Sorry guys I just don't have it in me to crank out an Odd Thoughts tonight. Not depressed per say but just sad that it came to an end. Love our team.
I'll say that again because for the first time since 2000 I can say I love our team without reservation. There are improvements that can be made of course but I don't want the fact that I'm going to talk about things in what we have learned to diminish the fact that I love our team.
What have we learned?
Danny Granger has another gear. This has been the question that many of us have asked for six seasons now, is what you get from Danny during the regular season the best he can play or does he have another notch to turn to on his post season dial. I think the answer is, yes he does. Many people are talking about needing a closer or getting a higher scorer and Danny can be second fiddle. Sure if someone wants to drop one of those superstar closers on our team who am I to complain. But since these people don’t grow on tree’s we are going to have to be realistic and try and build with Danny. To some people this will be a horror filled thought that will induce nausea and vomiting. But to me I still believe we can advance with Danny being the best player. How far can we advance? I don’t know but if he had a solid team around him I think he will be fine.
Dahntay Jones has another gear. Yes his offense is as subtle as a Sherman tank and yes he looks to pass as often as A.J. Price does (which is not very often) but he and Tyler & Jeff for that matter share one trait in common. They have a high motor and it is constantly running. His defense, which he has been the subject of scorn for months by some, was in full display in the three games he played and not once was he found wanting. No, he is never going to be anything more than a good solid rotational bench player but there is no way this guy should not be in a rotation. Some people wilt in the playoff spotlight, D. Jones is not one of them.
Paul George has another defensive gear, for certain. I’ll just go ahead now and say that games 2 – 4 his defense was at an elite level. He pestered, harassed, bumped and bothered Rose into poor shooting performances. Sadly game 5 he sort of slipped off, but still slipping off from where he was just brought him down to just being good on defense. His offense is going to need some work, but right now his defense is already there.
Darren Collison might have another gear, although I’m not sure. Sadly due to injury, you know the one that wasn’t the subject of every single reporters and analyst commentary, we will probably not know how effective he could have been this series. However he did not embarrass himself this series. I still worry greatly about his height and his court vision. But overall he played well enough throughout this for me to at least not be panicked about the point guard spot.
Tyler Hansbrough…. This is a tough one. I don’t want to say that he does not have another gear, yet I’m also forced to make certain that I don’t say he does. He had one good game, one great game, two less than stellar games and one horrid game. I’ll take into consideration that he is a first time playoff person and still has never had a year of solid steady min. so I think I’m just going to say I don’t know about him yet.
Jeff Foster has another gear, but we knew that already. Not much more I can say that hasn’t been repeated ad nauseam about Jeff but its safe to say that if he wants to return to the club he will be welcomed back with open arms. Again though, it is imperative to start looking for Jeff’s replacement now, not later. He is getting very long in the tooth and with his back I don’t think it is right to expect him to play big min. during the regular season.
Ok, now we start to talk about what we have learned but really probably did not want to know.
Roy Hibbert in this series anyway showed he has no other gear and in fact might have stripped the gears a couple of times during this game alone. It’s bad enough in the regular season that whenever a team decides to get physical with Roy that he sometimes wilts and on rare occasions he come through. But in the playoffs where every game is going to be a war and the deeper you get into the playoffs the better the oppositions center is going to be I’ll just say that I’m really worried. In fact, sad to admit this but Roy’s inadequacy’s make it so that we really need to look at a different type of power forward. While both Tyler & Josh are fine by themselves neither of them is going to be able to hand the very physical centers that Roy is not going to be able to handle. So much like Rik Smits needed Dale Davis I think Roy is going to need a big bulky power forward to either work along side him or replace him when he goes to the bench.
Mike Dunleavy has been found wanting. Ok, I’ll admit it now. I was very disappointed with Mike’s playoff debut. I honestly thought he would be the offensive spark that we need coming off of the bench. However there is a sad truth here that some are not going to like. The playoffs are more physical and athletic than the regular season and players like Mike are at a disadvantage. He’s not a deadeye shooter like Korver so he can’t milk that from his game. Maybe vs. a different team he could have been more effective but my honest opinion now that I have seen him play in the playoffs is that Mike really is always going to struggle with big min. Not saying he can’t contribute but can you really think of one game where you looked back and said “man we need to get Dunleavy in there”.
A.J. Price needs to be deprogrammed and sent to a new training camp with a new coach. If it’s Vogel fine if it’s whoever else our coach is fine as well. But this guy has got to learn to be a point guard again. Yes I appreciate the shots he hit at home he hit some big ones. But overall this guy just has almost given up on running an offense and has just decided to be a destitute man’s Allen Iverson. I’m blaming this on being forced into Lucifer’s service for a year and a half and two training camps under him. His defense was ok, but not stellar. But my God the offense is just abysmal when he is in there. Yes, I know he doesn’t have a lot of choices but still.
Josh McRoberts is also a quandary. Why oh why are they keeping whatever is wrong with his leg a secret? It was obvious tonight, and every night for that matter, Josh could not elevate. With that in mind we just got a dose of what Josh must work on to stay in the NBA for a good amount of time. Some day the legs will fail you, now is the time to work on positioning, leverage and strength. No you are never going to be Kevin Willis but you have got to get some more upper body strength and start learning better rebounding techniques. Like Tyler I’m giving Josh an incomplete for this series due to injury.
Brandon Rush, I almost forgot to do Brandon but then I found the irony in that to be that I often forget Brandon is on the floor. Brandon’s dwindling playing time during this series said all that needed to be said. Hit a couple of shots but other than that, Meh.
I want to leave on an upbeat note and I’m going to do it by making a bold statement that I know many will disagree with.
First the complimentary background statement. I have seen every playoff game the Indiana Pacers have ever played in during their tenure in the NBA. I have been to every home playoff game that we have ever played minus two games (so yes Uncle Buck has me beaten by one). I say all of that to say this.
This was the best performance in the playoffs by our club that I have ever seen based on the talent & experience available. That includes the great years of 94-2000.
Now hold on before your eyes totally pop out of your skull let me clarify. Never have I seen a team come so far in such a little time with so little experience and no star power at all to battle a team toe to toe game to game (minus the last one) than I have with this team.
Sure we have fielded better teams in fact we have fielded a lot better teams. But each of them had something that this team did not have and that is both experience and star power.
Look back over this series and think to yourself for a moment. Other than Danny night in and night out giving you a good game what one player stood out to you every night? In fact there were several nights if you looked at the box score you were probably trying to figure out how we stayed so close, let alone have a lead for most of the games.
We fought as a team and we fought well enough that legitimately we can talk about being disappointed that we didn’t split the series. Think about that again for a min. we were the worst team in the playoffs they were the best. Game five’s outcome should have by all rights been at least 3 or 4 more of those games outcomes.
I give credit to the players for laying it on the line and I of course once again will give credit to Frank Vogel.
I'll say that again because for the first time since 2000 I can say I love our team without reservation. There are improvements that can be made of course but I don't want the fact that I'm going to talk about things in what we have learned to diminish the fact that I love our team.
What have we learned?
Danny Granger has another gear. This has been the question that many of us have asked for six seasons now, is what you get from Danny during the regular season the best he can play or does he have another notch to turn to on his post season dial. I think the answer is, yes he does. Many people are talking about needing a closer or getting a higher scorer and Danny can be second fiddle. Sure if someone wants to drop one of those superstar closers on our team who am I to complain. But since these people don’t grow on tree’s we are going to have to be realistic and try and build with Danny. To some people this will be a horror filled thought that will induce nausea and vomiting. But to me I still believe we can advance with Danny being the best player. How far can we advance? I don’t know but if he had a solid team around him I think he will be fine.
Dahntay Jones has another gear. Yes his offense is as subtle as a Sherman tank and yes he looks to pass as often as A.J. Price does (which is not very often) but he and Tyler & Jeff for that matter share one trait in common. They have a high motor and it is constantly running. His defense, which he has been the subject of scorn for months by some, was in full display in the three games he played and not once was he found wanting. No, he is never going to be anything more than a good solid rotational bench player but there is no way this guy should not be in a rotation. Some people wilt in the playoff spotlight, D. Jones is not one of them.
Paul George has another defensive gear, for certain. I’ll just go ahead now and say that games 2 – 4 his defense was at an elite level. He pestered, harassed, bumped and bothered Rose into poor shooting performances. Sadly game 5 he sort of slipped off, but still slipping off from where he was just brought him down to just being good on defense. His offense is going to need some work, but right now his defense is already there.
Darren Collison might have another gear, although I’m not sure. Sadly due to injury, you know the one that wasn’t the subject of every single reporters and analyst commentary, we will probably not know how effective he could have been this series. However he did not embarrass himself this series. I still worry greatly about his height and his court vision. But overall he played well enough throughout this for me to at least not be panicked about the point guard spot.
Tyler Hansbrough…. This is a tough one. I don’t want to say that he does not have another gear, yet I’m also forced to make certain that I don’t say he does. He had one good game, one great game, two less than stellar games and one horrid game. I’ll take into consideration that he is a first time playoff person and still has never had a year of solid steady min. so I think I’m just going to say I don’t know about him yet.
Jeff Foster has another gear, but we knew that already. Not much more I can say that hasn’t been repeated ad nauseam about Jeff but its safe to say that if he wants to return to the club he will be welcomed back with open arms. Again though, it is imperative to start looking for Jeff’s replacement now, not later. He is getting very long in the tooth and with his back I don’t think it is right to expect him to play big min. during the regular season.
Ok, now we start to talk about what we have learned but really probably did not want to know.
Roy Hibbert in this series anyway showed he has no other gear and in fact might have stripped the gears a couple of times during this game alone. It’s bad enough in the regular season that whenever a team decides to get physical with Roy that he sometimes wilts and on rare occasions he come through. But in the playoffs where every game is going to be a war and the deeper you get into the playoffs the better the oppositions center is going to be I’ll just say that I’m really worried. In fact, sad to admit this but Roy’s inadequacy’s make it so that we really need to look at a different type of power forward. While both Tyler & Josh are fine by themselves neither of them is going to be able to hand the very physical centers that Roy is not going to be able to handle. So much like Rik Smits needed Dale Davis I think Roy is going to need a big bulky power forward to either work along side him or replace him when he goes to the bench.
Mike Dunleavy has been found wanting. Ok, I’ll admit it now. I was very disappointed with Mike’s playoff debut. I honestly thought he would be the offensive spark that we need coming off of the bench. However there is a sad truth here that some are not going to like. The playoffs are more physical and athletic than the regular season and players like Mike are at a disadvantage. He’s not a deadeye shooter like Korver so he can’t milk that from his game. Maybe vs. a different team he could have been more effective but my honest opinion now that I have seen him play in the playoffs is that Mike really is always going to struggle with big min. Not saying he can’t contribute but can you really think of one game where you looked back and said “man we need to get Dunleavy in there”.
A.J. Price needs to be deprogrammed and sent to a new training camp with a new coach. If it’s Vogel fine if it’s whoever else our coach is fine as well. But this guy has got to learn to be a point guard again. Yes I appreciate the shots he hit at home he hit some big ones. But overall this guy just has almost given up on running an offense and has just decided to be a destitute man’s Allen Iverson. I’m blaming this on being forced into Lucifer’s service for a year and a half and two training camps under him. His defense was ok, but not stellar. But my God the offense is just abysmal when he is in there. Yes, I know he doesn’t have a lot of choices but still.
Josh McRoberts is also a quandary. Why oh why are they keeping whatever is wrong with his leg a secret? It was obvious tonight, and every night for that matter, Josh could not elevate. With that in mind we just got a dose of what Josh must work on to stay in the NBA for a good amount of time. Some day the legs will fail you, now is the time to work on positioning, leverage and strength. No you are never going to be Kevin Willis but you have got to get some more upper body strength and start learning better rebounding techniques. Like Tyler I’m giving Josh an incomplete for this series due to injury.
Brandon Rush, I almost forgot to do Brandon but then I found the irony in that to be that I often forget Brandon is on the floor. Brandon’s dwindling playing time during this series said all that needed to be said. Hit a couple of shots but other than that, Meh.
I want to leave on an upbeat note and I’m going to do it by making a bold statement that I know many will disagree with.
First the complimentary background statement. I have seen every playoff game the Indiana Pacers have ever played in during their tenure in the NBA. I have been to every home playoff game that we have ever played minus two games (so yes Uncle Buck has me beaten by one). I say all of that to say this.
This was the best performance in the playoffs by our club that I have ever seen based on the talent & experience available. That includes the great years of 94-2000.
Now hold on before your eyes totally pop out of your skull let me clarify. Never have I seen a team come so far in such a little time with so little experience and no star power at all to battle a team toe to toe game to game (minus the last one) than I have with this team.
Sure we have fielded better teams in fact we have fielded a lot better teams. But each of them had something that this team did not have and that is both experience and star power.
Look back over this series and think to yourself for a moment. Other than Danny night in and night out giving you a good game what one player stood out to you every night? In fact there were several nights if you looked at the box score you were probably trying to figure out how we stayed so close, let alone have a lead for most of the games.
We fought as a team and we fought well enough that legitimately we can talk about being disappointed that we didn’t split the series. Think about that again for a min. we were the worst team in the playoffs they were the best. Game five’s outcome should have by all rights been at least 3 or 4 more of those games outcomes.
I give credit to the players for laying it on the line and I of course once again will give credit to Frank Vogel.
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