The Pacers, huh? Hmmm...

[Hoyo de Monterrey]

Alright, in the midst of making fun of the Lakers (and who doesn't love to do that), let's take a minute and look at the Pacers. Maybe this team is way better then everyone at the beginning of the year thought.

NOTE: I AM NOT SUGGESTING THEY WILL WIN AN NBA TITLE IMMEDIATELY.

Now that that's out of the way, Troy Murphy has been a very strong presence early for the Pacers (double-double average 11 apiece), and Marques Daniels is averaging 16.1 points per game and 6.2 rebs (Marques Daniels!!??) I fully admit I did not see Marques Daniels as a 16 ppg player in this league at all. Granger is a stud, and Ford is very legit but don't tell that to Toronto. The Pacers are young and are only going to get better. Imagine Hibbert turning into at least a Perk presence... not needed too too much on offense, but solid defensively and on the glass at both ends. Foster, Jack, Rush... they can all fill certain roles and are servicable bench players. Where will this team end up?

ESPN.com average finish in the preview? 11.9 Chad Ford had them at 7, saying they reminded him of the Pistons awhile ago. He might be closer to right then the rest of them. I could certainly see this team as a 7 seed, and they are DEFINITELY no longer a guaranteed win. The East is getting better, and teams like Indiana and Atlanta are no longer locks. Both could easily make the playoffs. 

[moiso]

I think the pacers 7-10 record is a better indication of how good they are.  Right now they have one stud and a few good players.  They are going to need another stud to become a real good team.

[Chris]

They are a classic Jim O'Brien team.  They play defense, they hit their open shots, and in general play disciplined basketball. I expect them to be a playoff team, and they may even give a team a scare...or win a series.  I think they are still a long ways away from being contenders though.

The only thing that is killing me is that after I had convinced myself Daniels was going to have a great year, and picked him up in the staff fantasy draft, I decided to drop him after a mediocre start....

[celticmaestro]

The Pacers are a very solid team and as Chris says a classic Jim O'Brien team. I think they'll be a playoff team also. I'm big on Danny Granger, and I think he's good enough to maybe even carry them to a series win.

[fairweatherfan]

The Pacers are a solid team and are so far significantly better than their record indicates.  In addition to beating us and LA, they've also beaten Atlanta and Houston in Houston.  5 of their 10 losses are by 4 pts or less and/or in OT (to teams like Orlando, Dallas, and Cleveland), and in several of those games they blew double-digit leads.  And Granger is quite possibly an allstar this year. 

I'm still not sold on them as a playoff team in the long run, but I wouldn't be surprised to see them there - I just hope they aren't our 1st rd opponent as they seem to be the kind of team that gives us trouble.

[Donoghus]

I'm a huge fan of Danny Granger.  Kid can flat-out play.  Gotta think some GMs are seriously regretting letting him drop in the draft a few years back.

[ma11l]

Jimmy O'Brien knows a thing or two about bringing underdogs a long way in the playoffs.  He has the gunners to run his offensive system.

However,so far they have gotten up for the giants, but have not shown up on a regular basis.  We saw them beat us soundly and upset the Lakers, but if we watched them night in and night out I think we would see that they're far off from being a legit playoff contender.

[cordobes]

I've been high on them since the Summer, I think Bird has been doing a great job once Walsh left. Not a great team, but they are now filled with hard-working likeable players instead of perennially injured, ball-hogs, dumbs and borderline criminals, give a great defensive effort night in night out and have great depth.

Interesting analogy: they have one of the fastest guards in the league, a young and up-coming scoring SF, a veteran and atypical PF who likes to shoot the 3, a big man with a decent mid-range shot and O'Brien as a coach. Very similar to one of the most over-achieving teams in the C's recent story, isn't it?

Granger has been improving every year since he joined the league. If he improves his handles and defense, he will be one of the best wings in the game.

Jimmy O'Brien knows a thing or two about bringing underdogs a long way in the playoffs.  He has the gunners to run his offensive system.

However,so far they have gotten up for the giants, but have not shown up on a regular basis.  We saw them beat us soundly and upset the Lakers, but if we watched them night in and night out I think we would see that they're far off from being a legit playoff contender.

I've been seeing them quite regularly. There were like 2 games where they've been outplayed by their opponents. They have an incredible amount of close losses. They don't know how to close out games, that has been their biggest problem so far, but they certainly have been showing up. I think they should slow down the tempo in the 4th quarter, close games are won by teams that can execute in the half-court.

Anyway, Dunleavy was their best offensive player last season. If he can come back healthy, I think they will be a good team. As others have said, I'd hate to meet them in the 1st round.

[fatherscott]

I haven't seen enough of Granger to comment on him as a franchise guy or anything, but his stats certainly look good (again, easy to put up big numbers on a bad team, though).

I think the only mistake they made last year (great trade of JO, good draft too) was not finding a taker for Dunleavy. I just don't think Dunleavy's that good and I think his value was goofily high based on last season.

[cornbreadsmart]

i was rooting like hell for them last night because it was vs. the lakers but otherwise i always root against them. i want jim o'brien to fail miserably.i still laugh that the final straw to him was the battie/eric williams deal which was a huge upgrade in talent for us.whether or not we kept davis-much better asset as it was later proven. i was in a bar downtown when o'brien quit on us and i got smashed to celebrate.lol. in reality i'm sure he's a great guy and it's not like i wish him harm -just a horrible record. 

[Chris]

i was rooting like hell for them last night because it was vs. the lakers but otherwise i always root against them. i want jim o'brien to fail miserably.i still laugh that the final straw to him was the battie/eric williams deal which was a huge upgrade in talent for us.whether or not we kept davis-much better asset as it was later proven. i was in a bar downtown when o'brien quit on us and i got smashed to celebrate.lol. in reality i'm sure he's a great guy and it's not like i wish him harm -just a horrible record. 

I feel the completely opposite way.  I have always been a big fan of O'Brien.  He was always incredibly classy, and always gets his teams to overachieve. 

[Donoghus]

i was rooting like hell for them last night because it was vs. the lakers but otherwise i always root against them. i want jim o'brien to fail miserably.i still laugh that the final straw to him was the battie/eric williams deal which was a huge upgrade in talent for us.whether or not we kept davis-much better asset as it was later proven. i was in a bar downtown when o'brien quit on us and i got smashed to celebrate.lol. in reality i'm sure he's a great guy and it's not like i wish him harm -just a horrible record. 

I feel the completely opposite way.  I have always been a big fan of O'Brien.  He was always incredibly classy, and always gets his teams to overachieve. 

Likewise.  I like Obie a lot.  Some pretty good memories from the O'Brien era.  The '01-02 team is still one of my alltime favorite teams.  They were a blast to watch and really the first competitive team since the Bird era had ended.  O'Brien had them play hard and they easily overachieved that year. 

[Toine43]

i was rooting like hell for them last night because it was vs. the lakers but otherwise i always root against them. i want jim o'brien to fail miserably.i still laugh that the final straw to him was the battie/eric williams deal which was a huge upgrade in talent for us.whether or not we kept davis-much better asset as it was later proven. i was in a bar downtown when o'brien quit on us and i got smashed to celebrate.lol. in reality i'm sure he's a great guy and it's not like i wish him harm -just a horrible record. 

I feel the completely opposite way.  I have always been a big fan of O'Brien.  He was always incredibly classy, and always gets his teams to overachieve. 

Likewise.  I like Obie a lot.  Some pretty good memories from the O'Brien era.  The '01-02 team is still one of my alltime favorite teams.  They were a blast to watch and really the first competitive team since the Bird era had ended.  O'Brien had them play hard and they easily overachieved that year. 

Yeah, I also don't have anything against O'Brien. His Eastern Conference Finals teams were my first great Celtics memories, and I'll always be grateful to him for the job he did with them.

I think it's pretty funny that you use the Ricky/Mihm for Battie/Williams trade as evidence against O'Brien. Davis was a much better asset? If I recall correctly, that trade launched the team into a painful 3+ year period of mediocrity. Ricky has proven time and time again to be nothing more than a lazy malcontent who cares more about his own stats than winnning.