Waiting for the game to start. It sounds like I didn’t miss much… Seems like a game from last year.

Here (courtesy of Mike Well’s notebook) we get another example of a coach babying Rush in the hopes his confidence will improve,

“O’Brien continues to start Brandon Rush over Dahntay Jones at shooting guard despite Jones clearly outplaying him this season because O’Brien hopes it will get Rush back on track and help his confidence.”

Same old story. I wonder if any of these coaches have thought about straight up challenging Rush as a man to get some heart and get his own swagger up. Maybe someone should insert some Lil Wayne and Jay-Z onto Brandon’s iPod before games and make him listen to that stuff on repeat till he gets some confidence.

most of the time. There are instances where Foster needs to start. Last night was one of them. Hibby got his chance early in the game last night, did absolutely nothing, and picked up 3 fouls in 4 mins of play. It’s not that he couldn’t get going, he just can’t guard players who are a foot smaller then him. If Biedrins was playing, that would have been a much better matchup, and I bet he would have started.

On the other hand, lets give some props to Foster, a Pacer his whole career, who can still play and will start against smaller lineups. Jeff looked good out there last night and brought some much needed hustle on the offensive glass. I’m sure he knows his time is coming, but he still plays the only way he knows how to play, balls to the wall.

Whether it’s because he’s there from the start and helps establish the the tone of the game and how it’s gonna be called, or because he’s more confident and thoughful of his positioning when he starts; one way or the other he doesn’t rack up fouls as fast when he starts. Since Roy has been coming off the bench he’s had a bulleye on his jersey. Fouls come fast and furious. Anyone thought about sitting Murph and Rush for Dahntay and Roy? Leave Fosters intangibles on the floor, start Hibbert, let Danny stretch the floor, and let TJ and Dahntay attack and playmake. That leaves Murph for a scoring option off the bench. Him along with Tyler, Dunleavy, Rush, Watson, and sometimes S Jones makes a pretty strong bench. Defenders, rebounders, defensive players, and some scoring. I like that lineup.

He has a lot of confidence, but could have used Granger last night to take some of the scoring load. Was also good to see Foster hustling up rebounds.

I absolutely a million times agree with how hard he plays. Anyone who has watched even one Pacer game in the last 8 years or however long, knows he always goes all out. He has given us everything, he has been rewarded with a nice little contract for a bit player, and it is time to cut ties. Give him a chance to make a title push somewhere else for the next couple of years.

In return, maybe we scoop up a couple of late draft picks, or one or two promising young players. As for Roy playing against small lineups. Shaq was never benched against a small team. NeiNo great centers are benched cause the other team goes small. ROY is the one with the advantage. Make the teams go big against us, not matchup their smallness. Roy is a huge asset, and hiding him is not the way we should attack, in my opinion.