Hi all, I have been a long time lurker and am a huge Pacers fan from Cincinnati. I look forward to getting to know some of you and hearing from all!

Honestly I am truly worried about our future. There is a strong sense of optimism on this site about the Pacers but I just don't feel it. Sorry. I long for the days of Reggie and making at least an Eastern Conference Finals an almost yearly thing. With the way things have gone the past few years we are just moving farther and farther in the wrong direction from the glory years.

A look at our current roster shows me a team that isn't looking to compete until about 2012.  This is when Murphy, Dunleavy, Ford, Tinsley, and Foster OFFICIALLY come off the books. (Yes I expect something with JT to get worked out, but there is no reason to believe it'll be in the near future.) Now honestly those are the players that I feel are currently holding down our roster. Hypothetically, with a fully healthy lineup of these guys that is motivated we are still not contenders for anything more than maybe a playoff berth. Right now the historic bottom feeders of the league have risen so much while the Pacers have sat causing Indy to fall behind. Currently Charlotte (young with a HoF coach), Jersey(Upcoming cap space for possible LeBron, or another top notch FA plus Devin Harris looking like a stud), New York (Upcoming cap space for PROBABLE LeBron as well as core that is better than ours currently), and Washington (Very early pick this year with a healthy AgentZero, Jamison, and Butler) all have more upside than the Pacers and those are the teams we are heading into the lottery with. I just do not see any reason for optimism.   

With the pending financial crisis in the NBA, the free agent market is going to be far too risky for the Pacers to invest very much $. Yeah, we will have some possible cap space after we lose Nesterovic (8.4 mil), Eddie Jones (2 mil), Baston (1.9 mil), and don't exercise the option on Daniels (6.8 mil) along with the small contracts of Carmel's own and Graham.

Honestly, looking at our current roster I see nothing more than a overmatched front office/GM. The deal for Rush still has a shot but lets be honest, we sat on J. O'Neal way too long and TJ Ford looks no better than league average. Maybe he could be a forth best player on a true contender. As far as Hibbert, he will never be much in the league. He has very little upside and players like him no longer succeed in this league. Too slow and not enough of a defensive/rebounding presence for his size.

Before this last season there was also the previous drafts and trades that are currently looking ugly.

-In '07 we took on the contracts of Murphy and Dunleavy while seemingly "dumping" Stephen Jackson (Whose contract was reasonable and only ran 'til 2010 at the time) and Al Harrington.

-Prior to this there was the issue of reacquiring Harrington before the '06-'07 season for our 2007 first round pick (Acie Law was chosen but there were many very good options to be had).  Before we ever signed Harrington it looked as if the Pacers window to contend with O'Neal had closed and adding more bad contracts, like Harrington's would only bite us in the rear which it did.

-Also we drafted Shawne Williams and traded for James White which now we can tell was a terrible draft. Looking at all of these moves there has not been an obvious win in a trade or draft pick since Danny G.!

I just don't know what to think and I feel like this history of failed moves, creating this weak and costly roster gives us ZERO hope for the future. Danny is a star, no ifs, ands, or buts, however we need some bodies around him. We do not need Dunleavy, Ford, and Murphy getting paid too much $all at the same time. It would be fine if they were reasonably signed but instead they are here until 2012. Now we must hope we get a certifiable star in the draft to end up competitive, but this seems like a real stretch looking at our recent history of taking low-ceiling players.

My plan to fix this would be to:

First figure out a way to dump 2 of Ford, Dunleavy, and Murphy. I really don't care what we get as long as its some sort of draft compensation and plenty of cap. I would target the Clippers since Daddy Dunleavy isn't going anywhere and they are not too smart. Plus they do want to win now with Baron Davis. (However if we are paying only cents on the dollar I would take Baron for some package of those guys with no draft picks involved by Indy.)

Second, I would figure out what goes best with Danny.

At point I would decide if Ford was or wasn't my guy. If he is then we need a solid backup for injury issues. Also we need to realize Ford should probably be the 4th best starter on the team in order for the Pacers to compete. If he is our second best player we are in trouble.

At SG  we need a defensive-first guard as well as a solid scorer. Someone who prides themselves in locking up the other teams best guard. I think Rush can be this while also providing real offensive value., but this still should be assessed. Our sixth or seventh man should also be a scorer/shooter who we can rely on to come off the bench and provide an offensive spark. However, if DeRozan is there for us to take in the draft at around 10-12 then we need to take him.

On the block we need a defensive stopper and a solid low post scorer. I would key on this player in the draft. I also feel like they need to be a high energy producer who is athletic. I would dream of winning the lottery or at least getting real lucky for a top 5 pick and having a shot at Griffin, Monroe, or Thabeet.

These moves would make us a contender with plenty of upside and possible cap space. I would also look to the free agent market for some cheap commodities. Wait until the next season is near starting and I am sure with the bad economy there will be some free agents with real talent available. Ben Gordon, Lamar Odom, and Shawn Marion are possible guys that can slip through the cracks. 

I hope I am wrong and the team we have now can compete, I just have my doubts. I also love Larry Legend but he doesn't seem like he is capable of running a successful team. It may be time to move on. Give me one of those MIT grads in the mold of Daryl Morey.