Pacers free agents: Who stays and who goes?
When the Indiana Pacers held exit meetings after the season, the six players due to become free agents expressed a desire to return for the 2015-16 campaign, according to Larry Bird, the team's president of basketball operations.
"We've got so much money to spend, it's according to what they want," Bird said. "Some guys told me they didn't care what they got. They wanted to get paid, but they wanted to be here, too. So that makes you feel good."
All six wanting to come back, even after a season in which Indiana struggled and missed the playoffs, speaks to the culture and foundation built by the Pacers. However, not everyone will return as Indiana tries to build a new identity next year.
Who stays? Who's on the fence? And who should've already broken their condo or apartment lease? Let's attempt to answer these questions by predicting the Pacers' priorities once the free agent market opens July 1.
Welcome back
RODNEY STUCKEY, G, will enter ninth season: Last summer, Stuckey signed with the Pacers for a one-year, minimum salary contract late in the free agency period. Whispers of being a malcontent had followed him to Indiana. Criticism about his poor shooting was even louder. Stuckey put to rest both perceptions by excelling in one of his best seasons as a professional.
Stuckey, who started 36 games but mostly shined as the Pacers' sixth man, averaged 12.6 points and posted career-best statistics in field goal percentage (.440) and 3-point shooting (.390). In addition to his enhanced accuracy, Stuckey proved to be more durable than expected. Though he missed 11 games with a variety of ailments, he often attempted to play hurt, and near the end of the season took a cortisone shot for his pained right wrist in order to play on.
Just before the All-Star break, Stuckey requested to come off the bench and sparked the reserves into becoming the third-highest scoring unit in the league (40.8 points per game). When examining how the market played out for other super subs (Nick Young signed a four-year, $21.5 million deal last summer, and even then-32-year-old Jamal Crawford got a four-year, $25 million contract in 2012), needless to say Stuckey will earn more than the vet's minimum this summer.
According to USA Today, projections have the NBA salary cap swelling to $89 million in 2016-17, then to a whooping $108 million in 2017-18. However, Stuckey does not necessarily want another one-year deal to gamble on himself before getting a piece of the Monopoly money that comes in 2016-17. Stuckey, who plans to get married on July 17, desires the security of a multi-year deal wrapped up before his nuptials. Just as important, Stuckey experienced enough losing during his seven years in Detroit and wants to be on a team that has a chance to contend for the title.
Just as he did last summer when he reworked his 3-point shot, Stuckey's upcoming offseason plans include losing eight to nine pounds. Stuckey has a power, driving game but he wants to play next season as a lighter and quicker version. This should sound like a soft melody in Bird's ears, since he wants the Pacers to play smaller and faster next year. The new style of play should benefit Stuckey, and Bird wants him back in the fold.
"I think we can get Rodney done. I think it's important for us to get him back here. But we'll see what happens," Bird said. "I know he liked it here. He's a real professional. He does all of his work, he's in here all the time. He lifts after every game. We need guys like Rodney. He was a major plus for our franchise."
LAVOY ALLEN, F/C, fifth season: Injuries opened the door for Allen to get into the rotation at the start of the season when he played his best basketball. Through November as starting power forward David West healed from an ankle sprain, Allen provided frontcourt depth, averaging 22.6 minutes, 7.4 points and 8.1 rebounds. During that month, Indiana ranked third in the league in offensive rebounding, averaging 12.5 game while Allen worked to create second-chance opportunities by pulling down 3.4 offensive rebounds.
Allen showed that when given consistent minutes on the floor, he can grab rebounds at a high rate. However, as the months passed and the Pacers' health improved, Allen's minutes — and unsurprisingly, his production — dropped.
By February, Allen had become an afterthought in the rotation and appeared in only two games the whole month.
Allen, who also signed a one-year deal with the Pacers last summer, evaluated his season as one marked by inconsistency.
"Up and down," Allen said. "It was really all about staying ready. I had bad games, I had good ones. Sometimes I was there in it, sometimes I wasn't. So, up and down."
Overall through the season, Allen played as the Pacers' most accurate scorer around the basket by averaging 70.7 percent on field goals attempted from 0-3 feet from the rim. Looking forward, the 6-9 Allen would fit into the mold of the smaller, quicker big man the Pacers want for next season.
"We want to play a controlled way, but we want to play a little smaller at times," Bird said. "Like Lavoy Allen, if he comes back, we'd like to get him in there more."
Maybe, maybe not
LUIS SCOLA, F, ninth season: Scola, the oldest player on the roster, may still have a future in Indianapolis.
In their still to-be-determined plans to change the offensive style, the Pacers could use Scola more as a center. In fact, Scola plays that position every summer with his Argentina national team, and excels there. Last summer in the FIBA World Cup, Scola averaged 19.5 points and 8.5 rebounds while surrounded by shooters.
In spite of their pending 35th birthdays, Indiana could use Scola and West as a front-line unit to match up with smaller, floor-spacing teams.
Bird answered, "I hope so," when asked if the team expects to re-sign Scola. However, following the Pacers' final loss, Scola sounded a bit more careful about talking of the future.
"We'll see what happens. We didn't have our exit meeting yet. I'm hoping to get some type of feedback there and some type of impression of what they want to do in the future and move on from there," Scola said Wednesday night.
When asked about his two years in Indiana, Scola responded: "It was fun. It was fun to be here. It's a good team, it's a good organization. It was a great honor to play for Larry and we'll see. It might be over, it might not. We'll see in a couple of days. Like I said, I might have a little bit better impression of what their expectations are going into the future and we'll play out the summer."
DONALD SLOAN, G, fifth season: When the Pacers' point guards became a precious commodity, Sloan arose as the third-stringer turned season-opening starter. Sloan started the first 18 games and showed flashes that he could be more than just the backup's backup. His 31 points in a Nov. 5 loss to Washington stood as the highest scoring game from a Pacer for four months. However, Sloan was only a 36.9 percent shooter as a starter and certainly did not seem like a player Frank Vogel wanted to rely on. As soon as second-stringer C.J. Watson returned to health, Vogel dropped Sloan completely out of the rotation in favor of starting Watson and playing Stuckey as the backup point guard.
However – and this could be Sloan's salvation – the Pacers want to play faster. And since the team liked Sloan's pace and speed so much that they re-signed him a year ago, one could predict how his skill set could be useful for the 2015-16 Pacers.
Out the door
C.J. WATSON, G, ninth season: Watson performs as a serviceable backup point guard with career averages of 7.8 points on 42.5 percent shooting, but there's a reason he'll be looking for his fourth team in five years.
This season, Watson missed 24 games, including the final six, due to injuries. Watson endured several lingering issues, including his sore feet and finally his right elbow.
"I can't shoot, so it's a lot of pain," Watson said after the season. "I can't even dribble or nothing like that. It's hard to even play basketball to help anybody. I couldn't get on the court to be effective."
Even last year, Watson missed 17 games through March and April with a hamstring issue. Due to Watson's limited time on the court during important stretches of the season, Bird does not foresee re-signing him.
"I don't think so. I don't think I'll bring him back," Bird said. "I like him as a kid and a player, but he hasn't played much in the last 20 games each season."
CHRIS COPELAND, F, fourth season: Copeland looks like the kind of player who could thrive in the Pacers' new system next season; a 6-9 player who can stretch the floor should have a place somewhere in the rotation. However, that player won't likely be Copeland.
This season, second-year forward Solomon Hill got the starting nod over Copeland. Then, sharpshooting rookie Damjan Rudež replaced Copeland in the rotation.
From mid-January until April, Copeland earned only spot minutes in blowout games. Then on April 8, Copeland's season officially came to an end after he was stabbed outside of a New York nightclub. During his exit meeting, the Pacers shared few hints about whether they have plans to bring him back. So through the summer as Copeland recovers from his injuries, he will likely stay busy looking for another team.
Call Star reporter Candace Buckner at (317) 444-6121. Follow her on Twitter: @CandaceDBuckner.