If you didn't know this, Bill Benner still writes a weekly column in the IBJ.
http://www.ibj.com/columns.asp?A=15489
BENNER: Pacers: So far, so good, but what will future bring?
By Bill Benner
With the NBA All-Star break approaching, my friends the Optimist and the Pessimist gathered at a downtown watering hole to offer their midseason assessments of their favorite team, the Indiana Pacers.
As usual, they invited me along and allowed me to eavesdrop.
Optimist: And so, my sour pal, even you would have to admit that all is right in our little corner of the professional basketball world. Larry Bird and Rick Carlisle are back, the team’s 20 games over .500, Jermaine O’Neal is positively studly, and Ron Artest is on his best behavior. See you in the NBA Finals.
Pessimist: Two words. Eastern Conference.
Optimist: So?
Pessimist: So it means they’re the best of the minor league, and that means nothing. They’re playing for second place … and that’s if they somehow don’t lose in the first round of the playoffs again.
Optimist: First of all, they don’t have to be better than anyone in the West over 82 games. They just have to be better over seven games in the Finals. And second, this will be the year they rediscover their playoff magic, and I’ll tell you why in two words: Bird, Carlisle.
This is the greatest reunion since Simon and Garfunkel. Isiah Thomas ran the loosest ship this side of McHale’s Navy. Bird and Carlisle demand discipline. Just look at the change in Artest.
Pessimist: Tick, tick, tick. That’s the sound of a time bomb waiting to explode. I remind you the Pacers had virtually the same record at this time last year when Artest detonated and the season went south. I look at Artest and see a guy right on the edge.
Optimist: I look at Artest and see an All-Star. Carlisle and Bird have screwed his head on straight. Zero tolerance. This guy has come into his own.
Pessimist: Instead of coming, I think he’d rather be going … to New York to be with his buddy, Isiah. With or without Artest, this is still—and I’ll use my favorite word here—a flawed team.
The geniuses, Bird and Donnie Walsh, were Dumb and Dumber in letting Brad Miller get away, so they’ve got no center. It’s point guard by committee with Jamal Tinsley as the latest chairman. Reggie Miller is, what, 48 years old? Al Harrington’s only goal is to shoot every time he touches the ball. And worst of all, Jonathan Bender is back.
Optimist: What team haven’t you been watching? Jeff Foster has a harder nose than any of those guys on Mount Rushmore. Tinsley is to be complimented for the way he’s hung in there and it may have been that he had to take one step back to take two steps forward.
For the record, Reggie is 38 and he’s still hitting big shots. Yeah, Harrington likes to shoot. Know what? He also likes to hit. This team won’t rise or fall on what Bender does or doesn’t do. This team has incredible depth. And at the end of the day, or the game, they’ve got O’Neal. Not many like him.
Pessimist: No; no more than 10 or 12 like him in the West.
Optimist: Again, my friend, what’s in the West is a June problem. I’m more concerned about what’s right in front of them.
Pessimist: As well you should be. Two more words: Last year. I guarantee you that face-plant they did after the All-Star break is still in their minds. I know it’s still in mine.
Optimist: And that’s why you are such a faint-hearted, fair-weather fan. You don’t see the glass half empty. You see it leaking. Last year was last year. Different team. Different coach. Different feel.
Pessimist: For now. But what I fear is, when the playoffs get here we see Foster with no offense, Reggie on old legs, Harrington shot-hunting, O’Neal in foul trouble and yakking at the refs, and Artest knocking over cameras.
Optimist: Can’t let it go, can you? What I see is Foster setting the tone with inside defense and rebounding. I see Reggie going back to the future and winning a game, or several, with Miller Time shots. I see Harrington playing like a starter off the bench, O’Neal dominating at both ends, and Artest taking the other team’s best player out of his game.
I see Tinsley coming into his own and the Pacers wearing teams down with their depth. And I see Rick Carlisle instead of Isiah Thomas on the sidelines. It’s all good, I’m telling you.
Pessimist: And I’m telling you it will all be over, again, before the Indianapolis 500. But even if it isn’t, they’re still playing for second. West is way best.
The two of them paused, looked at me, and asked my thoughts.
“How ’bout those Colts?” I said.
Benner, a former sports columnist for The Indianapolis Star, is now vice president of communications for the not-for-profit Indiana Sports Corp. His column appears weekly. To comment on this column, go to IBJ Forum at www.ibj.com or send e-mail to bbenner@ibj.com.
http://www.ibj.com/columns.asp?A=15489
BENNER: Pacers: So far, so good, but what will future bring?
By Bill Benner
With the NBA All-Star break approaching, my friends the Optimist and the Pessimist gathered at a downtown watering hole to offer their midseason assessments of their favorite team, the Indiana Pacers.
As usual, they invited me along and allowed me to eavesdrop.
Optimist: And so, my sour pal, even you would have to admit that all is right in our little corner of the professional basketball world. Larry Bird and Rick Carlisle are back, the team’s 20 games over .500, Jermaine O’Neal is positively studly, and Ron Artest is on his best behavior. See you in the NBA Finals.
Pessimist: Two words. Eastern Conference.
Optimist: So?
Pessimist: So it means they’re the best of the minor league, and that means nothing. They’re playing for second place … and that’s if they somehow don’t lose in the first round of the playoffs again.
Optimist: First of all, they don’t have to be better than anyone in the West over 82 games. They just have to be better over seven games in the Finals. And second, this will be the year they rediscover their playoff magic, and I’ll tell you why in two words: Bird, Carlisle.
This is the greatest reunion since Simon and Garfunkel. Isiah Thomas ran the loosest ship this side of McHale’s Navy. Bird and Carlisle demand discipline. Just look at the change in Artest.
Pessimist: Tick, tick, tick. That’s the sound of a time bomb waiting to explode. I remind you the Pacers had virtually the same record at this time last year when Artest detonated and the season went south. I look at Artest and see a guy right on the edge.
Optimist: I look at Artest and see an All-Star. Carlisle and Bird have screwed his head on straight. Zero tolerance. This guy has come into his own.
Pessimist: Instead of coming, I think he’d rather be going … to New York to be with his buddy, Isiah. With or without Artest, this is still—and I’ll use my favorite word here—a flawed team.
The geniuses, Bird and Donnie Walsh, were Dumb and Dumber in letting Brad Miller get away, so they’ve got no center. It’s point guard by committee with Jamal Tinsley as the latest chairman. Reggie Miller is, what, 48 years old? Al Harrington’s only goal is to shoot every time he touches the ball. And worst of all, Jonathan Bender is back.
Optimist: What team haven’t you been watching? Jeff Foster has a harder nose than any of those guys on Mount Rushmore. Tinsley is to be complimented for the way he’s hung in there and it may have been that he had to take one step back to take two steps forward.
For the record, Reggie is 38 and he’s still hitting big shots. Yeah, Harrington likes to shoot. Know what? He also likes to hit. This team won’t rise or fall on what Bender does or doesn’t do. This team has incredible depth. And at the end of the day, or the game, they’ve got O’Neal. Not many like him.
Pessimist: No; no more than 10 or 12 like him in the West.
Optimist: Again, my friend, what’s in the West is a June problem. I’m more concerned about what’s right in front of them.
Pessimist: As well you should be. Two more words: Last year. I guarantee you that face-plant they did after the All-Star break is still in their minds. I know it’s still in mine.
Optimist: And that’s why you are such a faint-hearted, fair-weather fan. You don’t see the glass half empty. You see it leaking. Last year was last year. Different team. Different coach. Different feel.
Pessimist: For now. But what I fear is, when the playoffs get here we see Foster with no offense, Reggie on old legs, Harrington shot-hunting, O’Neal in foul trouble and yakking at the refs, and Artest knocking over cameras.
Optimist: Can’t let it go, can you? What I see is Foster setting the tone with inside defense and rebounding. I see Reggie going back to the future and winning a game, or several, with Miller Time shots. I see Harrington playing like a starter off the bench, O’Neal dominating at both ends, and Artest taking the other team’s best player out of his game.
I see Tinsley coming into his own and the Pacers wearing teams down with their depth. And I see Rick Carlisle instead of Isiah Thomas on the sidelines. It’s all good, I’m telling you.
Pessimist: And I’m telling you it will all be over, again, before the Indianapolis 500. But even if it isn’t, they’re still playing for second. West is way best.
The two of them paused, looked at me, and asked my thoughts.
“How ’bout those Colts?” I said.
Benner, a former sports columnist for The Indianapolis Star, is now vice president of communications for the not-for-profit Indiana Sports Corp. His column appears weekly. To comment on this column, go to IBJ Forum at www.ibj.com or send e-mail to bbenner@ibj.com.
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