Kevin Pritchard is entering his second season as the Pacers President of Basketball Operations. He took over for Hall of Famer Larry Bird, who decided to step down and into an advisor role on May 1st, 2017.

Since that time, there has been incredible turnover within the roster. In fact, Myles Turner and Thad Young are the only two players left from that 2016-17 group, which was led by Paul George. Even more wild, eight players from that roster are out of the NBA.

The Pacers like where they’re currently at, but are not satisfied as they prepare for the second season under Pritchard’s leadership. All-Star Victor Oladipo is under contract for three more years — and for a relative bargain of $21 million per year — and then they have options because of their roster flexibility.

Camp officially opens on Tuesday, September 25th and will be led by head coach Nate McMillan, who recently signed received a multi-year contract extension, for the third straight year. The Pacers surprised everyone when they won 48 games last season and went toe to toe against LeBron James’ Cavaliers, pushing them to seven games in the opening round. Still, they came up short.

Since then, they added point guard Aaron Holiday in the draft, and then playmaker Tyreke Evans, Doug McDermott, and Kyle O’Quinn in free agency. While the Boston Celtics, who have at least four All-Stars on the roster, are the clear favorites in the Eastern Conference, the Pacers should be in that next tier of teams (with Philadelphia and Toronto) pushing for home-court advantage.

Outside their locker room, the Pacers have a list of standards printed on a wall that lines their pathway to the court. Be on time. Loyalty. Trust. Respect. Togetherness. Great defense. Communication. Enthusiasm. Unselfishness. No excuses.

Last season was about setting the culture for the team. Now it’s about moving forward.

Pritchard recently spoke with The Athletic about his team’s development, weighing roster flexibility with continuity, and the next step in Oladipo’s ascension.

Let’s start with the offseason on a macro level. You’ve mentioned several times how you expect to have about $57 million in cap space next summer. And you only have three players with guaranteed contracts after this upcoming season. Was maintaining that flexibility, along with upgrading the bench, the two priorities entering the summer?

I would say that adding really good players is always the highest priority. So sometimes flexibility is good and sometimes you just rather have the better player. For us, there are so many free agents next summer. But if things go as planned and we have a great season, our free agents become the priority.

We’ve had so much turnover in the last two summers that I would rather really start thinking about how we can have some continuity. But at the end of the day, you’d rather have flexibility than not. That’s a good thing, but again, our priority could be bringing back our own guys.

The turnover has been remarkable. Just two players remain from Paul George’s final year (Myles Turner and Thad Young). And it’s not just you guys. Why do you think that is? Is it because of the increased salary cap was not implemented in a smooth fashion?

Yes, for sure. And the thing is, I think it is going to get even more volatile in terms of players moving. It feels like you are seeing more one-year deals, which is a unique phenomenon. Two collective bargaining agreements ago, I remember you could do six- and seven-year contracts. And now we’re talking about over half our team this year is on a one-year deal. So, I think it has some uniquenesses but it also has some challenges. One of the big things for us is we do want to start establishing continuity.

Every year is its own set of challenges and opportunities. The thing about this team is we brought back the top seven and we feel like we added to the bench. We’re going to miss some players, there’s no doubt. We’re going to miss Lance [Stephenson]. We’re going to miss Al [Jefferson]. We’re going to miss Joe [Young] and Glenn [Robinson III]. Those guys were part of a culture that was very unique and will be hard to duplicate.

We’re obsessed right now with how can we duplicate that locker room culture [from 2017-18]. Because if that happens, I have no doubt the win total will be good. Whether it’s 41 or 45 or 50 — I don’t know. But having that great locker room culture where Nate [McMillan] and our coaches and our players all bought in, if we can have that we’ll have a chance to overachieve. At the end of the day sitting in my seat, that’s all you really care about.

Is your plan right now to leave the 15th roster spot open — something different than you guys have done in past seasons?

You know I’ve always wanted to have a smaller camp, a smaller roster that was really efficient. The truth is, you have to be prepared. Sometimes, depending on what happens with your team, whether there’s an injury or a trade or whatever, you have to be prepared for that next person to be ready. We always debate: Do you have a full roster and evaluate potential scenarios, or have the flexibility to look around the whole league?

It’s a tough debate. There are players right now that we’re still looking at, or we could keep some flexibility. And we have that debate every day.

And you’re always surprised. Like on October 10th, there’s some pretty cool players [available]. And then on December 15th there’s a chance, and then the trade deadline there’s a chance. You just don’t know, so having that flexibility sometimes is better than having a full roster.

You signed second-round pick Alize Johnson to an NBA deal. Do you have any expectations for him to contribute this season?

If you’re asking for the 50th pick to make a contribution, then you’re looking at a whole different kind of team. I looked at the way Villanova has been evaluating what they do player wise. They bring a guy in and it’s like they redshirt all of their freshman. That’s kind of how I felt with T.J. [Leaf] last year. Draft T.J., have him work on his body, and then he’ll be more prepared for an NBA season versus just throwing him at the wolves and seeing what happens.

I feel like T.J. worked on his body, he gained 17 pounds, physically he’s more ready, mentally he’s more ready. And so now he has a better chance for success long term.

With Alize, he’s got to come in and understand the system. He’s got to understand what the Pacers are all about and that doesn’t happen in one day. We can talk about it, but our coaches have to teach and tell him what we’re about. He has a unique skill in that when the ball goes up, he’s chasing down a lot of balls. If he’s not in the area of the rebound, then he’s pretty close. I like it because he just has a nose for the ball. Wherever that ball is on offense or defense, he’s around the activity of the play and that’s fun to watch.

The biggest question I’ve gotten this offseason outside of the team not bringing back Lance is about T.J. What’s his future, does he have a place in the league, etc. How much did you learn from his summer league play?

We want them to play well, gain some confidence, and see how fast the game is and get more prepared for camp. But it’s completely different. I’ll give you an example. We had Jerryd Bayless and Nicolas Batum. Jerryd was the MVP of Summer League [in 2008] when we were in Portland and Batum did not really have a good summer league, and that’s probably putting it mildly. And then the next year, Nate ended up starting Nicolas and Jerryd came off the bench. So you can get confused with summer league because it’s not the same role that they play with the team.

Right, and T.J. played a lot at center and around the rim.

He was, but not just positionally. What happens when T.J. plays with a really good wing like Victor or Tyreke? We know he’s is an elite shooter. T.J. is going to shoot the ball and he’s going to score the ball. He’s got a little drive game, up-fake and shoot, up-fake and drive. I think probably the biggest thing is the court gets bigger for Victor if you stay attached to T.J. because he’s a shooter, and if you don’t, T.J. is going to get wide-open shots. Well he didn’t get a lot of wide-open shots in summer league. Those elite players make the game easier for everybody else.

What we wanted to see with T.J. is that he’s getting better on defense, he understands our system on defense, and offensively I’ve never had a worry about T.J. He’s going to knock down shots and he’s going to score.

Another big question is Myles Turner, who’s entering the final year of his rookie deal. Have there been any extension talks and is that a priority before the season?

Myles is important to us but for me to talk about a contract — I just don’t do that. I have too much respect for the agent and for the player. We’ll always have conversations.

We’ve seen a lot of videos of Myles working out this summer, lifting weights, boxing, and doing yoga. How much do you follow those posts?

We stay in touch with them. It’s not like we watch guys through Instagram or Twitter, although we all follow each other. That’s not our main source of communication. When we were out in Las Vegas, Chad [Buchanan, General Manager] and I went and watched him work out. And then I talked to coach [Bill] Bayno, who worked out both Myles and Domas [Sabonis]. And Popeye [Jones] has. I’m always talking about how are they doing, what are they doing to get better.

Is that a big change in the league — the emphasis on workouts outside of basketball, like yoga?

I think what happens is guys are reinventing the summer. We used to say this 20 years ago: Players get better in the summer, not during the season. It’s probably more prevalent now than ever. Guys go into the summer saying, “This is my opportunity to really change my game.” And they do it. We’re seeing players come back completely different. Guys take the summer as their time to get their body ready for 82 games the best they can possibly be.

Fans enjoy free agency and the transaction business more than anything throughout the league. Can you…

…I don’t think there’s any doubt.

The NBA is more relevant year round than ever before. Maybe in August we don’t talk about it, but last year in August there were some major trades.

The NBA is in phenomenal shape. You’ve got some amazing superstars in their prime and then you’ve got all these young guys that are coming up and will eventually take over for the elder statesmen.

Since you bring up older players, what does it mean for your team with the guy who has been blocking the door for the last eight years, LeBron James, moving away from your conference?

He put a pretty big road block in front of the Pacers, but not just the Pacers. A lot of other teams, too. He’s beaten us five times in the playoffs. That’s not a lot of fun.

Back to my original question on free agency. Can you give fans your perspective of what free agency is like as an executive? How much are you watching Twitter and NBA TV programs, or are you away from the noise and in a cave working with your staff?

Well, we’re looking, because sometimes things get announced through the media before we know. A lot of times we’ll have a pretty good feel, especially if we’re involved with that player. We’ll know where it’s at because we’re in constant communication with agents. They’ll say “We’re getting close to a deal. Where are you?” And at that point in time, you either have to say your best offer or move on to another guy that you are interested in.

You are kind of in a cave, you’re talking, but you’re also listening and you are watching. It’s so fluid that for me, I always talk with Chad [Buchanan], Peter [Dinwiddie], Donnie [Walsh], and Larry [Bird] because you are always calling audibles. If this happens, then we got to go to plan B. Then if this happens, we got to get back to plan A.

There are days when you think, “God, the plan came to fruition and we’re going to be a lot better. Or, man… we missed out on this, let’s go to this option.” You’re kind of riding the highs and the lows. One of the things we always try to say is calm waters.

Stay calm waters. Guy gets signed and you didn’t get him? That’s okay, let’s move on to our next options. For me, at the end of the day, that’s what you try to do. Just try to stay calm waters, make the best decisions and then live with those decisions.

You really have no clue how they’re going to turn out. We plan and we plan and we plan. Literally, we plan about plans. You do your best to be prepared but it seems like at the end of the day every summer, the best laid out plans are the ones that you get to and you’re like, “Here’s something really good, let’s jump on that opportunity.”

It’s like being a mutual fund manager in that you’re looking at a lot of different opportunities, but you just don’t know what’s right around the corner so you got to be prepared to be opportunistic to go get a player that maybe you couldn’t even fathom that he was available.

Where did you get ‘calm waters’ from because you use it a lot, and so does Chad and many others within the organization.

Actually it came from a book about the Atlanta Braves. During the 1990s when they were really good, their manager said, “We just want to stay steady, make our decisions, have a calm locker room, have a calm atmosphere” and that’s what we’re about. We just put on our hard hats and lunch pails, and we go to work every day and do the best we can every day.

Are you still an advocate for holding free agency before the draft?

Yeah I like that. But I’ve talked to some of the baseball guys and they’re like, “Nah, we like it the other way.” You have to have one in front of the other. So whether you do or don’t, you still have to make your adjustments. At the end of the day I think it’s a wash.

What’s next for Victor? How can he take his game to another level? Is it primarily adapting to the defenses that are now locked unto him like never before?

By the middle of last year, he was getting game-planned. Teams were saying, “You take away him and you’ve got the Pacers.”

He’s done an amazing job of trusting his teammates, of making that right play at the right time. Part of that was Chad and I and Peter trying to put a more complimentary team around him — with him making reads and then elevating everyone else. At the end of the day, he’s a star and stars can do it for themselves. He’s got to raise the level of everybody else around him.

When Larry Bird, Magic [Johnson], and the best of the best step on that court, they seem to elevate everybody around them. That will be his next chapter that he’s got to be able to do. And he’s already done it, Scott. It’s not like he hasn’t already done it. But I think there’s a lot of that left. He truly epitomes what three Ts (trust, toughness, togetherness) and calm waters is about. Sometimes he calms everybody else down.

(Top photo by Ron Hoskins/Getty Images)