Pacers Mailbag: Team chemistry, Turner's maturity, trade deadline rumors and more

Answering Pacers questions from paid subscribers. There were a lot of ground covered here.

Tyrese Haliburton gets water dumped on him by Buddy Hield after he scored a career-high 43 points in Miami.

Each month, I’ll open it up to paid subscribers for questions. As always, you can leave your thoughts in the comments or click here to send me an email.

Thanks to all who submitted questions.

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Tyler: With how strong the team chemistry is, I see the fanbase mixed on if the front office should make any moves at the trade deadline. One thing’s for sure though, early rumors are tying the team to athletic power forwards, namely John Collins and Obi Toppin. Do you think there’s a spark in the smoke that the front office appears poised on making an upgrade at the position?

Hi Tyler, you get answer No. 1. That sentiment is something I hear a lot. The chemistry is unusually strong considering they’ve only been together since late September. That’s not something you take lightly — or for granted. They have wanted an upgrade at power forward for several years now and haven’t been solid in that position since 2019 with Thad Young. They acquired T.J. Warren in 2020 and he was productive for one season. Most forget how he led the team in scoring. But then we didn’t see him again due to injuries.

For the right price, I do believe they want to upgrade that position. They want to play fast, spread it out, execute pick-and-rolls — and all that is more difficult with two centers playing at one time, like they started the season. Keep in mind how the trade deadline, Feb. 9, is more than three weeks away. So most of the scuttlebutt you hear and read is just that. Generally, substantive talks don’t happen until several days, maybe a week out.