With the Pacers signing of Glenn Robinson III to a 3-year deal and acquisition of Rakeem Christmas via trade, the Pacers have quickly filled up their roster with 15 players now under contract. Only 8 of the 15 were on the Pacers squad last season, as 7 were either not resigned (Luis Scola, Chris Copeland, Donald Sloan, CJ Watson), were traded (Roy Hibbert, Damjan Rudež) or simply opted out of their contract to sign elsewhere (David West).

Which former Pacers player will you miss the most? pic.twitter.com/Sx3CqAQ3Sq

— iPacers (@iPacersblog) July 25, 2015

So, with nearly half of last year’s roster out of town. Here’s what the roster looks like when divided up into three different position categories:

The Combo Guards: 

George Hill

Monta Ellis

Rodney Stuckey

Joe Young

The Wings:

Paul George

CJ Miles

Chase Budinger

Solomon Hill

Glenn Robinson III

The Bigs:

Myles Turner

Ian Mahinmi

Jordan Hill

Lavoy Allen

Rakeem Christmas

Shayne Whittington

The most interesting thing about this roster is the lack of natural point guards. Every one of the Pacers players that could play point this year are more natural shooting guards. This will have some advantages: Whenever two are on the court at any time, they are both threats to bring the ball up court to start the offense. Finding one quickly with an outlet pass will allow the offense to get going at a faster pace.

These guards will also be able to adjust defensive assignments as necessary. Ellis, especially, will be likely to switch onto the worst offensive player the opposition has in the backcourt. When he shares the court with George Hill particularly, it will be advantageous for the Pacers to use this switch.

Frank Vogel has a lot of options for creating lineups with this roster. He can make lineups out of these position groups by choosing two players from two groups and one player from the remaining group. An exciting, offensive-minded choice for this would be choosing 2 combo guards, 2 wings, and 1 big (Perhaps: George Hill, Monta Ellis, CJ Miles, Paul George, and Myles Turner). That’s a fan’s dream lineup to watch the Pacers play with this year, but I have a feeling the starting lineup will probably look something like this: 2 combo guards, 1 wing, and 2 bigs: G. Hill, Ellis, PG, Jordan Hill, and Ian Mahinmi. It wouldn’t shock me if Vogel went with a lineup similar to that to start the season off, especially to ease Turner into the league without putting too much responsibility in the hands of a 19-year-old rookie.

Once the season comes around, it’ll be interesting to see how this roster translates to the court and how much Vogel goes to the smaller lineups that have been talked about in Indy all offseason. Which of the new players will be quick to earn spots in the rotation? Who will spend more time on the bench than expected? Who knows? The roster transactions might not be done yet. Don’t be surprised if Larry Bird finds a trade for Solomon Hill or Ian Mahinmi and tries to add a point guard to the mix.

There are a million more things I could talk about, but I’ll keep it brief today. What do you find the most interesting  about the roster? Which new Pacer are you most excited to see? Let me know in the comments or on Twitter!

The Indiana Pacers 2015-16 Roster: Who are you most excited to see play in a Pacers uniform this year? pic.twitter.com/fjyaGTnfvd

— iPacers (@iPacersblog) July 26, 2015