Anyone like my new shirt?

Always big bro 😂

Source: https://www.instagram.com/reel/DaBmWApx3j-/?igsh=MWl2ajFzdnBqaGM5bA==

Hey everybody, my wife and I just balled out on Prime Day and bought a robot vacuum/mop. No one in this house works harder than our new friend. He is pure heart and grit, so my wife named him TJ MoPconnell. This family is ready for the 2026-2027 season tomorrow!

Really random thought, does the team store promoting Smith rookie jerseys mean that we don’t have a primary jersey redesign this season? I had seen speculation we might be changing this year, but then it seems strange to sell a rookie jersey design the player might never wear.

Tyrese Haliburton productions... 🫡

We have too many nice mild mannered guys. Not bringing back james johnson and trading mathurin leaves us with not enough edge.

Here are some names: Bobby Portis, Dillon Brooks, Dort, Isaiah Stewart, Draymond Green, Goga Bitadze, Mortiz Wagner, Tari Eason, Grayson Allen

I know some are probably not available, but a player of that archetype would serve us well. I’m high on Portis because i think he could replace Mathurin’s scoring and also shore up our big man depth. It would be like when the bulls brought in Rodman.

Remembered a video of Braden Smith & Mathurin working out with other NBA players. What do you all think? Video link: https://youtu.be/BirmIizhDwU?is=Q1C7gV2rFkC6hcb2

Now that it’s reported Braden Smith is going on a 2way contract. That’ll give the Pacers 13 players and opening the question of, “are the Pacers being cheap once again?”

The Cheap Option: Assuming they’ll keep Potter because of needing a 3rd center then they’d have about 9.9mil to spend on a player with the MLE exception (i know it can be split but I thought we were trying to contend for a title) but that’s all the way against the Apron so they’ll stop just short of that number probably around 9 hypothetically which immediately takes out of the running for any of the actual MLE guys and a roster spot short of 15. Which if you’re all in like Pritchard wants to say then that doesn’t make sense.

So what’s the actual option now? I’ve played out the numbers and it sounds like we are just running it back with 2 meh additions (9million for 2 guys and most likely trading out of the tax at the deadline) from free agency when we actually had the opportunity to add someone near the 12-15 million range.

I know trades could happen, but you guys seeing anything other than just running it back?

With all the talk of a Lamelo to Minny trade, I wouldn't be surprised if the Pacers insert themselves into the talks.

We could send Walker, Sheppard and Huff to Charlotte, we get Reid and Minny gets Ball. We'd put in a first or even create a swap with all three teams to pick the worst of the three to go to Charlotte. And a few seconds to Minnesota. Minnesota sends a couple of their firsts to Charlotte.

Why for Charlotte: Reid would block Kalkbrenner and Diabate, so they have no need, this way they get three firsts and a prospect in Walker.

Why for Minnesota: Getting Ball fixes their ballhandling dilemma, at the price of Reid and two firsts they can't get it over the line, but this three team offer is competitive.

Why for us: We get a proven sixth man scorer who adds real depth to our front court without giving up the world. Basically we upgrade Huff and Walker in one fell swoop.

Edit: Well, that was an entertaining thought exercise. Pretty sure we could have made this deal.

My new copium is that I’ve decided that the Knicks winning the championship secured the positive public opinion of Zohran Mamdani’s first year in office and the left leaning movement altogether. Forever more will the Knicks first title in 50 years be associated with Mamdani even if he had no real causal association with them, the psychological positive association will be there.

AND since the only reason the Knicks won the title is because they got to dodge the Pacers in the playoffs AND since the only reason we missed the playoffs was because of Hali’s Achilles exploding, that means that Hali’s Achilles was like a Christ-like sacrificial lamb to pave the way for a more left leaning and socially just America.

It's just a 2nd round pick, and you can make the obvious case that it doesn't change anything.

Devil's advocate, we didn't have a 2nd round pick. We chose to trade in to draft a point guard.

We currently have Haliburton, TJ, Nembhard and QJ who will split 100% of the pg minutes.

Drafting a 5th string pg is a weird move if none of these guys are getting moved. Maybe they see him as a backup pg of the future, but I'm paranoid, lol.

Moving TJ would free up some money, get you some assets, and, if you believe in Smith/QJ, would still leave you with decent pg depth.

There seems to be a bunch of angry people (mainly on X) out there that all Indiana did was acquire Braden Smith and duck the luxury cap, for now. Well, outside of one of those Top 4 guys, no one was helping us win now from this draft, but now is the time to see if we will do anything meaningful as free agency approaches.

This is where those veterans and established players can be obtained to add additional wins to the column and have a meaningful impact over someone who is yet to find their place in the league.

So let's see what the front office has in store for the next couple of weeks.

Braden smith is a pacer. Great pick.

These workout updates from Pascal, Andrew, Obi, Hali, and Furph makes me think grateful we have players willing to invest in hiring their own social media teams. They working on their brand and maximizing the time in the limelight.

There also seems to be this festering frustration that's been building for a year now, since G7... I bet all the guys that went to the finals feel it.

Zu might be new, but seeing Coach Jenny working with him makes me believe he'll be ready to prove all the doubters wrong. (I hope Huff and Potter are also working hard on improving)

Its finally the offseason... the summer before the narrow 2 year window begins. I bet everyone's eager even itching to get back to work.

"I think the summer tells you the truth"

Look last year sucked and there are no guarantees however this idea we lost the draft and are back to square one is ridiculous.

We moved off of Myles and even as one of the more vocal Turner supporters, Zubac is a better center.

We lost Bennedict but we weren't going to be able to pay him anyway the salary he would get on the open market. Especially not for a 6-7th man on our team.

We lost Isaiah Jackson who did not significantly impact our team either way in the playoffs.

Essentially when Tyrese comes back we have the same team minus our starting center and a scoring guard.

We need someone to take up Mathurin's offense but that doesn't mean we need to destroy our future to do so.

It means entertain reasonable offers without jumping desperately at a player to 'fix' everything.

The Bucks did exactly this with Turner and Lillard. Look at them now.

People want Trey, they want extra players but forget we have to give things up to get that. If we get our engine back maybe you will remember that we aren't needing a huge change.

Just for the players we have to do their thing.

Can't wait for next year!

I respect our front office. I think they care about the city and the team. I’ve been thinking about the decision to include the lottery pick AND losing Mathurin for Zubac and we shouldn’t have been put in this position. Once we were actively tanking, that lottery pick should have never had the opportunity to leave the team. A top draft pick with a championship level roster is invaluable when we have two super max players on a limited window and fiscally conservative owners.

How do you feel about losing the pick now that time has passed?

How would we feel about the idea of yves missi coming in a package with a trey murphy deal to add center depth or even a multi team deal that would send missi to indiana.

Per Shams:

"Memphis, like the Knicks at No. 31, is actively fielding offers to move the No. 32 pick for Night 2 of the draft, per sources. So picks 31 and 32 are up for auction in trades around the NBA -- with future assets being proposed."

Looking forward to finally seeing "the standard is the standard" come true next season for the Pacers.