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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.
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Larry Bird stunned Lance left

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  • Re: Larry Bird stunned Lance left

    Originally posted by Sollozzo View Post
    Yeah, asking a small market team to follow the "Spurs Model" (getting lucky to win Duncan lottery when D-Rob was hurt, teaming Duncan with two of the greatest international players ever who were drafted late) is about the same as asking NFL teams to follow the "Colts model" (riding Peyton Manning for 13 years and then using his injury to tank when the next "big thing" was coming out). Some franchises in sports just get really really lucky. The Spurs and Colts are great examples of ridiculous luck.
    Nice Pun

    Comment


    • Re: Larry Bird stunned Lance left

      Originally posted by Sollozzo View Post
      The Spurs model involves getting absurdly lucky in the draft lottery so that you can get the greatest PF of all time (while you still had an all time great center) who is still a beast at age 38, and surrounding him with a couple of the greatest international players of all time who have also been timeless. That core has been together for 12 years and has been pretty generous with their salary demands.
      That is less about luck and more about building and managing a great franchise. Not saying they have not had more than their share of luck.

      Comment


      • Re: Larry Bird stunned Lance left

        Originally posted by BlueNGold View Post
        That is less about luck and more about building and managing a great franchise. Not saying they have not had more than their share of luck.
        Things have a way of falling into place when you have the greatest PF ever and also one of the greatest coaches ever. They get all of the credit in the world for selecting Parker and Manu so late, but them being so great for so long is definitely a bit lucky.

        Comment


        • Re: Larry Bird stunned Lance left

          Originally posted by Dece View Post
          Except as was further explained, there is no definition of midway that makes this article correct. There cannot be a player option in any year except the final year of a contract. Unless you have some convoluted way to make midway and final synonymous, you're simply wrong. There's no semantics here.
          If this is indeed the case, then I'm wrong. LeBron just opted out of the last two years of his contract, so that's what I was going on. This change must have occurred in the last few years.

          [EDIT] So LeBron had an early termination option, not a player option. So why couldn't they give Lance an ETO?
          Last edited by Kid Minneapolis; 07-22-2014, 01:50 PM.
          There are two types of quarterbacks in the league: Those whom over time, the league figures out ... and those who figure out the league.

          Comment


          • Re: Larry Bird stunned Lance left

            Originally posted by BillS View Post
            I'd counter that chasing multiple max FAs on the same team increases the chanc es of having at least one max player who doesn't contribute at that level. If the goal is to have value for money at each position (with all that value contributing toward the goal of a championship) then I would say money is better spent on rookies and exception-level roleplayers while focusing on a single (or maybe 2) max guys who you are certain will play the way they are paid.
            I agree with your premise, but let me ask you this: How many max guys are there? Was it good to throw near max money at Carmelo? Howard?

            I guess the point I am getting at is that I think a lineup that goes B+, B, C, C, C-, beats a lineup that goes A, B, F, F, F more times that not. I think the only guys in the league right now that are true A+ max money guys are Lebron and Durant. Other than that I would let the Houston's, Dallas, and New York's of the world fight each other to get the opportunity to overpay guys while we fill our roster with glue guys who work together. Based on the fact we are a small market this especially makes sense to me.

            Comment


            • Re: Larry Bird stunned Lance left

              Originally posted by Kid Minneapolis View Post
              If this is indeed the case, then I'm wrong. LeBron just opted out of the last two years of his contract, so that's what I was going on. This change must have occurred in the last few years.

              [EDIT] So LeBron had an early termination option, not a player option. So why couldn't they give Lance an ETO?
              The Lebron/Bosh/Wade deals were on the 2005 collective bargaining agreement. The newest CBA which came after the 2011 lockout ended this possibility. These sorts of contracts, ones with ETOs/option years anywhere but the final year gone. So you're right there, it's a relatively new development.


              edit: here's a link to a faq that fully explains ETO/player option/team option on the newest cba: http://www.cbafaq.com/salarycap.htm#Q59
              Last edited by Dece; 07-22-2014, 02:10 PM. Reason: adding citation

              Comment


              • Re: Larry Bird stunned Lance left

                Originally posted by Sollozzo View Post
                Drafting Lance Stephenson in the second round and turning him into a stud starter was kind of Spur-like considering that Parker and Manu were drafted pretty late (Manu in the second). The difference is that the Spurs were able to keep those guys.

                The Pacers core has been all about the money. Even David West at the end of his prime is making a pretty damn high salary.
                An interesting side note about Manu and Tony Parker, Manu's second contract had him starting out at 6.6M (coming off a 12.8pt/4.5reb/3.8ast/1.8stl 03-04 season) and Tony's second contract had him starting out at 8.4M (coming off a 16.6pt/6.2ast/3.7reb/1.2stl 04-05 season). Both of them have only topped 12.5M twice in their entire careers. TP has averaged 11.5M/yr since his rookie deal, and Manu just under 10M/yr.


                Not sure what it really means, but bringing up those two piqued my interest on what happened with their second deals. I should point out that the luxury tax was about 10M less in 03-04 than it is now, so in today's terms those contracts would be something like 8.25M for Manu and 10.5M for TP. One thing is for sure though, Spurs are lucky they have players willing to look out for the franchise first, as those two guys have been severly underpaid for their entire careers.
                Just because you're offended, doesn't mean you're right.” ― Ricky Gervais.

                Comment


                • Re: Larry Bird stunned Lance left

                  Originally posted by joew8302 View Post
                  I agree with your premise, but let me ask you this: How many max guys are there? Was it good to throw near max money at Carmelo? Howard?

                  I guess the point I am getting at is that I think a lineup that goes B+, B, C, C, C-, beats a lineup that goes A, B, F, F, F more times that not. I think the only guys in the league right now that are true A+ max money guys are Lebron and Durant. Other than that I would let the Houston's, Dallas, and New York's of the world fight each other to get the opportunity to overpay guys while we fill our roster with glue guys who work together. Based on the fact we are a small market this especially makes sense to me.
                  I think we're agreeing. I'm saying you can have an A guy in the former lineup but you had better make sure he's going to be the guy you build around. There's no way you can usually manage anything more than that unless you have C+ guys playing for D- money.
                  BillS

                  A bird in the hand is worth two in the bush.
                  Or throw in a first-round pick and flip it for a max-level point guard...

                  Comment


                  • Re: Larry Bird stunned Lance left

                    Originally posted by joew8302 View Post
                    I agree with your premise, but let me ask you this: How many max guys are there? Was it good to throw near max money at Carmelo? Howard?

                    I guess the point I am getting at is that I think a lineup that goes B+, B, C, C, C-, beats a lineup that goes A, B, F, F, F more times that not. I think the only guys in the league right now that are true A+ max money guys are Lebron and Durant. Other than that I would let the Houston's, Dallas, and New York's of the world fight each other to get the opportunity to overpay guys while we fill our roster with glue guys who work together. Based on the fact we are a small market this especially makes sense to me.
                    Originally posted by Since86 View Post
                    An interesting side note about Manu and Tony Parker, Manu's second contract had him starting out at 6.6M (coming off a 12.8pt/4.5reb/3.8ast/1.8stl 03-04 season) and Tony's second contract had him starting out at 8.4M (coming off a 16.6pt/6.2ast/3.7reb/1.2stl 04-05 season). Both of them have only topped 12.5M twice in their entire careers. TP has averaged 11.5M/yr since his rookie deal, and Manu just under 10M/yr.


                    Not sure what it really means, but bringing up those two piqued my interest on what happened with their second deals. I should point out that the luxury tax was about 10M less in 03-04 than it is now, so in today's terms those contracts would be something like 8.25M for Manu and 10.5M for TP. One thing is for sure though, Spurs are lucky they have players willing to look out for the franchise first, as those two guys have been severly underpaid for their entire careers.
                    Interesting figures. A guy like Parker could have made considerably more money, but winning with the Spurs was always his top priority. And while Duncan cashed in during his prime years, he's been pretty generous at the end of his career considering they he is the greatest PF in history. He didn't play hardball like Kobe at the end of his career who is maxing out after suffering a wicked injury at an old age.

                    So not only does the Spur model involve getting lucky to win the draft lottery for the greatest PF ever, but it also involves getting two of the best international players ever late in the draft who are very generous with their contracts. Add all of that onto the fact that they've had one of the greatest coaches ever for an almost unheard of 18 years, and I'd say that the "Spurs model" is one of those rare things were everything comes together perfectly. Nothing wrong with trying to embody their overall philosophy, but they have just had some incredible fortune that most franchises could only dream of.

                    Comment


                    • Re: Larry Bird stunned Lance left

                      Maybe someone got in those Spurs' players' heads and explained teamwork is what ultimately wins championships and not one person. So while a player's ego and pride might tell him HE can win it all on their own so "Show me the money", maybe for some reason the Spurs were able to counter that a bit with reality which helped to keep the band together.... Let alone giving them a good understanding of the CBA and what it means in keeping a core together... Of course the players need to trust what is done is done for the betterment or the team and the banners and not so the owner can simply save/make more money.
                      Nuntius was right for a while. I was wrong for a while. But ultimately I was right and Frank Vogel has been let go.

                      ------

                      "A player who makes a team great is more valuable than a great player. Losing yourself in the group, for the good of the group, that’s teamwork."

                      -John Wooden

                      Comment


                      • Re: Larry Bird stunned Lance left

                        Originally posted by joew8302 View Post
                        I guess the point I am getting at is that I think a lineup that goes B+, B, C, C, C-, beats a lineup that goes A, B, F, F, F more times that not. I think the only guys in the league right now that are true A+ max money guys are Lebron and Durant. Other than that I would let the Houston's, Dallas, and New York's of the world fight each other to get the opportunity to overpay guys while we fill our roster with glue guys who work together. Based on the fact we are a small market this especially makes sense to me.
                        I might agree with you, but in reality the B, B, C, C, C team would be a lot more expensive than A, B, F, F, F! That's because the B guys want to be paid like A guys, and the C guys want to be paid like B guys. It's only the A guys who are good value because the artificial limit of max salaries means they can't get paid more.

                        Comment


                        • Re: Larry Bird stunned Lance left

                          Originally posted by Bball View Post
                          Maybe someone got in those Spurs' players' heads and explained teamwork is what ultimately wins championships and not one person. So while a player's ego and pride might tell him HE can win it all on their own so "Show me the money", maybe for some reason the Spurs were able to counter that a bit with reality which helped to keep the band together.... Let alone giving them a good understanding of the CBA and what it means in keeping a core together... Of course the players need to trust what is done is done for the betterment or the team and the banners and not so the owner can simply save/make more money.
                          The Spurs are just fortunate to have guys who recognize that once you've made tens of millions, a few extra million here or there isn't really going to change their quality of life which has already been long maxed out as far as material goods are concerned. What would change their quality of life, however, is playing on a different team or not competing for championships. They know that playing for the class Spur organization with a good roster is what will make them the most happy as basketball players. You have to applaud them.

                          Comment


                          • Re: Larry Bird stunned Lance left

                            Originally posted by Sollozzo View Post
                            The Spurs are just fortunate to have guys who recognize that once you've made tens of millions, a few extra million here or there isn't really going to change their quality of life which has already been long maxed out as far as material goods are concerned. What would change their quality of life, however, is playing on a different team or not competing for championships. They know that playing for the class Spur organization with a good roster is what will make them the most happy as basketball players. You have to applaud them.
                            They also get to be friends with a billionare, which is always a good thing. Don't think Dirk Nowitizki will have any problems networking with Cuban as his best friend.

                            Comment


                            • Re: Larry Bird stunned Lance left

                              Originally posted by wintermute View Post
                              I might agree with you, but in reality the B, B, C, C, C team would be a lot more expensive than A, B, F, F, F! That's because the B guys want to be paid like A guys, and the C guys want to be paid like B guys. It's only the A guys who are good value because the artificial limit of max salaries means they can't get paid more.
                              Problem is we now have one A guy, one B, one B- guy, and the rest C and D guys. Not great. It takes two A guys at least.

                              Comment


                              • Re: Larry Bird stunned Lance left

                                Originally posted by speakout4 View Post
                                Problem is we now have one A guy, one B, one B- guy, and the rest C and D guys. Not great. It takes two A guys at least.
                                Paul George- A
                                Roy Hibbert- A- to B-
                                David West- B
                                George Hill- B- to B+
                                CJ Miles- C

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