INDIANAPOLIS -- The Indiana Pacers may have already traded Roy Hibbert to the Los Angeles Lakers, but their roster reconstruction efforts are not over. Indiana is very close to completely transforming their roster to suit a faster and smaller system. The Pacers just lack a starting power forward that fits that style.

At the current moment Lavoy Allen would be the starting power forward by default. If the Pacers are serious about this transformation, that can't happen. Indiana has mentioned playing Paul George at power forward, but only in certain 'small-ball' lineups. Starting Paul George at the position is almost certainly not going to happen. That means only one thing, the Pacers need to acquire a starting caliber power forward.

After re-signing Rodney Stuckey to a 3-year, $21-million deal and trading Roy Hibbert, the Pacers are looking at an estimated $15-milion in cap space. With their cap space and their $2.8 million room exception, the Pacers have assets to trade for a starting power forward and fill the remaining holes in their bench.

Despite having an estimated $5 million in cap space, the Pacers don't have a lot of options in free agency. This is because the Pacers couldn't manage to get Roy Hibbert traded earlier in free agency, therefore, they are paying the consequences of a dry free-agent market. Just because the free-agent market is dry doesn't mean that all hope is lost for Indiana.

It has been widely known around the NBA that the Denver Nuggets want to depart with both Ty Lawson and Kenneth Faried. This is great news for the Pacers since Kenneth Faried would be a perfect fit for their new system. Since practically the whole NBA knows that Faried is available and is being desperately shopped around by the Nuggets, the Pacers could capitalize.

Projected Depth Chart:

PG: George Hill, Rodney Stuckey, Joseph Young

SG: Monta Ellis, C.J. Miles

SF: Paul George, Solomon Hill, Damjan Rudez

PF: Lavoy Allen

C: Myles Turner, Ian Mahinmi

It is obvious that the Pacers still have to fill out the rest of their bench and also acquire a starting power forward. No offense to Lavoy Allen, but it appears that he won't be ready for the starting role in this new system. Lavoy Allen is best as a backup power forward that the Pacers can utilize against traditional teams, allowing them to use Paul George in smaller lineups to create advantages.

Trade Scenario 1:

Indiana Receives: Kenneth Farried ($11.2 million)

Denver Receives: Solomon Hill ($1.2 million), 2016 First-Round Pick (Pacers), Future Second-Round Pick (Lakers)

Reasoning For Indiana:

Indiana wouldn't need their 2016 first-round pick if they were going to acquire Kenneth Faried, as they already have the starters that they want for years to come. A single first round pick along with Solomon Hill and a future second rounder should be enough to get a trade for Kenneth Faried done. Kenneth Faried's contract will be an absolute bargain since it is near the $10-12 million a year range and expires after the 2018-2019 season. Indiana would have a good core of Paul George, Myles Turner, Kenneth Faried, George Hill, and Monta Ellis for a few years.

As for after the trade, Indiana would have around $5-million in cap space. Since Indiana has already re-signed Rodney Stuckey, they have all of the quality bench players that they need. Indiana would have the room exception ($2.8 million) and their remaining cap space to fill the third unit of their bench. So the Pacers would not have to worry about signing quality bench players that would have to make an immediate impact in their rotation.

Trading Solomon Hill would instantly improve the team, it is kind of like addition by subtraction. C.J. Miles is basically better in every aspect on both sides of the ball, so trading Solomon Hill would open up more minutes for Miles to contribute to the team. Indiana could move Miles to the small forward position and that would allow for them to have at least 7-individual offensive threats in their rotation. This is always a great luxury to have, it is even better that the defensive side of the ball wouldn't suffer because of this switch either. Indiana has enough dynamic scorers for Faried to not have to worry about scoring, he would be able to focus on the dirty work.

Kenneth Faried would be a great upgrade at the power forward position. He is a far better athlete than Lavoy Allen, his skill set would be a great fit with the starting unit. Every other player in the projected starting lineup can not only create their own offense, they can create for Faried. Faried would only have to worry about scoring in comfortable and easy ways that suite his skill set: in the fast break, off of rebounds, cutting towards the basket, in the pick and roll as a screener, jump shots from 10-feet and in, off of alley-oop passes, floaters, and very occasional post situations. He wouldn't have to isolate and create for himself off the dribble or in the post, it would be a tremendous fit for both the Pacers and Faried. This would allow for Faried to focus on rebounding, setting screens, moving without the ball, so basically the role player aspects of the power forward position. A good comparison would be DeAndre Jordan's old role with the Clippers.

Indiana would see the defensive benefits of Kenneth Faried, which is the best part of his contributions. With Faried's athleticism and defensive knowledge/awareness, the Pacers' defensive rotations in help defense, pick and roll defense, on-ball defense, zone defense, and fast break defense would all improve. Indiana would also see improvements in their isolation defense against power forwards, rebounding, defending off-ball screens, defending cutters, closing out on jumpers, and basically all of the other aspects of defense. When Faried is in a winning situation, he will give you everything you can ask for and more. That situation is exactly what he would be going to with the Pacers. That is why this situation with Faried would work, because everybody would be happy and in comfortable roles.

Reasoning For Denver:

The Denver Nuggets have made it clear that they want to move on from Kenneth Faried, why not get a decent young prospect and a first round pick in the process? This trade offer would allow for the Nuggets to have assets to trade up in a future draft, it would also give the Nuggets a '3-and-D' guy to space the floor and defend with Emmanual Mudiay.

Solomon Hill may be a nice prospect that the Nuggets could develop over time, but the first-round pick is really what they would want. Both that first and second-round pick would allow for the Nuggets to build their team with young prospects that could pan out to be key contributors for them in the future. Denver basically wants to build around Emmanual Mudiay and Jusuf Nurkic, so getting potentially three cheap prospects and plenty of cap space to spend next season would certainly help. Another important aspect is that Faried is on contract through the 2018-2019 season, and now is the time to get out of it if they aren't committed to him. Trading Faried would give Denver a lot more cap space to spend in a loaded free agency next season, a first round pick, a potential '3-and-D' guy, and a good second round pick.

Kenneth Faried's stock is pretty low right now. That would be the case for a member of the 'six more weeks' chant. The 2014-2015 Nuggets clearly gave up and Faried was supposed to be leading the charge. Denver feels like they can't have Faried as a building block because he hasn't developed into an offensive player that they can rely on as a focal point of their offense, so they want to trade him to gain assets. Trading Faried now is the team's best bet before their situation becomes toxic. It would give Denver plenty of assets to build around the players that they actually want to build around.

To the average fan, this trade may appear one sided, but that is not the case at all. Faried isn't wanted in Denver anymore, and Indiana would be giving Denver quality pieces to take a player that they don't even want anymore. Of course Denver wouldn't want to basically give Faried away like Indiana gave away Hibbert, but this hyporthetical trade scenario should be enough to land Indiana Faried.

After The Trade:

Indiana would be left with a complete starting lineup, $5 million in cap space and $2.8 million in room exception to sign a third unit.

Projected Depth Chart:

PG: George Hill, Joseph Young

SG: Monta Ellis, Rodney Stuckey

SF: Paul George, C.J. Miles

PF: Kenneth Faried, Lavoy Allen

C: Myles Turner, Ian Mahinmi

Filling The Holes:

Since Indiana wants to go 10 deep in their regular season rotation, this would be their complete rotation. Indiana would then have more than enough assets to sign 'roster filler' players for their third unit and that would complete their roster. Indiana wouldn't have to mortgage their future for Kenneth Faried, his stock is at an all-time low and the Pacers could really take advantage of that. Faried is exactly what the Pacers need at power forward, so trying to acquire Kenneth Faried would be in their best interest.