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

Live by the 3, die by the 3

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

  • Live by the 3, die by the 3

    Through 4 games:

    Paul G is attempting 7.6 threes per game, hitting 45.2%

    Lance is attempting 4.9 threes per game, hitting 55.0%

    Last season:

    Paul G attempted 5.9 threes per game, hitting 36.2%

    Lance attempted 2.4 threes per game, hitting 33.0%

    (Lance already had a heat check game of sorts against the Pistons, hitting only 2 of 6 from 3P. He was at over 60% before that.)

    What do we think? Is this sustainable? Or are we heading for an offensive crash and burn when the threes refuse to fall?

    Our defense so far has been as stout as ever, but it seems to me that our offense has been too reliant on hot shooting so far. Or is it just me?

  • #2
    Re: Live by the 3, die by the 3

    PG's 45% has a lot better chance of being close to a seasonal number than Lance's 55% does.

    Sure - there will be games where they don't fall, but overall - I think it's safe to say that they're decent 3pt shooters.

    Of course - it's just you.

    Comment


    • #3
      Re: Live by the 3, die by the 3

      I think Paul's is sustainable, but Lance is going to come back down to Earth. If he can shoot 55% for a whole season he would instantly be the best 3point shooter ever.

      Comment


      • #4
        Re: Live by the 3, die by the 3

        Well certainly their percentages will drop. Especially Lance, but his threes are wide, wide open.

        Seems as though teams are giving Lance any open three he wants, and even with Paul they appear more willing to give him a three as opposed to allowing him to drive.

        Overall I don't feel as though we are relying too much on the three, seems more like teams are allowing us open threes. Plus it is too early to suggest this is a trend

        Comment


        • #5
          Re: Live by the 3, die by the 3

          Yeah, they're really relying on more outside shooting than last year but they're also scoring more in transition. That 2nd quarter last night was a moment when none of their threes would drop and they fell behind by 4.

          As long as the Pacers D and rebounding limits the opponent to just 1 possession each time down and they can take better care of the basketball, they'll be okay with the 3 point shooting.

          Comment


          • #6
            Re: Live by the 3, die by the 3

            PG has done a good job getting to the line so far but I'm worried. It's a small sample size. IF he doesn't learn to get to the line on a consistent basis then he'll continue to have what he had last year- Either hot shooting games or simply bad games. When you're constantly getting to the line it's a difference between being effective one game and absolutely crushing your opponent the next.

            And as you suggest I am NOT a fan of the Pacers offense so far. Way too many turnovers, bad freethrow shooting and no game has the team really came together to crush a team offensively. The team has to have near a top five offense to compete. IF they can't figure it out, I think it lowers their ceiling.

            Edit- Basically the only thing that has gone right on that side of the ball is exceptional three point shooting. Since we know that'll will come down to earth soon, I'm definitely a little worried.
            Last edited by mattie; 11-06-2013, 11:42 AM.

            Comment


            • #7
              Re: Live by the 3, die by the 3

              Even with the exceptional shooting so far, the Pacers oRTG is currently 18th in the league through the first 4 games. That is not good.

              Comment


              • #8
                Re: Live by the 3, die by the 3

                As long as the 3s are wide open, I have no problem with them.
                Originally posted by IrishPacer
                Empty vessels make the most noise.

                Comment


                • #9
                  Re: Live by the 3, die by the 3

                  Originally posted by mattie View Post
                  Even with the exceptional shooting so far, the Pacers oRTG is currently 18th in the league through the first 4 games. That is not good.
                  Yeah - they're horrible.

                  Comment


                  • #10
                    Re: Live by the 3, die by the 3

                    I have to think the increased attempts are somewhat because of the increased percentages. Once they stop falling at such a good percentage, they'll shoot fewer I bet.

                    Comment


                    • #11
                      Re: Live by the 3, die by the 3

                      I feel the same way about Paul George taking 8 threes a game as I did about Danny taking 8 threes a game. I'd like for him to do work closer to the basket, but if you're gonna shoot a high percentage and the shots are within the flow of the offense, it's hard to complain too much.
                      This space for rent.

                      Comment


                      • #12
                        Re: Live by the 3, die by the 3

                        We don't need a top 5 offense. If we keep our top 2 or 3 defense, we just need an average offense to be a top 5 reg season team. 12-15 ranked offense will be what we are shooting for. Very attainable if either Roy or West gets going.

                        Comment


                        • #13
                          Re: Live by the 3, die by the 3

                          George Hill, C.J. Watson, and Orlando Johnson are all solid, if not good, three point shooters as well; they'll pick up the slack where necessary. C.J., usually around 40% shooting from behind the arc, has just hit 2 of 10 this year. I'm much more worried about the 20 turnovers per game.

                          Comment


                          • #14
                            Re: Live by the 3, die by the 3

                            No we're fine. Other stats to look at, our assists are way up from this point last year, I think by like 4 or 5 a game, that suggests better ball movement which is naturally going to lead to better looks that you want to take.

                            As a team, we took abotu 19.7 3PG last year and hit about 6.9 of them. This year we're taking about 3 more and we're hitting about 3 more. That doesn't seem unsustainable to me at all. It just seems like our offense is opening up a little bit more. Plus at the same time, our FTA per game has also gone up by about 3-4 attempts per game from last year. So we have seen an increase in 3ptA and makes and also an increase in FTA, this is a great sign for our offensive scheme as a whole.

                            The 3 is a huge weapon right now and even where we are we are middle of the pack this year so far in 3PA a game. We are 16th in the NBA. Right next to Oklahoma City.


                            Comment


                            • #15
                              Re: Live by the 3, die by the 3

                              Originally posted by mattie View Post
                              Even with the exceptional shooting so far, the Pacers oRTG is currently 18th in the league through the first 4 games. That is not good.
                              I think that is the turnovers at work. When you have such high amount of turnovers your ORtg is going to suffer.

                              Comment

                              Working...
                              X