Pacers' named NBA's 'most fun team to watch' with league's best offense by GM survey

INDIANAPOLIS -- The Pacers were chosen as the most fun NBA team to watch and coach Rick Carlisle was chosen as the "head coach who runs the best offense" in NBA.com's annual anonymous preseason survey of the league's general managers. Rookie wing Johnny Furphy was also one of several players considered to be the NBA's steal of the draft.

However, after reaching the Eastern Conference finals in 2023-24, the Pacers were picked to finish seventh in the East in 2024-25. No general manager picked them to finish higher than fourth in the East where 14% had them finishing. The Boston Celtics, who beat the Pacers in the Eastern Conference finals before winning their record 18th NBA title, were picked to win the East by 97% of the general managers and picked to repeat as NBA champions by 83%. The Oklahoma City Thunder and Dallas Mavericks also received votes to win the title and the Cleveland Cavaliers received 3% of the vote to win the East. The Thunder were picked to win the Western Conference, earning 80% of the first-place votes after claiming the No. 1 seed in the playoffs in 2023-24 but losing to the eventual conference champion Mavericks in the Western Conference semifinals

The Knicks were picked to finish second in the East after adding All-Star big man Karl Anthony Towns in a blockbuster trade with the Timberwolves and former All-Defensive team wing Mikal Bridges in a deal with the Nets. The 76ers were picked third after signing free agent Paul George. The Cavaliers were picked fourth followed by the Bucks at fifth, the Magic sixth and the Pacers seventh.

Carlisle got 47% of the vote for the head coach who runs the best offense after the Pacers led the league in scoring, field goal percentage and assists in 2023-24 and finished second to the Celtics in offensive efficiency. The Pacers averaged 123.3 points per game, the sixth highest regular-season average in NBA history and the highest since the 1983-84 Nuggets averaged 123.7 per game. Boston's Joe Mazzulla finished second with 17%.

The Pacers' offense and unselfishness certainly contributed to their votes for most fun team to watch. They earned 37% of the vote in that category followed by the Thunder at 27% and the Nuggets and Warriors at 10% each.

Furphy, who the Pacers' took in the second round with the 35th overall pick in June's draft, finished in a six-way tie in the question of which player was the biggest steal. Each of the six players earned 10% of the vote. The other five were Oklahoma City's Nikola Topic at No. 12, Sacramento's Devin Carter at No. 13, Washington's Bub Carrington at No. 14, the Lakers' Dalton Knecht at No. 17, and Minnesota's Terrence Shannon Jr. at No. 27.

The survey included 50 questions and general managers were not allowed to vote for their own teams, coaches or players in any category. The Pacers weren't the top answer to any other question and their mentions were relatively sparse compared to other playoff teams, but their names did come up in a few other spots.

The Pacers finished second to the Celtics in answers to the question of which team will have the most efficient offense this season after the Pacers did in fact have the second-most efficient offense to the Celtics last season, posting 120.5 points per 100 possessions to the Celtics 122.2. The Celtics were picked by 53% of the general managers to have the most efficient offense this season while the Pacers received 20% of the vote.

Carlisle was tied for fourth in the survey on the question of what coach makes the best in-game adjustments, earning 7% of the vote. The Clippers' Tyronn Lue won with 28%.

All-Star point guard Tyrese Haliburton earned the third-most votes for the NBA's best passer after leading the league in assists last year with 10% of the vote. Denver's Nikola Jokic earned 70% of the vote followed by Dallas' Luka Doncic with 17%. Haliburton also received 3% of the vote for the player with the best basketball IQ, finishing fifth in that category. Jokic earned 53% of the vote followed by LeBron James with 30%. Doncic and Chris Paul earned 7% each.

Haliburton's backup point guard T.J. McConnell earned mention in the coaching section. McConnell -- whose father Tim recently retired as one of the most successful high school coaches in Western Pennsylvania history and whose aunt Suzie McConnell-Serio coached a powerhouse high school girls program, two college women's programs and a WNBA team -- earned 7% of the vote for what active player will make the best head coach some day. He finished in a tie for fourth with Houston's Fred VanVleet. Chris Paul won with 30% of the vote followed by Toronto's Garrett Temple with 20% and Minnesota Timberwolves guard and former Lawrence North star Mike Conley Jr. with 13%.

Oklahoma City's Shai Gilgeous-Alexander was picked as the favorite to win the MVP award with 40% of the vote followed by Doncic with 30%. Houston's Reed Sheppard was picked as the favorite to win Rookie of the Year.

This article originally appeared on Indianapolis Star: Pacers' named NBA's 'most fun team to watch' with league's best offense by GM survey