Posts tagged ‘NBA’

Turnovers kills them.  That was the difference in the game.  The team played the Pistons close the entire game but could never quite take the lead purely because of having too many turnovers.  They played well on offense.  They could have played better on D.  They got beat too often on the Piston’s penetration and kick out jumpers.  But the team kept in the game with the 2nd best team in the conference.

Mike Wells of the Pacers Insider (link below) said there are no such thing as moral victories in the NBA. It is all about wins and losses.  I think the total opposite.  This team is looking to restore the respect both within the NBA and the fan base.  This first game being competitive instead of a blowout (which it very well could have been) was a great sign that this team can compete.  This was a moral vicory because they are moving on from the past. They gaven the 2nd best team in the conference a good game even with 22 turnovers!! Come on now.  After last year of being dominated by the upper tier teams almost night in and night out.  This seemed like progress and was a moral victory.

The Good:

Danny Granger!! What a beast! He finally showed the aggresiveness and killer instinct I’ve been criticizing him for.  That aggresiveness was the last thing he needed to jump to that upper-tier of players.  He fought and clawed to get back into this game.  He looked like the superstar that was trying to take over down the stretch and he kept this team in the game.  He also showed the ability to take people off the dirbble and create fouls. (something else I criticized him for) He really didn’t settle for jump shots except for just a couple of occasions.  He showed the maturity to put up All-Star numbers this season.

Brandon Rush-He looked like a solid veteran coming onto the floor not a rookie. He was in the flow of the game as soon as he came in.  He played tough defense throughout and was not shy about getting to the hoop and trying to create shots.  He’s already a good shooter, but he showcased his driving ability.  Not huge numbers but great play.

TJ Ford-Not everybody would put him in this category with his 4 TOs and only 5 asts, but he looked like the leader for this team.  He had no problem stepping in and taking charge and managng the offense.  His comfortability and leadership made him a good thing.

Creating fouls-This is something this team did horribly with last year.  In the opener they did a good job of slashing to the basket and getting to the free throw line. Daniels, Granger, Jack, Ford and Rush all stood out as being aggresive going to the hoop.  They out shot the Pistons 29-16 from the free throw line.

The Bad:

Turnovers-I have to put this on here again.  They must and I mean MUST take care of the ball better.  no one really seemed to do that for this team.  This will be key because there are plenty of good defensive teams in the East.

Perimeter Defense-This team did not do a good job of closing down on shooters and often left people wide open. This shows by having Billups, Hamilton, and Prince all in double figures with Stuckey just missing out with 8.  Detroit also shot 46% from the 3-pt line.  This was a problem for the team last year and still needs to be fixed.

Roy Hibbert-He looked like a rookie out there.  He looked lost on both ends of the floor.  He did have a good spin move to create a bucket for himself, but besides that he didn’t reall show up.

Celtics Preview:

I don’t see how this Pacers team will be able to upset the C’s.  Boston has too many good perimeter players.  The Pacers perimeter defense showed me nothing against Detroit that said they could stop anyone.  Now you have the likes of Ray Allen and Paul Pierce coming to IN.  I think those too will ech have big nights.

The PG matchup is going to be one to watch.  These two might be the quickest in the NBA (besides Chris Paul of course).  Rondo and Ford will be running all night long and the matchup will hopefully lean toward the Pacers. 

The interior matchup looks to lean slightly toward the C’s just because of KG.  The Pacers did a good job on the inside v. Detroit, but Sheed and Amir Johnson are no Kevin Garnett.  KG will be himself but I think the Pacers will keep him in check.

Look for Danny Granger to have another big night.  They say Paul Pierce locked down Kobe.  To be honest, it was mostly James Posey and it is a team defensive philosophy so it doesn’t exactly go on his shoulders.  Danny should be able to create on Pierce and hopefully take this game over like he did the last one.

The Pacers are going to come up short in this one, but I think it will be much closer than people think.  Much Closer.

Comment on the blog of email me at hosts@pacerscast.com to get your thoughts in on the upcoming game against Boston or anything Pacers.

Thank you for the avid listeners that have constantly emailed me.  I have finally re-upped my contract with the great guys at the Sportscast Network, meaning I WILL be bringing you Pacers coverage throughout the entire 2008-09 season.  Thanks to NBA League Pass, I’ll be keeping up to date on everything pacers. 

On short notice, I will be bringing you my 08-09 Pacers season preview tomorrow morning/early afternoon.  It will feature position and player breakdown, my prediction on where they’ll finish in the East, my opinions on some other people’s rankings, fantasy breakdown as well as my comments on the 1st day to the NBA Season. 

Hopefully, I didn’t lose too many of you this off-season and we can prepare for the Redeem Team Pacers style this year.

Expect trade talks to pickup after now and even more after labor day.  According to multiple sources online, the trade rumors should be picking up after a lot fo the management returns from vacation or Beijing.  This should help facilitate talks about dishing out JT.  The best offer that’s been run around the rumor mill is JT for Udonis Haslen in Miami.  This might require another player from the Pacers, which wouldn’t be too bad since they already have too many people for their 15 man roster.  That trade would greatly help the Pacers fill one of their biggest voids in the post for a player that hustles and always plays hard.

Also, I wouldn’t be surprised to see an extension offered to Danny within the next month or so.  The team has until October to do so.  The general assessment is that Granger is worth about the same amount as Andre Igoudala, which is about $11-12 million a year.  This is well worth it for at the very least a very good #2.  At the best, he could be a perennial all-star in a couple years.

In this lull of the off-season, I was trying to think of things that people would want to read about and I would want to write/talk about.  I think the Pacers rotation is a good place to start.  I’m going to give what I think their rotation will be to START the season.  This will also help point out weakness (if they aren’t already obvious).

Starters:

PG-TJ Ford- This is an obvious one.  The Pacers playmaker is definitely going to be the starter.  I’d expect Jarrett Jack to get a few starts purely because of freshening up a rotation, injuries, fatigue; ya know the deal.  Hopefully For will just stay healthy through the whole year.

SG-Mike Dunleavy-The veteran had the best season of his career last year and looks in good position to repeating the same thing this season.  This will be his job to lose even though he fits better into the SF role.  He will begin the season as the starter, but I expect Brandon Rush to get some starts of his own.  Rush fits the role of a shooting guard down to the T.  He’s got the ability to shoot, break people down off the bounce, and play very good perimeter defense.  Those three (especially the last one) will make it hard to pass him up as a starter if Dunleavy hits a bad spot

SF-Danny Granger-Do I need to explain this one?? This is not up for debate unless O’Brien elects to go with an Orlando styled offense and put Rush at the 2, Dunleavy at the 3, and Granger at the 4.  I don’t expect him to do that too much though with the starting lineup because Danny will be taking too much of a beating down on the blocks.  Along with that his perimeter defense is needed and wasting it with him defending on the blocks.

PF-Troy Murphy-I think this spot will change throughout the year.  There is no true power forward on this team meaning the position is up for grabs between a lot of guys with different strengths and weaknesses.  For consistancy’s sake, I think O’Brien will start the year with Murphy starting here.  I would not be shocked if it changed within the first week though. Other starters could be Nesterovic, and Foster.  (If they started one of them they would basically play two centers but one being at the PF spot)

C-Jeff Foster-This is basically the same explanation as the PF spot.  I think Foster will get the nod to start the year purely because he is a hustle player (which no other starter is) and played well last year.  This position will also be on a rotational basis depending on whoever is playing well.  Other starters could be Hibbert and Nesterovic.

6th-Jarret Jack-Despite all the upside of Brandon Rush and the weaknesses he fills for this team, I think Jack will be the first off the bench.  He can play either guard spot and has still not reached his potential.  If Ford is not playing well, or Dunleavy is streaky in a bad way, I expect Jack to be the one off the pine to come in.  He has more experience than Rush does.

7th-Rasho Nesterovic-Now you might be thinking I’m crazy with putting him above Hibbert and Rush but just hear me out.  First, this is a list of the rotation not he ranking of talent or potential.  Also, I think the PF/C spots will be so up for grabs that a sub for the starters at that position could be the 6th man (where I almost put Rasho).  He provides interior defense and rebounding with a European style of play, meaning he can hit some jumpers.

8th-Brandon Rush-This guy, in my mind, will be an impact player as a rookie.  Not necessarily how most people think of an impact player as in points, rebounds, and assists, but in the way of smart play and solid defense.  He just might be the best defender on this Pacers team as a rookie.  I would rank him behind Danny on that one, but he is not far off.  Perimeter defense is something the Pacers lacked last year and oftentimes got burnt by the opposing back courts because of it.  Now with Jack and Rush coming off the bench, the Jack-Rush-Granger combo is a very formidable defensive tandem.

9th-Marquis Daniels-I loved the way he played at the beginning of last year. He played the combo guard role well and showed the ability to get to the rack and slash, which he is known for.  He will find it hard again to meet expectations that people had when he first came here.  There is just too much depth on the wings for him to find time.

10th-Roy Hibbert-Though i do not like him as an NBA player, he will be a rotation player this year.  I think he’ll start the year as the fourth big man in the rotation but will work his way up to be the first one off the bench in many games and even get some starts.  He does pretty well with setting up players for open shots on the perimeter, but unless he somehow miraculously gets faster in the off-season, he will find it hard to keep up with the pace of the Pacers. (And yes that was intended)

11th-Shawne Williams-I love the way he plays the game and feel like he has a lot of upside, but i think he is so far in the dog house, that he will find it hard getting minutes at the start of next year.  He will get his time and will be a 6th man in many games next year, but to start the year, he will be on the bench

12th-Stephen Graham-Another fan-favorite player that always plays well whenever he gets minutes.  I don’t remember ever being disappointed in Graham’s play.  Sadly for him, he’s stuck behind one of the deepest teams on the wings in the entire league.  I understand being loyal to a team, but if I were him, I’d try to find a team somewhere else because he is stuck in a log jam with the Pacers.

13+-Travis Diener, Maceo Baston, Josh McRoberts- Diener will see sme minutes but very few and far between, but I do not mind that after the season he had last year.  Baston didn’t get many minutes in his first stint with the Pacers, but will find his way on the court this time with the lack of depth in the post.  McRoberts still needs to adapt to the NBA game more.  His versatility will be an assett.  He could see minutes at the 4 this year.

This Pacers team will definitely be deep.  Though they have no star (listen to the podcast for that one) they have a lot of quality players that can step in and play well for this team.  This gives them many different options as to the rotation.  Above is the way i think the Pacers will start the year.  In my opinion, their best lineup would be:  Ford, Rush, Dunleavy, Granger, Foster.  I think the Pacers will use that some this year especially with very little post scoring and the style of play O’Brien likes to play, but I don’t know if Granger can take the beating in the post for the whole year.  He did play PF in college at New Mexico, but the NBA is much more physical and the Pacers cannot afford to lose him to injury.

Let me know how you think the Pacers will start the year and what their best lineup is by posting a comment below.

And email me (hosts@pacerscast.com) with your thoughts on how the Pacers should deal with Jamaal Tinsley.

Well I went on my off-season break…rather abruptly I must add and I apologize for not warning you.  Well with the one month off.  There hasn’t been a lot that has changed with the Pacers situation until today.

Herb Simon supported Larry Bird’s claim that Jamaal Tinsley will no longer be a Pacer. (Finally!) This was already stated by Coach O’Brien as well.  It looks like Tinsley will not play for Indiana next year, there will be no buyout of his contract, but Tinsley will not be sitting at home either.  Those three add up to the Pacers having to trade Jamaal.  The asking price will be very low since the Pacers are stating all of the above.

The Pacers schedule also came out today with a tough start to the season at Detroit, home v. Boston, home v. Pheonix and then at Cleveland.  I like a tough start better than an easy one like the Washington, Miami, Memphis start they had last year.  Nothing out of the ordinary in this schedule.

The next episode will be coming out this week!!