Vigilant Sports Pacers Podcast

Myles Turner spent the majority of the offseason down in Texas. It was home, away from distractions, and allowed for him to focus on himself. He was preparing for the final year of his rookie deal — and later reached agreement with the Pacers on a four-year extension that guaranteed him $72 million. But before then, one of the things he gave his full attention to during those hot summer days in Texas was yoga. At least twice a week, Turner would drive to The Ranch for a private session with Bridget Gibbs, owner of Yoga Body Fort Worth. This was all part of his plan to improve his mind, diet, and strength. Initially, he wasn’t feeling the yoga. However, he soon felt the benefits as they began with trapeze yoga. “I focus on trying to get you out of your head, get you out of your own way and let you be in your mat and teach you how to breath and teach you how to press through the pain, and to take your mind somewhere else,” Gibbs said. “Yoga is not necessarily an exercise; it’s more of a discipline. So we’re dis

Gordon Hayward’s last year has not been easy. Next Tuesday, Oct. 17, is the one-year anniversary of his unlucky fall in Cleveland that resulted in a broken left tibia and dislocated ankle. Jason Smeathers is Hayward’s friend and skills trainer, and has been with him for most of the last year. In Boston. In Miami. In Indianapolis. In San Diego. Smeathers picked Hayward up for workouts each day, put him through on-court workouts and served as part-time motivator and full-time friend. As part of “The Return” documentary published on The Athletic, I sat down with Smeathers to take you inside their work over the last year, the days where they just weren’t feeling it to the little things that kept them motivated. “Another one down. Great job. We’ll go back after it tomorrow,” Smeathers would often repeat to Hayward. They chose to focus on daily improvement rather than working with the big picture in mind. Improve every day became a motto for Hayward, who is 28 and in the second year of his contract with the Boston

Now that the first season of the NBA 2K League is complete, it’s a good time to take a look back at the year for Pacers Gaming. They went 5-9 and finish 13th in a 17-team league that will expand to 21 teams for Year 2. I recently visited the headquarters of Pacers Gaming, the fourth franchise for Pacers Sports & Entertainment. Like the Pacers, they work out of the St. Vincent Center – just off Delaware Street in downtown Indianapolis. It is a gorgeous $50 million facility, entirely privately financed, that has been open for just over a year. Pacers Gaming has an outstanding office featuring a great work environment with a dozen computers along with a play area that includes a ping pong table. The league played a 14-week regular season from May through August, plus three tournament. Pacers Gaming just missed out on the playoffs so their season ended on August 11. Teams consist of six players and for this group, it was the first time that 67 percent of the players on the roster played with others in the sam

It’s time for another Pacers Podcast! On this podcast, I’ll discuss my new job. Yeah … you read that correctly. You may know about it by now — and surely you have since I no longer write about the Pacers here on VigilantSports.com — but last month I officially joined The Athletic as their Pacers writer. The Athletic is the home of outstanding journalism where they prioritize the reader and the story — and don’t bother you with ads, pop-ups, meaningless video, and other things that upset readers. I’m fired up to be part of a wonderful team. The Pacers, meanwhile, have plenty of reasons to be excited for the new season. They open training camp in one week and then will tip-off the 2018-19 season at home in exactly one month against the Memphis Grizzlies. They have four preseason games but none at home (rejoice!), so you’re only chance to see this team before opening night will be at FanJam on Sept. 30 from 4:00 – 7:00 pm. Players are returning to Indy this week. It’s their last week of freedom. By now, vacation

You might as well refer to the Pacers as the Indiana Bruins. Especially so in future years when former Bruins players Aaron Holiday, T.J. Leaf, and Ike Anigobgu take on larger roles on the team. For now, they’re two 21-year-olds and a 19-year-old with goals to be in the NBA for the next decade. Coach David Grace is one of the key individuals behind the scenes that helped land those three at UCLA, playing under head coach Steve Alford. (He also took the lead in the recruitment of 2017 Indiana Mr. Basketball North Central High School product Kris Wilkes playing at UCLA.) Grace was at UCLA for five seasons and then took a job at Cal in mid-April. Grace grew up in Maryland and the spent 20 years in the military. Since, he’s been out west coaching basketball – with stops at Sacramento State, San Francisco, Oregon, State, and UCLA before Cal. On this podcast, I talk with Grace about those Bruins, from recruiting them to UCLA and what they need to do to take their games to another level. Subscribe

Joe Young, the Pacers’ second-round pick in 2015, has found a new team. The 26-year-old guard has agreed to a one-year deal with the Nanjing Tongxi Monkey King of the Chinese Basketball Association (CBA), Young told VigilantSports.com. “Got things finalized and just truly honored about this opportunity,” Young said. “Great team, great coach. I heard a lot of great things about the organization. Me and my team came together and decided what was best for me at this particularly time. … I know it’s a different pace. At the end of the day, basketball is basketball and I just have to adjust to it.” Another former Pacer, Al Jefferson, will be playing in the same league. After the Pacers waived the veteran center in early July, he weighed his options, including returning to the Pacers, but decided to sign with the Xinjiang Flying Tigers. Young said he spoke to his former locker neighbor before making his decision. “I had a great conversation with Al. He basically gave me good advice. He told me you got to do what’s

What was the feeling in Croatia when they played in the FIFA World Cup Final over the weekend? I had to find out. On this episode of the Pacers Podcast, I called up former Pacer forward Damjan Rudež, a native of Zagreb, Croatia. While he’s not a huge soccer fan, the monthlong run by Croatia, with a population just over 4.1 million people, was special and impactful for the professional basketball player. France ultimately won, 4-2. Rudež, who’s 32 years old, has represented his country several times in international competition, including the 2008 Beijing Olympics and a FIBA World Cup. But this was different. This was memorable — and he explains why. “This is more than I’ve ever felt proud in my life. I swear. I can’t even tell you. It’s the state of catharsis and exhilaration.” He was a little excited, can’t you tell? FINALE!!!!!!!!!!!

Final preparations are underway at the St. Vincent Center in downtown Indianapolis as a dozen or so in player evaluation push to gather additional intel on players and who teams ahead of the Pacers may draft. After going 48-34 and losing a four-way tiebreaker to decide the draft order, the Pacers will select 23rd and 50th overall in the 2018 NBA Draft, which will be held Thursday evening at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn. ESPN will again be televising the two-round draft, which will begin after 7:00 pm ET. The Pacers visited with players at the NBA Draft Combine in Chicago, the NBA Global Camp in Treviso, Italy, and 29 draft hopefuls who came to Indianapolis for a workout. The pre-draft workouts are less about the workout and primarily about three things: 1) Getting to know them better, especially in an off-court setting over lunch, 2) Medical evaluation, 3) Building a relationship. Victor Oladipo is the star of the team, named to the All-Defensive First Team and Third Team All-NBA last month. He had a caree

Pacers All-Star Victor Oladipo will drive the 2019 Chevrolet pace car to start Sunday’s Indianapolis 500. He’s the first active Indianapolis athlete and just the third non-racing athlete to be given that honor. Oladipo is arriving in Indianapolis on Friday and will get his first chance behind the ZR1 Pace Car. Chevrolet flew in Ron Fellows from Las Vegas to trainer Oladipo ahead of Sunday. On this podcast, I sit down with Indianapolis Motor Speedway President Doug Boles to discuss Oladipo’s involvement in the largest one-day sporting event in the world. “One of our biggest challenges every year is who should drive the pace car,” Boles explained. “You want somebody who makes a statement, somebody that people recognize, and we started thinking through it. And for what Victor Oladipo did with the team, really what the entire team did and the way they represented the city of Indianapolis around the country, we thought here’s a guy that’s local, but on a national stage. “He’s a perfect guy to drive our pace car an

Dave McMenamin is on the Cleveland Cavaliers beat, covering all things LeBron James and the Cavs for ESPN. The Pacers’ first-round series begins in Cleveland where they’ll try to beat LeBron James in the playoffs for the first time. He’s ended their postseason run in five of the last seven years. The Pacers, meanwhile, are pushing the underdog role, which suits them. Nobody picked them to have a successful season and here they are in the playoffs, in the 4 vs 5 matchup. “Everyone is watching,” Lance Stephenson said. “We’re all up for this (series). It’s going to be challenging, it’s going to be hard, but I think we’re set for it.” Subscribe to the Pacers Podcast on Apple Podcasts. I welcome your questions and comments @ScottAgness on Twitter or via email. Topics Discussed: * Drama, mid-season changes, and JR Smith throwing soup at a coach * LeBron and Lance * The Pacers embracing being the underdogs * Both teams excelling in late-game situations * Nate McMillan vs Ty Lue * Kevin Love and the stigma around me

When there is something going on with the Golden State Warriors, Anthony Slater is one of the best sources for information and context. He’s in his fifth season covering the NBA and his second on the Warriors beat. His first three seasons, beginning in 2013, were in Oklahoma City documenting Kevin Durant, Russell Westbrook, and all things Thunder. This season, he’s doing it on a new, rising platform: The Athletic. It’s a subscription sports outlet and the Bay Area has been wildly successful. It helps that the Warriors are the talk of the NBA, featured four All-Stars and a likable coach, have faced the Cleveland Cavaliers in the last three NBA Finals, and the website signed the authoritative Warriors writers, Slater and longtime beat reporter Marcus Thompson. Slater is also consistent. After each game, you can expect: 1) postgame video interviews on Twitter, 2) a Stock Report video, 3) a thorough Five Observations piece, and 4) an All-82 podcast. Subscribe to the Pacers Podcast on Apple Podcasts. I welcome you

The Pacers are 46-31, a season-best 15 games over .500 with five to play. They’re flirting with their second 50-win season since 2004 and have spent all season flying under the radar. Because of that, they have appeared on national TV just once — and that was for Paul George’s return. So Chris Denari and the entire FOX Sports Indiana crew has had the honor of providing the visuals for every game this season. Out west on a 10-day road trip, I recorded this podcast with Denari before he joined the team in a ballroom at the hotel to watch the NCAA Championship game between Michigan and Villanova. In his 12th year as the TV Voice of the Pacers, he has been with them every step of the way and offers a unique perspective. Practice winding down in Denver. #Pacers and Nuggets tomorrow night on @FSIndiana. Pre-game starts at 8:30. @Pacers look for season-high 6th straight win and a 4-0 road trip. pic.twitter.com/S5E54Duxei— Chris Denari (@ChrisDenari) April 2, 2018 Subscribe to the Pacers Podcast on Apple Podcasts. I

The Pacers secured a playoff spot Sunday in Game 74 of the season. They beat the Miami Heat 113-107 getting contributions across the roster. It was a microcosm for their entire season. In the media room hours after the Pacers’ 43rd win of the season, surpassing last year’s total (42-40), Mark Montieth joined me to record this podcast. You can read Mark’s work at Pacers.com, MarkMontieth.com, and look into his book, “Reborn,” on the early days of pro basketball in Indiana. (Click here to listen to our podcast about it.) Subscribe to the Pacers Podcast on Apple Podcasts. I welcome your questions and comments @ScottAgness on Twitter or via email. Topics Discussed: * Clinching a playoff spot * The players thriving off the doubt from outside the locker room * Domantas Sabonis unlucky in re-injuring his ankle * Darren Collison’s undervalued contributions * Final portion of their schedule with six of eight games on the road [Photo: Frank McGrath/PS&E]

Seeking depth at power forward, the Pacers added veteran free agent Trevor Booker to their roster officially on March 3. After the Pacers concluded a four-game road trip, Booker watched the team beat Milwaukee on the second night of a back-to-back before practicing with the guys for the first time. “He’s first and foremost a great guy,” said Bojan Bogdanovic, a teammate of Booker’s last season in Brooklyn. “He’s the guy that we’ve missed that can fit perfectly in our system. We are switching a lot with the three and four so he’s also able to guard all of these quick guards. I think it’s a great addition for us. He’s a great defender, a great rebounder. He can be huge for us and I think he will.” Booker has averaged 6.9 points and 5.5 rebounds per game in eight seasons as a pro. The 30-year-old, 6-foot-8 power forward who will provide toughness and rebounding inside, then made his debut in a Pacers uniform on March 7th against the Utah Jazz, a team he played for from 2014-16. He had two points and two rebounds

David Benner is in his 24th season as the Director of Media Relations for the Indiana Pacers. He’s the primary contact between the media and the team. Benner, however, has been both sides. He spent 16 years as a writer for the Indianapolis Star, including eight years covering the Pacers. He moved over to his present role with the team in 1994, replacing Dale Ratermann. That transition included many changes for David, like an upgrade in his wardrobe. He got his start working in sports as a manager for the Center Grove High School boys basketball team while a sophomore. “I’ve kind of been involved in sports ever since that,” he says. Benner and his PR staff — that includes Krissy Myers and Wes Kaminski — twice (2010-11, 2012-13) has been the recipient of the annual Brian McIntyre Media Relations Award for consistently going above and beyond the call of duty to work cooperatively with the local and national media. On this podcast, you’ll get to know Benner, one of the many faces behind the scenes. You may rememb

It will be eight weeks on Friday, March 2 since Slick Leonard, alone in his church’s parking lot, slipped on ice when unloading boxes to recycle. He forgot to put his car in park, slipped, and shattered the trochanter in one of his hips and says the pain has been “a monster.” Slick was admitted to a central Indiana hospital and placed in room 529, the same number of wins he has as Pacers head coach. “I don’t think anybody wants to be locked up [inside] like this. I think in my lifetime, I can’t ever remember being laid up this long.” The Hall of Famer isn’t exactly sure when he’ll be back but he does feel better each day as the pain decreases. He has been extra cautious, though, since going into cardiac arrest on the Pacers bus at Madison Square Garden back in March, 2011. Since that time, he has not traveled to road games for radio broadcasts. Leonard, in his 32nd season as the radio analyst on the Pacers Radio Network, looks forward to rejoining Mark Boyle, who he believes is the best play-by-play radio ann

Kurt Streblow is in his fifth season as an emcee for Pacers home games at Bankers Life Fieldhouse. This past week, he was invited to emcee several events at All-Star Weekend 2018 held in Los Angeles. Streblow credits Pacers Vice President of Game Operations Dean Heaviland for not only hiring him years ago, but for also recommending him to the league to be one of several emcees across the 30-team league to contribute at the NBA’s featured annual event. On Friday, he worked the Rising Stars practice that included Pacers center Domantas Sabonis. The next day, he hosted the Special Olympics Unified game and then later All-Star practice. In all, he spent six days in Los Angeles. Remember, Indianapolis will host All-Star Weekend in 2021. Subscribe to the Pacers Podcast on Apple Podcasts. I welcome your questions and comments @ScottAgness on Twitter or via email. View this post on Instagram Interviewing the @pacers Rising Star, Domantas Sabonis! #nba #indianapacers #nbaallstar #kickstartrisingstar

Pacers President of Basketball Operations Kevin Pritchard spoke with the media for more than 25 minutes Sunday afternoon before they hosted the New York Knicks. Among the items discussed: * Many players urging the front office to keep this group intact * How they had three legitimate trade offers at the deadline * Victor Oladipo exceeding all expectations * Domantas Sabonis’ development * Glenn Robinson III’s rehab and timeline to return * High value of first-round picks  If you prefer to simply listen to Pritchard, you can do so below:

Edmond Sumner’s rookie season has been anything but typical for a first-year player in professional basketball. He suffered a torn ACL last year while at Xavier University, so most of 2017 was spent rehabbing and getting through the mental challenges of being away from the game he loves. The Pacers acquired a second second-round pick on draft night and used the pick from New Orleans to select Sumner 52nd overall. Because of the injury, he was still around then. Sumner became the first player in Pacers franchise history to be signed to a two-way contract, which allows him to be part of the Pacers and Mad Ants of the G League — and it prevents another NBA club from signing them to their roster like can be done for G League contracts. Sumner returned to game action two weeks ago and has appeared in five games, though he is limited to about 15 minutes per game. He is averaging 6.6 points, 2.2 rebounds, and 2.0 assists per game while shooting nearly 42 percent from the field. See Also: Sumner signs with new agent

Victor Oladipo’s phone buzzed Tuesday. It was Pacers President Kevin Pritchard, the executive who orchestrated the move that brought Oladipo and Domantas Sabonis to Indy last summer. He had the honor of alerting Oladipo that he was voted an All-Star reserve by NBA head coaches. For the first time in his five years as a pro, he would participate in the game showcasing the world’s best basketball players. “Fitting that he would call me first,” Oladipo said Wednesday morning. “It’s awesome. It was a great moment for me. It was just special, just hearing from him and hearing his words and everything like that was a special moment – something I’ll never forget.” See Also: Oladipo’s teammates react to his All-Star selection Watch his full comments below: