INDIANAPOLIS -- The Indiana Pacers made some major progress in their roster reconstruction efforts, as they agreed to a contract with dynamic guard Monta Ellis. The contract is a four-year deal that is worth $44 million, the final year of the contract includes a player option. This signing was great, but there is more work to do.
Before the Pacers can evaluate their options, it is important to take a look at their current cap space. After the signing of Monta Ellis and the departure of David West, Indiana has projected $2,550,000 in cap space. Indiana also has around $2.8-million in 'room-exception'.
Here is the team's current (projected) depth chart:
PG: George Hill, Joseph Young
SG: Monta Ellis, C.J. Miles
SF: Solomon Hill, Damjan Rudez
PF: Paul George
C: Roy Hibbert, Myles Turner, Ian Mahinmi
The blaring hole is obviously, the power forward position. Paul George is supposed to play some minutes at that position, but he isn't going to start there according to Larry Bird and Frank Vogel. With the players that are currently on the roster, Paul George would be starting at power forward by default.
There have been reports by league insiders (Adrian Wojnarowski and Tim MacMahon) that the Dallas Mavericks would be interested in a sign-and-trade deal with Monta Ellis if they don't sign DeAndre Jordan. Dallas would be seeking Roy Hibbert in return for Monta Ellis in a sign-and-trade. That would be ideal for the Pacers since they want to dump Roy Hibbert's salary anyway.
Here is what the depth chart would look like if Hibbert was traded to Dallas:
PG: George Hill, Joseph Young
SG: Monta Ellis, C.J. Miles
SF: Solomon Hill, Damjan Rudez
PF: Paul George,
C: Myles Turner, Ian Mahinmi
Indiana would clear Roy Hibbert's $15,514,031 by trading him to Dallas. If only Ellis and Hibbert are involved in the trade, Indiana would have nearly $18.1 million in cap space. That sounds great and all, but there aren't any quality options remaining on the market. Unless the Pacers can acquire a quality power forward with that money, it just doesn't make sense to do this deal.
The Warriors are seeking to trade David Lee, which appears to be a better route to go. The money would match up for the Pacers since Hibbert makes around $100,000 more than Lee. Indiana could seriously use Lee, and he would thrive in the Pacers' desired system. Not only would he fit, but the Pacers would be able to still have the benefits of a massive expiring contract in next year's free agency. Perhaps getting Dallas involved in a sign-and-trade deal with Monta Ellis to the Pacers could result in the Warriors getting involved.
This is what that trade would look like:
Indiana receives: David Lee and Monta Ellis
Dallas receives: Roy Hibbert
Golden State receives: Dwight Powell
Golden State simply wants to dump David Lee's salary. Indiana has already agreed on a deal with Monta Ellis and they need a power forward, and the Mavericks want Roy Hibbert. Since Dallas is so far under the salary cap, this would work out for all three teams involved.
Here is what the Pacers' projected depth chart would look like:
PG: George Hill, Joseph Young
SG: Monta Ellis, C.J. Miles
SF: Paul George, Solomon Hill, Damjan Rudez
PF: David Lee
C: Myles Turner, Ian Mahinmi
Indiana would be left having to fill out their third unit for the following positions: point guard, shooting guard, power forward, and center. Indiana would also have to find a second string power forward, which wouldn't be a problem. Indiana has room exception, and they can go over the salary cap to re-sign their own free agents. They could re-sign Lavoy Allen, Donald Sloan, and Shayne Whittington to veteran's minimum deals. Indiana would only have to sign two 'roster filling' players for minimum deals.
Here is what the Pacers' projected depth chart would look like:
PG: George Hill, Donald Sloan, Joseph Young
SG: Monta Ellis, C.J. Miles, Roster Filler
SF: Paul George, Solomon Hill, Damjan Rudez
PF: David Lee, Lavoy Allen, Roster Filler
C: Myles Turner, Ian Mahinmi, Shayne Whittington
Indiana would have plenty of assets to get this lineup done. It appears that this is one of the best options that the Pacers have. They won't be able to go out in free agency and acquire a power forward even close to David Lee, so this is by default the best option for the starting lineup. Donald Sloan, Lavoy Allen, and Shayne Whittington all proved worthy of being re-signed and getting minutes, so if the Pacers wanted to shed more salary to avoid the luxury tax line, they could trade Ian Mahinmi for a salary dump. That might not be necessary, but it is always an option for Indiana to shed more salary since it would shed $4 million.
It is clear that George Hill, Monta Ellis, Paul George, and David Lee would be great starters. However, Myles Turner might not be ready for that role to some. There would be no pressure for Turner to score or be an offensive threat, all he'd be asked to do is rebound, play defense, run the floor, and be a team player on offense. That is a great role with four good starters around him.
For the bench, this would be great for the Pacers. The second unit would be Donald Sloan, C.J. Miles, Solomon Hill, Lavoy Allen, and Ian Mahinmi. Everybody would be pretty comfortable with that bench. Indiana would also have situational players like Joseph Young, Shayne Whittington, and Damjan Rudez, plus who knows who their two other roster filling players could be.
This option would result in the Pacers losing Rodney Stuckey, but they could re-sign him if the owner is willing to spend. Considering Herb Simon's history with the team, that would most likely not be the case at all. Indiana wouldn't necessarily need Stuckey anyways, having Miles is way better fit with all of the other ball handlers on the team. Stuckey wouldn't be a good fit with this team, it could be best for both sides to move on.
Indiana doesn't have a lot of options at this point in free agency, but they certainly make some great moves if they went the creative route. David Lee is practically being given away at this point to dump his salary, and Dallas might need to resort to Roy Hibbert, and Indiana already has agreed to a deal with Monta Ellis, all three of these teams could get involved in a trade that would really benefit everybody. Indiana would have more than enough assets to fill out their roster with talented players, so it wouldn’t hurt their depth. As mentioned earlier, the Pacers will just have to get creative to make this thing work.