadmill.

2012 was from the treadmill, considering the Rockets were in mostly the same place as they were in 2010, something you couldn't say in 2002 to 2004.

McGrady's best days were in Orlando, his knees just didn't hold up here sadly.

Dwight Howard is still the best free agent the team ever signed, that doesn't happen without a 23 year old superstar on the roster. Didn't hurt that Dwight was the most hated man in LA as a Laker, looking back on it, I'm shocked they had any chance of keeping him. Chris Paul didn't exactly join a bad team either, 55 wins and the #3 seed the year prior.

 

The Rockets were sure about Yao after his first season.

They were not willing to keep tanking they swung for the fences.

Les is many things but was made of sterner stuff than Tilly.

 

This is ridiculous.

The same thing happened last year with Orlando deciding to blow it up at the deadline, ruining the selling market for us.

 

I agree with most everything here, but the point is that we still traded for a super-duper star in 2004 and went from pretenders to contenders (sort of), and then did it again in 2012 in the Harden heist. Rafael Stone will likely need a combination of picks and slick trades to get us to where we want to go, but I am not so sure that we can point to one method as being vastly superior in a rebuild. One example would be a guy like Tyler Herro, who would have been very interesting here If any of those rumors from last season would have come true. Hopefully, KPJ can be a trade guy that turns the corner too.

Your original post suggested that the ideal method to run a franchise should be to focus on being "all-time bad" for half a decade, like the Sixers. I firmly reject that notion, especially in a city with strip clubs like Houston.

 

This is kinda bad news for us... teams that were gonna put together packages for Wood might want to divert their resources for Sabonis or Turner instead. More tankers is always bad for current tankers.

 

For places like LA, NY area, Miami, the place or organization status is making all the difference.

Some places are picking players.

I slightly disagree with the argument that you have to find that one player.

I think organizations are prepared to simultaneously get 2 players that are top talented (tandemize).

And then try to lure in that elusive 3rd star.

Teams like Chicago are trying to build around multiple players now.

 

Pacers need Wall!

 

That's actually wrong. They traded one for the other. George+Sabonis might have been something...

 

Pro-tankers, I don't get from the article where it says they would be tanking?

If they trade LaVert and one of Sabonis/Turner, that's still an OK team when T.J Warren returns plus Brogdon plus whoever is left from Sabonis/Turner.
They want to re-build around that with whatever other teams young talent/picks they get, from what I understood.

In general, this team hasnt picked at the top of the draft since.... Rick Smits in the 1980s... Still, they've been a respectable franchise with some good teams along the way. I guess the huge missed opportunity point for them was the Kawhi/G.Hill trade. They could have had the Kawhi/George core that the CLips now have, with a #10 and #15 picks.

Bottomline is building a championship team is hard. Pacers went the respectable route, couldn't build one, but a thing or two breaking the other way and they would have been right there. Many of the teams that went the deplorable way and disgraced themselves never even got as close to a top-notch core as the Pacers.

 

Sabonis wasn’t drafted by the Pacers. Could’ve sworn his rookie year was in OKC.

 

This is the path I don't want the current rockets roster to be at, mediocre. But @hakeem94 doesnt understand this.
Let's get top 4 picks again and then go to war

 

Correct; he and Oladipo were part of the deal for Paul George.