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Re: What is the problem & What is your fix?
Keep winning basketball games at a 75% win rate. Profit.
Keep winning basketball games at a 75% win rate. Profit.
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.
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.
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Re: What is the problem & What is your fix?
His signing and presence has just destroyed the Pacer swagger...It's Andrews fault!
/greenLast edited by Pacer Fan; 02-13-2014, 10:15 AM.Garbage players get 1st round picks, (WTF)! All of the NBA must hate the Pacers! LOLComment
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Re: What is the problem & What is your fix?
Too much pick and roll. Not enough elbow entry passes to Roy and West. Not enough screens on the block for Roy and West. Too much Iso at the top of the key where help can come easier.
Play inside out with David mostly. Have Lance post up on smaller guards. Move Paul off staggered screens. Force the defense to cover the whole half-court. Have George Hill initiate more. When Roy is fronted, move to a hi-lo with West.
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Re: What is the problem & What is your fix?
I have my doubts about playing more players at this point in the season. Last year the complaint was platooning the squads. The big push this season,IMO, is to make Lance a more dominant ball handler/facilitator. We've done that, and at times it is close to great, at other times it gets out of control. Lance approaching double figure assists every game is countered by his averaging 4-5 turnovers, a lot of them totally unnecessary and through no defensive pressure at all. Behind the back, between the leg, and no look passes are nice weapons when under control. My fix is the same as a lot of others, 1. Stop the yo-yo dribbling while going nowhere. 2. Go back to the inside outside play. 3. Start the offense sooner in the clock.Comment
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Re: What is the problem & What is your fix?
We are 12-5 since January 10, and that includes a tough Western road trip. Granted we have definitely looked sloppy at times, like last night, but the fact that a 12-5 record over a a month + is considered a slump tells you just how great this team is.
My main concern with the team is that we have given PG and Lance a bit too much freedom on offense. I'm as big of a fan of those guys as anyone and I hope that they play side by side for a long time, but our offense needs to be a bit more balanced. They had 33 combined shots last night (10-33 yuck) while West and Hibbert only had a combined 18. That just shouldn't happen, particularly when Lance and PG are shooting garbage percentages. I still think that this team is at it's best when we work from the inside out. We need to establish Hibbert and West early, make defenses respect them, and then work our way outside to Lance and PG. I don't like when the opposite happens, which is when PG and Lance take a bunch of time off of the clock or force a bad shot. West has easily been this team's best player over the last month and we need to make him the focus of the offense right now. Teams simply cannot handle him when he's hot.
In some ways, we are just a victim of our own success. We were one game away from the Finals last year. Then we started this season on an absolute tear and have just bulldozed teams left and right. Throughout that time, all these guys have heard is how great they are. Everyone has told PG that he is a superstar and everyone has told Lance that he is an up and coming star. This definitely goes to their heads a bit, as it would to anyone who is just 23. These guys are just on top of the world right now. From the team's perspective, they are just waiting for that series against Miami. After Game 7 last year, our entire existence has revolved around that inevitable rematch with Miami. We know that no one else in the East can eliminate us in a series. Thus, I think that we probably get just a little bored sometimes because we feel we've proven ourselves as an elite team and we just want to start that Miami series.
I think we will be fine after the all star break. Other elite teams have been losing to some bad teams lately. You aren't 40-12 unless you are a really freaking good team. Every team goes through a slump at times. The problem with our historic start is that it allowed people to have unrealistic expectations as if we were the 1996 Bulls. This team is great, but they aren't perfect.Last edited by Sollozzo; 02-13-2014, 05:52 PM.Comment
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Re: What is the problem & What is your fix?
I think we've gone away from allowing GH to initiate the offense more. Lance and PG are both good off the ball (Paul with his shooting, Lance with his cutting) and we don't utilize that enough at all. Between that and the lack of touches inside to West and Roy that you alluded to, our offense has become ISO-centric. Not a good formula for our roster.Originally posted by Sollozzo View PostComment
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Re: What is the problem & What is your fix?
I think it is mostly a matter of focus, and I think we need to kick players back into thinking about what they are doing in the context of the game instead of thinking about what they are doing in context of their stats or their status in the NBA.
I'd start by imposing an escalating fine every time someone whines to the refs. EVERY time, "justified" or not. These guys are adults and can spend their money how they choose, but it might just make them think twice about whining constantly.
I'd next give David West free rein in regards to talking to teammates about attitude. He constantly seems to be the guy who has everybody's respect and (in spite of our image of him) can keep teammates on key as well as get into it with them when they screw up. Vogel can only say so much to motivate guys because he is not on the court with them.
I'd finally lock the coaching staff into a room for 3 days with films of every game for the season and have them try to develop some new looks for the offense. This will produce a few losses when first introduced because there won't be a training camp to get it all together, but I think defenses have figured out what we are doing now and have come up with ways around it. In particular, I think I'd take every diagram of the play where Roy gets the ball in the post and has to wait until the cutter comes around across the baseline before he can move and BURNINATE THEM.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
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Re: What is the problem & What is your fix?
I think it's a lack of focus. They aren't sticking to fundamentals. They're trying to be cute on offense, taking gambles on defense. This team is good enough that they don't need to do either one. On offense they aren't moving the ball around cleanly or enough, not sharing or conversely, over-sharing, and not making the right basketball play. They aren't being careful with the ball. Carelessness.
On defense, they'll play a team straight-up nicely and then someone will take a gamble, overplay, and voila --- breakdown.
It's all just lack of focus. It's too many of our young guys riding high after playing very good, correct ball to start the season, and now they're resting on their laurels a bit and hamming it up, being cute. I know its' fun, but save that for the off-season. Right now, play correct ball.
The whining to the refs, to me, is a sign of immaturity. Old vets don't do that. PG and Lance are pretty terrible about it. I realize they are still very young... but man this year they could take it all if they knuckle down and move past the immature stuff. They could win it all. They have to play beyond their years. I know they're only 23 years old... they need to act like they're 30.
I don't blame fatigue because that should absolutely not be a reason. They are only halfway through the season. Fatigue, either mental or physical, is a sign that they aren't preparing properly. If they are physically tired, they need to work on their conditioning. If they are mentally tired, they need to stop all the extracurricular BS that drains you and focus on what got them here --- basketball.
I'm not necessarily panicking. I think Vogel and Co. will whip them into shape... but I definitely notice a decrease in quality of play over the past month.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
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Re: What is the problem & What is your fix?
Gotta go 22-8 to break the franchise record. I think we'll do it. If not, 20-10 to finish with 60 wins.
Schedule looks pretty light the rest of the way ... not too many road games against good teams
Games that look intimidating:
@ HOU
@ DAL
@ MEM
vs SA
vs MIA
@MIA
vs OKC
I think we'll win 2/3 of those home games. Probably split the road games ... That's 3 losses there. We'll probably have another 3 random losses or so as well. Keeping it to 8 losses or less seems reasonable.Last edited by pacers_heath; 02-13-2014, 01:59 PM.Lifelong pacers fanComment
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Re: What is the problem & What is your fix?
problem: lack of frontcourt depth, ian mahinmi is horrible
solution: andrew bynumLifelong pacers fanComment
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Re: What is the problem & What is your fix?
Part of what made PG so effective as he was emerging as an All-star was that he didn't force his shots- he found open looks playing through the offense and his shots were a product of having a formidable offensive weapon at each position on the floor. Even with the first unit he is trying to create shots for himself and taking tougher shots. Part of it is the defense keying on Paul, but Paul is also playing into it by forcing shots when he doesn't have to.Comment
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Re: What is the problem & What is your fix?
sorry...
problem?
Total suxage on this roster (except Lance)
fix?
Trade everyone (except Lance) for Tacos and Dunkin' Donuts.
Seriously? Use the up and down performances up and down the lineup to sell offensive diversification. PG not falling? GH/DWest PnP. Roy is required to take 4 hooks in the first 15 mins. Based on results, he shoots 0 or at least 4 more for the ame. Lance gets 2 opportunities to gallop out of control on a 1 on 4 break. Based on results, the reins get tightened or we are all along for the ride.
and so on.
I had to leave during the 3rd qtr to go get another Sun King at their stand because I couldn't take it any more. PG continues throwing it up or not finishing on so many breaks without result, when the DWest PnP, which had more success not only last night but at a 70% clip in the previous 2 weeks was left wanting.
Mark Jackson is shaking his head somewhere in America. Everybody is an option and does what the do best. He would put the ball in your hands where you wanted it, if you didn't have it going...
next.
We can be pretty stubborn/predictable at times and can be slow to try someone else.Comment
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Re: What is the problem & What is your fix?
Originally posted by pacers_heath View Post
The tough part of the schedule is March and it isn't who we play, it is how many games we play. We only have 1 time where there are two days between games. That is tough and more like the season two years ago when there was a lockoutComment
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Re: What is the problem & What is your fix?
Look has our recent play been disappointing sure, but we are still a hell of a team. Are we the best team in the league right now given our current play? No, but we are still one of them, and currently in a great position.
The reason we are not the best team in the league right now like we we're at the beginning of the year is because the MVP version of Paul George has gone MIA. Every NBA fan is well aware of the difficulties of winning a title without a superstar it's almost like every year in the playoffs we have to get reminded of that. This team had one at the beginning of the year in Paul George, and we basically just have to patiently wait till Superstar Paul George comes back. We have to hope that this is just a lull in the season for him and that at some point we will consistently start seeing Superstar George again.Last edited by VideoVandal; 02-13-2014, 04:27 PM.Comment
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Re: What is the problem & What is your fix?
As much as I'd like to rag on them for the Mavs loss, I won't because 40-12 is still an incredible record and I don't see anyone else doing much better around the league.
However, I will say that these past 2 losses are exactly what they needed - a humbling. Going into the break not playing well should hopefully cause them to reflect on what they can do to play with some consistency and urgency. The All-Star break is coming at a perfect time. They'll get some rest, PG will hopefully win the dunk contest and play well in the game (which will boost his confidence), and they'll come back together with several days for practice and get refocused on the stretch run.Comment
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