I'm trying to mentally prepare myself for the Stan Van era to begin. It isn't easy. From all indications, Stan Van Gundy is the Pacers leading candidate after a lengthy second interview (negotiation) this week. As I succinctly expressed after news of his first interview hit, Stan Van isn't my idea of an exciting, inspired coach. Mark Montieth calls SVG a "vanilla candidate" and I have to agree.

Sure he'll give us some great one-liners, I can appreciate a good quip. And two or three classic facial contortions a night caught by a camera is great fodder for this blog. But can he inspire developing talent to work through tough times in the now while continuing to work toward achieving greatness in the future? Not an easy task and not many can do it, but that's kind of what I'm looking for in a coach.

Since a coach meeting my expectations isn't currently pre-packaged and waiting on the shelf for a job, I'd still prefer Larry Joe Legend take a chance on an assistant coach that may have it in him if given the opportunity. At this point, betting on the unknown is worth the risk. There's still a chance that Van Gundy will get an offer from Sacramento that he likes better and LJL will be forced to make a bold move on an assitant coach to his liking. If not, and Van Gundy starts coaching at the Fieldhouse, hopefully he can guide the ship through the current rough waters until the team and talent are back to a level where a stronger coach would be enticed to come in a take the Pacers to a higher level. Barring a miracle in the lottery, this is going to be a long, strange trip.