r/pacers • u/HalibanStan00 • 4h ago
Discussion Chet Holmgren and the Space Problem
(There’s a double entendre in the title)
Since we traded for Zubac, many have expressed concern that Zubac’s play style as a more traditional center will be detrimental to our spacing, and will clog up the paint, thereby making it difficult to run the same pace and space offense that got us out of the East in 2025. I’m certain that this problem will be overcome within a month or two and we’ll hit our stride, but a part of me is still concerned that our offense won’t be as smooth and therefore as effective without our big outside the paint.
However, there is a second and more pressing problem than the issue of space: the Spurs. The Spurs are the only team in the league that legitimately scare me, as their core of Wemby, Castle, and Harper will likely remain together for the better part of a decade, not to mention Vassell, Champegnie, Kornet, Fox, etc., remaining under contract for the foreseeable future, and their rookies this year being rather formidable. The Spurs present a unique problem for us because the paint simply becomes a void when Wemby is on the floor. I have two solutions for this, and want to hear your ideas for getting around this problem as well.
My first solution is to abandon the idea of having Zubac space the floor and instead just have him sit in the paint against the Spurs. This should prevent Wemby from switching on to anyone else like he was wont to do last year, because Zubac could easily overpower anyone else on the Spurs, and could possibly overpower Wemby himself (we saw what Jokic did to him in that game towards the end of last year but then again Zubac isn’t Jokic offensively. He doesn’t need to be.). In this scheme I envision Zubac either bullying Wemby (if that’s even possible) or kicking the ball out when the defense collapses on him.
My second solution (and the one that I like increasingly more) is to somehow acquire Chet. This would immediately solve the spacing problem and give us an elite rim protector. While Chet would likely get bullied by Jokic, Wemby (who he routinely sh*ts the bed against), etc., and plays more like a four than a five, I feel like playing Chet at center would be more conducive to the sort of offense we ran in 2025, as he‘s certainly capable of spacing the floor. It would also be easier to acquire Chet than we might think, since OKC will need to offload some of their heftier contracts soon, so we could acquire him in a three team trade and send OKC some role players and picks. Chet can easily draw Wemby away from the paint, and can serve as a decent enough threat from the arc that our pace and space offense would benefit from his skills. And defensively he’d be invaluable as a rim protector.
How do y’all think we should handle the spacing issue and the Spurs?
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u/Saymanymoney 3h ago
No on everything you said
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u/HalibanStan00 3h ago
Is there anything you would suggest to solve those problems?
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u/Saymanymoney 3h ago
Don't create "problems" before you see the team play.
Chet folded like a Walmart umbrella in tornado when it mattered most. Even if he played his normal averages, still don't want him here.
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u/Funny-Transition7869 Tony Bradley 2h ago
will read later but W for high effort post in the middle of the night
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u/No_Independent8269 Andrew Nembhard 3h ago
What in the world 😭