Ok, let's start this early.
I'm tempted to say Kobe breaks Wilts record tonight against us but I'll try & not be to pessimistic.
Put me down for 45 points. What do you guys think?
I'm down & I won't even try & hide it.
It's not because we're losing, I can live with that. It's not even how we are losing, because the last two games at least I feel as though the team has tried to compete.
No, what I'm down about is that I don't see our team haveing any form of direction or any sense of what kind of team this is.
I have nothing against Peja at all. But I just don't see how he fits into the style of play that goes on in the East. In E.C. playoff basketball it gets down to hand to hand grind it out combat in the paint & I just wonder how he will do in that system.
Ok, let's not blame him for a min. let me ask it this way, how will his team mates help him in that style of game?
They keep saying compare him to Reggie, fine, but we would set 2-3 screens for Reggie & he would still run off of a pick to get his shot. Our team does not have the fundamental skills to do this.
I'm not blaming Peja btw I am saying right now at the top, whoever that is, our team is not balanced & has not been for years.
I am scared people because of something someone (forgive me I don't remember who) else said in another post. That is that we do not have the tools to trade with other than players we wouldn't want to give up.
Jamaal, love him or hate him, has about zero tradeability because of his injurys.
Cro's contract.
Jackson could be packaged with someone but his attitude is well known so you are not going to get back a young prodigy like some of you would like.
Fred Jones has a moderate trade value. I doubt you could even get a draft pick for him at the moment.
Foster could still bring in something but not as much as he could have a year or two ago because of his back.
A.J. is a good role player with to big of a contract. Like Jax he could be used in a package.
Peja, Saras, Pollard can all be free agents after this season.
Ed Gill, please
Jermaine O'Neal. You are not going to get anything for him other than as a massive package for Garnett & that is only if they will trade him. He makes to much money for anybody other than another max player or a team below the cap who is willing to give up some young talent & I don't see them lining up. Not to mention his injury's.
David Harrison. Sad to say what are you really going to get from him? Would it be better than what he could be? I don't know the answer to this btw. We need a real center in the worst of ways & right now I'd say David is a little behind where I thought he would be.
This leaves us Danny Granger. Untouchable or he better damn well be unless a superstar comes rolling in & he has to be used to get him & even then I would have to think about it.
What makes it even worse is that the East is so lousy that we will not finish low enough to be a true lottery team.
This was the quandry of the late 80's early 90's Pacers teams. We would never finish high enough to get a great player in the draft. We would get 4-5 good players over that time frame but no great player. Thus leaving you mediocre.
The worst thing in the world is mediocrity. I'm not kidding, this is poison & something I had hoped we wouldn't see again for years.
Maybe I should just scrap this whole post because it is more negative than I really want to be.
Let me say it again, I am NOT upset at the current team or the way they are playing. I just am not happy & honestly have no confidence in TPTB to set a differant direction for this team.
Let me move on.
Can we have an honest talk about Saras without it turning into a European vs American style of basketball argument?
From what I've seen from him this season I think he's pretty good. He is a great passer, has a great sense of where people are on the floor & can have a lazer like shot from beyond the arc. His defense is not the worst thing I've ever seen although he will never be confused with Gary Payton.
But here is the problem. I don't see him as any kind of special player. Now that is not a slam btw, it's just an observation.
Yes we play a horrid style for him, yes our team has been a dysfuntional mess, yes Rick Carlisle has probably screwed him over a time or two.
But at the end of the day don't special players over come that stuff? I mean when he came over they were calling him the European Michael Jordan. That's not a fair analogy for anybody to over come btw, but I just don't see it. I don't even see him as anything more than a good point guard.
Is that a bad thing btw? I don't think so, however I think the Pacers were expecting a little more. Now in fairness to him, this team is a mess so to expect anything from anybody is not fair really.
Again could we please not turn this into a style of play debate, please.
Even before he went down with the head injury I was asking "what the hell is wrong with Croshere"?
This guy has not played a good game for almost 2 weeks. Has he hit a wall? If he has, how is this possible? The guy is a pro & has been one for almost 10 years his body should be conditioned for this even if he was used to being a backup.
He has played like a zombie just hangin out at the 3 point line for awhile now. Is he really p!ssed that he was rumored to be moved with Ron?
I hate Brendan Haywood. Every d@mn time we play that guy he rips us like he is some form of an all-star. I wouldn't feel bad if he did this to everybody but every other time I see the guy he sucks.
The Diamond one & myself were talking after the game as I was pointing out to him how the Pacers tv announcers (studio for the most part) were in full "let's look on the bright side" mode. Patz was talking about the great play of Scot Pollard when I began lecturing him on how bad I hate that & hated it back in the 80's.
I was even telling him how much I missed Satan in the studio to tell me about the lack of effort.
But then he reminded me, they weren't griping at the Pacers for lack of effort because they were playing to thier expectations.
In other words our core players right now (A.J., Jax, Peja, Cro & Hulk) just aren't really that good. They aren't expected to win that many games anymore.
This depressed me.
It depressed me because he was right. The truth is, talent wise, we are worse than any other team in the east that is in the playoffs right now & I fully believe that the Bulls will pass us by.
What is sad is that right now I just don't know how we get out of this one.
I'm sorry guys, I don't mean to be so down but right now I just don't see a bright future for us.
I'm tempted to say Kobe breaks Wilts record tonight against us but I'll try & not be to pessimistic.
Put me down for 45 points. What do you guys think?
I'm down & I won't even try & hide it.
It's not because we're losing, I can live with that. It's not even how we are losing, because the last two games at least I feel as though the team has tried to compete.
No, what I'm down about is that I don't see our team haveing any form of direction or any sense of what kind of team this is.
I have nothing against Peja at all. But I just don't see how he fits into the style of play that goes on in the East. In E.C. playoff basketball it gets down to hand to hand grind it out combat in the paint & I just wonder how he will do in that system.
Ok, let's not blame him for a min. let me ask it this way, how will his team mates help him in that style of game?
They keep saying compare him to Reggie, fine, but we would set 2-3 screens for Reggie & he would still run off of a pick to get his shot. Our team does not have the fundamental skills to do this.
I'm not blaming Peja btw I am saying right now at the top, whoever that is, our team is not balanced & has not been for years.
I am scared people because of something someone (forgive me I don't remember who) else said in another post. That is that we do not have the tools to trade with other than players we wouldn't want to give up.
Jamaal, love him or hate him, has about zero tradeability because of his injurys.
Cro's contract.
Jackson could be packaged with someone but his attitude is well known so you are not going to get back a young prodigy like some of you would like.
Fred Jones has a moderate trade value. I doubt you could even get a draft pick for him at the moment.
Foster could still bring in something but not as much as he could have a year or two ago because of his back.
A.J. is a good role player with to big of a contract. Like Jax he could be used in a package.
Peja, Saras, Pollard can all be free agents after this season.
Ed Gill, please
Jermaine O'Neal. You are not going to get anything for him other than as a massive package for Garnett & that is only if they will trade him. He makes to much money for anybody other than another max player or a team below the cap who is willing to give up some young talent & I don't see them lining up. Not to mention his injury's.
David Harrison. Sad to say what are you really going to get from him? Would it be better than what he could be? I don't know the answer to this btw. We need a real center in the worst of ways & right now I'd say David is a little behind where I thought he would be.
This leaves us Danny Granger. Untouchable or he better damn well be unless a superstar comes rolling in & he has to be used to get him & even then I would have to think about it.
What makes it even worse is that the East is so lousy that we will not finish low enough to be a true lottery team.
This was the quandry of the late 80's early 90's Pacers teams. We would never finish high enough to get a great player in the draft. We would get 4-5 good players over that time frame but no great player. Thus leaving you mediocre.
The worst thing in the world is mediocrity. I'm not kidding, this is poison & something I had hoped we wouldn't see again for years.
Maybe I should just scrap this whole post because it is more negative than I really want to be.
Let me say it again, I am NOT upset at the current team or the way they are playing. I just am not happy & honestly have no confidence in TPTB to set a differant direction for this team.
Let me move on.
Can we have an honest talk about Saras without it turning into a European vs American style of basketball argument?
From what I've seen from him this season I think he's pretty good. He is a great passer, has a great sense of where people are on the floor & can have a lazer like shot from beyond the arc. His defense is not the worst thing I've ever seen although he will never be confused with Gary Payton.
But here is the problem. I don't see him as any kind of special player. Now that is not a slam btw, it's just an observation.
Yes we play a horrid style for him, yes our team has been a dysfuntional mess, yes Rick Carlisle has probably screwed him over a time or two.
But at the end of the day don't special players over come that stuff? I mean when he came over they were calling him the European Michael Jordan. That's not a fair analogy for anybody to over come btw, but I just don't see it. I don't even see him as anything more than a good point guard.
Is that a bad thing btw? I don't think so, however I think the Pacers were expecting a little more. Now in fairness to him, this team is a mess so to expect anything from anybody is not fair really.
Again could we please not turn this into a style of play debate, please.
Even before he went down with the head injury I was asking "what the hell is wrong with Croshere"?
This guy has not played a good game for almost 2 weeks. Has he hit a wall? If he has, how is this possible? The guy is a pro & has been one for almost 10 years his body should be conditioned for this even if he was used to being a backup.
He has played like a zombie just hangin out at the 3 point line for awhile now. Is he really p!ssed that he was rumored to be moved with Ron?
I hate Brendan Haywood. Every d@mn time we play that guy he rips us like he is some form of an all-star. I wouldn't feel bad if he did this to everybody but every other time I see the guy he sucks.
The Diamond one & myself were talking after the game as I was pointing out to him how the Pacers tv announcers (studio for the most part) were in full "let's look on the bright side" mode. Patz was talking about the great play of Scot Pollard when I began lecturing him on how bad I hate that & hated it back in the 80's.
I was even telling him how much I missed Satan in the studio to tell me about the lack of effort.
But then he reminded me, they weren't griping at the Pacers for lack of effort because they were playing to thier expectations.
In other words our core players right now (A.J., Jax, Peja, Cro & Hulk) just aren't really that good. They aren't expected to win that many games anymore.
This depressed me.
It depressed me because he was right. The truth is, talent wise, we are worse than any other team in the east that is in the playoffs right now & I fully believe that the Bulls will pass us by.
What is sad is that right now I just don't know how we get out of this one.
I'm sorry guys, I don't mean to be so down but right now I just don't see a bright future for us.
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