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Tony East: Rick Carlisle, Jenny Boucek, Lloyd Pierce, Chad Buchanan, Ted Wu, and Kevin Pritchard all here for Pacers-Cavs. Much of the rest of the staff, too.
James Johnson, the Pacers’ veteran forward who rarely plays but is the team’s resident protector, helped carry Haliburton off the floor. “That was heartbreaking,” he said. “I know how hard he works, how bad he wanted it, and I know the hours he puts in, day in and day out. … Just to even be here was an honor, to sit courtside and help cheer on these guys was an honor, man. There’s a group character that’s hard to find. KP (Pritchard) and (Pacers general manager) Chad (Buchanan) did a great job of putting this group together, and getting high-character guys.”
The Pacers, with a longtime owner in Herb Simon who has always preferred retooling over rebuilding, went from missing the playoffs for three consecutive seasons to back-to-back Eastern Conference finals appearances and this NBA Finals run that they hope ends with the franchise’s first title. And Haliburton, the two-time All-Star out of Iowa State who was drafted 12th overall by the Kings in 2020, has been the one leading the way. “Our team was kind of at a crossroads,” Buchanan told The Athletic by phone on Friday while reflecting on the Haliburton trade. “We didn’t really have a guy, like a young player, that you could really build around. Now Domas (Sabonis) was a terrific player and a very productive player. But we felt like in today’s modern NBA, it’s hard to build around a center unless you’ve got, like, a (Denver Nuggets star Nikola) Jokić — an MVP-caliber center. So we tried to target some young guards, playmaking guards around the league that we thought maybe fit the bill. They’re very hard to acquire, obviously.
Pacers general manager Chad Buchanan addressed these trade rumors on the "Setting the Pace" podcast and dismissed them as baseless. "It's almost comical," Buchanan said. "I'm reading the Myles Turner trade rumors out there at the trade deadline, and I'm just [asking], 'Where in the world do people get this information?' Sometimes we as a front office sit back and laugh because it's unreal where some of this information comes from."
“You saw some of the video of what they did in Orlando this past week at Pascal’s place,” Chad Buchanan, Pacers general manager, said of Siakam. “He’s at the point in his career where it’s just about winning. He’s secured his contract, he’s established himself as a player, and winning is all that matters to him. His leadership is showing with some of our younger guys. You see it in the video clips, we see it every day; he’s taking young guys under his wing and passing on information that can help that player.”
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Pacers GM on Myles Turner: We want him to be here
Tony East: “We want him to be here,” Pacers GM Chad Buchanan says of Myles Turner. He noted that Turner fits well with the Pacers offensive stars and is a valuable piece in their play style. Turner is entering a contract year and can’t receive a contract extension this season.
How about with Andrew Nembhard? Todd Ramasar: "As for Andrew, when a player is born into an organization, it’s different because it’s everything that you hope for. In Andrew’s draft class two years ago, the Pacers chased him in the draft. It was always Chad [Buchanan], Kevin Pritchard and Rick Carlisle showing up at our Pro-Day, at the combine or reaching out proactively asking questions and doing their due diligence. They selected Andrew at No. 31. Then fast forward through the draft to the regular season. A few injuries happened to that roster. All of a sudden, Rick trusted Andrew and he never looked back. To get the games that he started as a rookie and making the rookie-sophomore game, he took that momentum into the offseason and continued to work on his game and on his body and made investments in himself."
Evan Sidery: GM Chad Buchanan said the Pacers plan to run it back with their roster while relying on further internal development, per @1075thefan (podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the…). Young core players like Andrew Nembhard, Bennedict Mathurin and Jarace Walker will be pivotal pieces next season. pic.twitter.com/EkzA7vcun3
Pacers president of basketball operations Kevin Pritchard and general manager Chad Buchanan presented the max offer to Siakam and his agents Todd Ramasar and Jafaar Choufani of Life Sports Agency on Tuesday -- shortly after the NBA's new early contact rules allowed for teams to begin negotiating extensions and free agent deals with their own players after the NBA Finals. Siakam, 30, plans to sign the deal once the league's free agency moratorium ends on July 6, sources said.
On entertainment value alone with the first Pacers season ever that featured both 100 dunks and 100 3-pointers, Toppin has already been a steal for just one season at the cost it took to bring him to Indiana but Pacers General Manager Chad Buchanan would like to see Toppin remain in the blue and gold. “I think he felt he kind of found a home with us,” Buchanan said on the Setting the Pace podcast last week. “He thought this might be a good spot for him and we got him here. I think he really enjoyed the fans. He enjoyed the system. His family seemed to be happy here as well … and like I said, hope he’s with us moving forward.”.
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“We thought when we traded for him the fit was going to have a chance to be very good because we can really run,” Buchanan said on STP. “He really gets out. Coach likes our guys to sprint the floor. He does that as well as any power forward in the league. The personality in the locker room was a clean fit too and very well respected, very well liked by players, coaches, staff. I think it was just a very, very good year for him, can’t say enough good things about the type of season he had.”
“We have the flexibility to sign and retain some players without going into the luxury tax depending on what some of those players cost to retain,” Buchanan said. “… There’s limitations in the CBA moving forward for other teams that don’t apply to us necessarily. We’ve always been very conscious of our books and trying to build this team smartly, which leaves us the ability to add players and not be in a position where we have to get rid of players because we’ve made a poor decision financially.”
Facci: Myles Turner and the Pacers, they’ve been through it all since 2015. He’s re-signed a few times, finally was able to break through and have that playoff success. Got out of the first round for the first time, never under the conference finals. It’s got to be awesome for Turner to stick this out and be able to then reap those rewards. What have you enjoyed about Turner the last two years, being that lone starting center? Chad Buchanan: It’s like you kind of let a dog who’s in a cage, you let him out, let him run a little bit, let him kind of breathe a little bit and show what he can do. You know, playing with Domas (Sabonis), they tried to make it work, and obviously it wasn’t ideal as you watched more and more of it. Once Domas was gone, it was Myles’ spot, and you add Tyrese. There were a lot of good things coming together for him, and he had always been a guy who’s a team first guy who wants the team to do well, he wants to play the right way, very coachable, became more and more professional with taking care of his body and becoming a vocal leader. So you saw growth from him in so many different areas.
Chad Buchanan: I think the arrival of Tyrese really sprouted and allowed Myles to blossom and I think Myles would tell you the same thing. The game is easy when you play with Tyrese and especially when you can shoot. If you’re screening for Tyrese and you can shoot, you’re going to get a lot of open shots, and I think Myles understands that. Those two have developed a real chemistry, and as a five man who can spread the floor and shoot with the way we play with Pascal, TJ, and Bennedict when he’s out there, they’re attacking the rim. It just gives a lot of space to a lot of our other guys, and to see him have success this year after what he’s been through, and as loyal as he’s been to the Pacers and the organization when he really didn’t have to be and to see him get rewarded was really great to see. I know it meant a lot to him, because he’s wanted this for a long, long time, and to see it happen for him was really rewarding.
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