The Courier-Journal (Louisville)
Look no further than playoffs to dissect Pacers’ draft
There aren’t any secrets with where the Indiana Pacers are heading. They’ve made it clear for several years now the kind of players they desire in hopes of advancing in the playoffs for the first time since 2014.
Picking Chris Duarte, who was introduced Friday at the St. Vincent Center, at No. 13 is about the postseason more than the regular season.
Before missing the playoffs last year under Nate Bjorkgren, leading to his firing, the Pacers had been swept in consecutive seasons by the Boston Celtic and Miami Heat. The virtues that served them well in 48- and 45-win regular seasons turned against them when the opponent could game plan for one team and take away players with limitations.
In the closeout game loss to the Celtics, Doug McDermott didn’t play. In Game 3 he only logged five minutes. He’d averaged 17.4 minutes per game entering the series
Thaddeus Young tried desperately
hhto be a spread option from the 4 spot by Game 2 of the series. His struggles with his shot and inability to create off the bounce or use his right hand allowed the Celtics to shrink the floor, crowd the paint and render Domantas Sabonis’ impact inside moot. Sabonis shot 3-for-9, 0-for-1 and 3-for-10 in the first three games.
T.J. McConnell was unplayable by the fourth game vs. Miami, who funneled the drive-and-pullup point guard to the bigs to take away his looks at the rim. He doesn’t shoot 3s. McConnell had averaged better than 18 minutes a game off the bench entering the series.
A universal truth in playoff basketball is if a team has a glaring weakness, it’ll be exploited and attacked until a change is made. The player, however, has to have the tools to adjust. McConnell was given open shots about the foul line. McDermott was overplayed on his right hand. Young had a green light to launch jumpers to his heart’s content. They dared Sabonis to go right.
As GM Chad Buchanan explained about Duarte, getting someone who doesn’t have those liabilities made all the difference.
“The game is a little smaller than it used to be 10 to 12 years ago,” Buchanan said. “Players that have a little positional size and ability to create off the dribble when things break down, our league has become much less about play-calling
hand much more about free-flowing action on the offensive end. You need players that can move the ball, shoot the ball, that can handle, can pass, have a high IQ. Chris checks a lot of those boxes.”
The Phoenix Suns blew a 2-0 lead in the NBA Finals, in part, because they couldn’t find an option to defend Giannis Antetokounmpo outside of DeAndre Ayton. A 5-position talent, Antetokounmpo was too mobile for the center even though he lacked shooting range himself.
When Jeff Teague almost single handedly destroyed the Milwaukee Bucks’ chances at winning as a backup off the bench, logging double-digit minutes in the first four games, he barely played in the last two.
The elite offensive players in the playoffs such as Devin Booker (Phoenix), Khris Middleton (Milwaukee), Bojan Bogdanovic (Utah), LeBron James (Lakers), Paul George and Kawhi Leonard (Clippers), Kevin Durant (Brooklyn) and several others occupy the wings or can handle the ball to run spread pick-androlls. Duarte can do that on the offensive end himself, but he also can defend better against those actions.