Skip to content

D-League season set to open Wednesday as Pacers battle 76ers

Sam Sharpe / USA Today Sports

Ostensibly, an NBA basketball game will take place in Indianapolis on Wednesday night. Viewers would be forgiven for mistaking it for something else entirely.

On the second night of the season, the Indiana Pacers are set to host the Philadelphia 76ers. Circumstances are such that neither team really resembles an NBA team, with the Pacers decimated by injuries and the Sixers exploiting the opportunities afforded a franchise willing to take short-term lumps for a long-term shot at respectability.

In a word, Wednesday's game should be ugly.

Pacer patients

Losing Paul George for the season this summer isn't the only injury to have befallen Frank Vogel's charges. The departure of Lance Stephenson looms large, too, but the biggest issue at present is an incredibly unlikely stream of minor injuries.

Power forward and presumed offensive linchpin David West is out for a handful of games with a sprained right ankle, primary ball-handler George Hill is out three weeks with a left knee contusion, and backup guard C.J. Watson is out for two weeks with a bruised right foot.

The team's two best offensive players from a year ago are unavailable, and three of their top five weapons in reserve are now on the shelf as well. 

Just how unlikely are some of the lineups that the Pacers will be forced to employ on Wednesday? Starting center Roy Hibbert only played 15 minutes all of last season without one of George, Stephenson, West, Hill, or Watson on the floor. Every look will be a new one, and a strange one.

Philly patience

The 76ers' unsightly roster is more a matter of planning than misfortune. They knew on draft night that first round pick Joel Embiid would start (and maybe finish) the season on the shelf, and their other lottery pick (Dario Saric) remains overseas.  A team that was criticized for blatantly tanking a year ago and won just 19 games has no immediate return to show for their down year.

What's more, they've gotten worse on paper, as Evan Turner, Spencer Hawes, and Thad Young are all gone. With reigning Rookie of the Year Michael Carter-Williams starting the season on the shelf as he recovers from offseason shoulder surgery, the 76ers' best player on Wednesday may be a second round pick playing on a one-year contract.

That doesn't mean they won't be fun to watch, as K.J. McDaniels, Nerlens Noel, Hollis Thompson, Jerami Grant, and Henry Sims all possess varying degrees of intrigue, but it sure won't be pretty.

Tale of the Terror

The starting units for either side aren't entirely clear, but the best guess at what each team's 10-man rotation may look like on Wednesday is...well, have a look:

Position Pacers Sixers
PG1 Rodney Stuckey Tony Wroten
SG1 C.J. Miles Hollis Thompson
SF1 Chris Copeland Chris Johnson
PF1 Luis Scola Nerlens Noel
C1 Roy Hibbert Henry Sims
PG2 Donald Sloan Alexey Shved
SG2 Solomon Hill K.J. McDaniels
SF2 Damjan Rudez Luc Mbah a Moute
PF2 Lavoy Allen Jakarr Sampson
C2 Ian Mahinmi Brandon Davies

There simply aren't combinations of those available players that make for good basketball. On the bright side, Hibbert may actually be able to score 10 points against this defense, and the Sixers are going to try and run this awkward Pacers outfit into the ground. And get that money, Rodney Stuckey.

Over 82 games, this won't be entertaining. For a single night? If there weren't 11 other games on, it would make for some nice, voyeuristic, train-wreck viewing. Luckily for each side, it will get better...eventually.

The Pacers will get a few extra bodies back and jump from disastrous to mediocre (though we'd argue that with George out for the year and decent trade pieces in West and Hibbert, they may be better off taking the Sixers' approach). The Sixers will get Carter-Williams back, and maybe Embiid at some point, and get to see a few young players develop before adding another high lottery piece.

In the meantime, just grin and bear it.

Daily Newsletter

Get the latest trending sports news daily in your inbox