With last night’s 99-76 loss to the Miami Heat, the Indiana Pacers season officially ended.After watching the series, it was clear to me that this current Pacers team just isn’t good enough to win a NBA championship. The roster is good enough to be one of the better teams in the league, but it is not a championship-quality roster, and the Heat proved that in Game 7 by exposing Indiana’s flaws.
If you want to get through the East, you are going to have to beat the Heat, and there is one free agent this offseason who I think can put the Pacers into the category of elite teams in the NBA and make them even better than Miami.
And that man’s name is Chris Paul.
The Pacers' biggest weakness this season was their inability to set up an offense in the half-court. George Hill ran the point for Indiana this year, but he isn’t a real point guard. He’s a very solid player, but not a true PG.
The Pacers don’t have a one-on-one type scorer who can get his own shot off at will. Their best players, Paul George and Roy Hibbert, both need to be fed the ball in certain spots on the court to be effective.
Hibbert needs to catch the ball in around the basket, and as good as George is, he’s better at catch and shooting/catch and ripping to the lane than he is at dribbling around for 10 seconds before making a one-on-one move and attacking.
So who is arguably the best point guard in the league AND is a free agent this summer? CP3.
Recent stories have surfaced saying that Paul is unhappy with the Clippers management after team owner Donald Sterling hinted at the fact that it was Paul’s decision to fire former head coach Vinny Del Negro. If someone doesn’t get along with their boss, they usually leave.
Indiana would be the perfect fit for Paul. Paul is at his best when he has a big man to run pick-and-rolls with, and when he has another scorer on the perimeter to take some of the offensive load off of his shoulders. Hibbert is a very skilled big man who can run the pick-and-roll, and George is a proven perimeter scorer.
It seems like a match made in heaven for both sides. The Pacers would have to make some cap room for this trade to be possible. Right now, the Pacers are currently $8.7 million dollars over the salary cap. But here’s how they could do it.
First off, they would have to let David West walk in free agency. West made $10 million this year, and the Pacers wouldn’t be able to afford him with Paul on the roster. DJ Augustin is set to be a free agent this summer as well, and Indiana would have to let him and his $3.5 million contract walk, too.
Danny Granger has one year and $14 million left on his contract. The fact that he only has one year left makes him much easier to move. If Indiana could find a trade partner that has enough cap room to take Granger and not send equal money back (Phoenix Suns, maybe), then all this would open up about $23 million dollars in cap space next year for the team.
Max contracts in the NBA cost a team about $17.5 million dollars per season, and Chris Paul will without a doubt be looking for max money this offseason. With all this extra cap space open, the Pacers would have enough money to sign the All-Star point guard, forming a “Big 3” in Indiana of Chris Paul, Paul George and Roy Hibbert.
That would be the only real “Big 3” in the NBA that consists of a point guard, a wing scorer, and a post-up big man. Not many teams would be able to match up with that.
With the rest of the money, the Pacers would have to sign a replacement for David West. A few possible replacements could be Carl Landry, Antawn Jamison, Andray Blatche or Elton Brand.
The Pacers starting lineup would then be Chris Paul, Lance Stephenson, Paul George, anyone of the above power forwards and Roy Hibbert with George Hill as their sixth man. Now that’s a championship level squad.
If the Pacers are serious about trying to win an NBA title, they HAVE to find a way to acquire Chris Paul this offseason. He is the answer to all their issues.
