Abandon hope, all ye who enter this Indiana Pacers season.
Those are the sage words of Jon Lafollette over at Nuvo before the season began. The Pacers weren’t ready to transition from the Paul George era, as a rotation with Damien Wilkens and an anachronistic Al Jefferson getting minutes shows.
Unless you prefer unhinged optimism, there isn’t a way to spin the reality of this team into something beyond a fringe playoff team — or worse. The reality of the situation is that the Indiana Pacers are starting a rebuild. Kevin Pritchard may say differently, and Myles Turner may be optimistic about the Pacers, but that doesn’t make them a better team.