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

Monta Ellis begins his reinvention

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

  • Monta Ellis begins his reinvention



    PORTLAND, Ore. – Monta Ellis is trying to change. Not completely, yet in a manner that will allow him to be most effective for the remodeled Indiana Pacers.

    By his nature, Ellis’ style of play appears to be perfect for these up-tempo Pacers. He wants to attack the basket in transition or the half court. He loves to produce points and assists in the pick-and-roll. He wants to force steals for fast-break opportunities.

    Coach Nate McMillan will still accept such production and plays from Ellis. McMillan, though, wants and expects Ellis to do more by doing less with the ball.

    In his 13th season, Ellis is averaging just 10.6 points, the lowest of his career since his rookie year. He is attempting just 9.4 shots per game, also his lowest since his rookie year. The most telling statistic for Ellis through the Pacers’ first 18 games this season, however, is his usage percentage. The Pacers have used Ellis in their offensive plays – though an estimate – just 17 percent of the time, according to NBA.com. The percentage is the lowest in Ellis’ career.


    “I don’t need to take that many shots in a game,” he said Sunday. “I’m just playing the game the right way. My shots will come when they come. If they don’t, then I’ll do other things.”

    Yet Ellis is shooting a higher overall percentage (.447) and from behind the arc (.326), and has a higher positive net rating (2.8 points per 100 possessions) than last season, his first with the Pacers. And in the Pacers nine wins this season, Ellis’ usage percentage is 15 percent.

    But perhaps more than ever, Ellis is not concerning himself with his individual statistics.

    “I’ve been around,” said the 31-year-old Ellis. “Sometimes you make (shots), sometimes you don’t. You’ve still got to play the game the right way. That means rebounds, getting stops and do whatever you need to do to be in your gaps. Those things don’t show on the stat sheet, but it helps teams win. When you have a night like I had (Sunday) without shooting the ball, you’ve got to do something else.”

    Ellis said those words after the Pacers’ 91-70 win over the Los Angeles Clippers.

    Without star Paul George, Ellis knew he needed to take more shots. But he made just two of his 12 attempts, his poorest shooting game of the season. A younger, less mature Ellis might have let those 10 misses have a negative impact on the rest of his performance. Against the Clippers, Ellis still held J.J. Redick to five points on 1-of-7 shooting. He also collected six rebounds, helped maintain the Pacers’ ball movement and only committed one turnover in 35 minutes.

    It was that performance, minus the shooting, that the Pacers now expect from Ellis.

    “I think mostly we’re trying to get him to play a couple more years in this league,” George said last week. “We’ve been asking a lot out of Monta and working him hard. I think Nate is aware of that and wants that role to be a little easier for him, to where he doesn’t have to do so much to create and put his body out there to get plays going. We’re trying to save him in that aspect.”

    Ellis realized his approach on the court would need to change after last season, when former coach Frank Vogel often used him as the team’s primary ball handler. Larry Bird, the team’s president, acquired Jeff Teague in the offseason via a trade to be the team’s point guard. Ellis, without any issues, moved to be the team’s undersized starting shooting guard.

    When McMillan was promoted in May to head coach, he talked to Ellis about evolving. Ellis, McMillan said, had to recondition his thinking and reacting on the court. Instead of constantly driving to the basket, Ellis has to move and cut to the basket without the ball. Instead of shooting midrange jumpers almost exclusively, roam behind the 3-point line and shoot those shots when open.

    “It’s an adjustment to learn how to play without the ball,” McMillan said last week. “You just think about our lineup and our guys and you think about Monta. He’s played with the ball all of his life. You put all of these guys together and sacrifice comes into place and you have to learn and reinvent your game.”

    Reinvention, especially for a player as old as Ellis, can be difficult. Ellis, despite his alpha characteristics, has been willing to defer more to Teague to allow his teammates to probe more for points and assists.

    “He’s always been a creator, a scorer, a heavy minutes guy,” said Myles Turner. “He doesn’t have to do that with this team. He’s doing a better job, especially this season, of just doing it in other ways to impact the game.”

    As a veteran transitioning to a lesser scoring role, Ellis, several Pacers said last week, has helped build the team’s chemistry.

    Part of how he has done that is by not changing vociferous personality. He is not afraid to use his voice, whether in practice or a game. When the Pacers struggled to begin the season, Ellis was the loudest Pacer on the court to voice his displeasure about the team’s performance.

    “You’ve got some veteran guys that are new to the team that really don’t feel, like, obligated to state their opinion or don’t feel comfortable doing it,” Ellis said. “I really don’t. I love this game, man. I come in here and I practice hard, I play hurt, I practice hurt. I think I have the right to state my opinion when I need to when I give my body up for that.”

    With these Pacers, Ellis said he has focused more on teaching. He felt, after a few weeks, that some his teammates needed more of his wisdom to help them through a new offensive philosophy. Ellis has been the hardest on the younger Pacers, in particular Glenn Robinson III and Turner.

    “Yeah, he can be tough on me,” Turner said of Ellis. “It’s because he wants to see us get better. Yeah, he’s tough at times.”

    George called Ellis a warrior last week for how competitive his older his teammate is. George said Ellis’ role this season is one that competes against his reputation around the league as an aggressive scorer.

    Ellis, though, knows what playing the game the right way means for him. He has and plans on continuing to share the ball to make the Pacers successful.

    “I’ll do whatever I can to help us win,” Ellis said. “(McMillan) understands that. I got that feel from him. He told me that from day one, and I’m just trying to do my part.”
    I've been happy with Monta for the most part. People hate his game so he's under a microscope around here, but I think he has value on this team.

  • #2
    Re: Monta Ellis begins his reinvention

    Originally posted by freddielewis14 View Post
    I've been happy with Monta for the most part. People hate his game so he's under a microscope around here, but I think he has value on this team.
    He has value on this team, yes, but some think his value would enhance for us if he came off the bench. I don't particularly care for his game, but I think the would be a big asset to the bench unit. I don't even mind him running the point with the reserves.

    Comment


    • #3
      Re: Monta Ellis begins his reinvention

      Originally posted by cdash View Post
      He has value on this team, yes, but some think his value would enhance for us if he came off the bench. I don't particularly care for his game, but I think the would be a big asset to the bench unit. I don't even mind him running the point with the reserves.
      I like him off the bench too. But I'm not sure. GRIII seems like a better 3PT (better for Al Jefferson) and a better defensive fit with the second unit. But I also like Brooks. So I'm not sure how the bench shakes out when PG is healthy.

      Comment


      • #4
        Re: Monta Ellis begins his reinvention

        Pretty darn good article. I applaud Monta's professionalism. He does everything he can to contribute positively despite all of the noise around him. Good for him and for us.

        Pretty strong indicator that he'd accept a 6th man role from my vantage point.


        Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

        Comment


        • #5
          Re: Monta Ellis begins his reinvention

          Comment


          • #6
            Re: Monta Ellis begins his reinvention

            I'm not entirely sure how this stat works, if someone could clear this up for me I'd appreciate it.

            So, they say for the season Ellis' usage is 17%, but in our 9 wins, its 15%. Does that mean in the 9 losses it was 19%? I'm sure it doesn't work exactly like that, but we've got to assume his usage is up in the losses based on that right?

            Comment


            • #7
              Re: Monta Ellis begins his reinvention

              Monta is one of the best 2 guards in the east, not only that but his salary compared to his production is great.


              People also love to b*** about his D but he is not bad at that either.
              @WhatTheFFacts: Studies show that sarcasm enhances the ability of the human mind to solve complex problems!

              Comment


              • #8
                Re: Monta Ellis begins his reinvention

                Originally posted by vnzla81 View Post
                Monta is one of the best 2 guards in the east, not only that but his salary compared to his production is great.


                People also love to b*** about his D but he is not bad at that either.
                Monta's stats: 10.6 ppg, 3.7 rpg, 4.2 apg, 1.3 spg, 44% FG, 80% FT, 33 mpg
                An Eastern Conference two guard's stats: 10.9 ppg, 2.2 rpg, .6 apg, 1.1 spg, 50% FG, 94% FT, 20 mpg

                "One of the best two guards in the East"

                Other play is Terrence Ross, by the way. Not a starter on his team.

                Comment


                • #9
                  Re: Monta Ellis begins his reinvention

                  Originally posted by cdash View Post
                  Monta's stats: 10.6 ppg, 3.7 rpg, 4.2 apg, 1.3 spg, 44% FG, 80% FT, 33 mpg
                  An Eastern Conference two guard's stats: 10.9 ppg, 2.2 rpg, .6 apg, 1.1 spg, 50% FG, 94% FT, 20 mpg

                  "One of the best two guards in the East"

                  Other play is Terrence Ross, by the way. Not a starter on his team.
                  I think I'd trade Ellis to any team in the East for one of their SGs. Every team has a SG I like more.

                  Comment


                  • #10
                    Re: Monta Ellis begins his reinvention

                    I was hoping you guys wouldn't let him get away with saying that bs.

                    Originally posted by vnzla81 View Post
                    Monta is one of the best 2 guards in the east, not only that but his salary compared to his production is great.


                    People also love to b*** about his D but he is not bad at that either.
                    Derozan, Wade, Beal, Bradley, Middleton, Fournier, Lee, Batum, are all easily better.

                    He's a valuable contributor sure, but who are you fooling by saying he's one of the best 2guards in the East lol

                    Comment


                    • #11
                      Re: Monta Ellis begins his reinvention

                      Originally posted by cdash View Post
                      Monta's stats: 10.6 ppg, 3.7 rpg, 4.2 apg, 1.3 spg, 44% FG, 80% FT, 33 mpg
                      An Eastern Conference two guard's stats: 10.9 ppg, 2.2 rpg, .6 apg, 1.1 spg, 50% FG, 94% FT, 20 mpg

                      "One of the best two guards in the East"

                      Other play is Terrence Ross, by the way. Not a starter on his team.
                      2.2 RBG and .6 apg? who are this players?
                      @WhatTheFFacts: Studies show that sarcasm enhances the ability of the human mind to solve complex problems!

                      Comment


                      • #12
                        Re: Monta Ellis begins his reinvention

                        Originally posted by Ace E.Anderson View Post
                        I was hoping you guys wouldn't let him get away with saying that bs.



                        Derozan, Wade, Beal, Bradley, Middleton, Fournier, Lee, Batum, are all easily better.

                        He's a valuable contributor sure, but who are you fooling by saying he's one of the best 2guards in the East lol
                        Even outside of those guys, every team has at least 1 SG that would make sense for the Pacers to acquire. Whether it be a better fit or simply being a younger player with potential, I could find plenty of SGs in the East I'd rather have for this Pacers team.

                        Comment


                        • #13
                          Re: Monta Ellis begins his reinvention

                          Originally posted by vnzla81 View Post
                          2.2 RBG and .6 apg? who are this players?
                          Read the post again. I say who the player is at the bottom. Note that he is playing 13 fewer minutes per game too.

                          Comment


                          • #14
                            Re: Monta Ellis begins his reinvention

                            Originally posted by Ace E.Anderson View Post
                            I was hoping you guys wouldn't let him get away with saying that bs.



                            Derozan, Wade, Beal, Bradley, Middleton, Fournier, Lee, Batum, are all easily better.

                            He's a valuable contributor sure, but who are you fooling by saying he's one of the best 2guards in the East lol
                            Missed the salary part I see lol


                            And yes he is one of the best at his SALARY.
                            @WhatTheFFacts: Studies show that sarcasm enhances the ability of the human mind to solve complex problems!

                            Comment


                            • #15
                              Re: Monta Ellis begins his reinvention

                              Originally posted by cdash View Post
                              Read the post again. I say who the player is at the bottom. Note that he is playing 13 fewer minutes per game too.
                              2.2 RPG and .6 APG? are you serious?
                              @WhatTheFFacts: Studies show that sarcasm enhances the ability of the human mind to solve complex problems!

                              Comment

                              Working...
                              X