The Pacer Outlook After the Pascal Siakam Trade
The Pacers have finally found their second star. Last week, the Indiana Pacers traded Bruce Brown, Jordan Nwora, and three first-round draft picks to acquire forward Pascal Siakam from the Toronto Raptors. Since this trade, Indiana has only had Pascal Siakam and Tyrese Haliburton play in just one game together. This is largely in part with Haliburton dealing with an injury. There may still be a small sample size but enough to get a glimpse of the type of play the fans should expect for the rest of the season.
The first game played with both Siakam and Haliburton ended in a loss to the Portland Trail Blazers. Some say that this is a bad loss to one of the worst teams in the league, but fans should understand that this is a new team trying to figure out a way to play with each other. As Pacer fans may already know, the Pacers love using the double-screen usage with Haliburton handling the ball and Myles Turner and Buddy Hield setting screens. This play is still used often and still works as one of the hardest plays to cover in the league.
What intrigues me is if the Pacers will switch this up with Siakam on the team. They could switch the roller who is mainly Turner with Siakam. This can create a better attack at the rim because of Siakam's ability to finish. Also, with Siakam attacking the rim, he can draw double teams and has shown how he's a willing passer and a good passer in tough defense too. This creates a huge advantage for the Pacers with Haliburton on the floor because of how well he shoots the three-ball. Strong drives and kicks are so beneficial for this team because they have many great shooters.
Transition has been a focal point with the style the Pacers play, which is one of the fastest in the league. Siakam should adjust nicely to this offense because of his style of play while with the Toronto Raptors. This scheme in Toronto has helped develop Siakam into a faster pace and will further help him with the Pacers. As seen in the game against the Trail Blazers, Siakam showed how he can help take the Pacers transition game to another level with his improved passing and how well he finishes at the rim. On the defensive end, the Pacers have been worrisome before this trade but have kept a good record by purely outscoring teams.
Going up against the Trail Blazers put the Pacers to the test with Siakam trying to help with the Pacer's defense. Siakam had the assignment to cover Jerami Grant who has had a good season. Siakam showed promise to help this team defensively. This game wasn't a good showcase for their defense. Being on a new team means that you must learn a new defensive scheme such as when to come at the level against screens, switch, and play drop coverage. The primary defender before Siakam got to the Pacers was Bruce Brown. Bruce Brown was a good defender but was very limited on the players he could guard. Which had a role in this team having a bad defense. Siakam has no limitations on who he can guard because of his length.
My slight concern for this team is the minute rotations. For a portion of the Trail Blazers game, head coach Rick Carlisle had a rotation that didn't include either Haliburton or Siakam. Without either one of these players on the court, it can draw a lack of offense from this group from time to time. Although the head coach could be doing this for youth development. Bennedict Mathurin has emerged as a key young player for this team and giving him time on the court as “the guy” can make him become a better player down the line by allowing him to make mistakes on his own. However, this minute rotation shows the amount of trust this team has in Mathurin and they are trying to put him in the best position possible to become a better player.
Prediction: Second-round playoff loss, I believe this team won’t make it past the second round mainly because of their lack of defense. This team isn’t at that championship level yet, but the future is bright for the Pacers.
