Sep 26, 2013
Out of all the teams in the NBA, I have to say that the Indiana Pacers enjoyed the best offseason. Now a lot of teams made moves this unmet but every single move the Pacers made, they knocked it out of the park.
The Pacers came one game away from making the NBA Finals so they weren’t that bad off to begin with. A lot of contending teams stood put because of the success they enjoyed but the Pacers took a different route to address their weaknesses.
One of the Pacers biggest weaknesses was their bench, only the Portland TrailBlazers bench was worse, and the Blazers were pure garbage. Instead of entertaining the epic fail that DJ Augustine was, the Pacers signed CJ Watson to back up George Hill at the point. Watson can score and is considered a top tier backup point guard.
Now instead of continuing to pay Tyler Hansborough, the team let him walk. They signed Chris Copeland to replace him, and gave him a pretty decent payday that the Knicks couldn’t give. Copeland will bring more scoring to the table and that’s a plus. Last season they signed Gerald Green to play that role but that didn’t work out to well, and traded him to Phoenix for Luis Scola. Scola gives the Pacers a less scary and defensive version of David West to back up David West at the power forward spot.
Speaking of West, Indiana resigned him for 3 more years. West really stepped up in the absence of Danny Granger, and got a nice payday to prove it. Now this gives the Pacers a really solid front court with Roy Hibbert in the middle. Speaking of Hibbert he got bigger and stronger and worked out with Tim Duncan, enough said.
Going back to Danny Granger though, you know the leader for the Pacers the last few years, yeah he’s back. The only problem with him coming back is it will move either him or Lance Stephenson to the bench.
Lance Stephenson was another player who stepped up in Grangers absence. He was the perfect fit to the team as he brought some offense and always showed his ass on defense. At the begging of the season he was at the end of the bench, by the end he was starting. It’s a shame that either him or Granger will be coming off the bench.
Now everything I’ve already states is big but it doesn’t even compare to the biggest move of the Pacers off season: giving Paul George a max contract.
Paul George is the man, this guy can pretty much do it all on the basketball court. He shoot, he’s an athletic freak and he can defend with the best of them. This has to be considered a great overall season for George. First he took over as the leader for the Pacers, then made the all-star team. Next he won Most Improved player. Then the playoffs happened.
First he shut down Josh Smith and the Hawks. Then he beat Carmelo Anthony at his own game, and led the Pacers past the New York Knicks in convincing fashion. He brought the house down against Miami countless times and came one win away from dethroning King James. The only thing Paul George didn’t do is shut down LeBron James, he just guarded him well.
The Indiana Pacers did work last season and are now poised for a championship fun. Out of everybody else this team had the best damn offseason.
Everick Davis Jr.
Was good though, it's me Everick Davis Jr. Born and raised in Portsmouth Virginia, I'm currently a senior at the University of North Carolina Greensboro. I watch every sport (not so much golf) but I am huge on the NBA. My favorite players right now are J.R. Smith, Russell Westbrook & Nick Young. Drinking beer and watching sports is my favorite past time and I do it year round! I used to play basketball on the regular until everyone else kept growing and I still stood at 5'6. So that's when I channeled my efforts into becoming the next Stephen A Smith or anything close to that. I currently write for "The Carolinian" newspaper in Greensboro, NC and intern for http://theurbantwist.com/ Random Fact about me, I love anime, my favorite one is One Piece! Second random fact, I got beatz! check me out http://www.reverbnation.com/ielabs
