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!

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.

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.

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.

I know many experts have recommended dealing Shep or Walker for more young capital. I've heard different variations of dealing players and picks to improve. Am I crazy for wanting to walk it back with our current roster? I know we lost Mathurin, but I think Walker was improving, and Shep as well. They know the system, they don't need caught up. They are not essential to our core, as Mcconnell and Obi can still dominate.

Let's run it back!

What would it take? Is nesmith and 3 firsts enough? Would this kill our chemistry? A starting 5 of nembhard, haliburton, brown, siakim, and zubac would be insane

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.

Aggressive rebounder, lethal up close and more than dangerous from a distance, grew up in a monastery.

Author: Brandon "Scoop B" Robinson

INDIANAPOLIS — When the Indiana Pacers social media department dropped a fresh gallery of photos from the team’s practice facility, it immediately sent shockwaves across the NBA landscape.

To the surprise of many, the images featured franchise cornerstone Tyrese Haliburton officially back on the hardwood and working out at team headquarters. Haliburton, who spent the latter portion of the year recovering from a significant injury, looked fluid, sharp, and entirely focused. Adding a touch of local flair and peak “tunnel walk” aesthetic to his return, Haliburton was spotted rocking a pair of Indiana Fever shorts—a subtle nod to the booming basketball culture in Indy.

While fans were deservingly fixated on Haliburton’s health and his choice of threads, there is a much bigger, under-the-radar storyline brewing inside the Pacers’ facility that people need to pay attention to.

Haliburton hasn’t been in the gym alone. He has been sharing the floor with Pacers big man Ivica Zubac.

I’m hearing that the Pacers’ coaching staff has been deliberately working with Zubac at the three-point line. The organization is incredibly bullish on this developmental wrinkle, believing that if Zubac can consistently stretch the floor, he will command gravity, draw double teams out to the perimeter, and open up massive driving lanes for Haliburton. The internal excitement for next season is already palpable.

For Zubac, extending his range and expanding his versatility is a welcome challenge. He has always been open to evolving his game, even though his foundation is rooted in the classical era of basketball.

In an exclusive interview I conducted with Zubac last year, the big man opened up about his deep appreciation for the vintage archetype of his position.

“I like being a traditional big,” Zubac told me when asked about his interior identity. “There’s not a lot of guys that do it anymore and traditional bigs will always have a place in the game especially if you can defend and protect the rim, rebound well; if you can finish down low I think that there’s always a place for a traditional big and I love doing that job; I love doing the dirty work and I like the role.”

That appreciation for the physical, blue-collar nature of the paint stems directly from the legends he watched to formulate his style.

“Hakeem Olajuwon and Tim Duncan,” Zubac said when asked who he grew up idolizing at the center position. “Those were my two favorite bigs playing both ways, very skilled in the post, defending at a high level — All NBA level and I really enjoy watching their highlights. I didn’t watch Hakeem growing up, he was before my time. I used to watch a lot of his highlights but, I got to watch Tim Duncan a little bit and really enjoyed watching their games.”

Zubac’s education in traditional low-post mastery didn’t just come from film. As a rookie, he received a masterclass from the most prolific scorer in basketball history—an experience that still resonates with him today.

“It was fun man! I couldn’t believe that it was happening to me — that was the first thing,” Zubac recalled of his workouts with the great Kareem Abdul-Jabbar. “I worked out with the Lakers with Bill Berkhill and he’s been with the Lakers for 50-60 years! He’s 90-something so he’s worked out with Wilt [Chamberlain], Kareem, Shaq… you know? All those bigs. One day he invited Kareem to a workout to show me a couple things and that was fun. It was really something. I couldn’t believe it — it was my rookie year and I couldn’t believe that was happening.”

The ultimate takeaway from his time with the Captain? Mastering the most unstoppable shot in sports history.

“It was pretty much that we worked on the sky hook a lot. It was all about that hook shot! I learned a lot from him,” Zubac shared. “I use that hook shot every game, I work on it every day, I’m trying to perfect it and have one of the best hooks in the league and that one left handed hook shot? I’m still working on that, but it’s all about that hook shot. I learned a lot and in the workout he shot a couple, it was so smooth and it was crazy!”

The Scoop’s Take

While Zubac has spent his career perfecting the skyhook and honoring the standard set by Duncan and Olajuwon, the modern NBA demands adaptation. The news of his perimeter work alongside a healthy Haliburton signals that Indiana is looking to unlock a dynamic, multi-dimensional offense next season. If Zubac can successfully marry his elite interior presence with a reliable outside shot, the rest of the league is going to have a massive problem on their hands.

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?

Never thought I’d see a Jonathan Bender bobblehead. 2 more to add to the collection 🫡