Ok I figured I would just crunch the Lakers game and the Cavs. game into one post because the results were pretty much the same for both.
We had our butts handed to us; there is no other way to put it, by both teams.
But guess what, it's not really a big crime or sin these are the two best teams in the league and there is a really good chance that they will be facing each other in the finals.
So no shame in losing. Yes, I'm aware that is loser talk.
Koby LeBron LeBron Koby, it doesn't matter both are light years ahead of anything we as a franchise have ever had.
I think that is really the only thing that I came away depressed with this week about these games. Not the fact that we lost and lost handily, I expected that.
But the fact that the likelihood of the Pacers ever being in the elite level of teams like these two anytime soon in my life is not real good.
I mean even if the 3 year plan works to perfection the fact is we are not going to be able to bring in a player like either of these two.
So the only way to do this will be like we did back in the 90's, which is fine but believe me it is slow and doesn't always work out the way you want.
Why both of these players are so grand? Because both of them made a concerted effort to not score against us. They worked on every aspect of their game but scored just enough so that you would know that if they wanted to they could score whatever they wanted and there was nothing you were going to do about it.
So who is the M.V.P.? Honest to God that is hard to say. I guess if Arenas put a gun to my head I would probably have to go with LeBron right now from what we saw this week because he does not have the talent around him that Koby does. I fully expect the Lakers to repeat unless there is some major collapse or injury.
I just know in both cases that when the crowd was chanting "MVP, MVP" the universal translator in Jim's head was making him hear "shoot more three's, shoot more three's". Ok, sorry I couldn't resist at least one barb thrown his way.
What is also somewhat sad is that for this season anyway Danny proved beyond a shadow of a doubt that he did not belong in any conversation that spoke of elite players.
Last season I honestly thought he was not at the elite level by any sense but he was in that next rung down. Enough to be an irritant to Koby and he was a pain in the @ss to King James.
Not this time.
I would venture to say that James probably forgot Danny was even playing after awhile.
Injury, fatigue, loss of mobility, etc. I have no idea but all season long there has been something not right.
But not to be outdone by the current M.V.P. players Shaq decided to raise up from the dead and provide the youngsters in the crowd just a small glimpse of what we used to have to contend with.
I've been luck in my life to have seen many great players. Ewing, Robinson, Drexler, hell I even saw Dr.J and Kareem before they retired.
Jordan of course was always a pain in the @ss but for whatever reason he just never destroyed us like he did other teams. It could be that he had to spend a lot of energy chasing Reggie around or something. Don't get me wrong he generally had his way with us but often times we gave as good as we got.
However the only player that I have ever seen that I felt totally helpless against and felt like there was just nothing that we could do anything about was Shaq. This is a guy who tossed our players about like he was the real king kong.
However he has no lift left in him anymore but man is the guy crafty and sly. That is why I think it is great that Roy got to play against him. Sure Roy got destroyed, but if he picked up some of Shaqs tricks tonight then in the long run we will be better for it.
Roy once again was getting some love from the other teams coach in today’s star, I'm not going to post or link it here but Brown thinks Roy will be a great player.
BTW, Andrew Bynum is also a good young big man. Every time I read where the era of the big man is over and that there are no real centers left I just keep reminding myself that the teams that are lined up to win a title this year all have a traditional center and 4 of the 5 have either elite or used to be elite big men.
However once Shaq leaves the game there is literally no one else that is his size, nor has there ever been really.
So I'm kind of pondering who is going to be THE elite center of the future. Dwight Howard right now has the distinction of being that player; however I'm not 100% that he has enough of an offensive game to where he can dominate long term.
It really would have been nice to have Odom not get injured so that we could see what he could have done but I'm afraid that may be a career that will never be fully realized due to bad knees.
I don't think Roy will ever be in the talk of truly elite centers but I wonder if maybe he couldn't get to where he is in the next level down. I mean offensively he has the tools, but his inability to jump may always hold him down.
But no hate from me for Roy, I'm still pleased as punch considering he came in at the 17th pick in the draft.
Ok, let's move on to our team. Yea..... Not really.
Look I'm going to give our guys, including O'Brien a big break this week. We didn't compete all that well but let's be honest here we really shouldn't be expected to.
I guess I would like to welcome Brandon Rush to the 09-10 season. Thank you for checking in with us at the halfway point, I hope your first half of the season vacation was fun and relaxing.
This guy makes me want to jump off of a roof. As I've said I think more than anything else the complete and total collapse of his game in the first half of the season messed up the plans of the front office more than anything. This guy was supposed to be Danny's running mate and instead he decided to be Brandon Van Winkle on everybody.
Now that the season is really all over but the shouting he decides to come alive. I guess better late than never, but damn man couldn't you have done this about two months ago?
Speaking of a lost season.
Well I think I'm pretty much going to call Hansbrough's first season pretty much a wash out. When he played he showed some promise and I liked his style but with the indefinite label and Stacy Paetz saying that he still felt the same after shoot around that he has felt I think it's safe to say that the all-star break will probably come and go before we see him again and by then he will have the month of March to play some ball.
We, as a franchise, are cursed.
Speaking of injuries, did Dwight Howard cause Foster to rupture the discs in his back or something? I mean he has only been gone for over a month.
Anyway moving on
A.J. Price continues to develop and I have a feeling that by the time we come back from the break and we are all but officially eliminated from the playoff race I think you will see him get the starting call for a few games.
Barring something wonderful happening in the draft I believe that A.J. is your point guard next year, which I am fine with btw. I want to see him work on his defense and his dribbling but overall you can't ask more from a second round pick.
Boy I sure hope Mike Dunleavy did not come back to early. I am really afraid that his conditioning is not great and that he will either injure something else because he is compensating or he will aggravate the surgical site itself.
I think it is fair to say that right now Mike is just not playing well but I think it is also fair to say that the lack of conditioning and probably soreness have more to do with that than anything.
We did have a Josh McRoberts sighting vs. the Cavs.
To me the way he was used and the min. he played were perfect. I think to many people get hung up with the fact that some people want Josh to get some time and therefore they assume we all want him to start and play big min.
I think most of us know that Josh is going to be a bench role player, but I think that there is a place for that role every night for a few min. a game in particular when you are short forwards to begin with.
He didn't do anything grand, he didn't do anything bad. He did however contribute some fouls (which btw are not always a bad thing) and some size in the paint. Of course their size dwarfed any of our size.
I think our entire year can pretty much be summed up as follows.
See, I went an entire post and I didn't even discuss Murphy once. I think I deserve a cookie for that.
We had our butts handed to us; there is no other way to put it, by both teams.
But guess what, it's not really a big crime or sin these are the two best teams in the league and there is a really good chance that they will be facing each other in the finals.
So no shame in losing. Yes, I'm aware that is loser talk.
Koby LeBron LeBron Koby, it doesn't matter both are light years ahead of anything we as a franchise have ever had.
I think that is really the only thing that I came away depressed with this week about these games. Not the fact that we lost and lost handily, I expected that.
But the fact that the likelihood of the Pacers ever being in the elite level of teams like these two anytime soon in my life is not real good.
I mean even if the 3 year plan works to perfection the fact is we are not going to be able to bring in a player like either of these two.
So the only way to do this will be like we did back in the 90's, which is fine but believe me it is slow and doesn't always work out the way you want.
Why both of these players are so grand? Because both of them made a concerted effort to not score against us. They worked on every aspect of their game but scored just enough so that you would know that if they wanted to they could score whatever they wanted and there was nothing you were going to do about it.
So who is the M.V.P.? Honest to God that is hard to say. I guess if Arenas put a gun to my head I would probably have to go with LeBron right now from what we saw this week because he does not have the talent around him that Koby does. I fully expect the Lakers to repeat unless there is some major collapse or injury.
I just know in both cases that when the crowd was chanting "MVP, MVP" the universal translator in Jim's head was making him hear "shoot more three's, shoot more three's". Ok, sorry I couldn't resist at least one barb thrown his way.
What is also somewhat sad is that for this season anyway Danny proved beyond a shadow of a doubt that he did not belong in any conversation that spoke of elite players.
Last season I honestly thought he was not at the elite level by any sense but he was in that next rung down. Enough to be an irritant to Koby and he was a pain in the @ss to King James.
Not this time.
I would venture to say that James probably forgot Danny was even playing after awhile.
Injury, fatigue, loss of mobility, etc. I have no idea but all season long there has been something not right.
But not to be outdone by the current M.V.P. players Shaq decided to raise up from the dead and provide the youngsters in the crowd just a small glimpse of what we used to have to contend with.
I've been luck in my life to have seen many great players. Ewing, Robinson, Drexler, hell I even saw Dr.J and Kareem before they retired.
Jordan of course was always a pain in the @ss but for whatever reason he just never destroyed us like he did other teams. It could be that he had to spend a lot of energy chasing Reggie around or something. Don't get me wrong he generally had his way with us but often times we gave as good as we got.
However the only player that I have ever seen that I felt totally helpless against and felt like there was just nothing that we could do anything about was Shaq. This is a guy who tossed our players about like he was the real king kong.
However he has no lift left in him anymore but man is the guy crafty and sly. That is why I think it is great that Roy got to play against him. Sure Roy got destroyed, but if he picked up some of Shaqs tricks tonight then in the long run we will be better for it.
Roy once again was getting some love from the other teams coach in today’s star, I'm not going to post or link it here but Brown thinks Roy will be a great player.
BTW, Andrew Bynum is also a good young big man. Every time I read where the era of the big man is over and that there are no real centers left I just keep reminding myself that the teams that are lined up to win a title this year all have a traditional center and 4 of the 5 have either elite or used to be elite big men.
However once Shaq leaves the game there is literally no one else that is his size, nor has there ever been really.
So I'm kind of pondering who is going to be THE elite center of the future. Dwight Howard right now has the distinction of being that player; however I'm not 100% that he has enough of an offensive game to where he can dominate long term.
It really would have been nice to have Odom not get injured so that we could see what he could have done but I'm afraid that may be a career that will never be fully realized due to bad knees.
I don't think Roy will ever be in the talk of truly elite centers but I wonder if maybe he couldn't get to where he is in the next level down. I mean offensively he has the tools, but his inability to jump may always hold him down.
But no hate from me for Roy, I'm still pleased as punch considering he came in at the 17th pick in the draft.
Ok, let's move on to our team. Yea..... Not really.
Look I'm going to give our guys, including O'Brien a big break this week. We didn't compete all that well but let's be honest here we really shouldn't be expected to.
I guess I would like to welcome Brandon Rush to the 09-10 season. Thank you for checking in with us at the halfway point, I hope your first half of the season vacation was fun and relaxing.
This guy makes me want to jump off of a roof. As I've said I think more than anything else the complete and total collapse of his game in the first half of the season messed up the plans of the front office more than anything. This guy was supposed to be Danny's running mate and instead he decided to be Brandon Van Winkle on everybody.
Now that the season is really all over but the shouting he decides to come alive. I guess better late than never, but damn man couldn't you have done this about two months ago?
Speaking of a lost season.
Well I think I'm pretty much going to call Hansbrough's first season pretty much a wash out. When he played he showed some promise and I liked his style but with the indefinite label and Stacy Paetz saying that he still felt the same after shoot around that he has felt I think it's safe to say that the all-star break will probably come and go before we see him again and by then he will have the month of March to play some ball.
We, as a franchise, are cursed.
Speaking of injuries, did Dwight Howard cause Foster to rupture the discs in his back or something? I mean he has only been gone for over a month.
Anyway moving on
A.J. Price continues to develop and I have a feeling that by the time we come back from the break and we are all but officially eliminated from the playoff race I think you will see him get the starting call for a few games.
Barring something wonderful happening in the draft I believe that A.J. is your point guard next year, which I am fine with btw. I want to see him work on his defense and his dribbling but overall you can't ask more from a second round pick.
Boy I sure hope Mike Dunleavy did not come back to early. I am really afraid that his conditioning is not great and that he will either injure something else because he is compensating or he will aggravate the surgical site itself.
I think it is fair to say that right now Mike is just not playing well but I think it is also fair to say that the lack of conditioning and probably soreness have more to do with that than anything.
We did have a Josh McRoberts sighting vs. the Cavs.
To me the way he was used and the min. he played were perfect. I think to many people get hung up with the fact that some people want Josh to get some time and therefore they assume we all want him to start and play big min.
I think most of us know that Josh is going to be a bench role player, but I think that there is a place for that role every night for a few min. a game in particular when you are short forwards to begin with.
He didn't do anything grand, he didn't do anything bad. He did however contribute some fouls (which btw are not always a bad thing) and some size in the paint. Of course their size dwarfed any of our size.
I think our entire year can pretty much be summed up as follows.
See, I went an entire post and I didn't even discuss Murphy once. I think I deserve a cookie for that.
Comment