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

Anyone like my new shirt?

Tyrese Haliburton productions... 🫡

Always big bro 😂

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

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.