2014-15 NBA Season Preview: Indiana Pacers

Welcome to theScore's preview of the 2014-15 Indiana Pacers. Visit our preseason hub for previews of all 30 NBA teams.

Indiana Pacers

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2013-14

The 2013-14 Pacers had one of the great Jekyll-and-Hyde seasons in recent memory, and while they ultimately made their second consecutive Eastern Conference final, the disconnect between their early-season promise and late-season dysfunction made the whole campaign a mystifying mess.  

On March 2, the Pacers rocked a 46-13 record, the best in the Association. Their defense looked flat-out impenetrable, rating 3.4 points per-100 possessions stingier than any other team, according to NBA.com. They had the league's highest point differential and second-highest rebound rate. Their offense held steady at 18th - no juggernaut, but certainly not leaden enough to pull down the ship. 

We may never know why, but everything went south after that. Maybe they peaked too early. Maybe they were never as good as they initially looked. Whatever the case, they lost as many times in their last 23 games as they had in their first 59. 

Their offense over that stretch was the least productive in the NBA, their defense slipped by nearly nine points, and their rebounding rate fell to 14th. They inexplicably became dramatically worse in every facet of the game. 

The swagger and confidence with which they'd once played was replaced by moping, feuding, finger-pointing and dirty-laundry airing. In an April game against the Atlanta Hawks, they scored a franchise-low 23 first-half points. 

At one point coach Frank Vogel put all five of his starters in street clothes. 

Miami coasted down the stretch and punted the East's top seed, but even at No. 1 the Pacers narrowly avoided a humiliating first-round loss to the eighth-seeded Hawks. They went on to outlast a green Washington Wizards team and then got picked apart by the Heat in a conference-finals rematch.

Whether the season ought to be considered a success probably depends on your perspective. Do you believe how you finish is more important than how you start? If so, it's still complicated.

Offseason Roundup 

Unlike the season itself, the Pacers' ensuing offseason was miserable from start to finish. 

First there was free-agent shooting guard Lance Stephenson snubbing their 5-year, $44-million offer in favor of a shorter deal with the Charlotte Hornets. Then there was the horrific Paul George leg injury we're sure you don't need or want to be reminded of, which will almost certainly cost the superstar swingman the entire 2014-15 season. 

In the span of about two weeks, the Pacers lost their two best wing players - arguably their two best players, period, and undoubtedly their two most dynamic offensive weapons. For a team that was offensively inept to begin with, this doesn't bode well. 

The capped-out Pacers made very few roster moves to compensate. The most notable were the additions of perimeter band-aids C.J. Miles and Rodney Stuckey. Miles brings strong outside shooting to a team that finished 25th in 3-point attempts last season. More than half of Miles's field-goal attempts with the Cleveland Cavaliers in 2013-14 came from beyond the arc, and he knocked down a career-high 39.3 percent of them. Stuckey has limited range, but he can penetrate, finish around the rim and get to the line at a decent rate. Inking him to the veteran's minimum was a win for Indiana. 

That said, Miles is overpaid, Stuckey undersized, and neither comes close to replicating the stifling on-ball defense of Stephenson or George. The Pacers' savviest offseason move might prove to be the under-the-radar signing of Croatian forward Damjan Rudez, a sharpshooting stretch-four who could be a perfect floor-spacing complement to Stuckey on the second unit. 

Additions

SG Rodney Stuckey (1/$1.2M)
G/F C.J. Miles (4/$18M)
*F/C Lavoy Allen (1/$915K)
PF Damjan Rudez (3/$3.4M)

* Re-signed

Departures

SF Rasual Butler (free agency)
SG Lance Stephenson (free agency)
G/F Evan Turner (free agency)

2014 Draft

At least the Pacers could rely on a deep draft to help plug some holes, right? Oops. They traded their first-rounder (along with Gerald Green) to Phoenix before last season in exchange for a plodding, ineffective Luis Scola. They also sold their second-rounder. You know who might have made a serviceable replacement on the wing? Gerald Green. 

Starting 5 

• PG George Hill
• SG C.J. Miles
• SF Solomon Hill
• PF David West
• C Roy Hibbert 

Breakout Player: Chris Copeland

He's not what you'd call a two-way player, but offensively Copeland has the makings of a prototypical modern hybrid forward. In 41 games with the Pacers last season, the 6-foot-9 Copeland attempted nearly 70 percent of his field goals from beyond the arc (he knocked them down, too, hitting 41.8 percent). The rest of his shots largely came within the restricted area. Less than five percent of his attempts were long twos. Despite doing so in limited minutes, he posted a pretty astounding true shooting percentage of 62.1. 

Copeland broke into the league late, and after just two NBA seasons he's already 30 years old. That means his shortcomings are likely to remain. He's not fast, he struggles to defend at both forward positions, he rarely gets to the free-throw line, and he's not a great rebounder for his size. He showed flashes last season, but extrapolating small samples is rarely instructive. 

Still, he's proven himself an efficient offensive player, and started to get more burn late last season as the Pacers searched desperately for scoring. With the team now threadbare on the wing, Copeland should see plenty of additional minutes at the three-spot this year. 

Season Expectations

As presently constructed, the Pacers don't look like a playoff team, even in the punch line that is the Eastern Conference. Frank Vogel is a good coach, and with Hibbert and David West still patrolling the paint in tandem, he should be able to maintain a top-10 defense. But it's hard to imagine him crafting even a passable offense with the pieces he has to work with.

Team president Larry Bird has said things will flow more through Hibbert and West, and neither of those guys has ever proven capable of initiating or being the centerpiece of an offensive system. West was probably the most consistent Pacer last season, but he's most effective playing off the ball; setting hard screens, spotting up at the elbow, and catching-and-shooting from 15-18 feet out. 

Hibbert, in particular, has a lot to prove. After being widely lauded as one of the league's most sneakily valuable players - and a runaway favorite for Defensive Player of the Year - throughout the first half of last season, he broke down, devolving precipitously into a laughingstock. He was the poster-boy for the Pacers' late-season collapse. From March onwards, Hibbert averaged 8.6 points per game while shooting 37.6 percent from the floor. Try running your offense through that. 

It'll be interesting to see whether the Pacers keep their core intact in anticipation of Paul George's eventual return, or whether they decide to cut bait and see what kind of return they can get for West, Hibbert and the equally-vexing George Hill. They'd be selling low on those guys, but if they go into the tank early in the season, it wouldn't be inconceivable for them to tear the whole thing down and commence a full-scale rebuild around George, who's still just 24. 

Whatever happens, 2014-15 is shaping up to be a season-at-the-crossroads in Indiana. 

1 to Follow on Social Media

Paul George may not make it back onto an NBA court this season, but a broken leg won't stop him from keeping the team's spirit up by organizing his famous fishing trips, which he makes sure to document on his Instagram account.

But forget the heartwarming photos. If you've got Roy Hibbert on your fantasy team, following George could provide all the insider info you need. Long story short, starting Hibbert after a fishing trip is probably a safe bet.