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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"

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"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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The Pacers offseason Blueprint (insider)

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  • #1

    The Pacers offseason Blueprint (insider)

    Someone asked to have this posted in some thread so here you go.

    HTML Code:
    http://insider.espn.go.com/nba/story/_/id/7972449/2012-nba-playoffs-offseason-moves-indiana-pacers


    The Pacers' offseason blueprint
    Re-signing Hibbert and adding some shooters will help Indy in 2012-13
    Updated: May 25, 2012, 4:15 PM ET

    By Neil Paine | Basketball-Reference.com


    The Pacers' No. 1 priority this offseason will be to re-sign Roy Hibbert.
    Although at times they gave the Chris Bosh-less Miami Heat more than they bargained for, the Indiana Pacers' six-game loss to Miami ultimately proved that they were not on the same level as the league's elite teams. That means reigning Executive of the Year Larry Bird still has work to do before next season if he hopes to build on Indiana's unexpectedly good 2012 campaign.

    What are the biggest-action items for the Pacers as they head into 2012-13?

    1. Bring back Hibbert
    It goes without saying that the Pacers' top priority over the summer will be to make a qualifying offer to unrestricted free-agent center Roy Hibbert and to match any offer sheets from teams in search of the emerging big man's services.
    Hibbert's improved play in 2012 was one of the big reasons Indiana vaulted from a sub-.500 team to the No. 3 seed in the East. He posted a career-high 19.3 player efficiency rating, elevating his usage, offensive efficiency and defense in the same season. At 25, he'll give the team that signs him a handful of prime years as a true center, one of the rarest commodities in the modern-day NBA.


    That last sentence is why the demand for Hibbert will be so high this summer. In a big-man landscape where Ryan Anderson, JaVale McGee, Spencer Hawes, Omer Asik and an aging Kevin Garnett are the alternatives, Hibbert might very well be the second-most sought-after free agent of the offseason, behind only Deron Williams. The market value for players like that has typically been either a maximum contract or at least a near-max deal, and a max offer would commit roughly $13 million to Hibbert in 2012-13.

    That doesn't leave a lot of cash left over. Luckily, though, there is a major team weakness that can be addressed by the Pacers in a relatively inexpensive manner.

    2. Add some shooting
    The biggest statistical disparity of the Heat-Pacers series was in terms of effective field goal percentage (eFG%), which measures shooting efficiency from the field with an adjustment for the extra value of 3-pointers. Miami's eFG% was 48.4 and Indiana's was 44.3 (the league average is 46.8 in the playoffs), a huge gap that explains most of why the Pacers were outscored by 6.5 points per game.

    While Hibbert and George Hill shot well in the series, Danny Granger, David West and Paul George all posted an eFG% below the league average. In addition, role players Leandro Barbosa, Tyler Hansbrough and Dahntay Jones all put up abysmal shooting numbers. The Pacers were not the greatest shooting team during the regular season either -- they ranked 23rd in eFG% -- so something needs to be done to bolster their production in that area.

    You might think the answer would be to give Hill more playing time than Darren Collison (which the Pacers began doing throughout the playoffs). Hill led the team in eFG% during the regular season and posted their best mark during the Miami series. And although Hill shoots well, his presence on the court is actually associated with a lower team eFG% than with Collison in the game. The difference appears to be Collison's superior passing ability, which helps set his teammates up for better looks.

    Instead of trying to fix their shooting issues with an in-house solution at the point, the Pacers could at least address them by upgrading their role players. Hansbrough, Jones and Louis Amundson, for instance, are three of the NBA's worst players at creating a positive eFG% differential while on the floor. Amundson and Hansbrough are useful rebounders and Jones is a solid man defender, but Indy could afford to sacrifice some of that to improve its shooting differential.

    The team will need to make qualifying offers to Hill and Hibbert, and Jones will almost certainly exercise his player option, but Indy will have some breathing room with the salaries of Barbosa, Jeff Foster and (potentially) Amundson coming off the books. They'd do well to go after players like Matt Barnes, Vladimir Radmanovic or Ronny Turiaf, free agents who could be had cheaply and are associated with much better on-court shooting differentials than Jones, Hansbrough and Amundson.

    It might not be enough to guarantee they get over the top against a squad like Miami, but addressing the disparity in shooting efficiency at the margins is a cost-effective way for the Pacers to improve this offseason.

    3. The Gordon question
    There's no question that Indiana will do whatever it takes to re-sign Hibbert, but the Pacers might not be able to do much more than that in free agency. One huge question that lingers is whether they might go after a major talent at guard. Could they risk letting Hill walk and going after a "name" player?

    Right now, it's unlikely that Indiana would have enough cap space to pursue a franchise-altering talent like Williams, and Williams is far more likely to land in his hometown of Dallas. Indiana native Eric Gordon has been a popular name, however. Does that work? Well, even going after a lesser free agent would require renouncing the cap hold belonging to Hill, and losing Hill would be a blow.

    For better or for worse, the Pacers' biggest free-agent move this offseason might simply be to re-sign Hibbert, keep Hill, and move forward with the same core that got them to the second round of the playoffs.

    Neil Paine is an author for Basketball-Reference.com.
    Why so SERIOUS
    Tags: None
  • #2
    Re: The Pacers offseason Blueprint (insider)

    Interesting thing I guess I did not know Hill led the team in the Miami Series and the regular season in eFG%, way to go, this should bold well when he goes to resign.
    Why so SERIOUS

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    • #3
      Re: The Pacers offseason Blueprint (insider)

      Awesome this guy is stupid move forward with the same core and that gets us no where except the 2nd round again we do NOT want to be the Atlanta Hawks.
      Counting down the days untill DJ Augustin's contract expires.

      Comment

      • #4
        Re: The Pacers offseason Blueprint (insider)

        Originally posted by Hypnotiq View Post
        Awesome this guy is stupid move forward with the same core and that gets us no where except the 2nd round again we do NOT want to be the Atlanta Hawks.
        This team is much better than the Hawks already. If we kept the intensity up as we did in games 2 and 3 we would be going on to the Eastern Conference Finals right now. Our coach made some rookie mistakes, and our inexperience and lack of a true PG showed at times. The difference between the elite and this team as is is only experience.

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        • #5
          Re: The Pacers offseason Blueprint (insider)

          I'm not sure it's either get max free agent or keep George Hill, or bust.

          Comment

          • #6
            Re: The Pacers offseason Blueprint (insider)

            Looking at 2012 free agents and reading this article got me thinking about what the FO actually are going to do, and not what I or anyone else on this board want them to do..

            To me, there are many ways we could go about this season So many ways that it could backfire or it could work out well.

            Re-signing Roy Hibbert and George Hill is the ultimatum. Yes, George Hill. I think he's been getting some crap on here, but he is way to important to this team. George Hill is arguably the fourth best player on the team. But, we have free agency first.

            First, I think that we go for Steve Nash. For those who don't say Nash is a superstar, watch him versus us at home this season. He was the sole reason we lost. If we get Nash, almost let the rest of the roster play itself out by signing one or two relatively cheap guys (2.5-4.5 million a year) to fill out the bench. Jamal Crawford, Shannon Brown, Marco Bellineli, or Gerald Green as wings, and Jermaine O'Neal, Antawn Jamison, JJ Hickson, or Jason Thompson as bigs (I have no basis on these numbers, just figuring at least some of these decent guys would go 2.5-4.5). And as long as which wing we sign is better than Barbosa was in the playoffs, we are okay. The big man we sign just has to actually show up to the post season, unlike Tyler and Lou. Out of those guys, Shannon Brown and JJ Hickson interest me a lot.

            If we don't get Nash, I think that we attempt to achieve two goals out of three in free agency or trade during the offseason. The three goals being: Getting a talented team-oriented and good passing point guard, getting a third big about as talented as David West and Roy Hibbert, and getting a pure scorer to either start in place of Paul George or have a prominent role off the bench. Some point guards who could potentially fit this criteria are Andre Miller, Chauncey Billups, Jameer Nelson, or Goran Dragic. Some scorers are Ray Allen, Lou Williams, Jason Terry, or dare I say it Eric Gordon (Only scenario would be a S&T & trading good players). Just don't get OJ Mayo because he kind of sucks. Big men: Kris Humphries, Chris Kaman, Carl Landry, or Brandon Bass. Some options are obviously either more economical, more of a bargain, and a big risk/reward case financially. To me Jameer Nelson, Chauncey Billups, Jason Terry, Ray Allen, and Carl Landry interest me. I would say all of these guys are on the same level as Hibbert/West/Granger/Hill/George/Collison, and would be more on the Hibbert/West/Granger talented side... And the slight approval singings for me would be Dragic, Kaman, and Gordon.

            Some potentially minimum-type guys that are somewhat interesting in free agency are Joel Przybilla, Jason Maxiell, Michael Redd, Willie Green, Grant Hill (if we get Nash), and Donte Greene. I think that any of these guys could have a small but impactful role on the Pacers.

            Also, we would have Darren Collison (Who's value is up), Tyler Hansbrough, and our first round pick on the block.
            Last edited by BringJackBack; 05-26-2012, 02:41 AM.

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            • #7
              Re: The Pacers offseason Blueprint (insider)

              I could buy most of what he was saying and then read this..."The difference appears to be Collison's superior passing ability, which helps set his teammates up for better looks."

              Comment

              • #8
                Re: The Pacers offseason Blueprint (insider)

                Paine looses credibility with me when he says our first priority is to keep Hibbert which doesn't leave a lot of cash left over. Yes, if we're that stupid we wouldn't be able to pursue a difference maker in free agency. The rest of the article makes no sense because he assumes we have no cap space which we do.
                Our fist priority is to sign an impact free agent, not sign Hibbert.
                Hibbert is ours, he doesn't want to leave but even if he did he has no choice, we'll match any offer he gets. We need to sign the free agent first while we have the cap space.
                I appreciate when anyone post insider articles but it's sad that espn charges for this.
                Why do teams tank? Ask a Spurs fan.

                Comment

                • #9
                  Re: The Pacers offseason Blueprint (insider)

                  What happend to all of the cap space we were supposed to have this year?
                  Ever notice how friendly folks are at a shootin' range??.

                  Comment

                  • #10
                    Re: The Pacers offseason Blueprint (insider)

                    Originally posted by Speed View Post
                    I could buy most of what he was saying and then read this..."The difference appears to be Collison's superior passing ability, which helps set his teammates up for better looks."
                    One of my concerns with the Pacers and also why they lost to the Heat is overal team quickness. The bigs especially are not quick and thus they cannot rotate or move in for blocks to stop drives to the hoop. Now some of that is made up by overall team length. Roy WILL be back. Max if necessary. If another star becomes available then they may have to move a Granger or George. Would anyone do that to get Williams? Just talking but what about Collison, George and a first for Williams. Or substitute in Granger. Plus we really do not know what we have in Fes.
                    {o,o}
                    |)__)
                    -"-"-

                    Comment

                    • #11
                      Re: The Pacers offseason Blueprint (insider)

                      We have to sign our own free agents.....

                      Comment

                      • #12
                        Originally posted by Speed View Post
                        I could buy most of what he was saying and then read this..."The difference appears to be Collison's superior passing ability, which helps set his teammates up for better looks."
                        I wouldn't disagree with that after the way he has played since being benched...

                        Comment

                        • #13
                          Re: The Pacers offseason Blueprint (insider)

                          Originally posted by indygeezer View Post
                          What happend to all of the cap space we were supposed to have this year?
                          We used a lot of it to sign David West.

                          Comment

                          • #14
                            Re: The Pacers offseason Blueprint (insider)

                            Originally posted by Eleazar View Post
                            This team is much better than the Hawks already. If we kept the intensity up as we did in games 2 and 3 we would be going on to the Eastern Conference Finals right now. Our coach made some rookie mistakes, and our inexperience and lack of a true PG showed at times. The difference between the elite and this team as is is only experience.
                            I don't know about that. They have at least 2, or maybe even 3 players better than our best player. We're probably the deeper team, but when Horford's been healthy that team has owned us. We may be better, but we're definitely not much better.

                            Comment

                            • #15
                              Re: The Pacers offseason Blueprint (insider)

                              Originally posted by owl View Post
                              One of my concerns with the Pacers and also why they lost to the Heat is overal team quickness. The bigs especially are not quick and thus they cannot rotate or move in for blocks to stop drives to the hoop. Now some of that is made up by overall team length. Roy WILL be back. Max if necessary. If another star becomes available then they may have to move a Granger or George. Would anyone do that to get Williams? Just talking but what about Collison, George and a first for Williams. Or substitute in Granger. Plus we really do not know what we have in Fes.
                              Is it a realistic scenario to get DWill? If so, by all means. At this point you have to send core guys if it somehow means a talent upgrade at virtually any position. I would go as far as considering Roy if it returns a legit, dynamic star piece. S &T? Just saying it,s time to get creative and aggressive to move up from where we are now.
                              I'd rather die standing up than live on my knees.

                              -Emiliano Zapata

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