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Y’all are truly hating. Post All-Star break we were #1 in the league in defensive efficiency and had the #3 record in the East. How does everyone assume we will still be fighting for the 8th seed with this same hungry team?

Indiana lost 5 of its top 8 rotation guys this off-season, including the three guys who played the most minutes last season. Malcolm Brogdon has never started a full season in the NBA and Oladipo is currently injured and will likely miss the start of the season. I think we'll be better than them this season.

Might sound too optimistic to some but for myself I fully expect our team to be fighting for homecourt next season. If we can stay relatively injury free and our internal development that I'm expecting comes to fruition I honestly believe we are gonna be a real good team. Continuity is going to he massive for us. If Kahwi goes Lakers the East is wide open

Gordon, hes 90 mil cheaper and plays two ways with improving playmaking abilities

I think this is a year for both Isaac and Gordon. In the case of Gordon tho, he really started to shine in the playoffs and I would love to see that growth continue. If he can build off of his post season, I think we really got something on our hands with Gordon. Bamba and Fultz are x-factors. Even assume that Fultz comes back 100% healthy from day 1, he's still been out for a full year. He's gonna need time to get back into the full swing of things. And Bamba is still raw. I think they can both be a catalyst that propels our team to another level, but even best case scenario is unlikely to be this year. If we want solid improvement this year, it will come from Gordon and Isaac, my money is on Gordon taking the biggest jump. For the future beyond this year, it will come from Fultz and Bamba. If those latter 2 pan out the way we think they can, our money in Vuc won't matter because we will have our guys.

We got Fournier though...

And you're truly loving, assuming that this team will be hungry by default :). We've seen this before, unfortunately...

No way. I don’t see the offense changing much from what it was last year. and the bench will remain he Terrence Ross one man show

Mr. Vucevic, I would like to introduce you to Mr. Bamba, your replacement hopefully sooner rather than later. Plodding slow footed big men do not fit today's NBA. Anybody see Bogut against Toronto. If you blinked you would have missed it because he could not compete. Reminded me of Vuc vs Toronto. Not sure when Bamba will be NBA ready but he needs to get meaningful minutes this year regardless of Vuc's contract. One thing is certain, if they don't play or you show no confidence in them to play, you will never know. Clifford has an athletic 7 footer with a 7'10" wingspan. Hard to screw that up!

You're being too optimistic. We caught a ton of breaks last season. Health. Opponents being unhealthy. Etc. Top 4 basically means 50 wins. A good point. This is why I get heartburn when I see images of Vuch with a smug look on his face, knowing he got away with something he does not deserve because he didn't win games by himself. As someone else mentioned, other teammates were not able to get involved by playing up tempo because they had to slow the game down to feed slow-foot Vuch, making it appear that the team had to rely solely on him for scoring. All this talk from Vuch about wanting to help the team build on their accomplishments from last season is "bull". All-Star, contract year. . .Oh, he knew what he what was doing. So, now he is set for 4 years and don't have anything to prove. My 2 cents.

I'm not a huge Fournier guy but man you guys are swinging this way too far.

Nik would do really well on GS.

You're being too optimistic. We caught a ton of breaks last season. Health. Opponents being unhealthy. Etc. Top 4 basically means 50 wins.

You have to have an elite defense because our offense sucks. Hence wanting lamb over aminu.

They got jeremy lamb and TJ warren. You are not giving this 2 guys enough credit. Warren is a legit player. A line up of: Brogdon, Warren , Oladipo, Lamb, Sabonis, Turner, Bitadze and Holiday is pretty decent. Not to mention that they will likely sign Rubio in the next few days. They are as good if not better than last season. I see Brooklyn, toronto(with and without leonard), Boston, Pacers, Milwaukee, miami and Sixers above us. Then you have Detroit, Magic and Cleveland fighting for the 8 spot. I think we are going to be in the same position as last year. I said this with a grain of salt as I dont know exact status on Fultz and Bamba.

Healthy Indiana won't exist for another year

Us multiple years when Elfrid Payton would go play like an All-Star a month after we were eliminated.

I'm concerned as to how Al-farouq Aminu will fit on the Magic. Sure, he was a starter for Portland, but he also plays sf and pf. He kind of remind me of Andrew Nicholson. He seems to play in slow motion and boring to watch. Whoopee! It's going to be an exciting season to watch Magic basketball with Aminu and Vuch on our team.