Orlando Magic facing stiff competition for league’s best coaches

Taking on the middle

6. Indiana Pacers

While the teams ahead of the Indiana Pacers either have high ceilings or clear championship aspirations shortly, the Pacers find themselves in the middle of the pack.

The Indiana Pacers found themselves in the play-in tournament this past season and ended up losing to the Washington Wizards in the final game for the eighth seed, but using context would tell anyone that the Pacers are better than that, however, due to injuries, they could not make it to the playoffs.

The Pacers have the talent to find themselves back in playoff position behind All-Star Domantas Sabonis. They received Caris LeVert from the Brooklyn Nets earlier this season which provides a scoring punch next to Malcolm Brogdon, T.J. Warren (returning from injury) and Jeremy Lamb once he returns from his injury.

But the Pacers still have short- and long-term questions to answer.

The question of whether or not Domantis Sabonis and Myles Turner can coexist is a question that needs answering. It should be able to work between the two players as their games are very different. Sabonis is very skilled as an offensive player, while Turner is a good rim protector and defender while providing the ability to spread the floor.

Even with the Pacers being talented, they have to ask themselves the question of whether or not they have reached their ceiling and whether or not they are good enough to beat the best of the East, such as the Nets.

With the report of the Pacers looking to interview former Magic head coach Steve Clifford, it is clear they still want to win now and compete. The question coaches have to keep in mind is how long is their window going to be open until Indiana’s front office decides to blow it up.