Bird And The State of The Pacers

[Chief]

Bird had three four goals, which he has been talking about for quite awhile: 

1. Solidify the point guard position;

2. Bring in shooters;

3. Get rid of malcontents.

4. Bring in slow white guys.

The two trades accomplished all three goals, especially after you factor in that the team is buying out Tinsley.  I didn't like the trade with Portland much, either, but Bird fell in love with Rush's shooting ability, and bringing in Jack -- a starter -- as his backup PG really strengthens the team in that area.

McRoberts
Dunleavy
Nesterovic
Foster
Diener
Murphy

Larry, this is not an Indiana rec league. This is the NBA. No matter what race or nationality, you got to bring in some athletes. Guys that can get to the basket and create shots for your shooters. None of the guys on this list are capable of doing that.

Dunleavy, Murphy, and Foster were all very good there, and Diener wasn't terrible.  Dunleavy put up better numbers (including percentages) than Ray, and Foster outplayed Perk.  Dunleavy was decent at getting to the hoop, averaging only slightly fewer free throw attempts per game than, say, Vince Carter (and Pierce shot about one more FTA per game.)  Let's not stereotype on the basis of race, please.

He also brought in T.J. Ford, who is both an athlete and good at getting to the line. 

The key statistic is win/loss which was 36/46. That team is not put together well. They gave up 105.4 pts a game because they were to slow to defend. And yes TJ ford is a very quick and athletic pg, but he is one neck injury from retiring. They better hope Brandon Rush is fully recovered from his ACL injury and can carry these guys on his back.

[acieEarl]

Bird had three four goals, which he has been talking about for quite awhile: 

1. Solidify the point guard position;

2. Bring in shooters;

3. Get rid of malcontents.

4. Bring in slow white guys.

The two trades accomplished all three goals, especially after you factor in that the team is buying out Tinsley.  I didn't like the trade with Portland much, either, but Bird fell in love with Rush's shooting ability, and bringing in Jack -- a starter -- as his backup PG really strengthens the team in that area.

McRoberts
Dunleavy
Nesterovic
Foster
Diener
Murphy

Larry, this is not an Indiana rec league. This is the NBA. No matter what race or nationality, you got to bring in some athletes. Guys that can get to the basket and create shots for your shooters. None of the guys on this list are capable of doing that.

Dunleavy, Murphy, and Foster were all very good there, and Diener wasn't terrible.  Dunleavy put up better numbers (including percentages) than Ray, and Foster outplayed Perk.  Dunleavy was decent at getting to the hoop, averaging only slightly fewer free throw attempts per game than, say, Vince Carter (and Pierce shot about one more FTA per game.)  Let's not stereotype on the basis of race, please.

He also brought in T.J. Ford, who is both an athlete and good at getting to the line. 

The key statistic is win/loss which was 36/46. That team is not put together well. They gave up 105.4 pts a game because they were to slow to defend. And yes TJ ford is a very quick and athletic pg, but he is one neck injury from retiring. They better hope Brandon Rush is fully recovered from his ACL injury and can carry these guys on his back.

Indiana's defense was terrible last year and with all these new additions, it doesn't look to be any better. Bird's trying to put together some assets while not getting killed with big contracts. With the exceptions of Dunlevey and Tinsey Birds got all short term contacts.

[Steve Weinman]

Bird had three four goals, which he has been talking about for quite awhile: 

1. Solidify the point guard position;

2. Bring in shooters;

3. Get rid of malcontents.

4. Bring in slow white guys.

The two trades accomplished all three goals, especially after you factor in that the team is buying out Tinsley.  I didn't like the trade with Portland much, either, but Bird fell in love with Rush's shooting ability, and bringing in Jack -- a starter -- as his backup PG really strengthens the team in that area.

McRoberts
Dunleavy
Nesterovic
Foster
Diener
Murphy

Larry, this is not an Indiana rec league. This is the NBA. No matter what race or nationality, you got to bring in some athletes. Guys that can get to the basket and create shots for your shooters. None of the guys on this list are capable of doing that.

Dunleavy, Murphy, and Foster were all very good there, and Diener wasn't terrible.  Dunleavy put up better numbers (including percentages) than Ray, and Foster outplayed Perk.  Dunleavy was decent at getting to the hoop, averaging only slightly fewer free throw attempts per game than, say, Vince Carter (and Pierce shot about one more FTA per game.)  Let's not stereotype on the basis of race, please.

He also brought in T.J. Ford, who is both an athlete and good at getting to the line. 

The key statistic is win/loss which was 36/46. That team is not put together well. They gave up 105.4 pts a game because they were to slow to defend. And yes TJ ford is a very quick and athletic pg, but he is one neck injury from retiring. They better hope Brandon Rush is fully recovered from his ACL injury and can carry these guys on his back.

Indiana's defense was terrible last year and with all these new additions, it doesn't look to be any better. Bird's trying to put together some assets while not getting killed with big contracts. With the exceptions of Dunlevey and Tinsey Birds got all short term contacts.

I don't purport to suggest that the Indy defense was any great shakes, but as referenced above, I would ask that you please take pace into account and thus look more at the fact that they were 15th in the league in defensive efficiency, which puts them more in the 'average' than 'terrible' category.  The points per game statistic isn't all that significant.

-sw