Announcement

Collapse

The Rules of Pacers Digest

Hello everyone,

Whether your are a long standing forum member or whether you have just registered today, it's a good idea to read and review the rules below so that you have a very good idea of what to expect when you come to Pacers Digest.

A quick note to new members: Your posts will not immediately show up when you make them. An administrator has to approve at least your first post before the forum software will later upgrade your account to the status of a fully-registered member. This usually happens within a couple of hours or so after your post(s) is/are approved, so you may need to be a little patient at first.

Why do we do this? So that it's more difficult for spammers (be they human or robot) to post, and so users who are banned cannot immediately re-register and start dousing people with verbal flames.

Below are the rules of Pacers Digest. After you have read them, you will have a very good sense of where we are coming from, what we expect, what we don't want to see, and how we react to things.

Rule #1

Pacers Digest is intended to be a place to discuss basketball without having to deal with the kinds of behaviors or attitudes that distract people from sticking with the discussion of the topics at hand. These unwanted distractions can come in many forms, and admittedly it can sometimes be tricky to pin down each and every kind that can rear its ugly head, but we feel that the following examples and explanations cover at least a good portion of that ground and should at least give people a pretty good idea of the kinds of things we actively discourage:

"Anyone who __________ is a liar / a fool / an idiot / a blind homer / has their head buried in the sand / a blind hater / doesn't know basketball / doesn't watch the games"

"People with intelligence will agree with me when I say that __________"

"Only stupid people think / believe / do ___________"

"I can't wait to hear something from PosterX when he/she sees that **insert a given incident or current event that will have probably upset or disappointed PosterX here**"

"He/she is just delusional"

"This thread is stupid / worthless / embarrassing"

"I'm going to take a moment to point and / laugh at PosterX / GroupOfPeopleY who thought / believed *insert though/belief here*"

"Remember when PosterX said OldCommentY that no longer looks good? "

In general, if a comment goes from purely on topic to something 'ad hominem' (personal jabs, personal shots, attacks, flames, however you want to call it, towards a person, or a group of people, or a given city/state/country of people), those are most likely going to be found intolerable.

We also dissuade passive aggressive behavior. This can be various things, but common examples include statements that are basically meant to imply someone is either stupid or otherwise incapable of holding a rational conversation. This can include (but is not limited to) laughing at someone's conclusions rather than offering an honest rebuttal, asking people what game they were watching, or another common problem is Poster X will say "that player isn't that bad" and then Poster Y will say something akin to "LOL you think that player is good". We're not going to tolerate those kinds of comments out of respect for the community at large and for the sake of trying to just have an honest conversation.

Now, does the above cover absolutely every single kind of distraction that is unwanted? Probably not, but you should by now have a good idea of the general types of things we will be discouraging. The above examples are meant to give you a good feel for / idea of what we're looking for. If something new or different than the above happens to come along and results in the same problem (that being, any other attitude or behavior that ultimately distracts from actually just discussing the topic at hand, or that is otherwise disrespectful to other posters), we can and we will take action to curb this as well, so please don't take this to mean that if you managed to technically avoid saying something exactly like one of the above examples that you are then somehow off the hook.

That all having been said, our goal is to do so in a generally kind and respectful way, and that doesn't mean the moment we see something we don't like that somebody is going to be suspended or banned, either. It just means that at the very least we will probably say something about it, quite possibly snipping out the distracting parts of the post in question while leaving alone the parts that are actually just discussing the topics, and in the event of a repeating or excessive problem, then we will start issuing infractions to try to further discourage further repeat problems, and if it just never seems to improve, then finally suspensions or bans will come into play. We would prefer it never went that far, and most of the time for most of our posters, it won't ever have to.

A slip up every once and a while is pretty normal, but, again, when it becomes repetitive or excessive, something will be done. Something occasional is probably going to be let go (within reason), but when it starts to become habitual or otherwise a pattern, odds are very good that we will step in.

There's always a small minority that like to push people's buttons and/or test their own boundaries with regards to the administrators, and in the case of someone acting like that, please be aware that this is not a court of law, but a private website run by people who are simply trying to do the right thing as they see it. If we feel that you are a special case that needs to be dealt with in an exceptional way because your behavior isn't explicitly mirroring one of our above examples of what we generally discourage, we can and we will take atypical action to prevent this from continuing if you are not cooperative with us.

Also please be aware that you will not be given a pass simply by claiming that you were 'only joking,' because quite honestly, when someone really is just joking, for one thing most people tend to pick up on the joke, including the person or group that is the target of the joke, and for another thing, in the event where an honest joke gets taken seriously and it upsets or angers someone, the person who is truly 'only joking' will quite commonly go out of his / her way to apologize and will try to mend fences. People who are dishonest about their statements being 'jokes' do not do so, and in turn that becomes a clear sign of what is really going on. It's nothing new.

In any case, quite frankly, the overall quality and health of the entire forum's community is more important than any one troublesome user will ever be, regardless of exactly how a problem is exhibiting itself, and if it comes down to us having to make a choice between you versus the greater health and happiness of the entire community, the community of this forum will win every time.

Lastly, there are also some posters, who are generally great contributors and do not otherwise cause any problems, who sometimes feel it's their place to provoke or to otherwise 'mess with' that small minority of people described in the last paragraph, and while we possibly might understand why you might feel you WANT to do something like that, the truth is we can't actually tolerate that kind of behavior from you any more than we can tolerate the behavior from them. So if we feel that you are trying to provoke those other posters into doing or saying something that will get themselves into trouble, then we will start to view you as a problem as well, because of the same reason as before: The overall health of the forum comes first, and trying to stir the pot with someone like that doesn't help, it just makes it worse. Some will simply disagree with this philosophy, but if so, then so be it because ultimately we have to do what we think is best so long as it's up to us.

If you see a problem that we haven't addressed, the best and most appropriate course for a forum member to take here is to look over to the left of the post in question. See underneath that poster's name, avatar, and other info, down where there's a little triangle with an exclamation point (!) in it? Click that. That allows you to report the post to the admins so we can definitely notice it and give it a look to see what we feel we should do about it. Beyond that, obviously it's human nature sometimes to want to speak up to the poster in question who has bothered you, but we would ask that you try to refrain from doing so because quite often what happens is two or more posters all start going back and forth about the original offending post, and suddenly the entire thread is off topic or otherwise derailed. So while the urge to police it yourself is understandable, it's best to just report it to us and let us handle it. Thank you!

All of the above is going to be subject to a case by case basis, but generally and broadly speaking, this should give everyone a pretty good idea of how things will typically / most often be handled.

Rule #2

If the actions of an administrator inspire you to make a comment, criticism, or express a concern about it, there is a wrong place and a couple of right places to do so.

The wrong place is to do so in the original thread in which the administrator took action. For example, if a post gets an infraction, or a post gets deleted, or a comment within a larger post gets clipped out, in a thread discussing Paul George, the wrong thing to do is to distract from the discussion of Paul George by adding your off topic thoughts on what the administrator did.

The right places to do so are:

A) Start a thread about the specific incident you want to talk about on the Feedback board. This way you are able to express yourself in an area that doesn't throw another thread off topic, and this way others can add their two cents as well if they wish, and additionally if there's something that needs to be said by the administrators, that is where they will respond to it.

B) Send a private message to the administrators, and they can respond to you that way.

If this is done the wrong way, those comments will be deleted, and if it's a repeating problem then it may also receive an infraction as well.

Rule #3

If a poster is bothering you, and an administrator has not or will not deal with that poster to the extent that you would prefer, you have a powerful tool at your disposal, one that has recently been upgraded and is now better than ever: The ability to ignore a user.

When you ignore a user, you will unfortunately still see some hints of their existence (nothing we can do about that), however, it does the following key things:

A) Any post they make will be completely invisible as you scroll through a thread.

B) The new addition to this feature: If someone QUOTES a user you are ignoring, you do not have to read who it was, or what that poster said, unless you go out of your way to click on a link to find out who it is and what they said.

To utilize this feature, from any page on Pacers Digest, scroll to the top of the page, look to the top right where it says 'Settings' and click that. From the settings page, look to the left side of the page where it says 'My Settings', and look down from there until you see 'Edit Ignore List' and click that. From here, it will say 'Add a Member to Your List...' Beneath that, click in the text box to the right of 'User Name', type in or copy & paste the username of the poster you are ignoring, and once their name is in the box, look over to the far right and click the 'Okay' button. All done!

Rule #4

Regarding infractions, currently they carry a value of one point each, and that point will expire in 31 days. If at any point a poster is carrying three points at the same time, that poster will be suspended until the oldest of the three points expires.

Rule #5

When you share or paste content or articles from another website, you must include the URL/link back to where you found it, who wrote it, and what website it's from. Said content will be removed if this doesn't happen.

An example:

If I copy and paste an article from the Indianapolis Star website, I would post something like this:

http://www.linktothearticlegoeshere.com/article
Title of the Article
Author's Name
Indianapolis Star

Rule #6

We cannot tolerate illegal videos on Pacers Digest. This means do not share any links to them, do not mention any websites that host them or link to them, do not describe how to find them in any way, and do not ask about them. Posts doing anything of the sort will be removed, the offenders will be contacted privately, and if the problem becomes habitual, you will be suspended, and if it still persists, you will probably be banned.

The legal means of watching or listening to NBA games are NBA League Pass Broadband (for US, or for International; both cost money) and NBA Audio League Pass (which is free). Look for them on NBA.com.

Rule #7

Provocative statements in a signature, or as an avatar, or as the 'tagline' beneath a poster's username (where it says 'Member' or 'Administrator' by default, if it is not altered) are an unwanted distraction that will more than likely be removed on sight. There can be shades of gray to this, but in general this could be something political or religious that is likely going to provoke or upset people, or otherwise something that is mean-spirited at the expense of a poster, a group of people, or a population.

It may or may not go without saying, but this goes for threads and posts as well, particularly when it's not made on the off-topic board (Market Square).

We do make exceptions if we feel the content is both innocuous and unlikely to cause social problems on the forum (such as wishing someone a Merry Christmas or a Happy Easter), and we also also make exceptions if such topics come up with regards to a sports figure (such as the Lance Stephenson situation bringing up discussions of domestic abuse and the law, or when Jason Collins came out as gay and how that lead to some discussion about gay rights).

However, once the discussion seems to be more/mostly about the political issues instead of the sports figure or his specific situation, the thread is usually closed.

Rule #8

We prefer self-restraint and/or modesty when making jokes or off topic comments in a sports discussion thread. They can be fun, but sometimes they derail or distract from a topic, and we don't want to see that happen. If we feel it is a problem, we will either delete or move those posts from the thread.

Rule #9

Generally speaking, we try to be a "PG-13" rated board, and we don't want to see sexual content or similarly suggestive content. Vulgarity is a more muddled issue, though again we prefer things to lean more towards "PG-13" than "R". If we feel things have gone too far, we will step in.

Rule #10

We like small signatures, not big signatures. The bigger the signature, the more likely it is an annoying or distracting signature.

Rule #11

Do not advertise anything without talking about it with the administrators first. This includes advertising with your signature, with your avatar, through private messaging, and/or by making a thread or post.
See more
See less

O'Brien expects he will be coaching O'Neal next season

Collapse
X
 
  • Filter
  • Time
  • Show
Clear All
new posts

  • O'Brien expects he will be coaching O'Neal next season

    http://www.indystar.com/apps/pbcs.dl.../1088/SPORTS04


    Q&A with Pacers coach Jim O'Brien



    O'Brien expects he will be coaching O'Neal next season


    Jim O'Brien isn't a gambler. But the new Indiana Pacers coach said he believes the odds favor All-Star forward Jermaine O'Neal wearing a Pacers uniform next season.


    "I've sat down and talked at length with Jermaine and where he sees his career going," O'Brien said from his office Thursday afternoon. "If I'm his coach next year, which I expect to be and want to be, my job and Jermaine's job as leaders is to be on the same page, which I think we will be, and we both need to be examples for the team."

    O'Neal, along with Kevin Garnett and Kobe Bryant, are the marquee names being discussed in trade rumors.

    O'Neal has said he doesn't want to stay if the Pacers rebuild.

    "I know trades are hard to make when you're talking about a big trade involving somebody like Jermaine O'Neal or Kevin Garnett because they are extremely important to the future of your franchise, and you cannot make a mistake, nor will we make a mistake about that," O'Brien said. "I have a sense that the odds are against the fact that Jermaine O'Neal will be traded.
    It's just reality. . . . With that in mind, I'm playing the odds. I'm planning on coaching him."

    O'Brien has met or spoken by phone with each player. He said O'Neal (knee surgery) and swingman Marquis Daniels (knee tendinitis) are doing on-the-court work. Center David Harrison will not participate in the team's summer league next month because he is not fully healed from shoulder surgery in late April.

    Question: What have the past three weeks been like?

    Answer: The main thing is you get your staff set, which I have, and you get yourself in front of as many players as you can, as quickly as you can, which I have, and I start getting a feel and develop a relationship prior to getting into the nitty-gritty of the season.

    Q: Have you had a chance to catch up with all the players yet?

    A: I've talked to everybody either in person or on the phone. The guys I haven't seen in person, I'll go to wherever they are. I think next week I'm going to be up in New York seeing Troy (Murphy) and Mike (Dunleavy). I've talked to them on the phone. Ike (Diogu) is in school and if he doesn't have a chance to come back for summer league, I'll go out there to Phoenix.

    Q: Who do you expect to take part in (during) summer league next month?

    A: We hope to possibly sign a free agent before then. So whoever we sign will be involved. Shawne (Williams) will be involved. Danny (Granger) is going to practice with us. He may or may not play in some games. If we pick up the option on Orien (Greene) (by June 30), he would be involved and we have a bunch of free agents that we have looked at.

    Q: As is, can you take this roster to the playoffs?

    A: One word: Absolutely.

    Q: Do you feel like you have established a connection with Jermaine (O'Neal)?

    A: You make connections with people over a course of time. . . . I've never really had a difficulty getting players to lead.

    Q: Do you get a sense he wants to be here?

    A: I think he has a real concern about his future here in Indiana. If he could be put in a situation most favorable to him winning a championship, I'm sure he would be interested in that. But my viewpoint is that I was asked by (Pacers president) Larry (Bird) and (CEO) Donnie (Walsh) to be a part of helping build a champion here. That's my focus. I don't have the ultimate say on who is going to be here. I have a lot of input. If Larry thinks he can get equal value for Jermaine -- in two different guys or one guy that would really like to be here -- I'm sure he would do it. If he can't, we want to create an environment where Jermaine will be very, very motivated to be a Pacer.

    Q: Do you think Jermaine is comfortable with your philosophies?

    A: Of course not. I don't have a player in this franchise that's comfortable with me. Nor am I comfortable with any of them. You don't walk into an organization with somebody for 30 minutes and work with them on the court for two weeks and get comfortable. It doesn't happen. Comfort level takes time to build. I am as focused on relationship building as I am on anything that's on the court. I know how valuable chemistry is to a basketball team.

    Q: What's the one question fans have asked you the most?

    A: Are we going to make the playoffs or are we going to get this back to the level that we're accustomed to. They are all very passionate about wanting us to do well. I've found a tremendous amount of support.

    Q: How was your conversation with Jamaal Tinsley?

    A: Great. I think we had a wonderful conversation. I really had a sense that we're going to have a strong relationship. You need that with veterans, and veterans that are point guards. I believe that he is a guy that I have to create an offensive situation that allows him to do what he can do. We're going to push the tempo more and I think that's going to be very good for Jermaine because we need to be unpredictable offensively more than we have in the past. To be 30th in field goal offense is alarming. If NBA teams know what you're constantly going to run, they are going to shut down your players.

    Q: Do you have a sense that there will be a bunch of changes this summer?

    A: We have some decisions to make. . . . When you come into a new situation, the chances of you making changes to your top five doesn't happen very often, but you can really improve that next five.

    Q: Do you have huge gaps to fill?

    A: If I had to start a team just knowing what I know now, these guys will be told at the beginning of training camp, Jermaine O'Neal has a starting job, and probably Jamaal; everything else is up for grabs. If I look at our team, I would start Jamaal, Granger, Dunleavy, O'Neal and Troy Murphy. That's nothing against (Jeff) Foster. I think he's a quality starter.

    Call Star reporter Mike Wells at (317) 444-6053.
    So Long And Thanks For All The Fish.

    If you've done 6 impossible things today?
    Then why not have Breakfast at Milliways!


  • #2
    Re: O'Brien expects he will be coaching O'Neal next season

    I love Jim O'Brien. There! I admit it! He's quite no-nonsense and I believe that he can make a baller out of Jamaal who has negative value right now. Even if he's lying about JO (which isn't a sure thing), he certainly is helping in keeping the value high.

    Comment


    • #3
      Re: O'Brien expects he will be coaching O'Neal next season

      I'll post my comments here instead of in the article (thanks Mike):

      First on JO:

      He wants to stay here, that is what I draw from it, unless A: we are rebuilding and B: he can get on a championship caliber team.

      It is clear that "rebuilding" is NOT what we are looking at, in fact we are looking at a re-tooling "on the fly" again, which was semi-successfull in the past so why not now? Had it not been for Ron & the brawl, we would have been the team quickest to return to the finals after a complete re-shuffle of the roster.

      Jermaine is not in LA it seems, as he is on the practise court in Indy, at least that is what I draw from this, which is imo a good sign.

      Also we will be signing some free agent(s) OK from earlier articles we know they wont be expensive but hey

      As for Tinsley what can I say except HEY RATBOY! we gonna be right!

      Finally some more remarks; There are not so nice indirect comments on Rick, true, but not really nice, though once more, they are very true and MANY of us said that.
      Also this is a very clear message to any team wanting to "aquire" JO stating that if you want him you A; have to be or become a contender and B: gives us at least "equal value" (which kinda kills A) or he isn't going anywhere.
      Our bench remaining 13 are less sure of anything then even those two are, it looks like they are for sure looking to replace a (large?) number of players again.
      So Long And Thanks For All The Fish.

      If you've done 6 impossible things today?
      Then why not have Breakfast at Milliways!

      Comment


      • #4
        Re: O'Brien expects he will be coaching O'Neal next season

        I would talk like I'm coaching my player to if hes currently on the team. did you guys see Glen Taylor shut down the KG rumors after KG did not request to go to Boston. thats someone who thinks he can fool someone.

        I'm sure O'Brien would love to coach JO and he could but when the current roster looks the same thus far you want to act like all of those same players from this past year will return next season and thats not happening.
        "To accomplish great things, we must not only act, but also dream; not only plan, but also believe." - Anatole France

        Comment


        • #5
          Re: O'Brien expects he will be coaching O'Neal next season

          Great interview

          Comment


          • #6
            Re: O'Brien expects he will be coaching O'Neal next season

            This is more or less the first thing I read about our new coach, and I must say, I like him already.

            Originally posted by Jim
            I am as focused on relationship building as I am on anything that's on the court. I know how valuable chemistry is to a basketball team.
            Good

            I still think it's time to trade JO and Tinsley, but Jim is right to assume that they'll be here next season, because they are, as of now, still here.
            Word on the street is he doesn't want your money, he only wants to please your ears...
            Bum in Berlin on Myspace

            Comment


            • #7
              Re: O'Brien expects he will be coaching O'Neal next season

              This is a great interview, some things that strike me as a interesting.

              Murphy listed as a starter and he's been devalued to a worse defensive Greg Dreiling by folks on this board.

              They are actively shopping JO, "2 equal value guys or one that wants to be here"? Hmm, so they've already identified what they need to get in return. This isn't a surprise but is detailed of what they are looking for.

              Also, 1 that wants to be here implied to me that JO doesn't want to be here or that could be referencing Odom, as well, I'm reading tons into it, obviously.

              Lastly, this all could be propaganda for the Lakers or any other potential suitor. See, look you should trade us for JO, who we really are planning on keeping and Murphy who is a bonafide starter, see, Kupchak its all there in the interview. I'm just saying this could be posturing, imho.

              "We hope to possibly sign a free agent before then. So whoever we sign will be involved. " This makes it sound like there is one particular FA they are close to signing and it would be someone who would go to summer league so it's not and existing NBA big name. Again this is me really disecting this interview, so maybe its reaching, but later he talks about all of the FA's "and we have a bunch of free agents that we have looked at." Like that is two different things he is talking about. Is there any overseas players available he maybe referencing, I wonder?
              Last edited by Speed; 06-22-2007, 08:56 AM.

              Comment


              • #8
                Re: O'Brien expects he will be coaching O'Neal next season

                I am concerned that he would start Murphy, that was a disaster and needs to not be repeated.

                Comment


                • #9
                  Re: O'Brien expects he will be coaching O'Neal next season

                  This tells me he interviews well .... we can only hope he is as good at coaching!
                  But he certainly seems to know the right answers at least to these questions.
                  'All animals are equal, but some animals are more equal than others.'
                  Animal Farm, by George Orwell

                  Comment


                  • #10
                    Re: O'Brien expects he will be coaching O'Neal next season

                    Originally posted by Ragnar View Post
                    I am concerned that he would start Murphy, that was a disaster and needs to not be repeated.
                    I wouldn't worry about it, every year someone new is brought in to replace Jeff and sooner or later Jeff is always back into the starting lineup - or at least getting starters minutes.

                    Comment


                    • #11
                      Re: O'Brien expects he will be coaching O'Neal next season

                      Obie has won me over. He is a positive thinker which is something that Carlisle always scared me about. Rick was always so monotone and rarely showed any excitement. I feel like Obie feels really excited about this oppurtunity. As far as him and Tinsley, call me crazy, but I think it just might work.


                      Comment


                      • #12
                        Re: O'Brien expects he will be coaching O'Neal next season

                        I can't believe there's so much meat in such a short article.

                        - Obie expects to have a FA very soon, since the summer league isn't too far behind the start of free agency. That sure sounds like we not only are using the MLE, but we're targeting someone specifically.

                        - The "one guy that would really like to be here" threw up a red flag. Is he infering that JO doesn't? Is it a reference to Odom? He could just mean that, if we do ultimately trade JO, it will be because he's decided he doesn't want to be here.

                        - The entire chemistry answer is gold. If you don't read that as a direct refutiation of Rick Carlisle, I don't know what to tell you.

                        - To be 30th in field goal offense is alarming. If NBA teams know what you're constantly going to run, they are going to shut down your players. Hmm, I seem to remember some people arguing that consistency isn't a problem, that in the NBA every opposing team knows every play you're gonna run anyway, and it's all about execution.

                        - "probably Jamaal (starts)." Either this means we're pursing a Point, or he knows how unpopular he is and is throwing a bone.

                        - The "top five, next five" I find troublesome. Especially when he views Murphy as one of our top five. Though him throwing Jeff in there, again, I think was a bone to the fans.
                        Come to the Dark Side -- There's cookies!

                        Comment


                        • #13
                          Re: O'Brien expects he will be coaching O'Neal next season

                          Originally posted by Kegboy View Post

                          - The "top five, next five" I find troublesome. Especially when he views Murphy as one of our top five. Though him throwing Jeff in there, again, I think was a bone to the fans.

                          Being a starter does not neccessarily mean a player is one of the top five on a team. To explain what I mean, a team may be rich and deep in quality guards, and not so strong up front. You can't start five guards, so that team's starting line-up may not reflect their top five players. There are also players that are simply better (for whatever reason) coming off the bench than starting.
                          Last edited by Tom White; 06-22-2007, 10:38 AM.

                          Comment


                          • #14
                            Re: O'Brien expects he will be coaching O'Neal next season

                            God help us. Murphy does seemingly fit O'Brien's style to the tee. Think Walker in his best days as a Celtic with all those open looks off the break.

                            Comment


                            • #15
                              Re: O'Brien expects he will be coaching O'Neal next season

                              Originally posted by Tom White View Post
                              Being a starter does not neccessarily mean a player is one of the top five on a team. To explain what I mean, a team may be rich and deep in quality guards, and not so strong up front. You can't start five guards, so that team's starting line-up may not reflect their top five players. There are also players that are simply better (for whatever reason) coming off the bench than starting.

                              EX - Ginolbli

                              Comment

                              Working...
                              X