Mailbag: A few of my favorite Pacers things

And other basketball-related musings

By: Caitlin Cooper I @C2_Cooper

Judging by the questions that were sent in this month, the majority of you seem ready to stop dwelling on the past of heart-breaking injuries and the circumstances by which a certain center absconded in favor of, well, asking me a bunch of stuff about my favorite stuff - ranging from play-types and junk defenses to memories, both past and present. What a welcome breath of fresh air, especially with how thick the air is outside. Of course, since it's most definitely the middle of summer, deep in the heart of the offseason portion of the offseason, there were also plenty of questions about rotation decisions for next season, along with what sort of developments should be expected and from which players.

So, without further ado, join me in donning Blue & Gold-colored sunglasses as we gaze into sunnier times for the Pacers, diving not into a swimming pool -- but rather, the cool and refreshing comforts of the great indoors, presented via mailbag.

James: What's a tiny stylistic detail that you enjoyed about the team this past season that you didn't get a chance to write about?

How good they were at self-organizing and self-correcting on the fly -- especially after plays broke down or failed. Just consider this possession against the Knicks. Generally speaking, when the ball-handler defender ducks under, there can be a tendency for possessions to stall out when the offense is committed to attacking through re-screens.

The Pacers, known for their tempo between actions, didn't have that type of patience. Rather than waiting for the big to set a second ball-screen after the first screen was neutralized, Andrew Nembhard pivoted into a hand-off for Tyrese Haliburton that effectively almost functions like an impromptu, inverted stack action, as the big can also be seen setting a back-screen on the (now) screener defender.

Then again, since the Knicks switched the hand-off, the back-screen from the big really just turns out to be a screen for Haliburton as the ball-handler. And, oh hey, guess what? The Knicks aren't going to duck under against Haliburton. Problem solved! (Also, as a side note, notice how Josh Hart isn't in position to tag at the nail after switching onto Nembhard at the top of the key). This is a big part of what made that team so tough to guard. They didn't stop playing after plays and they didn't need plays to keep playing.

(sigh)

Really going to miss watching the spur-of-the-moment moments that the Haliburton-Nembhard back-court duo was so capable of spurring on in tandem.

SGD: What are your favorite "junk" defenses in the NBA? Not man-to-man, 2-3, or 3-2, at least in normal settings (e.g. Even Mobley/a big at the top of the 3-2 counts as a "junk" defense). Of course, this will probably be player-dependent.

Defenses that are concealed by defense. Brooklyn played a 2-2-1 press against the Pacers that dropped back into a 2-3.

Then, on ball screens, they morphed from zone to man mid-possession, switching everything.

During the first round of the playoffs, the Bucks triggered man coverage and started switching out of 2-3 zone whenever there was a screen for the ball on Damian Lillard's side of the court. The tell-tale for this red herring was that Lillard was opposite from Haliburton in a dead-ball situation. There's no way that's what match-up Milwaukee actually wanted, unless they were planning to spring some sort of surprise wrinkle - which, surprise, they did!

Mixed defenses or hybrid defenses, in which there is some sort of booby trap (be it number of passes, the position of the ball, or a specific action) that flips the switch on whether zone or man is being played were very quietly a growing trend last season, as teams continue to search for ways to defend space, as much as players, while also potentially masking weak links. Peeling back the hidden layers of what type of defense is being played can be difficult to determine on re-watch, let alone when reacting in real-time -- especially when deployed in small doses as an attempt to steal points or possessions coming out of a quarter or after a timeout. Indecisiveness is a defense's best friend. If the defense looks like one thing and turns out to be another, that creates confusion and can put strain on the offense.

Mark Morrell: As a new subscriber (as of the playoffs) but a long-time reader of Indy Cornrows and earlier chat rooms (I was a regular on the 90s IndyStar Pacers forums), I'd like to get to know you a little better. These are probably familiar questions for the old-timers and regulars, but I'd love to hear you talk about a few things: (1) Earliest Pacer memory (2) Defining moment in the life of your Pacer followership (3) Help us understand the method to your work (what's your work process for splicing videos, writing content, etc.)

1) I touched on this lightly in my more personal piece on "Moving on from Game 7 without letting go of Game 7," but I think I would have to say watching Reggie Miller's heroics to force double overtime in Game 5 against the New Jersey Nets in 2002. As I wrote in that article, I was very young then and several years removed from understanding much about the actual machinations of basketball, but that was probably my first real experience with the emotions of basketball. I still remember being at my grandparents' house for that game and watching my dad's reaction when Reggie's driving dunk forced double overtime -- just like I'm also always going to remember being at my parents' house and watching my dad's reaction when Tyrese Haliburton's shot bounced to the roof of Madison Square Garden to force overtime in Game 1 of the Eastern Conference Finals. From hopping in the car and going on scouting trips as a kid when he was coaching to becoming a fan of the Pacers because he was a fan of the Pacers, I've not only learned a lot about the game through his eyes; I've also come to love the game by watching the love he's always had for the game in his eyes. (Oh no, now my eyes are starting to tear up again. Go read that piece if you want to learn more.)

2) Strangely enough, it might actually be 2013 Summer League (Yes, I know how ridiculous that sounds). Off the top of my head, I wouldn't be able to tell you much about Solomon Hill's performance as a rookie for the Pacers at the Orlando Summer League, but Larry Bird did an interview during one of the games about whether he expected Danny Granger to overtake Lance Stephenson in the starting lineup after returning from injury. I submitted what was called a fan-post about the topic at Indy Cornrows. It was my first piece of "published" work. I kept writing that summer, and eventually, Tom Lewis (the site manager) asked me to come on full time and write for the main website.

Since then, the most defining moment in the life of my Pacers followership is probably the trade for Tyrese Haliburton. My work had already started to gain some traction at that point. I had written freelance pieces for Vox Media's flagship, SB Nation, as well as FiveThirtyEight, and guested on more podcasts than I can count, but the article I wrote about his jump passing, which I earmarked as a summer project after he had only played four games for the Pacers, changed the trajectory of whatever you call what I do. I've said this before, but the fact that he's been willing to shoutout my work, whether on podcasts, from the podium, on X (formerly Twitter), or by rocking my merch, says a lot more about who he is as a person than it does about the quality of my work. Still, his generosity with his platform has played a big part in my ability to build this platform.

3) I'm always looking for abnormalities -- good, bad, or otherwise. "What's different and why" is my motto, along with trying my best to always be curious and pay attention. For example, I noticed in Game 4 of the NBA Finals that the Pacers were tagging with the low-man against the pick-and-pop, which is an atypical rotation.

At the time, I wasn't sure if that was just a one-off with Haliburton breaking from scheme and roaming on a whim or if that was the scheme. So, I kept watching for a similar scenario to play out again. And, sure enough, when Chet Holmgren popped to the top of the key, there was Haliburton rotating up as the low-man, even at the risk of exposing the dunker spot.

Once a pattern like that has been established, I'll start asking myself what the reason would be for the change. In that case, given that the player at the weak-side wing is normally who would be responsible for tagging or stunting against the pop, the tweak in coverage seemed likely to be a means by which to keep their best defenders home against Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and Jalen Williams when they were one pass away while also throwing off the natural quirks and rhythms of the offense by sending help from an unnatural location. Notably, when Haliburton suddenly popped up against the pop, neither Isaiah Hartenstein nor Holmgren exactly looked prepared to look for cutters. In that way, being able to break the norms of defense without compromising the defense can be a powerful generator of indecisiveness -- also know as, in reference to my prior response, a defense's best friend.

From there, if I think I can explain what I found interesting in an interesting way, I go into "Hey, look at this cool thing the Pacers did" mode and then poof, just like Haliburton appearing as if from nowhere as the tagger, a blog shows up in your inbox. Enjoy!

Patrick Fagan: Do the Pacers need another veteran point guard for next season?

As I laid out in my Summer League and offseason recap video podcast with Samson, I don't exactly have a favorite among RayJ Dennis, Quenton Jackson, and Kam Jones for third string point guard as of now.

Jackson started eight games last season, but he is ideally a dynamic slasher rather than a lead initiator, which is why RayJ's presence made everything a bit more fluid than what was the case at Summer League a year ago, when the primary ball-handling responsibilities were divvied up between Jackson, Jarace Walker, and Tristen Newton, who is no longer on the team. That said, while RayJ certainly deserves credit for steering the ship at Summer League while attacking a variety of pick-and-roll coverages and making plays for play finishers, he is a smaller guard who is very floater dependent, which projects to limit how much the defense has to move at the NBA level.

Meanwhile, as I wrote in my post about how Kam Jones is capable of running point up to a point, if the offense doesn't develop in a way that's specifically tailored to his specifications, he still generally tries to strong arm his way, with his dominant left hand, to getting his way. There's things to like about his footwork and touch, but his path to upward mobility is going to be confined if he has to confine himself to one side of the floor, especially if his pull-up shot remains erratic when he already has to compensate for his lack of burst with craft.

The problem is, there also isn't really a favorite among the current crop of free-agent point guards, who would be willing to play a third-string role. Dalano Banton, for example, has a lot of size for position as a push-pace guard, but he can really struggle with deceleration which means he doesn't finish near as well as his size would suggest, while also shooting just 32.4 percent from three last season (a career-high!) and not making many second-side reads.

Last season, the Pacers played 1964 minutes with two of Tyrese Haliburton, Andrew Nembhard, and T.J. McConnell on the floor, outscoring opponents by 5.49 points per 100 possessions, compared to just 590 minutes with Haliburton on the floor without either of Nembhard or McConnell, in which they were outscored by 5.46 points per 100 possessions. Haliburton obviously won't be available next season, but the point remains that the Pacers were generally better with more than one point guard on the floor, which is to say nothing of what needs there might be if either Nembhard or McConnell misses time due to injury, let alone the realities of how much is going to be asked of Andrew Nembhard without his own version of Andrew Nembhard to lessen his load.

In short, the answer to this question is likely yes, but the Pacers may not have a means for providing said answer in the short-term. For now, unless a low-cost trade materializes (a la Jay Huff) or someone on another roster gets waived, they might just need to rely on playing Jackson as an extra body, who has shown he can be the extra (although, sometimes too extra) version of himself in NBA minutes, while potentially tilting more of the initiation to the wings and especially Pascal Siakam.

STC BB Fan: My question/comment is derived from your evaluation of the two guards that are returning 2-way players in the last video. While I acknowledge you and your colleague are not Pacer decision makers, I believe the line of thinking could be what the Pacers are thinking/considering. Why would the team choose to keep these 2-way players when the immediate monetary investment was in two draft picks? It seems to hinder the 2-ways opportunities to find a better path to a permanent roster spot that does not exist. Both clearly seem to be good enough to land on another team (2-way minimum) with better chance of advancing. I don’t see how they are valued by the Pacers because of the draft picks that are older rookies. Also, their presence could block time for the new picks in real games as both play the same position. Jackson, in particular, played enough last year (3 wins and 4 losses as a starter) for a determination to have been made by the Pacers but he’s held hostage by the QO process, kept on a 2-way, and may/will be asked to play more NBA games and rotation minutes than Jones, if kept around this year. To summarize, it appears that the Pacers could have either saved draft capital this year and let this year be a proving year for the returning 2-ways OR sign a backup vet combo guard and draft two guards as they did.

This piggybacks off my last answer with regard to whether the Pacers need to sign a veteran point guard. To repeat, the answer is probably yes, but that doesn't mean that an answer is readily available right now. As you noted, Quenton Jackson played NBA minutes last season. If they need him or RayJ Dennis to play NBA minutes again, until they can find a more surefire third-string point guard, both are capable. If they prove more than capable, then (theoretically) the Pacers could waive Tony Bradley and promote either to a standard contract. If not, that roster spot will still be "open" in the event that a more enticing, third-string point guard shakes loose via trade, the buyout market, etc.

Kam Jones, meanwhile, doesn't exactly look ready for that role at the current juncture, so there's reason to keep Jackson and Dennis as stop-gap options -- at least in my opinion.

Sam Osborne: Last pod you and Samson discussed the importance of cutting. I was wondering what former Pacers players (go as far back as you want) you would say were elite at cutting?

There were a lot of things not to like about the 2020-21 Nate Bjorkgren-coached Indiana Raptors (Yes, "Raptors" was used very intentionally there), but the lyricism that existed between Domantas Sabonis and Doug McDermott at least provided a reprieve from the simultaneously hyper-aggressive and under-baked coverages at the other end of the floor that were indicative more of the (Raptors) team he wanted than the Pacers team he had.

On the season, over 80 percent of McDermott's usage coming off screens was to his right, oftentimes with him starting his route around the edge of the three-point line in the left corner. For Sabonis, as a lefty, playmaking big, the fit couldn't have been more perfect, as he could oftentimes be seen dribbling with his strong hand toward the left corner to create space with contact for McDermott to rise and fire out of handoffs.

When the opposing teams starting top-locking McDermott (granted, it's debatable whether the rest of the Suns were aware that Mikael Bridges was top-locking McDermott here), Sabonis would find him cutting backdoor, via wait, fake, sprint technique, without a rim protector in sight.

Alternatively, when Sabonis received the ball at the top of the key out of a slot-to-slot pitch, McDermott would also occasionally counter for top-locking or hard denials by sandwiching his man into a short-angled, inverted pick-and-roll at the elbow. Here, Phoenix stepped out to show against Sabonis, which allowed McDermott to cut down to the short corner for two.

The only wing player in the NBA who averaged more points per game that season out of cuts than McDermott (2.5) was Michael Porter Jr. (2.6), and Sabonis and McDermott were the No. 1 assist combo on the Pacers. McDermott's fit on the team wasn't as cut-and-dry in his second stint, when his preference for moving from left to right as a shooter didn't exactly accentuate the strengths of Haliburton and McConnell as right-hand dominant guards, but there was definitely a time, at least when the circumstances aligned, that he was on the cutting edge of the team's top cutters -- at least during my writing tenure (sorry, Reggie).

Carmen: I know it's off-season and people may be on their vacations etc., but is there any reason we haven't heard any talk FROM Jay Huff? Also, am I the only one that actually LIKED the idea of keeping the two people we let go: Thomas Bryant and Enrique Freeman for the same reasons: hustle.

I have no words to offer as to why there haven't been any words from Jay Huff (sorry!). As for the two "centers" who weren't kept, the concerns that were laid out in my Summer League primer about Enrique Freeman weren't exactly allayed by his play at actual Summer League.

There's no questioning his motor, but there were times where, no matter how much he revved it, he couldn't overpower bigger fives around the basket or locate potential passing outlets with his back to the basket.

To his credit, in the final consolation game, he played more minutes at the four next to a red-hot Robert Baker, and there were some bright spots defensively where he shined as a mobile 6-foot-7 forward instead of an undersized 6-foot-7 center, at times jump-switching onto the ball, defending at the level of a secondary screen, and closing out to the opposite corner all on the same possession. Still, in order to play the four offensively, he needs to be able to put the ball on the floor, and his handle didn't often power him to dangerous spots on the floor.

For example, this play was supposed to be a hammer screen from Baker for Keisei Tominaga to fade to the corner or at the very least occupy the help, but Freeman doesn't turn the corner after coming off the Iverson cut so he just ends up turning the ball back the other way.

In addition to his position, there also continued to be some question about his positioning within the offense after setting a screen or making a pass. For example, when Kam Jones rejects the screen on his right to attack left (as he so often does), it would be preferable for Freeman to pop rather than diving to the block -- especially when that corner is already filled.

As you note, he's almost always hustles, but he doesn't always hustle to the right spot. All of which suggests that there probably wasn't going to be a clear pathway to playing time for him as a short-limbed center unless, like last season, the team was severely short-handed.

As for Thomas Bryant, he's always going to have Game 6 against the Knicks in the Eastern Conference Finals when he made three threes in 13 minutes off the bench as a contrast to some of the spacing concerns with Tony Bradley, but Tony Bradley also edged him out of the rotation for rebounding reasons, as well as the fact that Bryant wasn't always providing the most sturdy edge to the defense. Isaiah Jackson is more malleable defensively. Jay Huff is also a floor-spacing big who can run the floor and protect the rim -- at least when his radius is kept close to the basket, and James Wiseman, while there's certainly reason to question his stamina and feel at both ends of the floor, has more size for position.

Again, the Pacers may not have a long-term option at the center spot (yet), but they have a lot of divergent options, of which none, including Obi Toppin as a small-ball five, seem likely to have been permanently and/or decisively leap-frogged by Bryant or Freeman -- presuming they're all still capable of doing plenty of leaping.

Andrew: If you needed to make a set rotation right now, what do you think it would look like? My inclination would be Nembhard (PG) - Mathurin (SG) - Aaron (SF) - Pascal (PF) - IJax (C) as starters, and then TJ (PG2) - Shep (SG2) - Jarace (SF2) - Obi (PF2) - Huff (C2).

Nembhard, Nesmith, and Siakam are the locks in the starting lineup. The center spot is too difficult to predict without knowing how Isaiah Jackson looks, beyond his added muscle. Organizationally, the answer at the two-guard spot likely needs to be Mathurin to start the season, even if doesn't ultimately end up still being Mathurin at the end of the season. It might! It also might not! Last season, moving him back to the bench made sense, especially after the team returned home from their road trip in which they got outscored 145-86 in the first quarter of the four games they played out west, trailing by at least 10 points in each of the four opening frames. Nesmith is a better fifth starter than Mathurin, and Mathurin is a better sixth man than Nesmith.

It also begs pointing out that the Pacers have barely outscored opponents by just 0.36 points per 100 possessions in the 2911 regular-season minutes that Haliburton and Mathurin have played together since Mathurin was drafted. Also, Mathurin's usage swung from a team-high 26.4 percent in 778 minutes without Haliburton last season to 20.9 in 1372 minutes with Haliburton. Haliburton prefers to pass and Mathurin prefers to score, but that doesn't always equate to them being perfect complements, when one more so excels out of scripted actions with the ball in his hands where the other prefers to ad lib while keeping the ball moving.

That said, Haliburton isn't expected to play next season, and if Mathurin continues to come off the bench in a contract year, that could signal to the rest of the league that the Pacers view him topping out as a bench scorer -- which might weaken their negotiating position in trades if he doesn't reach agreement on an extension, although he would still be a restricted free agent. Of course, that's all extremely hypothetical, but there's reason to think that, as was the case ahead of the 2023-24 season when he was penciled in as the starter over Buddy Hield, the job should be his to lose.

As was alluded to above, and expanded on in the piece about the addition of Jay Huff, there isn't exactly anyone on the roster who is capable of doing for Andrew Nembhard what Andrew Nembhard did for Tyrese Haliburton, but there might be some legs to finding out to what degree Mathurin can preserve the new starting point guard's legs.

When Haliburton sat out the two-game miniseries in Atlanta, Mathurin ended up finishing the game assigned to Trae Young, which was telling for a number of reasons: 1) Nembhard didn't have to apply extended ball pressure in crunch-time while also being defended as lead initiator by Dyson Daniels at the other end of the floor, 2) Mathurin didn't have to do that much actual guarding of Young in the half-court with Siakam switching on screening actions, and 3) Nembhard is a top-two, and might not be two, off-ball defender on the team, as is evidenced by him pointing for Mathurin to load up at the nail on the isolation from Young against Siakam.

Meanwhile, Mathurin finished with 30 points, eight rebounds, and five assists in that game. If defenders the caliber of Daniels are going to duck under entire actions against Nembhard to test his pull-up shooting, then Mathurin's downhill scoring ability may be necessary to grease the wheels of an offense that might occasionally loose some traction.

Also, if Isaiah Jackson looks like Isaiah Jackson, and the team switches more frequently, then some of the quibbles with Mathurin's screen navigation might not be quite as pronounced as when he's expected to chase over and doesn't exactly get over (or veer back into the play). If not, Ben Sheppard looms as a more surefire ball-pressure guard, as was the case in the Eastern Conference Finals a year ago against Boston, but the other Benn, who wasn't available then, should arguably be the option, particularly for organizational reasons, to prove how available, in a basketball sense, he can be now.

Eric: My question is more of a big picture one for the Pacers over this next two-year stretch. Obviously this year will be a bit different for the Pacers without Haliburton, but consensus says the silver lining is that it will provide a larger runway for the younger guys (Nembhard, Mathurin, Walker, Furphy) to have the ball more and grow their games. However one player that I have not heard talk about is Aaron Nesmith. Do you foresee him having any larger roles offensively from a shot creation perspective? He fit the starting lineup so seamlessly as a shooter who got better shooting off of one dribble and attacking closeouts, but where will you be curious to see his improvement in 2025-2026 and how that could help the team when Tyrese comes back?

Look back at the clips against Atlanta from the prior response and make note of who Trae Young is guarding: Aaron Nesmith. The same was the case in the Eastern Conference Finals against the Knicks, when Nesmith went from setting one (yes, one) ball screen while being guarded by Jalen Brunson during the regular season to setting 74 (yes, 74) during the playoffs.

Of course, the calculus is certainly different when Mikael Bridges is chasing over against Haliburton, with Brunson just sorta there, allowing the split, as opposed to Daniels ducking under the entire action against Nembhard.

If Mathurin starts at the two, Nesmith is likely going to be who gets guarded by the Trae Youngs, Jalen Brunsons, and the like. That was to his benefit in the playoffs, as teams generally didn't want their weaker links or star guards navigating around a bunch of picks against Nembhard, who at times was operating as the starting point guard when Haliburton was face-guarded. In turn, Nesmith had much more of size advantage than what was the case a year ago, when he was more often defended by Khris Middleton, Jaylen Brown, Jayson Tatum, Josh Hart, and Alec Burks as opposed to Donovan Mitchell, A.J. Green, Kyle Kuzma, Darius Garland, Gary Trent Jr., and Damian Lillard. With that height advantage, he shot 44.6 percent on 56 guarded three-point attempts, compared to 24.1 on 29 attempts during the prior run. But again, that was with Haliburton.

This isn't just a quick show from Trae Young to avoid giving up the switch, Daniels is ducking under both the screen and the screener defender (twice!), which works to contain attacking guards while also taking away the short-roll and shortening closeouts for tertiary defenders.

That's a situation where, with the entire side of the floor cleared out against the smallest defender on the floor, Nesmith might need to stretch his longer legs in space rather than just attacking against closeouts or out of spot-up situations.

Nesmith shot 53.7 percent on twos after the All-Star Break last season, but only five guards in the entire NBA who appeared in at least 40 games and averaged over 20 minutes per game were assisted on a higher percentage of their twos for the season than him.

Circling back to the very first question in this mailbag, life without Haliburton won't just be different for Nesmith as a screener, it will also be different for Nembhard in terms of reigniting the offense against the under with an impromptu pitch.

In that regard, how Nembhard's pull-up shooting shakes out will likely be key to how much shake is required or needed from Nesmith.

Lifenthusiast: What were some of your proudest moments of watching, in-person, arguably the crowning moments of the franchise’s history, not just as a lifelong fan but as a self-made businesswoman, earning every minute of your credentialed feet-on-the-ground coverage?

Without going into too much detail, it's probably everything encapsulated in this photo.

Samson took that with his camera ahead of Game 4. While not visible for security reasons, the credential hanging around my neck says, "Basketball, She Wrote" -- which is extra special because this is mine. Thanks to all of you, Samson and I both got to represent my tiny corner of the internet on basketball's biggest stage, and just like the lights that are shining brightly in the background, the lights are still shining brightly on my writing home as well -- never again to be turned off, unless and if I decide to turn them off. Last week, that same photo was used in an interview I did with Huge Fan on Basketball, She Wrote -- as both a business and community. Needless to say, a lot has changed since my formative memory of Pacers basketball, when I was writing a fan-post about 2013 Summer League, hoping that someday, maybe, I might get to write for the main platform, let alone build my own.

attaché: Have you watched The Princess Bride yet? (from Anonymous in Indy)

For longtime listeners of the podcast banter, I have indeed watched the film -- as Samson (ahem) "wished." I texted him on movie night, and he said he expected a full review at Basketball, She Wrote. Well, he's not getting a full review "as he wished," but I will share that he was correct about my appreciation for the dialogue. Those familiar with our off-topic conversations on the podcast might remember that I'm a big fan of point-and-click adventure games, especially Grim Fandango and the Monkey Island series, both of which make me smile with their deadpan humor and irreverence for their own genre (i.e. The Contest of Seriousness! The journey to find Big Whoop!). The Princess Bride is very similar ("Have fun storming the castle!").

In keeping with that theme, I decided to show irreverence for my own genre -- or at least my own patron-only popsicle genre. Rather than spotlighting a gourmet concoction made with fresh, real fruit, this is frozen lemonade, dyed to look blue, with sea-dwelling gummy worms.

The intention was to recreate the shrieking eels scene from The Princess Bride, when Buttercup dives overboard on Vizzini's ship in an attempt to escape her kidnappers only to be immediately reeled back in after nearly turning into lunch for the carnivorous eels. Please appreciate the "inconceivable" realism!

Much like the movie, I'm not sure I would partake of this again (it certainly gave me a lot to "chew" on), but I'm happy to have reveled in the zany departure from the norm just this once. There's probably an analogy here somewhere for the Pacers next season, too. It's going to be different than any of us expected, and you probably wouldn't want multiple seasons of it in a row (although the popsicle was tastier than expected), but fun will be had even as there will also inevitably be some gummy spots to navigate. Who knows? By the end, we might even be like the grandson at the end of The Princess Bride, who was suddenly glad that the grandpa read him the story, despite the fact he was sick.

We can only "wish."

In the meantime, thanks for indulging this absurdity, enjoying the great indoors as we dove into the deep Blue & Gold sea of questions about the Pacers and basketball before wrapping up with gummy worm popsicles in a way that only "Basketball, She Wrote" would. This publication is unlike any other and I'm very grateful that the same applies to this community.