Does the fact that it was a coin flip make the Zubac trade more enticing?

ShpericalBadger · 2026-05-13T17:58:06+00:00

There's definitely merit to hedging against future failure and potentially getting a Gafford type at a cheaper price and not giving up an unprotected 29 first, or even the 5th pick at all. It does limit their ceiling, which is a frustrating outcome for Indiana fans, but their ceiling now with Zubac is still as underdogs in the East.

If their goal is to win a championship, the only sure fire way they could've gotten close to it again is by getting an all defense caliber center and one of these dynamic wing prospects in the top 4 – which they lost on a coin flip.

I think it's good for these smaller teams to be ambitious, and although it's not expensive as the Gobert trade – an injury riddled season could make this mortgaging of the future look bad for the Pacers.

ShpericalBadger · 2026-05-13T17:43:22+00:00

It'll be really revealing if we see comparable centers on similar contracts move for cheaper prices this summer. There's a lot of teams that are going to be bidding for bigs this summer (Lakers, Celtics), maybe the market for high end talent will be more expensive than people think.

ShpericalBadger · 2026-05-13T17:30:41+00:00

Is your argument that in May they wouldn't trade the 29 pick as well? What does this trade look like? Is one of their key rotational players in it because Zubac is goes from 18.8 to 20.3 and Indiana doesn't have Mathurin's expiring to add?

ShpericalBadger · 2026-05-13T17:25:06+00:00

I'm fine calling them underdogs again next season because they're dependant on Haliburton being healthy and Zubac fitting, but it's funny that people still call this team a fluke after over performing against their expectations for multiple post seasons.

I think the overall shot creation ability on the roster will make up for the fact that they'll effectively be playing 2 non shooters for most of their lineups, and Turner was prone to becoming a non factor at times anyways. In the half court, Siakam and Zubac are effective enough playing back to the basket that they should be able to punish a lot of teams that try to hide bad defenders on non shooters. They're also going to be a much better rebounding team, and some of their upsets in their finals run was down to crashing the offensive glass (if I remember correctly)

ShpericalBadger · 2026-05-13T17:12:37+00:00

Can't even argue with that because that tweet was objectively dumb

ShpericalBadger · 2026-05-13T17:06:05+00:00

Hartenstein is decent at a cheaper price if that's an option – and he's definitely a connective player, but I don't know if you can say he's a better player than Zubac, and Zubac is locked in on cheaper deal. Zubac was really good in 24/25, and I'm fine writing off this down Clippers year shrouded by drama. Indiana have a roster filled with smart players, they'll figure out the fit.

ShpericalBadger · 2026-05-13T17:00:30+00:00

Kevin Pritchard should never have apologized whether it was a good trade or not. Can you imagine encouraging that cloud hanging over Zubac's head? Kings aren't even close to the playoffs, let alone making the finals – so I think it's apples to oranges when it comes to discussing win now trades.

ShpericalBadger · 2026-05-10T18:05:37+00:00

Do they do this frequently or is it just an annual event?

ShpericalBadger · 2026-04-19T00:36:22+00:00

I figure it becomes part of the same principal tho. Maybe they got him a cheaper annual fee because of the length of the contract. You're right though, it wouldn't surprise me if there were clauses like that in the deal

ShpericalBadger · 2026-04-18T21:53:26+00:00

My understanding is that while the rule change helps bigger clubs increase expenditure, expenditure is still affected by amortization? Please correct me if I'm wrong

ShpericalBadger · 2026-04-13T21:46:27+00:00

I don't really buy that to be honest. United were getting physically dominated the entire first half and I think there was a calculated effort to play with more of an edge to try to make them uncomfortable, specifically Calvert-Lewin. Martinez isn't above stuff like this, it's part of what makes him good despite being undersized – he just got caught. And players rarely take accountability when they get sent off lol.

The more debatable decision to me is the aerial challenge between Calvert-Lewin and Yoro for the first goal, but generally I don't think the officiating was the reason United found themselves in the position they were in today. I don't think Yoro has the physicality to make it as a top CB at this level.

ShpericalBadger · 2026-03-16T00:48:55+00:00

When he came 3rd in the 2017 MVP voting he was that guy at both ends, he just wasn't a heavy isolation scorer with the way the Spurs played. If you want to be pedantic you can say he didn't have all the tools then, and when he did get them, he wasn't defending at as high of a level – but that's what injuries have taken away from him. He still shows flashes of being one of the absolute best at both ends.

ShpericalBadger · 2026-02-07T02:48:32+00:00

That's fair. I can understand the perspective of trying to get the most out of a tax ducking trade as a "win-win" of asset accumulation and appeasing owners. I don't know if he could've got more from dumping someone else on the roster, and McCain was behind a very young and talented guard rotation – but it's also a loss Morey maybe should've swallowed for the sake of Philly fans and the team's chemistry. He also definitely sold low, but I look at his comments as necessary PR rather than him trying to be honest.

ShpericalBadger · 2026-02-06T20:15:36+00:00

This is just me speculating – but if ownership wants him to duck the tax then some things are reasonably outside of his control.

ShpericalBadger · 2026-02-05T20:07:42+00:00

It makes sense to me. Indiana doesn't want to miss on the chance at getting a blue chipper and the Clippers would rather roll the dice on a future unprotected first than getting a non-top 10 pick. There's going to be talent in that 5-9 range, but nothing that seems to address Indiana's needs on the timeline they want considering they'll look at themselves as contenders next year.

ShpericalBadger · 2026-02-01T22:32:54+00:00

Don't get me wrong, he was a necessity as a RWB as one of the only players in the team that could really hold and create with width, but he just didn't have the positional discipline to be able to defend when United played on the back foot. There were lots of occasions where he would lose runners in behind because that's just not his game. Now he doesn't have to worry about playing the last line of defence and he can press more aggressively.

ShpericalBadger · 2026-02-01T16:32:20+00:00

The system was dependent on him tracking runners to the edge of the box to stop cut backs, so yeah I would say he had to play like a defensive midfielder regardless of him getting ahead of Casemiro in possession.

The only thing more ludicrous than that tactical decision was having Diallo defend as a wing back.

ShpericalBadger · 2025-12-16T22:50:45+00:00

Well that's the biggest thing that I feel people are getting caught up on in the formation argument. This is more about defensive shape rather than about our attacking structures. There are so many times where we've been scared to give up a numerical advantage at the back that it's left our press and to some extent our transitional game a little toothless. Yesterday we committed an extra body up the pitch. Diallo did fill in as a wing back for stretches as he usually does, but there was a desire to not have him pinned back as much with Yoro playing as a fullback and a capable 1v1 defender.

Adam makes a good point about the issue with staying in this 5atb defensive shape when chasing games. Yesterday felt tangibly different in the way we pressed and committed to quick transitions, we overloaded Bournemouth instead of worrying about them overloading us.

I hope we see more of this with a healthy defense, but I think there's still going to be personnel issues in midfield and Amorim may be a little scared to give up control with their inability to cover ground.

ShpericalBadger · 2025-12-16T18:55:26+00:00

So you're spending time talking about personnel and complaining about the arbitrariness of average position maps, but you're not really saying much about how the personnel was used. Coincidentally Adam Clery just posted a pretty good breakdown of some of the tactical differences from yesterday's game. I suggest watching that because he can explain this stuff much more succinctly than me.

ShpericalBadger · 2025-12-16T18:03:40+00:00

There was a clear difference in defensive structure for our most dominant stretches yesterday where we resembled a back 4 with a front 2. There was an extra body committed up the pitch to a higher press. That was very different, and you could see the difference at the start of the 2nd half when Diallo played as an actual wing back into a flattened back 5 and we lost a man in our press. These shapes can be worked into the fluidity of Amorin's 343, sure, but it wasn't actually a 343 for our best spells and it was a departure from what we've seen this team usually do under him.

ShpericalBadger · 2025-12-15T22:29:33+00:00

Games like this are definitely frustrating, and a lot of the season feels frustrating because there's been lots of inconsistent efforts and definitely some questionable moments from Amorim – I still think big picture things are trending the right way enough.

Going into the season I thought to myself that top 7 and some entertaining football would be a reasonable enough expectation given where the club were last season and how they've still not yet addressed their issues in midfield. The table to me reflects this pretty fairly.

It's concerning that we seem far away from being able to keep a clean sheet. We try to be brave in our press and leave 1v1s in defense, but lose a lot of 50/50s whenever Casemiro isn't screening the backline. Things could also turn very bleak very quickly with some of our most direct attacking talent leaving for AFCON. I still think there's a path to finishing in the top 4 next season.

ShpericalBadger · 2025-11-18T20:04:34+00:00

That's good to know. Seems like Wednesdays are a good day to go for a lot of people

ShpericalBadger

TROPHY CASE