Spreadsheets navigator led Pacers roster overhaul

INDIANAPOLIS (WISH) — Numbers don’t lie, and it’s Peter Dinwiddie’s job to find the truth.

The salary cap. The draft. Trades and free agency. It leaves outsiders wondering — who does all the math?

“My wife is always making fun of me because my mind doesn’t shut off during that period of time,” Dinwiddie said. “I will get up at 2 or 3 in the morning, get my computer and start looking at different spreadsheets. You really never sleep and your mind never really shuts off during the offseason.”

The job of senior vice president of Pacers basketball operations comes with an office with a gorgeous overhead view of the St. Vincent Center training center … and headaches. Over the last three weeks, seven Pacers players departed Indiana.

“On July 1, we received word that Bojan (Bogdanović) was going to go in a different direction,” Dinwiddie said. “Then you have to go — look, here is Plan A plan, Plan B, Plan C — how do we make it come to fruition?”

Just like this offseason, Dinwiddie’s own story came out of no where. A ticket sales representative turned front office executive is nearly unheard of in the NBA. The Cathedral High School and Indiana University alumnus pulled it off in front of Larry Bird, a former Pacers president, and Donnie Walsh, a former Pacers president of basketball operations.

“Larry (Bird) hired me without even meeting me, and Larry told me that there’s not much failing in this business. We are doing it the right way and we’re going to continue to win. Obviously, starting in ticket sales and working my way up, it’s definitely taken time and it was a lot of work but it’s, you know, it’s been worth it.”