u/Sko_Neezy

Bit of a foregone conclusion but Pacers are officially starting the season with a 14-man roster and 3 2-way players (Braden Smith, Kobe Brown & Jalen Slawson).

As a result of the Pacers carrying less than 15 players, Smith, Brown & Slawson can only play a combined 90 games.

If the Pacers want more than 90 games out of their 2-way players, they will have to add a 15th player later in the season once they can afford a prorated contract that fits under the first apron.

With Furphy likely out until February, decent chance one of these guys plays actual minutes at some point...I would assume Brown gets the first crack.

Per Scott Agnes of Fieldhouse Files

This is not a complaint, I love it when the world bets against them...I'm just in awe...a week ago, they were getting 40 to 1 odds but somehow the Pacers' odds are still falling:

Knicks - 10 to 1 odds

Sixers - 10 to 1 odds

Celtics - 14 to 1 odds

Raptors - 22 to 1 odds

Pistons - 22 to 1 odds

Cavs - 30 to 1 odds

Heat - 40 to 1 odds

Magic - 45 to 1 odds

Hawks - 50 to 1 odds

Pacers - 50 to 1 odds

EDIT: If the Pacers win the championship this year they will have had the lowest preseason odds of any eventual championship team since tracking began in the mid-80s.

Currently the record is held by the 2014 Warriors, whose preseason odds were 28 to 1.

For those who have never seen it and especially for those who don't know it exists beyond the snippets that appear in eps2.2_init_1.asec

Not mentioned in the article but Fischer also said the Cavs re-signed Thomas Bryant to a 1-year deal because they believed the Pacers were going to sign him. Would have loved to have him back.

Tyrese Haliburton can already sense that it helps him play through contact on both ends of the floor. "My body feels great," Haliburton said. "I feel great moving. I feel great playing. My body just feels great in all honesty. I've never felt this strong. I still gotta get in a little bit of shape but I feel great. It's exciting and it's only what, the end of June here. I still have three more months. I feel like I'm in good shape, NBA shape, but there's a difference between NBA shape and Tyrese Haliburton shape. I'll get there."

He continued:

"I feel great. My body feels great. I'm able to do everything. I feel like I'm operating like I'm a healthy NBA player for the first time in a long time, which is exciting. The fact that I'm able to come here without having to answer questions from anybody in our organization about my health, that I'm just able to jump in and do some things with the kids, that means the world to me. It's something I don't take for granted after the last 12 months."

How did the talismans end up in the nook where Boyd found them? There are multiple talismans so they weren’t kept there to protect the nook itself, that would be a huge waste.

They were gathered up and stashed there by someone who knew their value and importance.

But also, if anyone was alive at the time, they would still need the talismans for protection.

Why hide them in the woods? Why hide them in that nook? Why gather them and hide them at all?

To me it seems like the final desperate act of someone who had the talismans in their possession and was dying, no longer needing them for protection, worried they’d be lost forever if they weren’t left somewhere very specific.

Perhaps they were put in the nook because someone knew the nook would still be standing centuries later.

Perhaps they were put there by the one person who knows precisely where Boyd found them.

Perhaps they were put there by Boyd himself.

Perhaps Boyd created them himself, etched into rocks as he laid dying.