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What is krak alak enveloped mouqui a
efforts. I am Dana Valley coming at

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you with a very brief introduction.
I'm posting the podcast I went on setting

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the pace. Follow them on Twitter
at Pacers pod STP spelled exactly as it

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sounds. It's hosted by Alex Golden. Follow him on Twitter at Alex Golden

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NBA as well as I believe it's
Anthony Fauci at a underscore Fatci fac C.

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I have been on them a few
times before. They're kind of up

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to send me the audio over on
this And so if you're if you follow

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us on YouTube, but you also
get the audio podcast, it's only posted

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on the audio. So go tell
all the YouTube subscribers they should subdu us

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on Apple, Spotify to trick Google, the whole nine to get stuff like

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this. When it happened, so
we got into the Pacers their advancement to

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the N Season Tournament semifinals. We
did not know that they were going to

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be playing the Bucks when we recorded
it, but we talked about the N

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Season Tournament at large, the Pacers
at large, them taking the next step.

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They wanted a national perspective hopefully I
did you all justice. It was

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a fun conversation, so go ahead
and follow them again. Like I said

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on Twitter at Pasters pod STP,
I'll include the links to their Apple Spotify,

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and I believe they're on YouTube as
Bustle. I will include that in

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the YouTube and podcast description. It's
a good conversation. And hey, if

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you're new around these parts for some
reason, just remember to subscribe. And

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if you've done all that ratings and
reviews on Apple spot if I helped us

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out a ton. We were recently
downvoted on Apple. I don't know what

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we said or maybe something Grant or
I wrote that got us down voted.

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So head over there and throw us
a bunch of ratings and some nice reviews

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would be great. As always,
appreciate every single one of you and all

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the support. Grant and I'll be
back with our own pod actually on Wednesday

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night, I'll probably throw it up
and then we'll have another one up on

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Friday morning as well. Thank you
all for your support. As always,

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Let's get to talking some pacers with
the fellas from the Setting the Pace podcast.

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All right, everybody joining us now
on Setting the Pace. He's been

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on this show before to talk trades
with this, but obviously we're gonna just

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talk some basketball today. It's dam
Fa Valley from Hardwood Knocks Dan. What's

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going on man, Nada? How
are you guys doing? Doing great?

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Happy to have you back. I'm
doing great. Pay guys so much for

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having me. It's always a pleasure. Oh yeah, I mean I'm doing

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great. Pacers got a huge win
against the Boston Celtics on Monday night one

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twenty two to one to twelve,
advancing to Vegas in the n Season Tournament

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semifinals. So your thoughts on the
n Season Tournament and then what you think

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the NBA has done in terms of
promoting it. I've enjoyed it, like

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almost every element of it. For
the most part. I love the courts

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and hate the uniforms. Ironically,
the Pacers' uniform is actually probably the best

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uniform it's up there. But their
court was spectacular. I love seeing the

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differentiation with the courts. Love that, you know, there were some players

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that seem a little b annoyed about
the way the point differential tie breakers worked.

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I loved it. The fact that
you're seeing, you know, players

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get intentionally foul when you're up big
buckets because that stuff matters. I'm actually

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interested to see next year if players
and teams kind of understand the value of

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the point differential earlier, so we
see that stuff happen before the final week

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of those you know, initial group
play games, and I think, look,

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it's still gonna take a while for
the NBA Cup to catch on with

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meaning you probably if they get a
few under your belt. But I never

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understood why no one would, why
anyone, excuse me, would come into

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this with anything. But in open
mind, this isn't a victory left to

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say, Look, the NBA just
did something great. There's something to see

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some of it play out, But
we get moments where it's like the let's

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use the Indiana game as an example, Like the crowd was into it,

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and you have Tyre's Halbert and clung
it the most important game he's ever played

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in. That's really freaking cool for
because the casual fan does not care about

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the NBA before the NFL season is
over. So anything you can do to

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drive interest not just from the fans
but from the players and to get those

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guys on the court. I've enjoyed
it. I think it's been a home

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run in year one. Yeah,
I mean, do you think that coming

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into this, I thought this was
a money gramb I mean, come on,

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they're just trying to have more people
tune into Tuesdays and Friday games than

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usual early on, But so far
it's worked. It's felt different. But

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do you feel that this n season
tournament has maybe meant more to the underdog

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teams that are trying to fight for
that extra nationally televised game, for instance,

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like an Indianana. Just look at
the statement they made by being able

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to advance compared to maybe you know, some other teams where they're like,

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you know what, it's just another
game. Yeah, for sure, I

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think you're going to see a lot
of that because there's an element of when

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it's just single elimination, and even
when it's just one game, when you're

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looking at group play, because you're
playing every one of your group once,

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anything can happen. Whereas we know
over the course of a seven game series,

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the best team is probably ninety five
percent of the time just just going

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to win unless they're so evenly matched. And then if you're an underdog team

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to go into the playoffs and have
to win, you know, three,

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four playoff series. It's just such
a big ask if you're a low seed,

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and so I do think it provides
an avenue for not just these younger

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teams to kind of make a name
for themselves, get on national TV.

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I think like the Pacers are gonna
be like a household team after this,

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just because they're seeing people are seeing
how fun they all are to watch play.

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Then just Tyres Halberton being a megastar, and I think what actually might

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end up happening, and maybe we're
seeing it a little bit with the Lakers,

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is you could see the flip side
of this as well, where it's

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these older players who might not be
as durable or fully healthy. When we're

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talking about games in April, May
and June, we're gonna see Lebron James

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get up for the n Season tournament
because he's gonna be as fresh as possible.

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And the Lakers have very clearly cared
about these games despite their injuries,

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and so I think that's something that
could catch up. But for the young

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teams specifically, it wouldn't shock me
if, even if they're not gonna win,

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if we just routinely see a team
or there, they could be a

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plucky playoff team, or maybe they're
a playing team, but a team like

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the Pacer or even a team like
the Pelicans that dealt with injuries and are

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kind of a question mark, that
those might be the teams that get up

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the most for these games and maybe
enjoy them and glean the most from them,

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and do it as getting some of
their younger players who might not have

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experience in these high leverage situations as
playing in those big time games. There's

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of course no replicating the postseason,
but this comes as close as you can

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in the middle of December. And
I think one of the things too that

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the NBA probably one of them kind
of curious your thoughts on this too,

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is like everybody loves March madness.
Everybody loves single elimination games type style,

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and you really won't ever see that
happen with the playoffs because they really want

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the seven game series for all the
reasons why they want to do that.

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So do you think maybe this is
their way of saying, Okay, we

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can kind of have like a March
madness feel in you know, November December

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by doing a tournament here where it's
single elimination and you get that win or

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go home type feeling, oh for
sure. And I think the other part

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of it, even aside from that, is part of the reason why the

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NFL such an institution is scarcity of
product and the nd season tournament because it's

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so short, like it really was
like it's gonna be a month long basically,

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and you're only playing these teams once. That there's that scarcely a product

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baked into the single elimination then,
and that's also why March Madness does so

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well. Yes, you watch these
teams play twenty something games or whatever the

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college season is, but that's one
that's a very small sample size to begin

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with. But you're just going through
this trenetic sixty plus team bracket and so

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this is like you're it's that in
miniature for the NBA on both fronts,

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is the NBA Cup is scarcely a
product because it's so like, think how

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long the playoffs last, like the
three months at this point, d n

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season tournament lasts a month, and
so I think that helps as well.

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But the single elimination element absolutely for
sure. It's you know, the people

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who love want some of the rounds
to go back to best of five,

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like this is that on steroids,
Like it's just because it's all this single

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elimination stuff. Every single game matters
from the start of group play through the

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end of course of the NBA Cup
Final. It just matters a metric ton

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you know, I'm not trying to
be a homer over here, but has

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any player really elevated their status more
throughout this in season tournament than Tyrese Halliburton,

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who has really come out to show
the NBA, maybe NBA casuals,

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just how good of a player that
he really is. Probably not just because

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when you're talking about the elevation he's
made and I have not gone through my

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ladder just yet. Like this is
someone who in some of these games,

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because of some of these games,
has probably vaulted himself into like the top

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five, top seven of the MVP
conversation. And we saw that with shake

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Gil just Alexander last year. Independent
of this in season tournament. Of course,

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that doesn't just put a player on
the map. It puts an entire

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team on the map. Because we
have changed nationally, the way the thunder

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have been talked about has changed dramatically
when you look at the start from last

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season until now, and something similar
is probably going to happen with the Pacers

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just based off Tyre Haliburton's play all
season. But if they end up being

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the first NBA Cup holder or whatever
in an end season tournament champion, whatever

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we're calling it, that goes a
long way, I think toward putting them

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in the national conscience. Yeah,
I mean last night, I'm sure that

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game against Boston, nobody expected the
Pacers to really win that game. Everybody's

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kind of got their eyes on Boss
and fifteen and four heading into the night,

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and the Pacers just were able to
pull away in the third quarter and

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got back to their style of play
with Tyree's kind of being the head of

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the snake for the Pacers there.
But what did you see in that game

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from the Pacers outside of Halliburton that
made you think, Oh, I really

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like this team. Like there's some
things that they really do well, and

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I would like to see them play
more national televised games. So the first

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one is, and they don't do
this well because we know what the defensive

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numbers are, but like they ratcheted
up the defense of intensity in the second

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half and to see them be able
to do that in half court situation specifically,

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it's kind of like, all right, like does this team have another

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level? And you look at the
personnel and it's probably no, that's not

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sustainable. But it's good to know
they can hit that gear and the other

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thing. And he's done this pretty
much all season. But holy Aaron Nasmith,

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like this dude just like signed an
extension. It was everyone kind of

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after thought, oh why did we
sign? And we knew he was important

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at their rotation because of a lack
of wings and bodies that you want to

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throw it, and he's just come
in. I used to be super nervous

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when he would dribble or attack close
outs, and now I'm just like,

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oh no, he's killing it.
And that on top of his three point

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shooting, on top of the defensive
assignments that he's shouldering. This is someone

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who is you know, don't I
don't know where he lands on the Pacer

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scale of important players in the in
the aggregate, but there's Tyrese Halliburton,

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and there's Miles Turner and then Andrew
Nemhar has probably been their best individual defender

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this year, but like Iardy Smith
has been one of their three to five

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most important players this season. And
to say that about him on a team

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that has playoff aspirations is a pretty
big deal. On so well, I've

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been really he was good last season, but this is just from what I've

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seen anyway, this is this is
a pretty big jump for him now.

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It is he's definitely taking his game
to the next level to be able to

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get ahead on that extension. Forernie
Smith was just awesome. Love love to

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see it. But I always love
someone's opinion who's not just so centered around

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the Pacers. I mean, we're
eleven and eight, we have wins over

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Boston, Milwaukee, Myami, Philly. There's been some great wins. There's

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must have been some bad losses lost
in Portland, Charlotte, Chicago, and

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Toronto. From maybe outside of the
Pacers point of view, does it feel

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like Indiana is ahead of expectations or
perhaps still in that play in category.

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That's a great question, I feel
like, I think just because when you

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look at it and you have someone
like Tyre's Haliburton, and like that's the

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thing, that's the guy that's the
hardest player to find, and even after

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last year, it's oh, is
this best player on a title contender?

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Material? Is this top ten player
in the NBA material The answer is now

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yes, and so that the fact
that you've answered that in the affirmative,

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I think does put you slightly ahead
of schedule. It's how do you kind

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of react to not just his success
and some of your own successes. We

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know how great the offense is,
but how do you react to some of

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the flaws. How do you react? What's the player development look like?

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Is Ben mcmather at the end of
the season, can we point at him

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and say, you know what,
he's a core player of the Pacers.

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Are they gonna give Jaris Walker an
extended look as someone who maybe not as

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a rook but could give them a
lot of what they are missing defensively?

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And if the answer is no on
either of those fronts, where they don't

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think jars Walker can inflict real defensive
change over the next couple of years,

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or if they don't view benedicmatherin as
this core piece, do you have the

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gall to step outside of your own
internal development window, your own draft picks

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and go out and trade for a
player who is a co running mate for

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Halbert. You have your best player
who can be your best player. How

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do you find that second or third
best player. Is he already on the

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roster? Is he not? And
to me, that's a lot of what

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the rest of this season is about
for them, and I'll be curious to

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see what they do. They've been
linked to some names, but we know

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that the Pacers are historically more prudent
on the trade market might be the best

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way to go about it. But
I think because you have Tyre's Haliburt and

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you are on this accelerated timetable,
not because of his age, not because

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of his contract situation, but because
he's one of the ten best players in

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the league right now, and I'll
be very curious to see how they go

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about that. Or I guess would
be this is me, you know,

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not someone who's following the Pacers as
close as you guys. My guess is

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that no, that player that they
need is not on the roster right now.

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I don't think bennec Mathern's a bad
player, but I tend to be

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on like the mid end outcome of
his trajectory compared to everybody else, and

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then after that, it's well,
we haven't really seen enough or any of

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Jaris Walker this season to know what
he's going to bring to the table,

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and even if we do get a
sense of it, that's just like you

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have to scale ahead like two or
three years, and the Pacers are very

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much still Yeah, they're a team
that's their eyes are on the future,

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but they're good now. Tyres Haliburton
is a superstar now, and so that's

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kind of where I land with the
Pacers. I think they're slightly ahead of

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schedule, but I'll be very curious
to see how they respond or go about

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actualizing this timeline that Tyrese Haliburton alone
basically has put them on. Tyri's has

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said it, he wants to win, he wants to be in the playoffs,

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and that does kind of speed up
their timeline a little bit. Because

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jaris Walker. I think everybody expected
him to get at least a backup four

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minutes and play maybe ten to twelve
minutes a night, and now he's not

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even seen the floor. He's gotten
so many coaches decisions, dnps, and

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everyone's kind of frustrated as a Pacer
fan because they don't even get a chance

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to see what he can do,
especially in meaningful minutes like he might play

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in garbage time, but that doesn't
really show you a whole lot. So

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it is a tough dynamic to kind
of figure that out. And you talked

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about it, like Miles Turner is
probably the second most impactful player on this

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team. But I think we've seen
enough for Miles's career to realize he's not

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a number two guy. He's a
third, fourth, fifth option on a

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team that's really trying to be good
in the playoffs. So you kind of

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hinted at it maybe going out and
getting a second star. Is there a

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name or two that you think would
make a lot of sense to go after

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with this Pacers team age wise,
contract wise, that and what you'd have

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to give up wise, that would
make sense for the Pacers to kind of

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be aggressive, you know. Ironically, and this is it's counterintuitive to some

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extent, is that given how reluctant
the Pacers do seem to part with their

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own future draft picks in general,
is you might be better off targeting as

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soon to be free agent, even
though Indiana is not viewed as this market

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that's going to bring guys in just
off the street, and if you already

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have them, I think it's a
lot different. But the cost of going

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after those players if they are being
traded, should theoretically be cheaper than if

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they had two or three years left
on their deal, and they've been I

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know you guys have talked about everyone's
talked about it. They've been linked to

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Pascal Siakam just like again and again
and again, and they're of the teams

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that have been mentioned. Like.
He makes way more sense on the Pacers

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than he does on the Hawks or
the Warriors. I still do think that

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they need someone who skews more wing
than like combo big like Siakam can do

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some of this stuff on the perimeter
against these hir end guys. But og

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Ananobi, if he were to become
available, is probably the better fit,

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and I wouldn't call him a star
as well. Don't expect him necessarily to

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become available unless he's unhappy with his
offensive role in Toronto. They need a

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player like that, though I could
see Siakam coming in and making a big

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enough difference on the defensive end alongside
Miles Turners specifically that it would matter.

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But I think you need that three
four combo Kai type, just big body

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that can go out there and defend
the other team's best player, almost irrespective

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of the position. That they play. You talked about the Pacers should be

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more aggressive to you know, go
in in line with Halliburton's talent, not

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necessarily his age. He talked about
the trademarkt But Indiana's never been necessarily a

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premier free agency destination. We could
put it that way. When we had

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players like Paul George or Victor Odipo
or Sabonis, it didn't translate to attracting

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free agents. Do you feel that
Tyres Haliburton could be the difference maker there

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in attracting talent to come to Indiana
in free agency? Now, obviously money

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is always gonna talk. It's always
gonna talk the loudest, But does it

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feel like Halliburton could be the difference
maker compared to other franchise players the Pacers

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had that couldn't learn talent. I
would say yes in the sense that he

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feels very much in the and I'm
not saying he's as good as Nicole Jokic.

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He's in the realm of Nikolajokic,
of this dude who is gonna get

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other dudes paid. And so if
you're coming there like a even a Bruce

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Brown who's on this inflated one plus
one deal, but if you come there

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and you're able to solidify yourself to
the point where you can opt out and

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another team or the Pacers are gonna
give you a longer term deal that's worth

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close to something annually, or you
see what happened with Aaron Gordon when he

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was slotted into a different role alongside
Yokich, doesn't go there in free agency

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but ends up getting an extension that
people thought was too big at the time.

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And so even if it's not,
because free agency right now has changed

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to where the most important players really
aren't hitting the open market, Tyre's Haliburton

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changes the complexion of the complexion of
the conversation in the sense that, Okay,

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maybe we're not just signing free agents
out right. There are a lot

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of things our own cap situation that
goes into it, and then who's available.

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But we are confident enough that if
we trade for Siaka going into free

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00:17:45,039 --> 00:17:49,039
agency, for Ananobe going into free
agency, if they ended up with McHale

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Bridges and he was headed into free
agency, which he's he's not entirely soon,

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you're gonna be confident that that player
is not going anywhere. Because people

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want to play with Tyre's Haliburt,
and I think that's become pretty clear just

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time and time again when you watch
them. And then Rob Mahoney the Ringer

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had the fantastic profile of Tyre's Haliburton, where Miles Turner was talking about how

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when he was injured and he was
just watching other people play with halburn all

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he want to do is get on
the court. So to have someone who

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injects that feeling into it's not just
going to be people that are already in

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the Pacers locker room, and has
to be you know, Bruce Brown now

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understanding it, or like getting the
out Aaronie Smith getting me the first chance

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opportunity to play with them. And
look, it wasn't too long ago that

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Tyre's Haliburt was new to this locker
room to begin with, and so someone

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like Miles Turner, who was foreign
too, Haliburton's watching him and saying,

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no, I want to play with
this dude. That's a big deal.

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Whether it's happening we're signing free agents
or we're acquiring maybe making some dice rolls

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on the trademarket. He's twenty three
years old. He's entering what you would

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call maybe the MVP conversation right now
as like a top five candidate and he's

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just he's blossoming into the franchise's you
know, star, they're superstar level guy.

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What does he need to do to
keep this going in terms of I

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know you talked about attracting players,
but keeping the Pacers relevant because their their

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team record has been kind of inconsistent. They've had some big wins in the

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Ncason Tournament, then they lose,
like to Charlotte, they lose to Chicago.

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They lose these games, but like, how do they stay consistent now

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that they've got the eyes of the
national media. I mean, it starts

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and I don't know if it's something
Tyres Halibert needs to specifically do. He

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could be and we saw it kind
of in the second half against the Celts.

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Like he doesn't He's not always going
to be as eminently targetable, but

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00:19:27,119 --> 00:19:30,319
he is a lot on the defensive
end. But like, I don't think

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there's anything else that he could feasibly
do offensively than what like to lift up

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the Pacers. They have the best
This was a big Yeah. Their offense

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is great. They have the best
half court offense in NBA. That's a

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00:19:38,680 --> 00:19:42,200
big deal when you look at where
they were at last season. They need

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00:19:42,200 --> 00:19:45,000
to figure out some stuff on the
defensive end. I personally do not think

321
00:19:45,240 --> 00:19:48,720
they have the personnel to do it, but like even maybe some low hanging

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fruit where yes, part of what's
good about their offense is it allows their

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00:19:52,400 --> 00:19:56,319
defense to get set, so they're
not allowing teams to get out and transition

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00:19:56,359 --> 00:19:59,839
a bunch. When they do,
it's so easy to get behind the Pacers

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00:20:00,079 --> 00:20:03,279
almost jarring, and so stuff like
that feels like you could clean it up.

326
00:20:03,279 --> 00:20:06,480
They're the team that fouls the most
when they're guarding the pick and roll

327
00:20:06,720 --> 00:20:08,160
like that stuff that you should be
able to cut down as some of your

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00:20:08,160 --> 00:20:11,839
players get more experience or have more
familiarity with one another, if they can

329
00:20:12,079 --> 00:20:19,839
kind of just improve some of their
like I'll say, improve their improvable defensive

330
00:20:19,880 --> 00:20:23,359
vitals, like within the realm of
feasibility with the personnel they have, that

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00:20:23,400 --> 00:20:27,480
would go a long way towards like
I would think elevating the immediate ceiling of

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00:20:27,559 --> 00:20:33,079
this team, because if the Pacers
were like even a twenty second ranked defensive

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00:20:33,079 --> 00:20:34,559
team is opposed to like one of
the two worst defenses in the league,

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like that changes their immediate trajectory a
great deal. And that's the thing you're

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00:20:41,200 --> 00:20:44,960
talking twenty second. I think Pacer
fans would kill for twenty fifth because right

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00:20:45,000 --> 00:20:48,480
now, you just can't be the
worst defense in the league. But if

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00:20:48,559 --> 00:20:52,680
things don't change and the Pacers do
remain, say a bottom three defense in

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00:20:52,720 --> 00:20:56,000
this league, do you feel that
it's just a matter of time before they

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00:20:56,039 --> 00:21:00,759
find themselves on the outside looking in, perhaps maybe not even a playing team.

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00:21:00,799 --> 00:21:03,519
Because it's one thing to be the
best offensive team in the league,

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it's a whole another thing to be
the worst defensive team in the league.

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00:21:07,799 --> 00:21:12,640
So do you think that is just
far not sustainable. I think I would

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00:21:12,680 --> 00:21:17,400
be flabbergacid if they fell out of
the play in chase, just when you

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00:21:17,400 --> 00:21:21,000
look at the landscape right now in
the Eastern Conference. But could their defense

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00:21:21,079 --> 00:21:23,359
be the difference between all right,
right now, we're comfortably a top six

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00:21:23,400 --> 00:21:26,240
seed and oh no, we have
to go into the playoffs by virtue of

347
00:21:26,240 --> 00:21:30,279
the playing and maybe we don't even
have the seven or eight spot, like

348
00:21:30,319 --> 00:21:33,960
maybe we're we're nine or ten.
If Atlanta and Brooklyn like catch lightning in

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00:21:33,000 --> 00:21:37,079
a bottle and leap frog some of
them, we know the Calves are probably

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00:21:37,119 --> 00:21:40,880
going to improve this season goes on. I absolutely think that's a possibility.

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00:21:40,920 --> 00:21:47,039
But as constructed now, barring injury
to like one Haliburton or Turner or Brown

352
00:21:47,200 --> 00:21:51,160
or maybe even Demhar like, this
is a team that should even if its

353
00:21:51,160 --> 00:21:52,559
defense doesn't get better, they should
be I would think like one of the

354
00:21:52,599 --> 00:21:57,519
top eight teams in the conference,
depending on whether they're slotted obviously in the

355
00:21:57,559 --> 00:22:00,839
top eight. You know seven and
eight's gonna be tough. But do you

356
00:22:00,920 --> 00:22:04,480
think if they're anywhere from that three
to six range that they could win a

357
00:22:04,480 --> 00:22:11,400
playoff series? Oh, that's a
great question. I mean, matchups are

358
00:22:11,440 --> 00:22:15,039
everything. I will say when you
look at some of the teams that they

359
00:22:15,079 --> 00:22:18,880
would be going up against, where
it's like, I just like if you

360
00:22:18,920 --> 00:22:22,880
have a series with the Knicks or
the Sixers, maybe even the Celtics a

361
00:22:22,920 --> 00:22:26,039
little bit, look caught off guard, even the Cavs. Just like,

362
00:22:26,079 --> 00:22:30,240
there are teams when you look at
their defenses, even when they're good defenses,

363
00:22:30,559 --> 00:22:33,119
they are not used to defending the
entire floor like the Pacers make you

364
00:22:33,160 --> 00:22:37,000
defend. And this is a team
that I think can catch anybody off guard,

365
00:22:37,119 --> 00:22:42,519
even across an entire series because they're
just looking to run, make miss

366
00:22:42,559 --> 00:22:47,359
rebound steel turn like they're just running. And it's so I think teams,

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00:22:47,359 --> 00:22:48,680
even when you know this gown of
report of the Pacers, even if you're

368
00:22:48,680 --> 00:22:52,599
playing them, you know, seven
set over the course of the best of

369
00:22:52,640 --> 00:22:56,880
seven series, you just get caught
off kilt there so often by the amount

370
00:22:56,920 --> 00:22:59,559
that they're looking to run on offense
that yeah, some of these games might

371
00:22:59,599 --> 00:23:03,039
be like one thirty six, but
like they're built to win those games.

372
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And so if they're able to get
in the postseason as a seed that is

373
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not playing the you know, the
one or the two, I do think

374
00:23:11,680 --> 00:23:15,839
they're borderline capable of winning a playoff
series. But I for that to be

375
00:23:15,880 --> 00:23:19,559
as certifiable, yes, for me, something's gonna need to change. I

376
00:23:19,559 --> 00:23:22,599
would again point towards the trade market, just because it doesn't look like Jaris

377
00:23:22,599 --> 00:23:26,680
Walker is gonna have a big role
this year, and that's really the only

378
00:23:26,279 --> 00:23:30,039
defensive difference maker on the team that
we don't know about. There are limitations

379
00:23:30,039 --> 00:23:33,079
to what Bruce Brown can do when
you look at his size. There are

380
00:23:33,079 --> 00:23:36,759
gonna be limitations in certain matchups what
Aaron E. Smith can do. And

381
00:23:36,799 --> 00:23:40,039
so just after that, it gets
a little bit difficult to bank on internal

382
00:23:40,079 --> 00:23:45,519
defensive improvement right now. This Pacers
team, they're a very deep team.

383
00:23:45,519 --> 00:23:48,640
It's one of the strengths of Indiana. I mean, the last two nights

384
00:23:48,640 --> 00:23:52,559
they've had seven players score double figures. There's also a couple guys like Jaris

385
00:23:52,559 --> 00:23:55,799
Walker who can't get on the court
right now. Now, if you are

386
00:23:55,920 --> 00:23:59,359
Indiana and you own two first round
picks this year, you own all your

387
00:23:59,400 --> 00:24:02,920
picks moving for you have cap space, do you start to say, I

388
00:24:03,079 --> 00:24:07,480
just don't think we need to bring
another rookie onto this team. It's time

389
00:24:07,559 --> 00:24:11,640
to maybe start to you know,
empty out the treasure chest a bit and

390
00:24:11,680 --> 00:24:15,559
consolidate. Because Jarris Walker, you're
talking about, you know, the eighth

391
00:24:15,599 --> 00:24:19,480
overall pick, technically someone that you
expected to be on the court. Ben

392
00:24:19,519 --> 00:24:22,759
Shephard, another first round pick,
can't really get on the court that much.

393
00:24:22,759 --> 00:24:26,160
A couple of minutes here and there, is this the time to say,

394
00:24:26,200 --> 00:24:29,759
you know what, I think we've
moved past looking to bring on another

395
00:24:29,880 --> 00:24:33,480
rookie. We want to go for
it. I would say absolutely yes.

396
00:24:33,559 --> 00:24:36,839
And it feels like they've hinted at
it, if not outright told us by

397
00:24:36,880 --> 00:24:41,359
one how they're bringing along Jaris Walker
and then even two deciding Okay, I

398
00:24:41,400 --> 00:24:44,920
know this is for in theory,
the benefit of what Benedic Mattherm is doing

399
00:24:44,960 --> 00:24:48,599
when he's going up against opposing offenses
as his defender, and maybe even the

400
00:24:48,680 --> 00:24:51,400
quality of opponents he's facing when he's
on the court, But like the fact

401
00:24:51,400 --> 00:24:53,599
that he's just not starting, it
kind of tells you, like, no,

402
00:24:53,640 --> 00:24:56,799
they're invested. They're invested in the
here and the now more than you

403
00:24:56,880 --> 00:25:00,640
might think. And so I would
agree whether if you agree with that,

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00:25:00,680 --> 00:25:02,559
and I don't know, but the
sentiment you just laid out, it does

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00:25:02,599 --> 00:25:06,039
feel like they're tracking toward Maybe it's
not a decision they make at the deadline,

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00:25:06,039 --> 00:25:08,839
but certainly heading into the offseason that
this summer, by this summer they're

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00:25:08,880 --> 00:25:12,960
going to be done with kind of
weight and see mode. And again even

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00:25:14,000 --> 00:25:15,200
right now, it just seems like
they are done with that because of the

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00:25:15,279 --> 00:25:19,480
roles of Walker, Shepherd and again
even Mathrin. Yeah, it's tough.

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00:25:19,519 --> 00:25:23,400
I mean everybody thought Mathroom would get
the opportunity to just use this year be

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00:25:23,440 --> 00:25:26,519
the starter next to Tyres and it
took what Rick maybe ten games before he

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00:25:26,640 --> 00:25:30,920
made a decision to put Buddy back
in there, so I think that it

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00:25:30,039 --> 00:25:33,759
made sense because he needed to get
more floor spacing out there. With that

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00:25:33,799 --> 00:25:37,119
first unit, there wasn't a lot
of good floor spacing, and I feel

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00:25:37,160 --> 00:25:41,279
like Buddy is more beneficial playing with
Tyrese and not playing with him. So

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00:25:41,640 --> 00:25:44,119
as many minutes as they can get
together and then kind of let Ben run

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00:25:44,160 --> 00:25:45,559
the second unit once again like it
did last year. It does make more

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00:25:45,559 --> 00:25:48,599
sense dynamically with what they're trying to
do. But you bring up a great

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00:25:48,640 --> 00:25:52,720
point talking about it has been that
number two guy. It's kind of hard

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00:25:52,759 --> 00:25:56,799
to see that fit with Tyrese right
now, and maybe it is premature because

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00:25:56,799 --> 00:26:00,519
he is super young, but at
this moment, I think there's looking for

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00:26:00,559 --> 00:26:02,960
the number two and I agree,
I don't really think that he is on

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00:26:03,000 --> 00:26:06,480
the roster. But Dan, we
want to thank you so much for coming

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00:26:06,519 --> 00:26:08,119
on this podcast and joining us talk
about the Pacers. I mean, we

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00:26:08,119 --> 00:26:11,920
don't usually get a lot of national
people coming on talking about Indiana for twenty

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00:26:11,960 --> 00:26:15,559
five to thirty minutes. So you
know your stuff and where people find all

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00:26:15,559 --> 00:26:21,240
of your great work app then come
check me out at Bleach Report Publishing all

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00:26:21,279 --> 00:26:23,359
the time over there and they should
check out the Hardwood Notts podcast. They're

429
00:26:23,400 --> 00:26:27,359
interested in hearing about the NBA at
large. All right, man, we're

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00:26:27,400 --> 00:26:30,880
gonna be follow you out on Twitter. I think of my name at Dan

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00:26:32,240 --> 00:26:37,160
the Valley favam awesome stuff. We
thank you so much for coming on.

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00:26:37,200 --> 00:26:40,680
We'll have to do it again soon
and hopefully the Pacers are boys sent up

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00:26:40,680 --> 00:26:44,720
the first effort, first end season
tournament championship. It's always a pleasure,

434
00:26:44,720 --> 00:26:45,799
guys, Thanks how much for having
me. Thanks a lot, Dan,