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Tony East: You guys do have an open roster spot and a barrier of spending pretty close to you. Do you have any ideas on how that roster could be used? Is Quenton Jackson a consideration for that opening? Pacers GM Chad Buchanan: [Jackson is] definitely a real possibility. Quenton’s been awesome. He was fantastic last night, and he’s a big part of our culture in our locker room. He’s got such a good energy to him. He’s got a toughness about him, never complains about anything. Two-way guys, your life is a lot of unpredictability of where you’re going to be from day to day, and he approaches it with such a great attitude and a great competitive will to him, great competitive spirit. So that’s definitely something we’re considering. We’ve got to be mindful of the tax as we go through things, but there’s a timing and sequence that gives us the possibility to do something there. And I think we’ll look at probably doing that.
Tony East: Do you expect Ivica Zubac and Obi Toppin to play again at some point this season? Pacers GM Chad Buchanan: I expect them to, yeah. [Toppin] is coming back from his injury, [Zubac] is still recovering from an ankle injury that he was trying to play through and we want to make sure he's completely recovered from that before we put him back out there. I think that's the prudent thing to do to ensure that he doesn't have a re-aggravation of anything and put him in the best position to be playing at a high level.
Tony East: The Ivica Zubac trade is the biggest move you guys made. What made it something that you wanted to do at this time? Pacers GM Chad Buchanan: I think at the start of the season, you’re hopeful that one of the guys that was kind of filling the [starting center] role is going to help us. We’ve had a couple guys that we tried there and they’ve all had good moments at times, but we felt like getting an established veteran starting center was important for this group. We’ve seen what they could do the last couple of years, that starting five, that core. Having to replace the starting center spot was something that was always going to be a priority for us, whether it was with one of the guys we tried this year or a trade or free agent, whatever it was going to be. The opportunity was there, and we’ve always liked [Zubac] and respected him as a player. The more you kind of look and see what’s available, he became the number one clear target pretty fast.
![[The pick protection] gives incentives for how the …](https://sportsdata.usatoday.com/gcdn/content-pipeline-sports-images/sports2/nba/players/1076274.png?format=png8&auto=webp&quality=85,75&width=140)
Tony East: [The pick protection] gives incentives for how the rest of this season could go. How do you want that to be approached? Pacers GM Chad Buchanan: I think our organization has always been about competing. We’ve got a lot of integrity with this organization, that’s how we operate. We’ll continue to operate that way. We want to be developing some of our younger guys. Obviously, losing Johnny [Furphy] is unfortunate because I think he was going to have a lot of opportunity. He was showing signs of growth and progress, and that’s going to be paused now for a little bit while he recovers. But there’s young players on our roster still that we want to see see how they can handle the opportunities in front of them. But also we want to get some chemistry with [Zubac] once he’s healthy. [Obi Toppin] is on the mend from his injury, and we want those guys to have some time together. But we also want to be smart on how much load we put on them. Those guys all want to play. Those guys, this is what they love to do. But we’re gonna have to approach the rest of the year with what we’ve always been about, and that’s competing. And some nights that’ll look different, but we’re always going to go out there and try to compete to win.
Tony East: Pacers won’t be signing Monte Morris, GM Chad Buchanan says. He’s actually hurt with a calf injury. They’re still looking for guard depth.
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"From my understanding, behind the scenes, Rick Carlisle is one of the more active coaches in the league when it comes to influence over the roster," reports Jake Fischer. Kevin Pritchard and Chad Buchanan have long been entrenched in the front office of the Pacers predating Carlisle's arrival. "Carlisle is known around the league to have as formidable of a finger on the Pacers' roster construction and overall talent evaluation—just roster construction and player scouting and draft evaluations," added Fischer.
Alex Golden: You could apply for a disabled player exception as well with Tyrese Haliburton being out for the whole entire season. Do you guys plan on doing that? And if so, would you be interested in adding another point guard in free agency? Chad Buchanan: Yeah, well, we've applied for that and been granted that exception. So, I don't know if I'm breaking news there for you guys, but it's whether we use it or not. You know, it depends. I mean know using the full exception would put us into luxury tax, which we're not opposed to if it's the right player.
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.
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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.”
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."