Larry Bird Is Talking Offseason Today

by Tom Lewis on Apr 21, 2009 6:28 AM EDT in Indiana Pacers News

UPDATE: Here's Bruno's initial report from the Bird's presser.

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Bruno's latest Caught in the Web preps us for Larry Bird's presser this morning to offer his thoughts on the Pacers offseason plans. I'm not expecting any earth-shattering news since Bird normally keeps the full truth tucked close to the vest. Sill, I'll be interested to hear what he has to say.

Jim O'Brien hasn't been shy in discussing the team's shortcomings and making it clear that he expects changes to the roster this summer.

"We’re not going to go into next year with the same team. Absolutely not," said O'Brien. "We need to improve our talent level. That goes without saying. If you said anything differently, everybody would expect us to have to have our head examined. You have to improve constantly in order to build.

"Our job is to win a championship. Do we think we have the players now that can win a championship? No. So we have to constantly improve -- through the draft, through trades, through free agency -- our talent base in order to continue to take the steps that we need to take in order to grow it."

JOB also mentions becoming more athletic in the post and adding size at point guard. That sure doesn't sound like Jonny Flynn or Ty Lawson.

Ahh, the joys of reading between the lines. And it's not even May yet.

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Whos in, Whos out?

http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/draft2009/columns/story?columnist=ford_chad&page=InOut

“An unprecedented number of top underclassmen have indicated that they will skip the draft and head back to school. North Carolina’s Ed Davis, Georgetown’s Greg Monroe, Oklahoma’s Willie Warren, Wake Forest’s Al-Farouq Aminu and Kansas’ Cole Aldrich all have said no to the draft despite being projected as lottery picks. If you count elite prep school prospect John Wall, the number grows to six.”

This makes the draft weaker, which makes the 11th pick MUCH weaker, and I don’t know if that’s a good thing, to say the least.

by captain flitzy on Apr 21, 2009 10:32 AM EDT reply actions

and in turn, the 13th pick is extra weak

From these comments, it’s getting harder to figure out what will happen. We could use a tough PF but there aren’t many available in the draft and Bird seems to confirm that it’s an unlikely direction. We could use another PG, especially a bigger defensive-minded one, but even though there are a ton of good PG’s in the draft, none of them are bigger or defensive-minded.

There are several guys in the draft around our pick that have high potential but are similar to Granger and Rush (Terence Williams, James Johnson, Gerald Henderson, Earl Clark). We get another guy like that and we’ll start to look like the Bulls – overloaded at the wing spot.

"If you don't [draft me], I promise you I'll come back and kick your ass for the next 15 years."

by psvirsky on Apr 21, 2009 4:10 PM EDT up reply actions