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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 ___________"

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"This thread is stupid / worthless / embarrassing"

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"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

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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.

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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

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The NBA is going small

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  • #1

    The NBA is going small

    This is a trend that is taking over.

    http://chicagosports.chicagotribune....sketball-print


    INSIDE THE NBA

    Small stands tall in new NBA
    Sam Smith
    On Pro Basketball

    December 5, 2005

    Call it "small ball."

    Even better, call it "goodbye to the big stiff."

    Either way, one of the biggest and most subtle changes in the NBA has been the increasing use of small lineups, especially the three-guard variety.

    "[Hornets coach] Byron Scott just called me and he told me his best team is Speedy [Claxton], Chris Paul and Desmond Mason," Larry Brown was saying last week after his Knicks outlasted the Bulls with a three-guard group of Nate Robinson, Jamal Crawford and Stephon Marbury doing the damage. "More and more teams are doing that to take advantage of the three-point line and playing like they do in Europe: Penetrate and kick. They don't have true post players overseas and you find it happening more and more here. When I was growing up, every game you have two unbelievable centers banging each other and you had to guard the post. Now it's a lot of different matchups."

    Much of this has been traced to the Suns' success last season with Amare Stoudemire at center and a run-and-shoot offense, but it's really more than that. A combination of recent rule changes that allow modified zone defenses and fewer true low-post centers who require double teams has led more teams to seek penetration of the defense by dribbling instead of throwing the ball inside. Certainly, if a team has Shaquille O'Neal or Tim Duncan, it will try to pass inside. But low-post play continues to be a lost art for big men, in the Kevin Garnett mold, who learn to play the game from the outside.

    "Dribble penetration is the bane of every coach," says Milwaukee's Terry Stotts. "If you have two or three players on the court who can shoot and drive, it makes it hard on the defense."

    In bygone NBA eras, there was little help defense and most teams had big centers banging one another. The game then transitioned to defenses double-teaming the center and the ball swinging to shooters. This was also made possible because the rules at that time banned zone defenses, which made teams guard the weak side of the court (away from the ball).

    Now teams more often can clog the lane and front the post, which the Bulls were so effective doing against the much bigger Spurs this season in a win and overtime loss against the NBA defending champions.

    "It's surprising sometimes how many teams you can drive into a favorable matchup by substituting the right way," says Bulls coach Scott Skiles.

    This evolution has leveled the playing field somewhat for smaller teams, like the Bulls, and created a different type of game that continues to find more places for smaller players. It also emphasizes skill over bulk, the rare O'Neal types excluded, of course. Gone is the yearning for the likes of Kelvin Cato, Rasho Nesterovic, Greg Ostertag and Calvin Booth, all of whom received big contracts at one time. Now, teams use the dribble to penetrate with more skilled players and can do such things as produce a more favorable matchup in pick and roll with skilled players by picking off the better defender.

    Here's a look at some of the better three-guard rotations that have had success this season:

    - Steve Nash, Raja Bell and Eddie House, Suns. They're not quite what they were without Stoudemire to draw the defense in, but still rank second in scoring to the 76ers.

    - T.J. Ford, Michael Redd and Mo Williams, Bucks. Milwaukee is shooting almost 44 percent on threes with Ford a jet with the ball.

    - Kirk Hinrich, Ben Gordon and Chris Duhon, Bulls. All are making at least a third of their threes, which translates into 50 percent on twos, can handle the ball and are good in pick-and-roll situations, which Skiles runs from creative angles all over the court with one of the league's more clever playbooks.

    - Damon Stoudemire, Bobby Jackson and Eddie Jones, Grizzlies. All are averaging in double figures for one of the league's early surprises. The Grizzlies are the league's best in points allowed and top five in shooting defense with their scrambling game and no true center.

    - Steve Francis, Deshawn Stevenson and Jameer Nelson, Magic. All are averaging in double figures and can pass. Wait until Grant Hill returns this month from injury.

    Don't forget the Sonics with Flip Murray returning from injury to join Ray Allen and Luke Ridnour. Dallas still is a team filled with guards and with 7-footer Dirk Nowitzki playing like a shooting guard. The Cavs have Larry Hughes and Eric Snow or Damon Jones with LeBron James handling the ball more than all of them.

    It's a small world after all.

    Trading places

    It's hard to believe the Raptors won't deal Jalen Rose soon. Last summer they, surprisingly, turned down the Knicks' offer of Penny Hardaway, who is in the final year of his deal. Rose comes off the bench and doesn't play much now with Toronto, one of the league's hottest teams. Joining Rose on the trading floor because of lack of minutes or troubling times are Denver's Voshon Lenard, Portland's Ruben Patterson and Boston's Mark Blount. ... One guy who'd be a nice fit for a team seeking a shooter, like the Bulls, is Casey Jacobsen, who went overseas to play last summer. . . . Perhaps the Bulls could interest the Heat in Eric Piatkowski for Michael Doleac when O'Neal returns.

    Rocky Mountain, indeed

    You wonder if Jeff Bdzelik is smiling. Or at least smirking. The northwest suburban product now coaching the Air Force Academy was run off by the Nuggets when the team was 13-15 last season and struggling through injuries and dissension. Fast forward to this season: Kenyon Martin is having knee problems (with Nene already out for the season), Lenard wants to be traded after being benched and Earl Watson doesn't play after being the big off-season acquisition. The Nuggets are 8-8, as many losses as George Karl had after 40 games last season. The talk is Karl will run off general manager Kiki Vandeweghe, who wasn't instrumental in Karl's hiring, and run his own show. (Hey, maybe Anthony Mason wants to make a comeback.)

    Karl, meanwhile, was suspended last week for another rant against officials and that's a good thing. It's time NBA coaches stop giving fans and kids everywhere license to believe officials lost the game. Sure, work the officials in games, but stand up afterward and accept defeat. It's players and coaches who win and lose games with the rare exception of missed call on the final play, and even then it's the team's fault for letting it get to that. Champions dine; losers whine.

    All that Jazz

    You weep with Jerry Sloan, who remembers when basketball is what mattered. Sloan told the Deseret News: "Jerry West was a great, great player, but he did use his right hand exclusively. He'd give you two dribbles to his left, then you'd jump over there, and then he's got you going right to where he wants you to be. Lenny Wilkens was a left-handed player. He would always draw you over there, then you'd get over on that side too far and he'd take two dribbles to his right, and then you'd really jump to try to get back to him, and now you're [in trouble]. I could tell you right now, Pete Maravich would come up the right side of the floor, two dribbles across halfcourt and he's [using] the left hand." It's the lament of so many coaches these days despite all the modern equipment and scouting to study players. "I don't think guys nowadays, younger guys, study the game the way he did," agreed Ostertag. Meanwhile, the eBay bidding on a full day with Sloan--including airfare, hotel, lunch and tickets to the Jan. 21 Jazz-Cavs game--reached $8,100. It's a benefit for the Bobbye and Jerry Sloan Hand-in-Hand Foundation. Sloan says he naps before games and the package doesn't include that.

    Slam dunks

    The Clippers are the Bulls of this season, leading the NBA in field-goal defense. Their Saturday game against the Cavs was one man's view of the league's future. Said LeBron James: "They're a good team and they're becoming a great team. They are just like us. They are up and coming on the West Coast, and we are up and coming on the East Coast." The Cavs actually have further to go, ranking among the league's worst in shooting defense overall and on three-pointers. ... Marquette's Travis Diener, in just his second game for the Magic, hit all four threes he attempted Saturday against the Bucks in front of eight busloads of fans from hometown Fond du lac. The crowd at the earlier Marquette-South Dakota State game received Diener bobbleheads. After his fourth three, Diener was booed by the Bucks' crowd. ... Heat fans derisively yell for Antoine Walker to shoot when he has the ball in the backcourt. ... Garnett gave each Minnesota teammate for Christmas the long-awaited Microsoft Xbox 360. And you wonder why players today keep guarding left shooters to the right.
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  • #2
    Re: The NBA is going small

    I hate smallball.
    You, Never? Did the Kenosha Kid?

    Comment

    • #3
      Re: The NBA is going small

      Small-ball = "gimmick".

      Don Nelson must be so proud of this trend.
      Why do the things that we treasure most, slip away in time
      Till to the music we grow deaf, to God's beauty blind
      Why do the things that connect us slowly pull us apart?
      Till we fall away in our own darkness, a stranger to our own hearts
      And life itself, rushing over me
      Life itself, the wind in black elms,
      Life itself in your heart and in your eyes, I can't make it without you

      Comment

      • #4
        Re: The NBA is going small

        If teams want to play a guard at the SF spot and a forward at the C spot, good for them. As others have called for, I wish Rick would use Ron and Hulk at SF and C, against "small-ball" lineups and pound it down low, until the opposing coach has to adjust to us rather than the Pacers playing small ball to match them.

        Comment

        • #5
          Re: The NBA is going small

          I so long for the days of the true center....

          Oh God if only we could get a coach who would teach David Harrison how to play defense & then a coach who would actually let him on the floor...

          Who could stop Harrison when he got going? What center in the NBA not named Shaq has the bulk to truely stop him if he had the proper training?

          I'll say it again now in this thread.

          For us to have a prayer vs. the Heat, Pistons or even the Cavs. we must have David Harrison playing significant min. & playing reasonably well.


          Basketball isn't played with computers, spreadsheets, and simulations. ChicagoJ 4/21/13

          Comment

          • #6
            Re: The NBA is going small

            This is probably going to be considered blasphemy in Indiana, but I gotta say - I LOVE small-ball.

            It's not a run&gun Don Nelson mid-80s Nuggets style. It's different. It's more of a hybrid of the triangle offense and simlpe pick'n'roll offense. Basically it's running every time you get the chance. It's driving and dishing instead of dumping it to the bigs. It's screens away from the ball & on the ball to free the shooters and start the play. It's fast tempo and it becomes a game of skills rather than a game of muscle. A game the players decide and not how the refs call it. But apart from all that it has 2 major pros:

            1. If you have the right cast, it beats old-style ball. Quite easily most of the time.
            2. It's more fun to watch (subjective, but based on reality).

            Mike D'Antoni is doing it all over with his bunch in Phoenix, without the big guy. His PG Nash won the MVP award for intoducing how to play small-ball correctly. The only reason Phoenix didnt win it all last year was the they were beat in their own game by SA. SA played better small-ball than Phoenix.

            Indiana's best small-ball lineup (IMO):
            Tinsley
            Saras
            Jackson
            Artest
            Croshere

            4 shooters, 2-3 drivers, 2 screeners.

            Rebounding in small ball is less about the bigs and more about getting the longer balls (since so many shots come from the outside), so a lack of height is not that big of a problem, and quickness is the soughted quality.

            If this was the lineup @ Phoenix, it wouldn't have been a blow-out.

            Comment

            • #7
              Re: The NBA is going small

              Smakll ball is entertaining and fun to watch and generally involves a lot of energy on the floor. It can draw fans and give you some wins but it has never won a championship - at least not in the past 30 years or so.

              Gotta have the big guys who can knock people around. I think small ball's OK when used situationally or if you can somehow get the other team playing your game, but that's about it.
              The poster formerly known as Rimfire

              Comment

              • #8
                Re: The NBA is going small

                Originally posted by Peck
                I so long for the days of the true center....

                Oh God if only we could get a coach who would teach David Harrison how to play defense & then a coach who would actually let him on the floor...

                Who could stop Harrison when he got going? What center in the NBA not named Shaq has the bulk to truely stop him if he had the proper training?

                I'll say it again now in this thread.

                For us to have a prayer vs. the Heat, Pistons or even the Cavs. we must have David Harrison playing significant min. & playing reasonably well.
                Play him or trade him. What an incredible waste having him sit there, he can't get any better on the bench.

                If Rick can't take the time to play him get a solid 8 minutes in a game that the outcome has been decided then why have him here? Lets just resign Scot he needs no development we know what we are going to get and he knows Rick will not play him consistently.

                Comment

                • #9
                  Re: The NBA is going small

                  Originally posted by Unclebuck

                  The NBA is going small
                  An episode of Seinfeld dealt with this. The reason?

                  SHRINKAGE!

                  With high luxury taxes, there's not enough hot water to shower everybody. That causes SIGNIFICANT shrinkage.

                  The poster "pacertom" since this forum began (and before!). I changed my name here to "Slick Pinkham" in honor of the imaginary player That Bobby "Slick" Leonard picked late in the 1971 ABA draft (true story!).

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