Announcement

Collapse

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.
See more
See less

Pacers starting 5 just isn't working - my thoughts on the Nets game

Collapse
X
Collapse
 
  • Page of 7
  • Filter
  • Time
  • Show
Clear All
new posts
Previous 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 template Next
  • #1

    Pacers starting 5 just isn't working - my thoughts on the Nets game

    Just got back from the game tonight and a couple of things were clear to me.

    I don't know if Rick needs to change the starting 5 or not, but it is clear to me that a lineup of JT, Jax, DG, Al and JO just isn't working. We've seen enough to know that it doesn't work. Not sure if it is even important to know why it doesn't work. But a couple of reasons are evident to me: Low energy and lack of ball movement. That lineup has 4 players who either like to dominant the ball or want to make their own plays. Are they selfish - no, they just try to do things on their own.

    Another thing that is clear to me is Marquis and Foster need to play more (Armstrong needs to play more also, but I understand he just can't) I'm not sure if Jeff and Marquis need to start or not, but we need them on the floor, they need to play at least the minutes they did tonight.


    I hope this is the last I ever have to say about Saras - he's reached a point where he isn't worth my key strokes.

    Saras needs to be put on the inactive list for the rest of his contract, for reasons that I think are obvious. Unless and until JT, Marquis, Armstrong, and Greene all get injured, Saras should be sitting behind the bench in street clothes. Rick needs to go walk into Larry's office right now and explain he's done playing Saras, fire me if you must, but it isn't fair to the rest of the team and the fans who pay good money to see the Pacers play. Saras just isn't an NBA caliber guard. Enough is enough.


    Let me make a few comments specific to tonight game. It isn't an accident that the best lineup tonight included Armstrong, Marquis and Jeff (with two of the three of DG, JO or Al) Jeff and DA are high energy players and that is one thing the Pacers sorely lack in the starting lineup. DA, Jeff, and Marquis also keep the ball moving and they come up with defensive plays that allow the Pacers to get out and run. Marquis played a great game tonight, he was really making things happen on both ends of the court.


    OK, now I'm about to step in it. Please consider my point before you jump down my throat.

    Yes Jamaal shot the ball well tonight, and yes he kept the Pacers close early on with his shot-making.

    However, when JT came back in the game in the 4th quarter two things happened. Kidd got going, and the Pacers excellent ball movement stopped as JT starting pounding the ball as he's apt to do looking for the scoring pass instead of just moving the ball, running the offense. The Pacers play a much better team game when JT is on the bench, I just wish he were in another uniform. But right now the pacers need him, because Saras isn't NBA caliber, DA is too old, Greene has been out for 5 weeks.


    Another conclusion I've made is that JO and Al really don't complement each other well. Not that they are bad together - but when they are in the offense boggs down.

    Getting back to the starting lineup thing, the sad thing is that either JO or Al need to come off the bench - but neither will agree to it, neither will accept it and it would tear the team apart as players take sides about who should start. So the Pacers are stuck. Pacers are stuck at the point guard spot, they are stuck with the JO and Al thing, so that leaves DG and Jax as possiblities to come off the bench. Granger played very well tonight, and I want him to get 30-35 minutes - he is a player who is willing to accept his role - but he deserves to start. So I suppose the obvious change is Marquis for jax- although I don't think that will change the culture of the starting 5 and that is what needs to happen the culture needs to change.

    So I don't have the answer who should start - but I do have the answer on which lineup gets me excited a lineup that IMO has played better than the starters in all but the Bulls game this season.

    I love how the Pacers play when the following 4 are on the floor

    Armstrong
    Marquis
    Granger
    Jeff

    and either JO or Al. If Armstrong were able I'd play him 35 minutes every game. If we could start that lineuop and bring either JO or Al off the bench, I'd be a happy man. But there is a better chance I'll be starting as that lineup. So there is no sense in dwelling on it

    Those are some of my thoughts, sorry for its rambling nature
    Tags: None
  • #2
    Re: Pacers starting 5 just isn't working - my thoughts on the Nets game

    Tins played pretty well compared to everything prior to now. So I will give him credit there. But another reason, and it's not a revelation, that the combo you mention at the end of your post is good is the defensive energy. Most noticeably at PG.

    Of course, Quis was on Kidd during that period if I recall correctly. Although Jack is struggling mightily shooting the ball. I kind of like he and Quis on the court at the same time. We had a decent run with those two, Tins, Foster, and Baston in the 2nd quarter.

    Anyway, the Al-JO things seems to becoming more evident with each passing second.
    I'd rather die standing up than live on my knees.

    -Emiliano Zapata

    Comment

    • #3
      Re: Pacers starting 5 just isn't working - my thoughts on the Nets game

      Interesting thoughts. I really don't think any one combination of players is the answer but rather they need to rely on 8-9 guys playing well in different combinations.
      The current starting line-up certainly can't carry this team to a win (see:chicago, boston games). In earlier wins the bench had an impact much like tonight in keeping the Pacers in a game when they weren't playing particularly well. DA's injury tweak has been huge. No coincidence he's been limited in the last three losses.
      Go Pacers!
      Indy Cornrows

      Comment

      • #4
        Re: Pacers starting 5 just isn't working - my thoughts on the Nets game

        EDIT: But, as you point out, there's a major lethargy with our starters as a unit.
        I'd rather die standing up than live on my knees.

        -Emiliano Zapata

        Comment

        • #5
          Re: Pacers starting 5 just isn't working - my thoughts on the Nets game

          Originally posted by Unclebuck View Post


          Another conclusion I've made is that JO and Al really don't complement each other well. Not that they are bad together - when they are in the offense boggs down.
          Sorry UB, this is not aimed at you or your comments, but...No Duh!!

          It is what many of us who did not want the trade to happen said from the start. They are too similar and do not cover each other's weaknesses. They would be a great 1-2 punch if one would come off the bench but we knew THAT wasn't gonna happen.

          I'm trying to figure out what happend to the team I saw play earlier in the year (how early could THAT have been?). They played with energy and moved and shared the ball.

          That seems to have faded way pretty quickly.

          I'm putting this out there now....I'm ready for RC and even LB to find a new gig. RC for not handling this mess and LB for creating it.
          Ever notice how friendly folks are at a shootin' range??.

          Comment

          • #6
            Re: Pacers starting 5 just isn't working - my thoughts on the Nets game

            Originally posted by indygeezer View Post
            I'm trying to figure out what happend to the team I saw play earlier in the year (how early could THAT have been?). They played with energy and moved and shared the ball.

            That seems to have faded way pretty quickly.

            I'm putting this out there now....I'm ready for RC and even LB to find a new gig. RC for not handling this mess and LB for creating it.


            Two points:

            1) Does Rick have the authority to do what he wants with the team. We know Bird forced him to fire his best friend KO (perhaps that was the right decision, but it was still forced on him) I don't believe for one moment that Rick wants to play Saras, but I wonder if Larry is strongly encouraging Rick to play Saras - that is why I posted what I did in my first post in this thread.

            2) Geez, I think the energy hasn't really changed except for the Wiz and Celts game. Every game I've seen the starters have lacked energy and togetherness, the bench comes in and picks up the energy and team play. Don't get me wrong the starters are more talented - but the bench plays the right way

            Comment

            • #7
              Re: Pacers starting 5 just isn't working - my thoughts on the Nets game

              Originally posted by Unclebuck View Post
              Two points:

              1) Does Rick have the authority to do what he wants with the team. We know Bird forced him to fire his best friend KO (perhaps that was the right decision, but it was still forced on him) I don't believe for one moment that Rick wants to play Saras, but I wonder if Larry is strongly encouraging Rick to play Saras - that is why I posted what I did in my first post in this thread.

              2) Geez, I think the energy hasn't really changed except for the Wiz and Celts game. Every game I've seen the starters have lacked energy and togetherness, the bench comes in and picks up the energy and team play. Don't get me wrong the starters are more talented - but the bench plays the right way

              That being the case then UB, I refer to my last sentence and ask that it be BOLDED.
              Ever notice how friendly folks are at a shootin' range??.

              Comment

              • #8
                Re: Pacers starting 5 just isn't working - my thoughts on the Nets game

                (re-repost) After how many games is it appropriate to stop calling it a slump and start calling it a bad player?

                Comment

                • #9
                  Re: Pacers starting 5 just isn't working - my thoughts on the Nets game

                  Quis is everything I've ever said he was. He's so much better than Stephen Jackson it's scary. I'm not saying it's the total cure, but one of the first things I'd love to see done is Quis getting 35 minutes a game and Jackson getting 20-25, tops.

                  I also wanna see a trade, perferably for an under the radar point guard we could blossom into a good starter. God, I wish we would've signed Mike James. He's such an incredible shooter, probably top-5 in the league.

                  Comment

                  • #10
                    Re: Pacers starting 5 just isn't working - my thoughts on the Nets game

                    Originally posted by Quis View Post
                    Quis is everything I've ever said he was. He's so much better than Stephen Jackson it's scary. I'm not saying it's the total cure, but one of the first things I'd love to see done is Quis getting 35 minutes a game and Jackson getting 20-25, tops.

                    I also wanna see a trade, perferably for an under the radar point guard we could blossom into a good starter. God, I wish we would've signed Mike James. He's such an incredible shooter, probably top-5 in the league.
                    I said all summer, I wanted a good shooting and good defensive point guard to team with Marquis in the backcourt. We didn't need a playmaking point guard because marquis can do that.

                    Daniels did play over 33 minutes and the only time he was on the bench was at the start of the game and the start of the third quarter. Once he came in he did not come out.

                    Comment

                    • #11
                      Re: Pacers starting 5 just isn't working - my thoughts on the Nets game

                      Originally posted by Unclebuck View Post
                      I don't believe for one moment that Rick wants to play Saras, but I wonder if Larry is strongly encouraging Rick to play Saras - that is why I posted what I did in my first post in this thread.
                      Saras only played 2 minutes tonight.
                      "Look, it's up to me to put a team around ... Lance right now." —Kevin Pritchard press conference

                      Comment

                      • #12
                        Re: Pacers starting 5 just isn't working - my thoughts on the Nets game

                        Originally posted by McKeyFan
                        Saras only played 2 minutes tonight.
                        Yes I realize that

                        Comment

                        • #13
                          Re: Pacers starting 5 just isn't working - my thoughts on the Nets game

                          Originally posted by Unclebuck View Post
                          Just got back from the game tonight and a couple of things were clear to me.
                          Another conclusion I've made is that JO and Al really don't complement each other well. Not that they are bad together - but when they are in the offense boggs down.
                          I think they have anointed themselves 1 and 2. Yes Al should come off the bench. Notice that Al has more fouls than rebounds and 0 assists again.

                          Comment

                          • #14
                            Re: Pacers starting 5 just isn't working - my thoughts on the Nets game

                            I too just got home from the game and agree with much of the initial Uncle Buck review. In fact, the guys behind me were making similar statements, so similar they were scary, so if you were in Sec. 18 and are a nearly 300 pound African American man that was on his cell phone when he wasn't critiquing, then I think I know who you are, Uncle Buck!

                            I had doubts about DA initially. Now I'd definitely like to see him play more. I think he is capable of playing more minutes. He seems like an unselfish player who will try to pass inside before taking a mid- to long- range jumper, unlike some other player(s) we know.

                            Granger needs to play more minutes. He's a smart player, full of energy, and it was nice to see him get on himself for letting Carter drive in on him, though from my view, it looked like he played Carter well. I look forward to seeing him match up again against Carter if given the chance.

                            It was also nice to see Foster attempt some shots that he looked relaxed taking.

                            The thing that pissed me off the most, however, were those mid- to long- range jumpers that resulted from poor decisions and not making the extra pass. The team also woke up to late in terms of playing D.

                            Comment

                            • #15
                              Re: Pacers starting 5 just isn't working - my thoughts on the Nets game

                              Originally posted by McKeyFan
                              Saras only played 2 minutes tonight.
                              He missed three shots without a single assist in just two minutes?

                              No wonder UB hates him.
                              This space for rent.

                              Comment

                              Previous 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 template Next
                              Working...
                              X