Author Archives: Kent Sterling

Eight reasons for cautious optimism about the Colts, who are not elite – not yet

Given their first four opponents, the Colts 3-1 record is what it should be – at worst.

The Jaguars, Vikings, Jets and Bears are flawed teams with glaring holes.  If the Colts are going to return to the postseason, 3-1 was needed in the first quadrant of the season, and another 3-1 should follow in the next four games.  The Browns, Bengals, and Lions are mediocre at best before – finally – the Colts play a very good team in the Ravens.

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So what can we take away from the first 25% of the season?  Here are the top eight observations:

8 – Colts offensive line delivering as expected.  The Colts did well to run the ball for 103 yards yesterday as often as the Bears loaded the box with eight defenders.  Anthony Castonzo, Quenton Nelson, Ryan Kelly, Mark Glowinski, and Braden Smith are taking some shots today because of the 2.7 yards per carry average on the Colts 38 runs, but the five best offensive linemen the NFL has ever seen can’t block eight guys.  They did a solid job given the circumstance, and they will need to continue to because teams are going to continue to dare the Colts to throw.

7 – Philip Rivers is as advertised.  He is a game manager, and there is nothing wrong with that.  Rivers will not win you games by flinging it deep, but as long as he doesn’t lose any with brain farts or deflected passes, the Colts can stack wins – especially against bad to mediocre teams.  When Rivers threw two or more interceptions for the Chargers last year, they were 0-6.  When throwing two for the Colts, they lost to a Jaguars team that has not won another game.  He got lucky yesterday when Khalil Mack dropped a tipped pass that should have changed the game.

6 – Julian Blackmon is an upgrade at free safety.  When the Colts drafted Blackmon in the third round last April, people thought it was a reach because the timetable for his return from a torn ACL had him active in mid-October at the earliest.  He healed quickly, so when starter Malik Hooker tore his Achilles, Blackmon stepped into the vacuum and fans quickly stopped lamenting Hooker’s absence.  His three passes defensed and interception yesterday were huge.  Because we are empathetic human beings, we hope Hooker makes a complete recovery, but from a football perspective Blackmon suits the Colts defensive backfield just fine.

5 – Injured wide receivers hurt, but not much.  The Colts ability to spread the field had been diminished by the injuries to Parris Campbell and Michael Pittman, but Rivers’ arm is not bomb-capable anyway.  The offense was always going to be fueled by the run and quick throws, so blazing speed was never going to be a massive asset.  After four games, Mo Alie-Cox-Cox is the Colts leading receiver with an average of less than 50 yards per game.  It would take a miracle for a Colts receiver to get the 1,000 yards mark, and that likely would have been the case had Campbell and Pittman stayed healthy.

4 – DeForest Buckner perfect three technique.  For two years we have been told the three-technique makes this defense go.  Buckner’s signing and the resulting double-teams against him have certainly freed up the other linemen – like Justin Houston – to wreak havoc in the backfield.  Houston’s 3.5 sacks project to 14 for the season, and the Colts seven picks over the last three games are the result of speeding up opposing QBs’ reads.

3 – Rigoberto Sanchez has been magnificent.  Each season, Sanchez gets just a little bit better.  He is a field position machine, relentlessly pinning opponents inside their own 20.  Yesterday, he put a punt in the end zone for the first time in over a year, and that really wasn’t his fault.  Given the lack of explosiveness from the Colts offense, a weapon like Sanchez is critical in making opponents earn yards and points.

2 – Don’t book your flights to Tampa for the Super Bowl yet.  None of the four teams the Colts have played are likely to make the playoffs, and the same can be said about their next three.  If the Colts start 6-1, optimism will run crazy high.  The media is already calling the Colts defense “elite.”  It isn’t.  It’s just been better than the last three terrible offenses against whom they have competed.  Let’s wait until they look good against the Ravens, Packers, and Steelers before we crown them the second coming of the 1985 Bears or 2000 Ravens.

1 – The Colts are set up to be good for a long time.  Because Chris Ballard didn’t go haywire over the last three years with Jim Irsay’s money, they are currently projected to be roughly $75 million under the salary cap this offseason.  As the cap is adjusted down because of COVID-related revenue losses, the Colts will be one of the few teams in position to acquire players or extend their own without contract acrobatics.

The Colts are a good team – not a great team.  But they are in position to build toward greatness because of Ballard’s drafts and targeted spending.  What the Colts are doing isn’t easy, but this might just be the beginning of something special.

 

Time to expand College Football Playoff is not now – or ever! Leave it alone!

The College Football Playoff is fine as it is.  Administrators thinking about tinkering with it need to take a deep breath and focus their attention on wrecking something less important and perfect.

Expanding the College Football Playoff for this season – or forever – is a terrible idea for more than two reasons, but only two matter.

There are many points made by expansion advocates that make a little bit of sense, but pale in comparison to the two that tilt the scales in favor of the status quo of limiting participation to the four teams deemed worthy by the selection committee.

Click here for your copy of “Oops – the Art of Learning from Mistakes and Adventures” by Kent Sterling

Here they are:

Money – Expanding the field to eight teams would not expand profitability.  It would marginalize the importance of the conference championship games as programs would be able to lose in a conference championship and still qualify.  That can happen now, but it’s not guaranteed for any that go undefeated into the conference championship as it would be with expansion.

Expansion would also allow programs like Central Florida into the fracas, and no one watches that team with interest.  If somehow a Central Florida made it into the National Championship game, TV ratings would crater.  For a championship game involving a combination of two teams from a field of Ohio State, Alabama, Clemson, LSU, and Oregon (the only programs to make it to the final game in the history of the current format), ratings and money pour in.  A final of Central Florida and Boise State?  It would owe viewers to Nielsen ratings.

Inclusivity already exists – Every Power Five team has a shot at a spot in the four-team format.  Go undefeated and win the conference championship, you are in.  Lose once and win your conference championship game, you are probably in (only the 2018 Ohio State team failed to earn a spot while satisfying that criteria).  Lose twice, you are out.  That’s fair.  Inviting more teams is unnecessary as conference championship games are already a de facto play-in game for a spot in the field for the SEC, Big 10, ACC, and Big 12 (now that they have a championship game).  The Pac-12 rarely has a team in the top four, so why worry about them?

Expanding the field of the College Football Playoff is a solution in search of a problem.  Eventually, expansion will happen because administrators are rarely smart enough to avoid the ‘bigger is better’ trap.  But it won’t be the right thing to do, and when the event loses momentum as a result, no one will admit the problem because they would then have to own it. One absolute truism about administrators is that they would rather bathe in scalding oil than admit being the cause of a problem.

 

Victor Oladipo must remember who he is, who Paul George was, and why Pacers are a great fit!

Yes, Victor is still wearing the jersey he seemed to enjoy wearing before his injury. That could change this offseason if he decides to crap on Indiana as Paul George did.

Victor Oladipo reportedly wants out of Indiana.  I’ll wait to believe it until I hear it first-hand from either Oladipo or Pacers president Kevin Pritchard, but in the event he is leaning toward demanding a ticket elsewhere, there are some things that need to be understood by both the Pacers and their feathery guard.

Athletes can brand themselves just fine in Indianapolis.  It’s argued an athlete benefits financially from playing in a large market, but making his bones in Indy sure didn’t hurt Peyton Manning.  Let me ask you this, who plays for the New York Knicks?  Name two players on their roster.  I’ll wait.  How many Bulls players are making serious bank off the court?  Sure, the Lakers have LeBron, but he would be a huge draw if he played in the inner part of outer Mongolia.  Oladipo was featured on The Masked Singer while playing in Indy, and Manning earned more than any other NFL player in 2019.

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With or without Oladipo, the Pacers win.  Oladipo started last season immersed in rehab for his surgically repaired quad tendon, but the Pacers rolled regardless.  Prior to Oladipo’s return, the Pacers put together a very respectable 30-17 (.638) record.  After Oladipo’s return, the Pacers were 15-11 (.577).

If winning is important, Oladipo can win in Indianapolis – as has!  Over the course of seven seasons in the NBA, Oladipo’s overall record is 271-294.  After Oladipo was traded to the Pacers, they are 141-96 despite Oladipo playing only 57% of the games.  In his other four seasons, Oladipo is 130-198.  Oladipo will never be the best player on a championship level team, but not only can he win with the Pacers – he has won with the Pacers.

Oladipo is damaged goods.  He might see himself as the all-star who blossomed after being shipped to Indiana, but Oladipo is still trying to regain his burst 20 months after tearing his quad tendon in a game against the Toronto Raptors.  He may be able to return to form this season – or maybe he will always be the shell of himself that we saw as the Pacers were swept by the Heat in the first round of the playoffs.  He couldn’t stay in front of 34-year-old Goran Dragic and failed to get the corner on any of the Heat defenders.

It’s likely the 29 general managers with whom Pritchard might craft a deal saw the same thing we did, and the value they might offer is likely to be far beneath what he would have commanded pre-injury.  So maybe Oladipo should Fred lightly as he ponders his next move.  An extension with the Pacers might be the best deal Oladipo can get.

People in Indiana love Oladipo.  Despite reported indifference toward them, Oladipo is beloved in Indiana.  A significant portion of that adulation was earned during his three years as a student-athlete at Indiana.  That home state goodwill does not exist elsewhere.  To paraphrase a well-known adage about basketball and Indiana – In 49 states, Victor Oladipo is just a guy, but this is Indiana.  If Oladipo demands an exit, he’ll be “just a guy” in all 50 states.

Paul George is a cautionary tale for Oladipo, but might be instructive for the Pacers.  In June of 2017, George informed the Pacers of his desire to leave the franchise the following summer as a free agent.  The Pacers accommodated George’s desire to play elsewhere with a trade to Oklahoma City that brought Oladipo and Domas Sabonis to Indiana.  Since then, George has engineered another deal – this one to the Clippers.  In the three seasons since demanding a trade, George’s Thunder and Clippers have compiled a 146-90 record while the Pacers have been 141-96.  He has added just one playoff series win to the five he enjoyed with the Pacers.  George’s brand has backslid from team-first good guy into one of a me-first choke-artist.  Oladipo needs to be careful whose example he follows, and the Pacers will be wise to recall that like a husband with a crazy wife – good can come from being jilted.

The marriage between the Pacers and Oladipo appears to have hit a rocky patch.  I hope they can reconcile and negotiate an extension that might keep Victor in Indianapolis into the autumn of his career.  He is a good guy and an all-star when at 100%, but loyalty is always to the hometown team.  If Oladipo wants out, Pritchard needs to turn this situation into a redux of the George deal that brought Oladipo and Sabonis here.

If Prichard gets all he can, fans will move on quickly from yet another diva who believes he has outgrown Indiana.

If reports of Vic’s wanderlust are accurate.

Love affair interrupted – Chad Kelly released from the practice squad; dream ends for Colts fans

So long to Chad Kelly, the latest third stringer to become a fan darling.

Football fans love them some third string quarterbacks, so it was inevitable Colts fans would embrace 2019 preseason hero Chad Kelly as their underdog de jour.

Love for Kelly blossomed last preseason because he was more decisive and productive that either starter Jacoby Brissett or backup Brian Hoyer, who did set the bar nice and low in those two categories.

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Today, fans were jilted by Colts management’s decision to replace Kelly on the practice squad with Indianapolis native wide receiver Krishawn Hogan.  Kelly has arm talent, speed, and a knack for moving the ball, but he cannot be trusted at the level of Philip Rivers or Brissett – and doesn’t have the future or natural ability of Jacob Eason.  Hogan plays a position of need because of injury, so he’s more valuable than a QB fourth on the depth chart.

The plucky athletic kid who dazzled during a magical season at Ole Miss and a brief set of preseason appearances with the Colts is now unemployed, but probably not for long.  He’s done a good job of rehabbing his image in the NFL after getting himself arrested in Denver following a team party for wandering hammered into the home of strangers, copping a squat on the couch, and watching some TV with the frightened and bewildered couple.

Once the Colts drafted Eason, there was no doubt this day would come for Kelly and his fans.  General manager Chris Ballard is not in the habit of blowing a fourth round pick.  Eason has the talent to start in the NFL.  Kelly has talent, but is not in Eason’s league – literally.

So the unrequited and undeserved love from fans toward Kelly will be directed elsewhere, probably to Eason.  Once he gets preseason reps, they will be clamoring for the kid to get a chance.

This time, they may get their wish.

 

 

Whatever happens against the Marlins, Cubs should put off any thought of rebuilding

It’s not time to wave goodbye yet to those dreamy eyes of Cubs third baseman Kris Bryant.

If the Cubs continue to not hit the ball hard, they will be done with this crazy season before the end of the week.

As a team, the Cubs are hitting .220.  They are a hard watch with 146 more strikeouts than hits.  Fans recognize the names, but not the swings.  Rizzo, Bryant, Heyward, Contreras, Schwarber, and Baez remain from the magical 2016 postseason that ended with the Cubs first world championship since 1908.

And all those players are under contract for another run next year.

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Whether or not Kyle Hendricks and Yu Darvish can pitch well enough to tote those limp bats beyond the Marlins in the wild card round, I want these guys to come back in 2021.

Here are the five reasons to bring these Cubs back:

5 – The farm system sucks.  The days of waiting for no-brainer prospects like Bryant, Baez, and Schwarber to climb through the minors are over.  Brennan Davis and Ed Howard are a couple of years away from Wrigley Field – at least.  Theo Epstein would have to deal Bryant and others to re-stock the pond with high quality youngsters, and that is an imperfect science.

4 – I know these guys.  Quick, name the starting eight position players for the 2011 Cubs!  Here is the Cubs lineup for that woebegone season – Kosuke Fukudome, Marlon Byrd, Alfonso Soriano, Aramis Ramirez, Starlin Castro, Darwin Barney, Carlos Pena, and Geovany Soto.  I don’t want to go back to watching Cubs rosters that flip through a relentless torrent of mediocres.  (Interestingly, a 22-year-old named D.J. LeMahieu was promoted to the Cubs from the minors that year.  He hit .250 in 60 ABs before being traded with Tyler Colvin to the Rockies for Ian Stewart and Casey Weathers.  Since then, LeMahieu has played in three all-star games and won two batting titles.)

3 – Rebuild of last group to play together this long sucked.  The Cubs of the late 1960s-mid 1970s had greats like Banks, Williams, Santo, Kessinger, Beckert, and Hundley.  Minus Mr. Cub, they were all dealt away as then GM John Holland tried to get younger.  Those deals returned Manny Trillo, Bob Locker, Darold Knowles, Steve Stone, Steve Swisher, Jim Kremmel, Ken Frailing, George Mitterwald, Jerry Morales, Mike Garman, and Bobby Hrapmann.  Do you want to take a chance on another set of deals like that?

2 – None of the current positional core has turned 31!  I know pitchers Jon Lester and Darvish are in their mid-30s, but the position guys have a long runway of prime productivity ahead of them.  Why dump winning players after they struggle a bit to acquire unknown youth who might struggle a lot?

1 – It ain’t my money!  People often discuss the economic realities of baseball as though it’s their cash being poorly invested.  They yelp, “I’m not paying Kris Bryant $30-million to play part-time and hit .206!”  You’re right – you aren’t!  Cubs owner Tom Ricketts either will or won’t. Social media stalwarts are furious with players who don’t live up to their salary.  If Ricketts goes bankrupt paying the Cubs who won the 2016 World Series, I’m good with that.  His financial health is not my concern.  In fact, I would get a kick out of it if Ricketts ever had to go out and earn a living without daddy’s money behind him.

The Cubs don’t look like a team ready to make a long postseason run.  Nobody other than Ian Happ and Heyward have hit worth a damn all season.  Maybe pitching can move them into the NLDS, but even that is a stretch.

The 2020 Cubs are what they are – an offensively inert group that appears to be trying too hard. The question about which tack Theo Epstein should take depends upon the players you would prefer to watch compete in 2021 and beyond.

Do you want to see the guys you have watched since 2015, or a bunch of different characters like those cobbled together during that grim rebuild made necessary by former GM Jim Hendry’s impetuousness when he felt his job was in peril?

I would rather watch Bryant, Rizzo, Schwarber, Baez, Contreras, and Heyward struggle than get to know a bunch of new guys who might never win.  This core group will age out of baseball soon enough.  Why hustle them out the door now?

NFL mandate for coaches to wear masks is an optical illusion

Net result of Frank Reich and Jon Gruden’s mask behavior for the NFL and public – $350,00 for the NFL and no lives saved.

NFL coaches being forced to wear masks on the sidelines during games is absurd, but they do it because it is expensive not to.

A week after five NFL coaches were dinged to the tune of $100K apiece and their teams clipped for a quarter-mil each for mask violations, it seems the league bought compliance among coaches who decided covering both their mouths and noses served their best interest.

It didn’t help anyone else – and may have hurt the cause for wearing a mask.

I have nothing against masks.  At the very least, they make people in grocery stores more comfortable.  That’s enough for me to happily wear one.  Sure, it’s a pain in the ass to return to my car after I get to the door of every building I need to enter only to remember I forgot my mask, but that’s a small inconvenience if it keeps shoppers from fearing me as a potential killer.

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But I am deadset against deceit as a tool in making the point that masks are a vital part of the fight against COVID.  Coaches being coerced through threat of lost wealth to wear a mask motivates distrust.  The truth should suffice – always.

Colts coach Frank Reich was asked last week whether he believes this mask mandate is about optics.  “To say it’s optics obviously could be taken as more of a negative statement,” he told us.  “But the NFL has a huge platform. So, optics is important at some level. We’re trying to set an example for our country so I respect the fact that the league is really running a tight ship on this stuff, with the testing.”

That’s a very polite and accommodating answer from a very polite and accommodating guy.  Reich would never attack the NFL’s protocol, but he sure didn’t say he believes lives are less at risk because he is wearing a mask during games after being tested daily while among players who are also tested daily.

If wearing a mask during games protects players and coaches, why aren’t coaches required to wear them during practices?  Reich didn’t say that either.  I’m guessing the result of such a statement would be another onerous mandate from the NFL.

We also see news reporters wearing masks while knowing they are socially distant from humanity.  There are photos/videos of their photogs not wearing masks, so we are left to infer the masked reporters are complying with a mandate to communicate by example with an audience trying to figure out whether a mask will make them safer.

Through better than a half-century of overt dishonesty from our government, we have adopted skepticism as a national mood.  Optics do not help instill confidence in a cynical public for the need to wear masks.  In fact, for a significant portion of Americans, they cause a further erosion of trust.

An assumption of American stupidity is driving decisions to enhance optics over science, which ironically makes people targeted by the optics feel smart for doubting science.  How about a simple appeal for compassion if science doesn’t compel compliance?

I wear a mask, but it has nothing to do with Reich, Jon Gruden, or Ryan Pace wearing one on the sidelines.  It’s also not motivated nor validated by local and national news performers wearing one.  It’s about compassion for people who are legitimately terrified of contracting COVID and adding their names to the more than 200,000 who have lost their lives at least in part because of the virus.

Let’s start the argument to wear masks there and allow coaches to follow science.

Purdue bounces 13 student-athletes, and I love it!

Mitch Daniels is smart enough to know that a harsh consequence can be the best thing that can happen for a college student.

My Man Mitch!

Stupidity must have a consequence, or it will be repeated.  Purdue president Mitch Daniels clearly believes in that axiom.  Because he does, 13 student-athletes were suspended from the university yesterday.

THAT’S education!

When Daniels enacted the Protect Purdue Pledge, he meant business.  Violate its terms, and the result is adios, goodbye, and don’t let the door hit you on the ass as you leave West Lafayette, as long as the appeal process doesn’t provide unchecked forgiveness.

The 13 students-athletes who were identified at a dorm party broke rules protecting the Purdue community from COVID-19, and so they have until tomorrow to either pack a bag or appeal the penalty.

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None of the student-athletes are members of the football or men’s and women’s basketball teams, so there is no worry for fans excited by the prospect of the upcoming seasons.  It would be interesting to see if Purdue has the stones to send Sasha Stefanovic, Trevion Williams, Rondale Moore, or David Bell home if they were caught at a party, but that’s not the point today.

About the suspensions, Daniels said, “The fact that this episode involved student-athletes can make no difference. At Purdue, we have one set of rules for everyone.”  THAT’S the point!  Irresponsible and stupid actions must have a consequence, even for the often pampered student-athlete population at Big 10 schools like Purdue.

In August, 36 students were suspended for attending a similar party.  They appealed the suspension and remained in school.  It will be interesting to see the results of the appeals that will surely be filed by these students.  At some point, Boiler Up will need to mean Boiler Out, if the Protect Purdue Pledge is to mean anything.

Dopey college students – no offense, I was my status as one once – need to learn that irresponsibility has a personal cost or students will continue to make irresponsible choices.

Good for Purdue – assuming My Man Mitch holds the line on the suspensions.

Colts receiver Michael Pittman out after surgery for Compartment Syndrome

Pittman has been good for the Colts so far this season, but not irreplaceable – which is good because he will need to be replaced four at least four-to-six weeks.

Ouch!

Colts coach Frank Reich told the media a few moments ago that previous reports of a healthy roster exiting Lucas Oil Stadium following their 36-7 decimation of the New York Jets were premature.  Michael Pittman, Jr, is going to be out for awhile following surgery for Compartment Syndrome in his lower leg.

If you are like me, you are wondering just what Compartment Syndrome is.  Well, I looked it up and found out.  It’s marked by pressure – usually due to injury-related swelling – that causes a restriction of blood flow to areas at and beneath the injury.

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It sounds pretty innocuous, but after-effects can include necrosis, amputation, renal failure, and death.  Corrective surgery allows blood flow to resume and the tissue to heal.

The positive news for Pittman and fans is that this is not a ligament injury.  As long as the surgery came quickly and there is no permanent damage to muscle or nerves, Pittman should be able to get back on the field as soon as the incision sites heal.  Typical recovery for performance takes four-to-six weeks.

Three games into his career, Pittman has nine catches for 73 yards.  He’s not emerged as a key contributor yet, but given the previous week’s injury to Parris Campbell, the receiver position is getting a little thin.  Let’s hope Zach Pascal, Maurice Fountain, Dezmon Patmon, and Ashton Dulin are ready for some bonus activity.

The Bears will be waiting for the Colts – regardless of which Colts are healthy.

If Victor Oladipo wants out of Indiana, Pacers moving him for a valuable piece will be tough

Is Victor saying “NO!” or “GO!” Who knows, but Kevin Pritchard’s ability to move him depends entirely upon the prognosis of his knee, and that is at best a guess.

Reports insist Victor Oladipo wants out of Indiana.

Not so fast, Victor.  If the reports are true, they discount a serious factor in his ability to exit prior to becoming a free agent next offseason – he has very little trade value.  If Pacers president Kevin Pritchard was motivated to grant Victor’s supposed wish, it seems unlikely in the extreme he could get value back to offload a $21 million final year of his contract.

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The rule of wheeling and dealing is buy low, sell high.  Oladipo’s value is low – really low.

Kooks on Twitter have turned to various website trade machines to find deals that would be within the salary cap rules for the Pacers and teams with whom they negotiate.  Here are a few of the deals that are being proposed:

  • Pacers send Oladipo and Myles Turner to the Celtics.  In return, they receive Gordon Hayward, Enes Kanter, Carsen Edwards, and a 1st rounder (#14).
  • Pacers send Oladipo to the Bucks for Eric Bledsoe, Donte DiVincenzo, and the Bucks 1st round pick that they received from the Pacers in the Brogdon trade (#24).
  • This one gets complicated – Pacers send Victor Oladipo and T.J. Warren to the Nets and Myles Turner to the Pelicans.  The Pelicans send Jrue Holiday to the Pacers.  The Nets send Taurean Prince, Jarrett Allen and two second rounders to the Pacers, and a lottery protected 2021 1st round pick to the Pelicans.
  • There is a completely insane five-team deal that involves the exit of Victor Oladipo, Myles Turner, Jeremy Lamb, and T.J. Leaf.  The Pacers would receive Gordon Hayward and Kemba Walker.  James Harden goes to the 76ers in this one too.

One of three results must occur in Pacers trades proposed by wing nuts – they either involve a player who grew up in Indianapolis (Hayward, Eric Gordon, Mike Coney, Jeff Teague, etc…), played college ball in our state (Edwards, Oladipo, O.G. Anunoby, Caleb Swanigan, etc…), or bring the third Holiday brother to town.

Hayward is not just a Hoosier by birth and a Butler grad as well, he has a terrible contract (a 2020-2021 player option worth just north of $34 million) the Celtic would like to shed.  That makes him very popular in the relentless torrent of deals college students propose on Twitter.

If Oladipo were still an all-star caliber player – or projected to be one in the future – the Pacers might be able to swing the same kind of sweet return they netted for Paul George – ironically the trade that brought Oladipo to Indy.

Maybe he gets back to what he was – maybe.  No one knows whether a 29-year-old with a surgically repaired quad tendon can return to 100%.  That injury for a player his age is virtually without precedent.  What is known is that Oladipo was a shell of himself in his return during bubble play.  He shot erratically and couldn’t get the corner on 34-year-old Goran Dragic.  His defense was ridiculous as well, but it was hard to tell whether Oladipo was compromised at that end because of physical limitations or utter indifference to his task.

Oladipo believes he will be back 100%, but when he guarantees a full return, he sounds like I did when my dad asked whether I was ready for an exam in junior high.  I always expressed great confidence, “I’m ready – going to ace it!”  If I came home with a C, Dad rolled his eyes.  I find myself rolling my eyes at Oladipo quite a bit these days.

Here’s some easy math; Victor Oladipo – explosiveness = an affable karaoke singer.  The only sane general managers lining up to acquire a year’s worth of Oladipo with a $21 million price tag will have their own expensive damaged goods they are looking to peddle.

Oladipo might just have to swallow hard and continue to toil for fans who once adored him.  That would make for an unpleasant and weird few months at Bankers Life Fieldhouse, if reports of his wanderlust are accurate.  Indiana residents tend to chafe at the notion that their state is not the equal of others, and the last noise the Pacers want in their newly refurbished Bankers Life Fieldhouse is the echo of loud boos.

This promises to be a fascinating offseason for so many reasons – an uncertain draft class, an uncertain financial future, and the continued iconization of marginal players like post-injury Oladipo.

The Pacers have a lot of decisions to make over the next two or three months.  The first is who their new coach will be, but that won’t be the most important.