Sunday State of the Pacers: The Streak Hits 16 & Zubac Shut Dow

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We are back for yet another episode of the Pacers Post-Up. Ryan, it is the Sunday

state of the Pacers after another winless week. 0 and 3 despite your reverse psychology efforts

from last week, we drop games to the Knicks, to the Blazers, and to the Spurs on Saturday night,

a couple of 136, 127, 134 points outbursts, I'll say, for opposing offenses. It's a consistent theme

that we have continued to see throughout this recent stretch of play, which now extends the

franchise-long losing streak to 16 games. This is a weird week, Ryan, for us to sit here and

try and really recap, because as I'm going through, you know, typically on this episode, you know,

fans, if you guys are tuning in for the first time on our Sunday state, we try to recap the week

that was, we pull out some highs, some lows, player the week, and then start to look ahead.

This last week, Ryan was a tough one to really glean a whole lot of anything. We have some

injury news on Zoo after, you know, it looked like he was going out for the golf ball on his head,

and then, you know, we hear about the rib, and we can touch on that a little bit later.

Saasiyakum returned to the lineup. Some two-way guys, I thought showed some things, I guess,

and aside from a fourth quarter run in that Blazers game, it was a pretty forgetful week

for the blue and gold. And so I know that's a lot. It's kind of our typical intro here, where I

shot gun, and I'll let you pick up something, Ryan. But what did you make of the week that was here,

another 0 and 3 slate? Yeah, it was funny. We didn't talk long before we got on, and I told you,

I didn't know much or much what to talk about this week, because it was really that tough of a week.

And I think we're growing a little bit more accustomed to this coming down in the tank

athon and late in the season. But I did find the staff that I guess kind of shows why this week

was tough, and I was looking back on game by game. And over the last 12 quarters we've had

against the Knicks, Trail Blazers, and Spurs. How many quarters, Brad, do you think we held a team

under 29 points between those three games? So 12 quarters? I'm going to say two.

Yep, two on the dot. So that kind of shows you there were a couple 40 point quarters built in,

and two of the quarters actually came in the second half against that Portland

game where we kind of made a run. And that's, that's a lot of what we're showing right now is,

is we just don't have a lot of consistency, particularly on the defensive end. The lineups are

shifting, zoos and zoos out, siakums and saakums out. Now, hard, we know this story this season.

And it's just creating havoc on the defensive end. A couple 130 plus points games. I think the

Trail Blazers finished with like 127. So even though they were the ones who still had the two

quarters that felt like you had some semblance on the defensive end, they still were able to

eclipse, you know, 125 points. And when you're giving that up on a consistent basis, it's just

going to be tough. It's a tough watch. A couple of these games. I mean, the Knicks Spurs

felt over pretty early. And even the Trail Blazers game felt over. We just did make a run and

albeit, I think that was probably the highlight of the week that you were getting to. We're talking

about some of the guys like Slauson and Peter who had some moments in those games. But this is,

this is just what it's going to be. And we can kind of update everybody on the tankathon standing.

We are now, what are we at, Brad? How many straight losses is this 16 16 in a row? Yeah, 16. So

the stack going around right now that isn't fun, but is true is more losses in a row than wins

on the entire season, which is just tough. I also like to remember we have as many wins on this

season as we did in the playoffs last year in total. So it's, it's just a tough year. And we knew

that we knew that coming in. But these weeks, we got to talk about some of the performances that

were good because if we sat here and just talked about the bad defense and some of the bad

shooting and turnovers and all that, we could be here all day. And I don't think anybody really

wants to listen to that because if you watch the games, you saw the bad. Yeah, there's no doubt

about it. And it was as we've as we've documented here very ugly week. So we'll move on from that

enough of the of the negative because as always on this show, we're going to try to go a little

bit glass half full. And while the overarching storyline from this week around evites azubats will

be Ryan that he's out for the remainder of the season, right? We got that news. I think maybe

that was on Thursday. If my memory serves me Thursday or Friday this week, it's in the aftermath

of the Portland Trailblazers game where he did exit early, albeit not for the injury that he's

going to miss the remainder of the year. So for those that were tuning in on Wednesday night,

he gets kind of an elbow to the forehead from Donovan Klingon, who by the way,

zoo is a massive person. Donovan Klingon may be one of the biggest people I've ever seen in person.

Unbelievable size and had pretty much the game of his career that night. And again,

I don't put a lot of that on zoo. We're still working into the system. And I thought it was

frankly Zubat's probably best game, 18 and 8. But here nor there, Klingon was trying to finish a

lob at the rim and ends up elbowing zoo in the head. Kind of a golf ball size hematoma, if you

will, on the forehead. I believe that's what Hannah called it. And so listen, he exits the game.

You're sitting there thinking, okay, all the early reports were no concussion reported. And so

that was good. And a zoo's kind of pleading his case with the ref on the way out of the building

because he's like, look at my head. Like, how do you not call this? Here nor there. We get the

news of a fractured rib. So I'm not sure. Did we ever get the play, Ryan? Did anybody dial into

the play that it happened? I'm not sure if it went around on the Twitter sphere. I never saw

anything in those. I mean, that was a tough game for him with the whistle, particularly. He was

getting and well said that Klingon is truly physically a beast. And he was getting they were going

at it. And it was fun to watch. So I think it could have happened anywhere. I don't know where it

did exactly. I don't think we ever got a specific play. But it was a physical game. Portland's a

physical team, their size. I mean, you know, and I don't know how much we're going to touch on draft.

I think we got to go there a little bit because we did see some of these, you know, top potential

picks here over the last couple of days in the NCAA tournament. So maybe we'll touch on that

before the end of the episode. But positional size continues to be something that I've pounded

into the ground on this show. And what I mean by positional sizes, the guys that are in their

roles, like Aaron Neesmith is pretty small for a small forward. He's six six, maybe six five,

certainly not pushing six seven. And you look at that Portland lineup and they've got, you know,

Rick Carvile talked about it in the post game. A lot of guys that are six eight six nine,

really across the board. I mean, Drew Holiday at point guard is not a small guy. He's a guy that

frankly is about the same size as Aaron Neesmith. And they're starting to be the one, you know,

not the three. So physical game in Portland. Zoo gets the fractured rib. Okay, listen, at the end

of the day, am I, you know, do I want him to be injured? Absolutely not. I know he's working back

up to speed. There was some valuable, I think run over the last couple of weeks, just getting his

feet used to our, our scheme, our system, you know, calling out, you know, whatever coverage is

on the defensive end, et cetera. But am I, you know, upset that he's going to miss the remainder

of the season? No, because it means we avoid any sort of major injury bugaboo, albeit fractured

ribs is still an injury. But, but not something that is, you know, lower leg, you know, type of

deal. So I guess Ryan, I want to hit the brief pause button because we got zoo for a very short

stint, right? Like this was, you know, in terms of when he returned, I believe that was

Thursday, March 12th against the suns. And he plays his last game against the blazers on Wednesday,

the eight, 18th. So it's a, it's a short stint for zoo. What did you make of the Yvita Zubat's

experience that we got to see briefly here this season?

Largely, it was extremely positive. And he showed pretty much exactly why you wanted to trade

for this guy. I'll be it. I know some of the conditioning and he did look a little slow at times.

But I'll throw some rapid fire things at you that just stood out to me and zoo short time.

And the first one was everyone's fear is, I don't know if we can work with a big who can't shoot.

How's the spacing going to work? How's this going to work? Some of the games we had zoo,

we were getting wide open threes for our best shooters consistently. Kneesmith, Nemhard,

OB, these guys were either getting it from screen assist or hockey assist. And it just comes from

the attention that is drawn into zoo because if he's got somebody in the post or he sets one of

those real screens for regards, he's just getting wide open looks for guys consistently. And so

I love to see that. I think it immediately kind of disproves that that, hey, we can't we can

live with one of these guys on the floor, especially when he gravitate so much into the paint.

The defense is so aware of his presence that other shooters are getting open. I thought the touch

he had around the rim was at as as advertised that push shot the lefty, you know, his footwork

in the paint was really good. Exciting to see the rebounding there as we know he had honestly

his rebounding numbers felt low. There are a lot of times on the offense event,

particular where it felt like he was extending possessions albeit either he got fouled or

they're all got tipped out of bounds. Just things that don't always show up on the stats sheet,

but I thought he looked really well. The screen setting is real as could be. And then defensively,

he was swallowing up plays. I thought one on one against cat. He looked decent. The space thing

is going to be his one thing that's always a little bit hard to work around, especially when he gets

deep in a drop coverage. It's given players a hard time. They got to fight over these screens. They

got to work a little bit harder. But if they can funnel them to zoo in the paint, that's where it

works to your favor. The pick and pop with the bigs on the opposite end of zoo will be a little

bit interesting. There aren't a ton in the east. We really have to focus in on outside of cat,

but it's worth noting. And so I thought his performance was really well. He does have to get into

shape. That'll be a little bit of a learning curve, but we saw him getting a little bit more

as as the run went along with him. So I thought it was a great stretch from him. I don't think he

came out and just like wow, this, you know, out of our socks, but that's kind of how he plays.

And so he looked good. He looked big. He's going to be great for this team. I can't wait to see

what he looks like with Tyrese, especially in this this pick and roll with space between these two.

And really where I think the kind of part of zoo's game that really put him over the edge with

this team is the passing. And we knew he was a good passer, but he's even shown a little bit more

than I expected with this team. And we know will even be a higher level passing team next season.

And so with his ability to read the game, I talked a lot. I don't know what his assist number

finished, but it felt like he was the king of hockey assists where he'd hit a guy flashing to

the paint and then they'd hit it to the corner three or or something along those lines. So

this guy was setting up plays, making an easy for us offensively did some good things defensively.

And I cannot wait along with all the other pace of fans just to see what this full team will look

like when he's anchoring the defensive end. And then really being he's going to be super involved

on how we play our offense. I'll be it. I don't think he'll score, you know, 20 points, but he'll

probably be in that 14 point range. And so it's going to be really fun next year.

Yeah, Ryan, I think the thing that stands out to me and you've, I don't know if you said it

directly, but you've touched on it in a number of different aspects. It's just his basketball IQ,

his feel for the game on both sides of the floor. I think is extremely high level. You talk

about the hockey assists, you talk about the screen setting, you talk about the feel around the

rim, his gravity in the center of the floor and being able to, you know, punish guys around the

basket if need be or make the right pass and continue to keep things moving. He is somebody that

the ball is not sticking, right? And that's so important in our offense. And I think you,

you know, in days of NBA pass, there was guides like zoo biggs in this league that did have a back

to the back or back to the basket. Excuse me, post up game, the ball might have stuck, right? Where

you get it in the post and they bang and they reset and they bang and and it's just, it doesn't

look like that. He's picking and choosing his spots. He's talked about how he doesn't want to come

in and try and do too much. And I don't think we saw any of that. And that's probably why some of

the offensive numbers they didn't wow you. They're not really going to wow you. And that's not why

we made the acquisition. And I think for some Pacers fans who maybe just go and look at the box score

during or after a game and say, oh my god, 11 points like, you know, come on, we just gave what

what do we just give up to get this guy? You got to understand what he was brought in for.

And I think we saw early signs that that he is going to flourish in this system. I think

you mentioned it, getting him alongside Haliburton. Obviously from the screen game, you know, but

but just what his passing ability as a big is going to be able to do. And then defensively,

something I want to touch on. I mean, listen, you know, in some of these early games that he played

and it was a, I'll say, you know, from a, I'm going to come back and try and work myself into

conditioning, right? You to come back and you got to play Mitchell Robinson twice and you've got

a Donovan clinging in there like, you know, these are some physical level high level bigs that,

you know, that have strong motor. So we're seeing him against some of the top of the top from a

competition standpoint. And I thought he held his own. Yeah, it was it perfect. No. But Carlisle

talked about it. I can't remember if it was the, the Blazers game or the Nick's game, but he talked

about how at the point of attack, we were just getting beat too often, meaning our guards and

wings at the perimeter were getting beat. And it was forcing guys, you know, it was forcing those

early rotations. And then I felt like it was just, you know, you mentioned it when, when zoo was

able to kind of match up. I thought he was much better in those scenarios versus in space,

you know, having to rotate and then try to go back and find a Robinson who's crashing.

That's where, you know, getting on the glass is much more difficult. If your point of attack

defense doesn't hold up because now you're in rotation and you're having to go seek out the big

that's crashing. You know, these are just little things that I do think as we round into form and

we get a little bit more continuity. I think we're up to, I heard it the other night. I mean,

I don't know how many starting lineups around. I think it's like, oh, I think it's in the 40s.

We're in, you know, in terms of starting lineup combinations that we've tried it out now.

This season, it's unbelievable how much, you know, how little continuity we have had from a roster,

you know, standpoint and lineup standpoint. But zoo showed a lot of things to be really excited

about. And I just think that that's worth calling out. Now, that being said, let's move on from zoo.

And we've done this every week. This is now our fifth installment here on the Sunday state of

the union. Who is your player of the week? Because this was really hard for me to pull somebody out.

Not everybody played all these games. And not everybody played them well. I'm just curious where

your mind went. Well, you won this battle because I was hoping I would have the chance to pose this

question to you so that I wouldn't have to answer it because I did try to look through this week.

And at best, the name I'm going to give is a winner by default, because there was so much inconsistency.

Yeah, NEMHOR had a great game, but didn't play a lot. Siachan came back. OBE had some flashes. Zoo,

as you mentioned, probably had his best game. But I don't know if I can give the player of a week to a

one and a half game, two game performance. And so I went with Jared's Walker by default in

transparently. Jared's had a good week, at least offensively. We might always we've talked a lot

on the defensive end. It might not even be worth touching on today. But offensively did look

strong. If you look at his stats from last week, nothing that jumps off, but average 16 points,

five and a half rebounds and three assists. He had one really high turnover game against the

NICS. But outside of that kept the turnovers pretty low. So it was a fine week from Jared's,

the shot from deep look good. He's still attacking the rim a bit had some nice finishes.

He had a Lance Stevenson as pass in that spurs game. Or it might have been I think it was the spurs

game. It was either that of the Portland game where he catches it in the air facing one way flips

and throws it to the corner. He's still showing a lot of flashes and while a lot of Pacers fans

should still have a lot of faith. And what this guy can do. But ultimately, I didn't think it was

a particularly strong week from the defensive end from him. We know this. There's still I kind

of blanced over the fact they did a five turn over game. So he really honestly wins this

eye default as I mentioned. But did you have Jaros Brad? Did you have zoo? Who did you have?

Listen, I couldn't go Jaros because of some of the defensive stuff that we that we talked about.

And we did that on our crossover with Alex Golden sending the pace. If you haven't listened to that

episode, go back and check it out because we kind of deep dive on Jaros and what we're seeing on

the defensive end because Ryan, you mentioned the stat line for Jaros, right? 16 points,

five and a half rebounds, three and a half assists on the week. We're seeing him fill it up

offensively. He his shooting splits were atrocious to start the year. He's back up over 40% on the

season overall. And at 37% from deep on four and a half attempts at game. And that's that's with

like I said, a really rocky start to the year, um, shooting the ball. And so he's been north of 40

for several months now. And I that's just a part of the game that I to me, I'm convinced that it's

there, right? He's now three years in a robe and 37% plus. And I anticipate he'll probably finish

this year, you know, somewhere 37 and a half, 38%. If he keeps shooting and how he has these last

couple of weeks. So too much on the defensive end for me to go player the week. I'm going even

more bare bones in terms of time on the floor and what and and and games played, et cetera.

I'm going to go with Jalen Slossom, okay? And the reason I'm going Slossom is really because of what

we saw, you know, particularly in that Blazers game, it was the highest high of the week in terms of,

you know, our actual run where we make the push after being down 22 to close it to three in the

fourth quarter. I thought Slossom was a big part of that. He played 37 minutes that night.

Career high 17.7 rebounds goes two of four from deep had three blocks, couple of steals. I just,

you know, that to me is where my mind goes. And that's on the back of again, not necessarily a

statistically, you know, wowing game, but he had two blocks and three steals in that next game.

And I just think what we're seeing, you know, the activity on the defensive end of the floor,

the positional size that we've talked about, the athleticism. I mean, there's been some breakdowns

on, I think you said it was a K Riley had a video of his, you know, kind of block compilation

just in his short time here in a Pacer's uniform. And when you've got guys on two way deals and

you're looking for, you know, maybe a silver lining amongst a 16 game skid here that we're on.

I thought Slossom showed some things. I thought he looked or did not look, I should say,

out of place on an NBA court. And that's saying something because there are times that you get

these two way guys or, you know, whatever, 10 day guys. I mean, we've seen the hardship contract

guys. You get them out on the floor and you go, okay, I, you know, I just don't see it. It's not,

it's not passing the I test, but Slossom is for me. And he's a guy that I very much hope they,

they keep on a two way deal going into next year. And I would not be surprised if we see him,

you know, get some run early in the season, particularly as Furfie, we know it's going to be out.

And not that they play the same type of game, but listen, they've, they've got some similarities.

So that's where I go. Any thoughts on Slossom, again, I know limited run 22 minutes against the

Knicks. And then I think I said 37 against the Blazers. He can only play eight more games. I

think that's why we didn't see him at San Antonio Saturday. Yeah, I love the pick. And, and this week,

and maybe kind of going into the follow or the previous week, this feels a little bit like the

O-shape reset, uh, bringing up from a two way deal, playing in the G league where reset came in.

And none of the stats necessarily wowed you, but you could kind of tell he's like, this guy fits.

He does some things. He's long. He can kind of play, you know, he was playing the three, four,

even at the time when we really were playing, he was playing the five a lot, had a lot of sides,

could defend. He had a little bit of a better shot, but that's kind of the feeling I get from

this Slossom thing. And, and the coaching stats and really bullish on him, you sent that over to

me about what Rick was saying in the post game about Slossom and, and it really is, he does a lot.

And offensively, he's active. He's a good passer. The shots, kind of the thing that you worry about.

But defensively, I just use the word active. This guy is flying around the, you know, the block

complication. If you haven't seen it is really impressive. He's coming in from week side, from

help side, he's rolling in. He's blocking Yannis. He's blocking Carl Anthony Towns, Devin Booker,

like big names, big plays coming in. Some of these are off the backboard into fast break. Like,

he is super active. Can stay in front of his feet. And I love the Furfie comp that early in the

season. We are putting him on the defensive assignments that Furfie was drawing. And, and that's

impressive. And, and transparently, it's impressive for both guys. I didn't think Furfie necessarily had

that in him. He had the defensive year that I just wasn't on our radar per se and looked fantastic

and was guarding big wings. And Slauson's kind of filled that void of recent. And he's looked pretty

damn good doing it. I know some of these guys have had big games, but asking him to be the primary

defender on Yannis. I, I know was last Sunday, but still I thought he, he did some, some things.

And it's one of those guys where I don't want to harp on this too much, but it's, it's the point

that I'll stick to with Slauson that if you're going to keep him on a two way deal, why I think that

so valuable is if you have somebody on your two way deal where you were in a big moment in the

playoffs and somebody went down, you know, knock on wood, but whatever. And you needed a guy to come

in step up and guard a Kate Cunningham, a Jason Tatum, a Jalen Brown. Like he's a guy that I'm

not saying is going to go be this lockdown, Kawaii, Tony Allen, you know, whatever defender. But

if he's a guy who can hold his own, make some big play still defensively and offensively,

he's worth the flyer. And I'll be it. If that shot falls now and he could become a consistent

outside shooter, even just at that 36, 37% range, he's a good passer. He can handle the ball. Like

this guy, all the sudden becomes a real rotation player at that point. So I think it's well worth the

risk. Ryan, the Tony Allen call out that is that I was not prepared for that, but I absolutely

love it. And I agree with you. I mean, listen, it's short stints. It's a small limited sample size,

but a lot to be encouraged about. Now, we've got to look ahead just a little bit on two real

fronts. I want to talk about the week ahead. We only have 11 games left. So as we talk about the

week ahead, it's really, yeah, we're talking about the weeks ahead to bring this season in for a

landing here over the final couple of weeks. But four games this week at Magic Monday night,

Wednesday, Friday, home slate, Lakers, Clippers, Sunday home against the heat. So one on the road,

three at home. And I'll let you give your prediction on win loss. And granted, that's, you know,

it's almost secondary at this point. I mean, from a tank perspective, we're three and a half games

clear of the fourth spot, two games clear of the third spot, a game clear of the wizards in

seconds. So we're kind of controlling our own destiny here in terms of where this season is

going to go. But we've got four games. I'll let you give the prediction. What I'm more curious

about. And I'll ask you this first, Andrew Nemhard, who we saw in San Antonio on Saturday night.

Siacum, who we saw in San Antonio, Aaron Nismith, who has been playing much better as of late,

getting the shot back, looking to be a little bit more aggressive. He was not great in San Antonio

on Saturday, but he's had a number of offensive outbursts that that I think, you know, kind of give

us confidence going into next year. Nemhard, by the way, bodying up, Wembee,

was the highlight of the game for me. Okay, Weminyama, still a freak, still did what he does.

Oh, it wasn't a huge game for him by any means. But Nemhard, getting physical, knocking him around,

is that is exactly what I'm here to see on an O and 16 streak here over the last couple of weeks.

But the question I want to pose is, will we see these, I mean, when do we actually shut them down?

What value is there right now in an Andrew Nemhard, a Pascal Siacum and Aaron Nismith,

these guys whose roles are 100% solidified going into next year? I mean, do we need to see them

anymore? I guess is my thought. Check engine, ABS or maintenance light on, take the guesswork out

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Transparently no, and I don't say that thinking that they're not going to play the rest of the season.

Siaka would be the one that there's a chance. He kind of landed funny in that spurs game.

I wouldn't be surprised if they take it pretty cautionary with him.

Nemhard and Neesmith, if you have to guess, I'm thinking they play half to a third of the games left.

When we get into the last four or five games this season, just strap in Pacer fans.

That's, I mean, they're going to be resting everybody. I could see this week kind of being the last

week we throw those guys out there a little bit. Just the thinking is, you've got the Lakers,

always gets a little something. You've got the Clippers, the Benedict Mathering game.

I'd love to see Nemhard and Neesmith get a chance to go out there and guard him just to see,

because you know, Mathering's going to come in here and want to light it up, and we definitely

got to touch on that. So you pose the question before, what do I think, you know, this week we've

got four games. We're on 16 game Looming Street. I got a hope, hope and pray. We do not hit 20.

Because that number feels a little bit different. If you look back in the history books, a 20 game

Looming Street does not sound great. So I'm hopeful this week kind of being one of the last

weeks. Maybe we get to see some of these guys Orlando hit or miss. Maybe we get up for

Eastern Conference foe, whatever. But LA Lakers fall by LA Clippers Wednesday Friday.

Those two games, I think naturally the stadium gets up for specifically the Lakers LeBron,

Luke Reeves. Maybe we see some of our guys. There's a little different energy in the building.

I know there'll be some Laker fans, but that amps up some of the Pacer fans, the Benedict

Mathering game. Oh, I'm saying it's the Benedict Mathering games. He's not going to play, is he?

I think I saw that. He's unlikely to play, isn't he? He's been out. I think they said Monday night,

he's going to miss his fourth straight. It's a toe. And I don't know if it's the same toe that

kept him out earlier this year, but he has missed three in a row going to miss four. So his

status is definitely up in the air for Friday now. Yeah, I remembered that he's on my fantasy

team and the finals right now. So that's why I shouldn't even know that better because I had to

let him go either way. Yeah, that's a little unfortunate. Hold on a minute. The irony that Ben

Mathering is on your fantasy team of all people is unbelievable. I just had to call that out,

but continue. Yeah, it had to be done. That's why we're in the finals here. I can chase the

stat hunters, even if though I don't think they're super efficient on it, it shows up in the fantasy

scoreboard, but neither here nor there. That will be a shame. I hope we can find a way. I hope he

plays and as close to 100% as he can be because that's a fun story going into the season. Although

the only thing I could say that would rewrite that a little bit is we've kind of had obviously,

so we've already played the Clippers with Matt. We we saw a little bit. I do think if we wanted

the full Benedict Mathering coming back to Indy that whatever, we'll see if they I assume the

probably do some sort of a small tribute for him. It would be fun if that was next year fully healthy.

You got Zubats. You got Nemhard Me Smith. You got the Tyrese. It's Mathering. It's Kauai. We'll see

who knows what their team will look like. So I don't even want to start going into that. But whatever,

you get the point. That would be fun. But it would also be fun to give us a little something to

look forward to this week. No doubt about it. But if you do take a step back, I think that's a great

call out. Bigger picture, probably a lot more of a meaningful return to Gainbridge Fieldhouse

if it happens next season. Because who knows who's on the floor for us? You know, we're not in any

sort of meaningful basketball conversation right now. So I do think it might be a little bit more

entertaining if it if it happened next week. But if you're looking for story lines this week and

things to get excited about, if that does happen and he, you know, does return from the toe,

certainly. And I think Ryan, listen, for good years, there was no bad blood in terms of his departure

here. Obviously, you know, from a scoring perspective, we have seen him fill it up in LA and,

you know, you go on Twitter and it's a house divided in terms of what he is worth. Do they want

to pay him 20 million? Do they not? You know, it's going to be fascinating really to see what his

market ends up being. Does he have to take the qualifying offer? All of those things will be very

interesting as we go into the off season. But we'll see if he plays on Friday night. I got to

pose one last thing as we wrap this up and bring in the Sunday state, you know, here for a landing.

You and I have been very open from the beginning of this show, Ryan, that we are not college basketball

junkies, right? This is not our forte. We love NBA basketball. We are diehard Pacers fans have

been our whole life. But there is one exception, March Madness, we tune in. And certainly this year,

there was a greater incentive to tune in because if we get a top four pick, you're seeing a lot of

these guys over this first weekend. Now, Darren Peterson and Kansas Fall yesterday to St. John's

on a last second shot. DeBonza, despite his best effort, falls in the first game. I think it was on

Friday, maybe Thursday or Friday. I can't remember which one. Cameron Booser and Duke, they've got,

you know, a had a first round match up against Sienna, very close game, much closer than I think they

wanted it to be, but they've advanced on here to the sweet 16 Caleb Wilson not playing. Got that

thumb injury or hand injury and then actually as I look down the list from an odds perspective,

Wilson isn't even fourth anymore. It's Darius A Cup Jr. at plus 10,000, but it's really these top three.

And DeBonza has moved into the top overall slot, minus 115, Darren Peterson, a plus 140 on

Fandool, Cameron Booser, plus 470 on Fandool. Ryan, if you, if you're a Pacers, you know,

proponent and you're going to get one of these picks, who are you vying for, you know, top slot?

What's best case scenario? How do you see this playing out? If you were going to rank order

these guys, what are your top candidates or top priority players? Yeah, it's a great question.

And I think briefly before answering that, it's worth setting the stage a little bit on the tank

athon, just because I want those who aren't following to know the Pacers are doing tremendous in

that. I think a 16 game losing streak will always put you in position. But right now, if you look

at the bottom three teams, it's Brooklyn 17 wins, Washington 16 wins, we have 15 wins. So we're

two back from the third spot. And the Kings at fourth have 19 wins. So they're four games ahead. So

to fall to fourth, which is really where the odds start decreasing. Again, if we get top three,

it's a 52% chance, no matter where we finished, then 48, then I think it drops into the 30s.

So you really want to be top four, top three, ideally. I think we're not quite there to call it

that we're staying in the top three, but we're damn close. Thanks to the King Kings, surprisingly,

going five and five out of nowhere. But to answer your question, I think there is a clear tier one now.

And I've been a Peterson guy for a long time. I think the flashes are crazy good.

Yet letticism, the shot, the speed, just how he moves on the court. But all this other stuff

is so weird. And debonsa is so damn good and so big that it is debonsa one right now for me.

And I hope we get to have this debate at some point. I'm kind of breaking my rule with a lot of

pacer fans. I talked to who wanted to bait this. I'm kind of like, let's just get to May 10th. And

then no matter where we fall, I'll have an absolute blast debating because I think all these four

guys have a pretty high ceiling and good future ahead of them. But debonsa is phenomenal. And you

said, I think he put up 33 did everything he could to get BYU out of the first round. He's got

size. They were comparing some of the clips that were really similar between him and Tatum.

He's going to fill out six, eight can shoot has potential on the defensive and kind of that wing

position we've been really looking for for so long. So I've got debonsa. I don't want to say

totally head over heels one, but pretty clearly in that spot, unless you could talk to Peterson

and he had all these reasons of why there's these weird non hustle plays and I'm checking himself

out of games and what's actually going on with this injury stuff. I don't think you can move him

until you have that conversation, even though I do think his skills and natural talent might be

a little bit higher. I'll go to boozer really quickly too, just because boozer does what boozer

does man. He's about as consistent as you get. He's getting 26 and 10. It feels like almost

every night his questions are going to come more on the defensive end in my opinion. But I think

the offense clearly looks there and there was a report out there. Maybe if you remember Brad,

you're better. I forget who said it that we potentially want to take him one. I think that's

a little ridiculous and probably just smoke on the mirror of how these teams and agents pose

questions. I do think knowing India front office, they would love boozer. He does feel like they're

kind of type of player, but I don't think that means necessarily you're taking him one. And if you

are, Alex couldn't point it out, you move back and let somebody else come and take Devonsa and

you can get him two or three, but Wilson's the guy who maybe right now we're not going to get a

chance to talk about, but still, I mean, I would have, and this is why I want to be able to have

this debate later on. I would have real thinkings if we had the third pick and it was between boozer

and Wilson. Wilson's upside specifically defensively included is so high that I'd have to at least

consider it. If not, I'm probably already leading that way a little bit. So I love all these guys.

Most of them showed pretty well outside of this weird Peterson nonsense. And I know you watched

that game last night. I did not. So maybe I'll let you touch on it. But where are you at any

differences? No, I listen, it's Devonsa for me. And I don't want to say it's not close because

all along, you need to get a top four pick, right? And if we end up in the fourth slot and we get

a Caleb Wilson or whoever, I mean, you want to get one of these guys. So it's, I don't want to put

all my eggs in one basket. But if we were to get the top overall pick, I just think it's clearly

Devonsa. For all the reasons you mentioned, the size, the athleticism, the playmaking ability,

yeah, I shot creation is probably a better way of putting. I don't necessarily mean facilitation

from a playmaking perspective, although I don't think it's not something he could do.

I'm still, Ryan, I watched Peterson yesterday against St. John's, okay? And while he did have some,

you know, good shots. And he was a part of the run that got them back in the game. I thought

there was too much disengagement. I thought there were too many head scratching things defensively.

If you look at the last play, just in particular, I watched it a number of times where

it's the St. John's guard that gets the ball at the top of the key. It's a straight line drive.

Peterson is the low man kind of in the corner. Never even gets his head around to the ball to come,

you know, slide over and try and provide any help. Ends up being a straight line drive layup.

Peterson's kind of got his head turned. And I just, I think there's some motor effort,

engagement things. And maybe it's just because he is so locked in on, you know, where he's going

to be next year in this, that and the other. But it's, there's too many character question marks.

And characters probably are the wrong word. Just like too many personality. What's going on?

And why is he doing this in games? Like, I just don't want any of that for this team.

The boozer thing, I'm probably lower on boozer than a lot of people. I, I continue to watch him play

against teams like Sienna or whoever. And I just sit here and I think, okay, he's dominating,

he's physically clearly bigger than everybody else. The athletic piece, like, where do you put him

on defense? Is he big enough to guard fives? Like, are you going to put him on a Donovan clinging?

Probably not. But are you going to put him on an obvious or a Jeremy Grant? Like, does he have

the foot speed? And I'm just pulling the blazers because that's a team we saw this week, right?

So those things do concern me a little bit, although obviously the skill is certainly there.

High level basketball IQ can do a lot of things. The shot's been there this year at Duke,

the facilitation. I mean, obviously, he's got a, he's got a lot of good that you like. But

I do think DeBonza, and we're not going to see Peterson or DeBonza again. Both teams out. I

do think they've kind of separated themselves from an athletic perspective. Caleb Wilson's a

little bit more of a dice roll. And then, and then, frankly, Ryan, it's, it's, there's a lot

up in the air. I mean, I've seen Darius A. Cup Jr. I mentioned he's popped into the top four.

I'm not sure he's really a fit. Kingston Fleming's, you know, Keaton Wagler. I don't think these are

guys that the Pacers would next necessary look for just because our guard room is sort of, you know,

already tapped out, if you will. But a native meant we got to see him. Tennessee moves on to the sweet

16. I think he's a little bit more raw. But a guy that that certainly, you know, a bigger wing

can shoot from the outside. Had a really nice block in that Virginia game yesterday. So

I don't know, Ryan. It's, it's tough. I'm with you. I think the, I think the smart move right now

is to just continue to see where this thing goes and wait until May 10th. And if we get a,

if we get a top four pick, then the conversation fires up really quick. But we've got it, you know,

it's, it's essentially a coin flip right now. And it's, you, you spelled it out. We're probably

going to be in that top four. So it's going to be somewhere between 48 and 52%. Barring a

wild change, of course, here from what we've seen over the last 16 games. We haven't won since

before the All-Star break, which feels like, you know, a lifetime ago. So, Ryan, we haven't done

delusional in a while. And I know we got to wrap this show up. We're getting a little bit long.

Did you see the Miles Turner stuff over the weekend? I saw the, I didn't see if there was an

actual video, but I saw the quotes of him saying again that he was going after the front office

or something. And that the Indiana fans took it the wrong way. And they shouldn't have booed him

on all this. I'll let you comment in case you know more. But if that's true, and he was commenting

that the Pacer fans overreacted to what he said, I would encourage you, Miles Turner, go back and

look at what you said, because it sure as hell felt like a shot against us. And even if it wasn't

Miles, we've known you so well. You think about what you say, the media. We saw you close the book.

I mean, you were a premeditated guy on these things and had plenty of time to think about what

you said. And you said it, you got to stick with it. He's trying to almost, you know, it's funny.

I just thought he's trying to kind of pull his yawness right now where he's trying to still be

the good guy or also playing the villain role. Like, I don't really get what it's going. Maybe they've

had some media conversations on how they like to handle things. I'll be it. I think it's very

poorly. And so Miles, you can keep trying to backtrack or retract or do whatever you want.

You've said what you said, I always love you. That goes without saying you've led us to a

finals, not let us, but was a big piece on a finals run. With that said, shut your mouth. You're a

Milwaukee. It's going to be a dumpster fire. Enjoy your money. I don't know what your situation's

going to be. Yeah, I don't have much to add to it because you encapsulated it right there.

On Friday, the podcast is called The Dog Talk. And I'm not sure exactly what that's all about.

Here nor there. You said it. He closed the book and attempted to premeditate his visual

illustration of closing the book that night at Cambridge Field House. We were all in the building.

And all he's done since then is reopened the book. And I think that's where the delusion for

me comes in. On the show, he was talking about why he couldn't inform teammates of what he was

doing and how he was negotiating and all of that. And then went into, you know, back again,

to getting boot and the blood, sweat and tears and all this stuff. And my point in all of this is

miles you did it to yourself. Like this was you controlled this. You wanted to stick it to the

front office. You wanted to have your shot at free agency to get your big contract to stay

competitive, to go to the greener grass that you, you know, were so often talking about.

And I just want to sit here and say, was it all worth it? Was it worth it burning the bridge

with the guys that you didn't inform, you know, the ties, the Pascal's, the OBS, etc. Those were

the guys he called out in that podcast. Was it worth it to stick it to the front office? Was it

worth it to come back and get boot after you had, you know, said some things, whether they were

in context or out of context, you couldn't keep Indiana out of your mouth after leaving. And so

you were rightfully booted in your return. And I'm with you right. I will always have a special

place in my heart as a fan of Turner's because I did love him for a decade here and defended it,

you know, defended the hell out of him. Frankly, despite many of his shortcomings, rebounding,

post game, etc. When others in the fan base were trying to ship him out of town. And, you know,

ultimately you left to go stay competitive, right? That was the line. You wanted to stay competitive.

That was important. And the bucks are 29 and 41 sitting well outside of the play-in right now.

They're basically seven and a half games out of the play-in picture. So they are going to be

a lottery team this year. His future is more uncertain now than ever with a Yanis decision

looming. The bucks I saw report over the weekend that now the market is kind of softening for

Yanis as the injuries have piled up, not getting any younger. Some of the diva behavior,

I think that we've seen over the last, you know, 12, 18 months with him. What on earth is that

franchise going to do? I have no idea. But I can tell you this. If it was about staying competitive,

it didn't work. And there is absolutely no chance in hell that the Pacers aren't going to be

talked about in a much more competitive light going into next year. I have to wonder when you put

the head on the pillow at night if Miles is sitting there thinking, man, that extra $23 million

a year. It looks nice on paper. It feels nice. I've wanted to be a $100 million guy. Is it really

worth it? Because I think this Pacers team is going to be competing for the next couple of years.

And that bucks team, as you said, is a complete dumpster fire? And frankly, Miles may not even

be in a bucks uniform this time next year, depending upon how the trade fall out with Yanis goes.

And I guess if he does get traded, he'll get paid because he's got a trade kicker. So good for him.

Ryan, we've gone long much longer than I ever thought we possibly could,

considering our prep conversation was about 30 seconds long. Anything else before we wrap up

here on the Sunday state? I'll do a delusion on my part very briefly and to set the stage a little

bit. I was talking about fantasy basketball earlier. Love fantasy football as well. I have,

during the season, will make lineup changes based on certain dreams that I have where guys do

well. And it usually works out. And I had a dream last night that the Pacers got the third overall

pick. It felt real. I'll be it not the first or the second, but I think we'd all take, you know,

anything in the top four. So just putting some good juju out there. Well, listen, Alex Golden wrote a

piece for SI that had the Pacers. We actually landed the number one overall traded back with his

kings. They move up to get Peterson. We moved to the third slot and take the bounces. So maybe that's

maybe that's, you know, maybe you're manifesting something there. We picked up. I think in his

mock, it was a 28 unprotected pick or something like that. So listen, Ryan, anything one through four

is good. That's all I'll continue to say. It means that you're getting a shot at a guy that can come

in and compete right away. That can push some of these other young guys, the geruses, the fur fees,

the shepherds, maybe the slossons, for some playing time in a meaningful role next year. So

Pacers fans, we will be covering all of it. As we said, it is a four game slate this week. Monday

on the road in Orlando, we returned for Lakers, Clippers, Heat. That is Wednesday, Friday,

Sunday. We'll see if we can pick up a win. It would sure be nice, particularly against one of

those L.A. teams, maybe a Miami team. Don't really like any of them. We'll see where things go. We'll

see who plays. Nemhards, Yakum, AA, talked a little bit about that. And then watch out for those

last couple of weeks. I think it's going to be a lot of glee guys, the two way guys, you know,

and back half of the roster guys getting run. We may see, you know, seven or eight available on

those nights with a few of these guys getting shut down. So Pacers fans, appreciate you guys

listening as always, looking.

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