Pacers Enjoy A Couple Of Days Off For A Little Holiday Cheer Up

I truly believe the reconstruction of the Pacers is being done in a clever manner with the salary cap as the number one obstacle. I think that Tyler, Brandon, Roy, and perhaps Price are really solid young role players to play with Danny. Once the cap space is there it would be great to reel in another player (or two) of Dannys caliber. That would make us a threat…a serious threat. Regardless of the coaching we just don’t have the personnel to get anything done right now. I had lost patience with Murph playing because I didn’t think anyone would touch that salary of his till next season, and Ide prefer to see our young guys develope. But if there are potential suitors for Murph or Dunleavy, playing them may be the right thing to do. Especially if we can grab up an expiring deal or two. A high ceiling draft pick would be nice while waiting on 2011 as well, but you’re probably right Tom, were probably gonna have to wait it out…and you’re definatly right about the image change. I get tired of losing, but I would much rather lose with guys I can cheer for, than to win with a bunch of death row inmates (a bit of exagerration). We have high moral guys, great young role players, sometimes it’s just difficult waiting for the final pieces of the puzzle to click into place.

The most glaring complaint is that the Pacers should completely rebuild. Take the pain, get rid of all of the high-priced contracts and hopefully hit the lottery.

What exactly do you think they’re doing?

I know they’re not rebuilding. Note that most of the word is “building”, not “re”. That’s not just an etymological nicety. In this case, it’s instructive. Think about tearing down a building and rebuilding it from the foundation (which is, for the Pacers, Granger and Hibbert).

When you tear down and rebuild a building, you tear down the existing structure quickly. Because, actually, most of the time and effort needs to be spent building the new one.

If you don’t get rid of the old team for a year and a half, you are NOT rebuilding. You’re just screwing around. Just like if you say, “I’m going to knock down my crappy old building and build a new one on the foundation. But I’m not gonna do it for a year and a half”, well, you’re not actually rebuilding. You’re just using your crappy old building.

There is no reason the Pacers shouldn’t get this rebuilding on the road. Immediately. Knock this team down. The vast majority of these guys, while not great, are quite tradeable. Murphy, Foster and Dunleavy all should be fairly moveable. The only guy I see that really needs to go that might be difficult to get an expiring contract for is Ford. But it should be doable if you include him one one of the other guys.

So there’s no reason it can’t be done that I see. On the other hand, there are obvious reasons it should be done.
1. This team is obviously not going to get anything accomplished this year as constituted. So the opportunity cost is miniscule.
2. Any draft picks, useful players, or free agent opportunities this summer will actually be helpful.