/ laugh at PosterX / GroupOfPeopleY who thought / believed *insert though/belief here*"
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I wonder what's "serious" in Conrad's book. At least UB will love the second section.
First pains of training camp hit O’Neal, others
By Conrad Brunner | Oct. 4, 2007
The first dings of training camp appeared Thursday as a handful of players, including Jermaine O'Neal, reported minor maladies.
O'Neal did not practice due to soreness in his left knee, which underwent an April arthroscopy to repair torn cartilage.
"The first three practices caused, from what I understand, the surgically repaired knee to be too sore at this point," said Coach Jim O'Brien.
"It's the same thing with Marquis (Daniels). He hasn't not practiced a whole practice yet because we're trying to bring him along at the right level. These guys have exact minutes they're allowed to go."
Andre Owens, who was hospitalized briefly with a virus, also did not practice and Travis Diener was bothered by a sore right knee late in the morning session.
"We got a little banged-up today," O'Brien said.
None of the injuries is believed to be serious.
DEFENSE SOLID, BUT RUNNING GAME NEEDS WORK
Though the Pacers are ahead of schedule defensively, O'Brien believes the early emphasis on that aspect of the game may be causing the transition offense to lag behind.
"The first three practices, we did outstanding things defensively. We're further along than I would've ever expected to be at this point in time. We did some good things on our quick offense. The biggest disappointment was our not sprinting the lanes on the break, trying to create more fast-break opportunities."
Though part of that could be attributed to tired legs become a factor, O'Brien took the rap.
"That's my fault because I emphasized our defense quite a bit in the first couple of practices, and our quick passing game," he said. "Today was more of emphasizing how hard we want our guys to run the lane and the fact we want more movement than they've been giving us."
The transition from four years of halfcourt offense to a more up-tempo style will be an ongoing challenge for O'Brien and the players.
"You build habits by practicing the running game, by having running being part of your practice plan, your teaching plan," he said. "You just practice it and you make sure everything you do is up-tempo. Eventually, I think guys lock into that."
DON"T LET THE BALL HIT THE FLOOR
Another, more subtle change from recent years is O'Brien's requirements that the ball not be allowed to hit the floor after the opposing team makes a basket and that whoever is in position to take the ball out of the net can throw the inbounds past.
The responsibility for the inbounds pass had been exclusively on the post players under former Coach Rick Carlisle.
"I think that's the best way to get the basketball inbounds," O'Brien said. "If you look at (Mike) Krzyzewski's team this summer, the FIBA (U.S.) team, they got the ball up the court because anybody could take it in. Whoever's closest to get it in and get it up, there's no faster way to do that unless you're going to play a 2-3 zone and you'll always have somebody close to the room, and we don't play zone."
By Conrad Brunner | Oct. 4, 2007
The first dings of training camp appeared Thursday as a handful of players, including Jermaine O'Neal, reported minor maladies.
O'Neal did not practice due to soreness in his left knee, which underwent an April arthroscopy to repair torn cartilage.
"The first three practices caused, from what I understand, the surgically repaired knee to be too sore at this point," said Coach Jim O'Brien.
"It's the same thing with Marquis (Daniels). He hasn't not practiced a whole practice yet because we're trying to bring him along at the right level. These guys have exact minutes they're allowed to go."
Andre Owens, who was hospitalized briefly with a virus, also did not practice and Travis Diener was bothered by a sore right knee late in the morning session.
"We got a little banged-up today," O'Brien said.
None of the injuries is believed to be serious.
DEFENSE SOLID, BUT RUNNING GAME NEEDS WORK
Though the Pacers are ahead of schedule defensively, O'Brien believes the early emphasis on that aspect of the game may be causing the transition offense to lag behind.
"The first three practices, we did outstanding things defensively. We're further along than I would've ever expected to be at this point in time. We did some good things on our quick offense. The biggest disappointment was our not sprinting the lanes on the break, trying to create more fast-break opportunities."
Though part of that could be attributed to tired legs become a factor, O'Brien took the rap.
"That's my fault because I emphasized our defense quite a bit in the first couple of practices, and our quick passing game," he said. "Today was more of emphasizing how hard we want our guys to run the lane and the fact we want more movement than they've been giving us."
The transition from four years of halfcourt offense to a more up-tempo style will be an ongoing challenge for O'Brien and the players.
"You build habits by practicing the running game, by having running being part of your practice plan, your teaching plan," he said. "You just practice it and you make sure everything you do is up-tempo. Eventually, I think guys lock into that."
DON"T LET THE BALL HIT THE FLOOR
Another, more subtle change from recent years is O'Brien's requirements that the ball not be allowed to hit the floor after the opposing team makes a basket and that whoever is in position to take the ball out of the net can throw the inbounds past.
The responsibility for the inbounds pass had been exclusively on the post players under former Coach Rick Carlisle.
"I think that's the best way to get the basketball inbounds," O'Brien said. "If you look at (Mike) Krzyzewski's team this summer, the FIBA (U.S.) team, they got the ball up the court because anybody could take it in. Whoever's closest to get it in and get it up, there's no faster way to do that unless you're going to play a 2-3 zone and you'll always have somebody close to the room, and we don't play zone."
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