Central Notes: Pacers, Allen, Bucks

Earlier this month, the Pacers and Lavoy Allen reached agreement on deal that will keep the big man in Indiana for next season and beyond.  Indiana shelled out the money to keep Allen, in part, because they want to pick up the pace on offense.

“That’s one of the main reasons they brought me back was the talk about playing more uptempo,” Allen told Scott Agness of Vigilant Sports. “I think that will really benefit us with the people we have — the shooters and bigs who can run.”

Still, Allen is one of six bigs – or seven, counting Paul George at power forward – on the Pacers and it’s not clear how much time he’ll see on the court.  Allen, like the Pacers’ fans, says he’s curious to see how it all shakes out.  Here’s more from the Central Division..

• Rising sophomore Shayne Whittington envisions the recently re-signed Allen as having a breakout year for the Pacers, Candace Buckner of the Indy Star writes. “I know we brought Lavoy in for a reason, he’s a great rebounder. He’s a great offensive presence, he can shoot the ball very well. Ian is one of our best defensive assets that we have. I personally think that he’s going to blow up this year if he gets that starting spot. His confidence will skyrocket if he gets that.“
• Between the success of the arena plan and the team’s basketball moves, Bucks owner Wes Edens said, “I think our offseason was a 10.  We’re undefeated in the offseason,” Charles F. Gardner of the Journal-Sentinel tweets. On Tuesday, the Bucks’ arena plan cleared a major hurdle.
• Eric Pincus of Basketball Insiders (on Twitter) has the details on Rakeem Christmas‘s deal with the Pacers. Christmas’ deal is fully guaranteed for two years with a $50K guarantee in year three and a team option on year four. If that fourth-year option is exercised, then he’ll have a $52K guarantee.