If Trey Murphy Becomes Available…Do the Pacers Go All-In? + Zubac vs Turner (Mailbag Pt. 2)

Alex Golden and Mike Facci are back for Part 2 of the September Mailbag, and today's questions center around one big theme: How good can this Indiana Pacers team actually be?

The guys start by discussing what Indiana learned from last season and how those lessons could translate now that Tyrese Haliburton is back. After everything this group experienced without its star point guard, could the adversity ultimately make the Pacers better equipped for another championship run?

Then comes one of the biggest questions of the entire mailbag: What happens if Indiana is rolling at the trade deadline and Trey Murphy III becomes available?

If the Pacers already look like a legitimate championship contender, do you risk disrupting a rotation that's working to add another high-level talent? Alex and Facci discuss the balance between upgrading the roster and protecting chemistry, including the lessons that can be learned from the Danny Granger-Evan Turner trade.

Would Murphy raise Indiana's long-term ceiling enough to justify shaking things up? Or, at some point, is trusting the better team more important than acquiring the better individual player?

From there, the guys dive deep into Ivica Zubac. How different will Indiana look going from Myles Turner's style of play to Big Zu? How will Zubac fit alongside Haliburton? And just how concerned should Pacers fans be about spacing with a traditional center occupying the paint?

The defensive conversation continues with Andrew Nembhard. After Nembhard was left outside Game Theory's Top 25 defenders and honorable mentions, Alex and Facci discuss where they believe he belongs among the NBA's best defenders.

Finally, could this Pacers roster be just as successful playing for a different coach and in a different system? Or is Rick Carlisle's fast-paced style so ingrained in the identity of this group that changing it would fundamentally alter what makes Indiana special?

Championship expectations, trade-deadline dilemmas, Zubac vs. Myles, Nembhard's defense and Rick Carlisle's system—a loaded Part 2 of the September Mailbag!

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