Editor's Note: Pacers reportedly signed former Cleveland Cavaliers guard CJ Miles to a four-year contract on Wednesday.
There has already been so much speculation and rumours floating about as to where the top tiered free agents could be headed. We have all heard that Carmelo Anthony could bolt New York potentially landing in Chicago or Houston. Luol Deng is being coveted by a number of teams, but he seems to be out for the long term deal which maximizes his future earnings. Kyle Lowry is also an enticing option for many clubs but his $10 million-plus per year market rate is going to price many teams out of the running and finally we have Pau Gasol who is being wooed by many a club knowing full well that he is going to be resigning somewhere at significantly reduced salary from last season.
The Miami Heat, New York Knicks, Toronto Raptors and Chicago Bulls have all been front and center thus far this offseason as each team is making waves in terms of recruiting free agents to play for their respective clubs. Many a player is recognizing that the Eastern Conference has but a few upper echelon teams and making the playoffs and competing for a title is all that much easier when the competition to get there is remarkably less.
With three of the four top seeded teams in the East actively trying to improve their rosters as well as the deep-pocketed Knicks, it all begs the question; What is the reigning Eastern Conference champion Indiana Pacers doing to keep up?
The Pacers have been very quiet thus far, aside from making a recruiting pitch to Lance Stephenson in order to keep the quirky combo guard that is. I recognize that the Pacers are in a bit of a salary cap bind as they already have $65.8 million committed to ten players which excludes Stephenson.
Two big problems here for the Pacers, one is that they are precariously close to exceeding the salary cap already with only ten players under contract and two, they can’t bank on Stephenson pushing this team through to the finals on his own. The three runner-ups to Indiana this season are being aggressive in luring new talent via free agency and through the draft. Indiana took no picks in the draft and they have been linked to no free agents thus far.
This does not bode well for the Pacers as they are losing ground quickly in the Eastern Conference. They do still have Paul George and David West but neither is capable of carrying a team on their own and together they just aren’t enough to overpower the likes of the ‘big three’ in Miami. Roy Hibbert is a bit of a wildcard here but given his past performances he is unable to sustain a high enough level of play to be a consistent difference maker.
This is an Indiana squad that pushed the eventual champion Miami Heat to a seven game conference finals thriller in 2013 and then made a repeat showing in the conference finals again this year before losing to the Heat again this time in six games. The Pacers are close to claiming the conference title and making a finals appearance but they continue to miss that elusive piece that will take them over the top.
Perhaps Larry Bird and the rest of the Pacers management group see the writing on the wall and recognize that these last two seasons were their best chance to make something happen. It really was a two horse race all season between Indiana and Miami as to who would be representing the East in the finals. Indiana was going to be the favorite, that is before a late season swoon that exposed some serious oncourt deficiencies; but nonetheless they finished strong and managed to procure home court advantage. Unfortunately it all came to an end as Miami overcame and moved on.
The Pacers did just make a couple minor acquisitions as they acquired Croatian forward Damjan Rudez who is a 6'10" stretch-four who can flat out shoot, at least at the international level. The Pacers also acquired C.J. Miles who was a free agent. Miles last stop was in Cleveland where he was unremarkable at the best of times, yet the Pacers committed $18 million over the next four years to him.
These two acquisitions might mean that the Pacers will have to release Luis Scola in order to up their offer to Stephenson. So far the Pacers have offered the versatile Stephenson a five-year $44 million deal. Most folks would agree that this is below market value for Stephenson and to no ones surprise he is now shopping his services around the league. The Pacers are not going to fill Stephenson's shoes with Miles and if they can't retain Stephenson then it will be tough slugging next season.
The only way that the Pacers can get better this offseason is to shake things up and that shake up needs to start and end with Roy Hibbert. Simply but, he must be moved in a trade in order to free up some salary and allow the Pacers brass a chance to lure a free agent like Deng. Problem is that Hibbert is owed a considerable amount of money for next season and he could opt out of his player option the following season.
There are few teams who would be willing to offer much in the way of returning talent to Indiana for Hibbert but potentially draft picks, a role player and a massive trade exemption might be enough to entice Larry Bird into making a deal. The Los Angeles Lakers had a nice chip in Pau Gasol but that opportunity has faded given his unrestricted free agent status now.
Indiana would be smart to move Hibbert here, get his salary off the books and try and chase down a Deng or perhaps make an aggressive offer for Greg Monroe or go after Spencer Hawes with a reasonable offer with some guaranteed money. There are serviceable big men out there that can give what Hibbert provides yet they come at a fraction of the cost. Plus a $15 million dollar trade exception could come in handy should someone become expendable from a non-playoff team.
Whatever it is that the Pacers decide to do here, one thing is for certain they must do something significant. They are losing ground to both the Bulls and the Heat in the East and without a significant roster shakeup the Indiana Pacers will have seen their window of opportunity close.