How Will the NBA Lockout Affect the Indiana Pacers?

The NBA lockout could not have come at a worse time for the Indiana Pacers.

Back in 2008, hardly anyone in Indianapolis would have cared had there been a season at all. Donnie Walsh had bolted for New York, leaving the Pacers a complete mess. The roster had no exciting and marketable stars, the Colts were tearing up the NFL and attendance was way down as frustrated fans were deserting in droves to watch Peyton Manning. For a "basketball city" and a perennial playoff team, the postseason and renewed success seemed a distant dream.

In short the franchise had hit rock bottom.

Three years later, the Pacers are back and once again on the cusp of challenging for recognition among the elite of the Eastern Conference. 

In 2008, given the woeful state of the franchise, Pacers fans would have probably welcomed a lockout to postpone the inevitable suffering. 

Now? The Pacers should be desperate to avoid any cancellation of play. The Pacers are back. After a gutsy effort against Chicago in the first round of last year's playoffs (a series Indy should have won), there is an excitement and a buzz surrounding the Pacers.

With a young core of solid players, the Pacers have the talent to compete. They have their leader in newly confirmed head coach Frank Vogel and they have money to spend in free agency (assuming there will be a free agency). 

Where they are lacking is experience, both individually and as a collective unit. At an average of 26.3 years of age, the Pacers are one of the younger teams in the league (expected to further decrease with coming roster moves such as the release of veterans Dahntay Jones and James Posey).

Youth is normally a plus, but with the lockout canceling both the offseason and preseason, many of the Pacers young guns have lost valuable time and practices working with the coaching staff to improve weaknesses and understand the offense.  

Roy Hibbert, one of the hardest working big men in the game and a player the Pacers are counting on to take his game to the next level, will be especially hurt developmental wise. He was supposed to be working with Brian Shaw to become a more dominant and imposing big. Same with Paul George and Lance Stephenson who were supposed to shoulder larger roles in the offense. 

For veterans with established skill sets, the rest is a godsend. For the Pacers its a disaster and only gets worse. Teams with a lot of recent turnover and roster moves get killed by shortened seasons.

Thankfully its not football, but nevertheless the Pacers have had precious few practices and games as a unit under their newly appointed coach Frank Vogel (and assistant Brian Shaw) and even fewer (aka none) with newly acquired teammate George Hill.

Last year the Pacers felt they were just coming together as a unit and seemed to click well with each other towards the end of the season. With Indy's likely aggressive activity in free agency (whenever it happens) the chemistry issues will only get worse as new players will be added and inserted into the lineup on the fly. 

For a young team forced to adapt to a lot of change and several new faces, the first few months of the offseason may well be quite rough which is a tough setback considering the positive vibes and excitement surrounding the Pacers this summer.