2017-18 Indiana Pacers Predictions and NBA Futures Odds Picks

by Trevor Whenham - 10/13/2017

This is the year that Myles Turner becomes an asset that other teams will covet and who will eventually leave Indiana. It's what the Pacers do - develop top young talent and then watch them leave when they enter their true prime. The Pacers are essentially a farm team at this point. Paul George became the latest to leave this offseason, leaving Turner as the star of the team. He is going to face a whole lot more pressure, and his opportunities will be harder to come by without George to play behind. However, if Turner can keep on the trajectory he has been on to date then he'll be up to the challenge.

The problem, of course, is that no matter how good Turner is it won't amount to much. This isn't a very good team, and George has left a gaping hole that obviously can't be filled. It's going to be a long year. Luckily, most fans in Indiana would rather watch college ball anyway, so they won't be too upset by this underwhelming season.

2017 Indiana Pacers Betting Storylines

The job head coach Nate McMillan has in front of him is not one to envy. No matter what, this is not a talented team, but the roster that is most likely to win the most games now is an uninspiring veteran lineup that has nothing to do with the future of this team. They aren't going to be good no matter what, but they could be better with veterans. McMillan needs to be confident in his status with the team and take a long-term view. Darren Collison is their best current point guard right now, but he's not the future by any means. Ideally he wouldn't even be the present. Cory Joseph is going to provide a rockier option, but he has far more upside and will benefit from plenty of playing time - even if it costs wins now. The same goes at power forward where Thaddeus Young isn't going to inspire anyone, but he could easily and wrongly rob exciting youngsters Domantas Sabonis and T.J. Leaf of minutes. And playing Al Jefferson as primary backup behind Turner instead of Ike Anigbogu would be so stupid as to be almost criminal. In this case less wins now would be of much more benefit for the team going forward, so I really hope that management isn't crazy enough to value an extra four or five wins - especially when an extra four wins would still lead to a lousy record.

Victor Oladipo is a very interesting part of this team after joining the squad in the Paul George trade. He was a college superstar at Indiana, so in a sense he is coming home again. This is his fifth year in the NBA. He was on a fast rising trajectory through two years, but he really plateaued in his last year in Orlando and last year in Oklahoma City. It took a couple of years of decent performance at Indiana before he erupted in his final season to become the second overall pick in the draft, so he takes a while to find his full stride. If he can take a stride forward this year then he could be a very important player, and he and Turner could be a nice duo to build around. There is a real chance, though, that what we have seen from him is what we get. If that is the case then it's going to be an even rougher year. After Turner, more of the potential variance for this team this year comes from Oladipo than anyone else.

2017 Indiana Pacers Additions and Departures

We've covered most of the moves made - at least in passing - in this active offseason. George was sent to Oklahoma City for Oladipo and Sabonis. Joseph joined the team from Toronto in a trade for C.J. Miles. Darren Collison signed a two-year, $20 million deal after playing for Sacramento last year. Bojan Bogdanovic left Washington for a deal that was the same term as Collison and worth a million dollars more. And Monta Ellis, Rakeem Christmas and Kevin Seraphin were all waived to make room for the new additions.

In the draft the team invested heavily in the idea that UCLA was a good team last year. They took power forward T.J Leaf from the Bruins with the 18th pick and center Ike Anigbogu with the 47th pick.

2017 Indiana Pacers Futures Odds and Trends

Indiana Pacers Futures Odds

NBA title odds ( from BetOnline ) : +50000

Eastern Conference title odds : +20000

Season win total (from BetOnline): 30.5 ("over" is favored at -120)

There were no profits to be made no matter how you turned things over the course of the season last year. They were 39-42-1 ATS, which wasn't profitable betting on or against them, and they were a perfectly balanced 41-41 against the total.

2017 Indiana Pacers Predictions and Futures Odds Picks

Not good. Really not good. If Turner and Oladipo have big years then the team will be better but is still quite unlikely to make the playoffs - and that is in an Eastern conference that is just awful this year. I lean towards the under on the season win total and really hope that they use this as a developmental season to see what they have for the future - because what they have right now isn't much.

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2017-18 Indiana Pacers Predictions and NBA Futures Odds Picks

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