IC Cold Links: Pacers Draft Reactions, RIP Michael Jackson and Farrah Fawcett

by Tom Lewis on Jun 26, 2009 6:48 AM EDT in News Comment 22 comments

Wow, yesterday was absolutely nuts. Not only was the draft crazy, but we lost Farrah Fawcett and Michael Jackson, two icons who accompanied me as I came of age through the '80's. At different points in my life, every girl tried to copy Farrah's hair style, then later every guy tried to copy the moon walk. And when I say "every" I mean, EVERY gal and EVERY guy were following the trends these two icons unleashed. RIP, Jacko and Farrah.

Now, after a night's sleep and digesting all of the knee-jerk reactions from the draft, I'm having a hard time picking out any player after the 13th pick I would be overly excited about had the Pacers taken him instead of Hansbrough. That says more about the draft than Hansbrough, but now we're just left to let the big Missourian "show us" what he can do. I guess that begins in a couple of weeks with summer league, when Hansbrough joins Roy Hibbert and Brandon Rush on the court in Orlando.

Plenty of links of interest following Thursday night's NBA Draft, after the jump:

Pacers use 13th pick on Tyler Hansbrough - Indystar.com
Jeff Rabjohns reports on the Pacers pick of Hansbrough in the draft.
Rabjohns reports from the Fieldhouse
Jeff Rabjohns reports on comments from Larry Bird and Tyler Hansbrough after the draft.
Pacers.com Draft Central
Pacers take Hansbrough in first round
Cliff Brunt reports on the Pacers pick of Hansbrough.
Pacers pick shows who’s in charge
Anthony Schoettle doesn't think Larry Bird made a simple basketball decision in choosing Tyler Hansbrough.
Pike's Teague realizes his NBA dream
Terry Hutchens reports on former Pike Red Devils, Jeff Teague and Robert Vaden enjoying draft night.
Pacer fans settle down, you'll love this guy | The News-Sentinel - Fort Wayne IN
Tom Davis implores Pacer fans to give Hansbrough a chance.
Herb Simon on Kravitz & Eddie (audio) prior to the draft last night.
NBA.com: Kings, Clippers, Hansbrough clean up in eventful Draft
Art Garcia offers up his winners and losers from draft night.
Winners and losers: Cavs cash in - NBA - Yahoo! Sports
Dan Wetzel doesn't like the direction the Pacers went in the draft.
NBADraft.net reviews the first round picks
Eastern Conference Draft Grades -- NBA FanHouse
Yesterday on the radio we joked around with Pacers Media Director, David Benner about how ridiculous post-draft grades are the day after the draft. Here's an unkind grade for the Pacers from the FanHouse.
NBA Draft First Round Analysis - The Baseline
Mike DeCourcy offers his first round analysis for The Baseline.
Knicks, Sixers come away with strong picks in NBA draft - Chris Mannix - SI.com
Chris Mannix has the Pacers in the potential loser category with his instant draft analysis.
Saint Joseph's Hawks to dedicate Ramsay Basketball Center
Hall of Fame coach Dr. Jack Ramsay will be on hand Friday for the dedication of the 20,000-square-foot Ramsay Basketball Center at Saint Joseph's. Very cool honor for the former Pacers coach and father-in-law of Jim O'Brien.

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yay, one less creephy suspected pedo in the world.

MJ… good music, weirdo person.

by dbcb on Jun 26, 2009 10:56 AM EDT reply actions 0 recs

correction: great music

It’s been a while but for those of us too young to remember Thriller when it came out, that really is one of the top 3 pop albums of all time, arguably #1.

However, he is easily a top 3 weird creepy celebrity of all time, also arguably #1

"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 Jun 26, 2009 11:26 AM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

“I’m having a hard time picking out any player after the 13th pick I would be overly excited about had the Pacers taken him instead of Hansbrough”

My most optimistic take on picking Hansborough is that there’s actually a pretty decent chance that only a couple guys taken after him will end up with better careers and they might not even be the guys we would guess.

"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 Jun 26, 2009 11:28 AM EDT reply actions 0 recs

I feel terrible for Granger

Danny isn’t getting any help. I have a feeling our situation in Indiana is going to turn out like the Cleveland Cavaliers’. Each team has a great player who definitely can help anchor a championship team. But each also has an incompetant GM who can’t assemble a contender. If we don’t put a respectable supporting cast around Granger soon- and yes i know he just signed a big contract and is a great guy- he is going to want to get out. He’s going to want to go to a team who can win. No player wants to dwindle on a crappy team their entire career. Especially one like Granger..

by pacers33 on Jun 26, 2009 11:42 AM EDT reply actions 0 recs

Absurd

First off, you just compared Granger to LeBron? Don’t get me wrong, I love Granger. I think he will be a great NBA player and perennial allstar. But “anchor a championship team”??? That’s a stretch.

Second, Danny is locked up for a long time. We have time to build around him and we will. We don’t need to make knee jerk decisions (like bringing in a 37 year old Shaq) just to make Danny happy years before his contract is up.

I disagree with those here who think Larry Bird is an incompetent GM. He did the best with what he had last night. He just didn’t have much. We would have loved it if he had traded down and taken TH late in the first round, but given the talent available at 13, I doubt anyone was offering a good way to trade down. The Chicago deal was off the table when Henderson was taken.

We need to take a wait and see approach with TH. This may be a situation where everyone’s pessimism will just make us happier later on. A pessimist is always either proven right or pleasantly surprised.

The only other players I would have considered at 13 as it fell out were Holiday, Lawson, and Blair. Holiday and Blair are both point guards. We have enough of those. (I personally think Jack can make a really good pure PG in a few years – in the Billups mold). Holiday would have been a project. We don’t need one of those. Blair may be decent, time will tell. But, given that he fell to 40, Bird looks like a friggin genus for not picking him at 13….

by indy62 on Jun 26, 2009 2:23 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

Oops

I meant “Holiday and Lawson” not “Holiday and Blair.” A little difficult to imagine Blair running the point….

by indy62 on Jun 26, 2009 2:24 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

But it is a lot of fun to imagine him running the point.

Not as useful as Rated-R Superstar, but, hey!, I stick my Grease watching to once a weekend.

by rollonubears on Jun 26, 2009 3:03 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

Granger and LeBron are both all stars

on their respective teams. They both have the same roles. Granger, in my biased opinion, is every bit as good as Melo, just maybe not quite the scorer/finisher as Anthony. Yet, if I said Melo could anchor a championship team, I wouldn’t get called absurd.

This team could make the playoffs next season even if we don’t make any more moves. We have young players that will improve, including Granger, and Dunleavy might come back too. We’ll probably get the 13-16 pick in the draft so we’ll see how we get that superstar wer’e all expecting

by pacers33 on Jun 26, 2009 2:46 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

I just don't see what Hansbrough brings to the table for the Pacers

I mean, we might dog on Murphy, but he’s the second most valuable player on the team IMO. He’s not great, but he’s a solid, skilled starting quality NBA big. Not an all-star, but there aren’t that many all-stars.

And I don’t see how Hansbrough brings anything more or different to the table than him. I don’t see how he works out all that well playing next to Hibbert or Foster for that matter. Hansbrough’s actually decently sized and athletic, but he’s just average for the NBA at his position. Offensively, I don’t see much to like from a Tyler/Roy lineup. Defensively, I’m not sure I like what I see either

BullsTwo

by Sports2 on Jun 26, 2009 2:13 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs

Tyler brings a smaller shooting range than murphy, less rebounding, less size, and just as shitty of defense.

but he has a cool nickname, is an ass, and he can hustle baby! we drafted a player because he gives effort. awesome

by dbcb on Jun 26, 2009 2:18 PM EDT up reply actions 1 recs

I think

Murphy is terribly over-rated. Great on paper, but I just hate that our power forwards best moves are a pump fake from 25 feet out, and a pulll up 3.

by captain flitzy on Jun 26, 2009 2:28 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

Well, I don't think he's great, but he's a good rebounder and shooter, and those are legit NBA skills

Think about it this way. What’s the basic difference between Murphy and say, Rashard Lewis? Lewis basically just sits there and bombs away threes from Dwight Howard.

With a strong, defensive center who had some legitimate post offense, Murphy is an above average high post option.

And even if he’s overpaid, which I’d agree to, that just means he’s that much harder to move and get something back for. So why not consider him pretty low on the list of guys we need to upgrade.

My main problem is just that Hansbrough offers no change of pace and no complimentary ability to Murphy whatsoever. Or really, anyone else.

BullsTwo

by Sports2 on Jun 26, 2009 2:44 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

Murphy is a great shooter...

in the mold of Lewis, and i could see Murphy taking on a SIMILAR role to Lewis in that offense. But I guess what I am trying to say is we dont HAVE that beauty of a Dwight Howard. So Murphy is playing a shooting Power Forward without a Big man to play off of. I would rather see HIM (or his replacement) be that big guy, so we could get someone to play off of him. That might be confusing, but in my mind it makes some sore of sense. And as far as overpaid, i think hes definitely overpaid, and his contract will become a BIG asset in the following years, theres nothing better than a big expiring contract. It sucks that we have to wait him out.

by captain flitzy on Jun 26, 2009 2:49 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs