Training Camp Is Just Around The Corner, How Do You Feel?

That’s my adjective. I’m faithful to this team even though they’re going to be awful this year. Awful! I think Larry Bird has made the right moves…that is, the right moves to make this team a top-five lottery team so we can finally draft somebody to help out Danny next summer. The signings have done nothing to improve the team, and Larry did a good job of making it look like he was doing good things when he was really making them worse. I’m looking forward to next year!

yea we food, yea we feel so good… HUH!

someone’s hungry.

I clearly have a better idea of what to expect from the 2009-10 Pacers than I do the 2009-10 Hoosiers, but that doesn’t mean I’m in the clear of what I can expect.

I’ll begin by saying I like the moves. For what we could’ve done, these are smart, judicious moves. If we had money to spend and we were doing this, I would be furious, but there aren’t a lot of options when you have to add five or so new players and you’ve got very limited money to do so. You have to go this route. There are other roads I would’ve taken, but the end result, I can’t argue with.

I like this team’s chances if things align right. They don’t even have to align perfectly. Just right. No serious injuries to key players, new players contributing to the level which they can contribute. I think the playoffs are within reach for this team, realistically, not just a byproduct of the team “playing hard down the stretch” while everyone else in the conference tanks. I think if things go right, we should be in that race all season.

We aren’t a much better team than we were last year. We may not even a better team. But we aren’t a much worse team, that I can be sure of. The mix of young guys hopefully improving and vets who know what they need to do, I can see the team performing at least to the same level they were at last year. And I’m not sold on the East improving beyond our reach, not by a long shot.

But I remain hesitant until I can see if what I expect is what’s on the floor.

not so much about the off season additions, but to see how Rush and Hibbert have improved. I think our improvement will come more from those two than from the new guys

with granger murphy and ford as locks to start, i think hibbert will step up and d jones along with rush will round out a nice 6. im happy with that and look forward to putting this team on the floor. however i think this roster poses some issues to be met… like trading foster. so i feel calculated with my expectations. just as bird and the rest of the pacers should, because id almost guarantee a year from now we’ll be having a similar discussion to this about even more significant building blocks.

Like it or not, barring a substantial trade, the Pacers roster will be the same for the next two seasons. Making the playoffs should be a reasonable goal but it will take lots of good health along with solid contributions from plenty of role players. Regardless of how they get there, playoff experience for the core players that will still be on the team in three seasons will be huge. I just can’t wait to see how all of the new faces are incorporated into the mix this season.

Love Granger, but this team needs some luck to make it into the playoffs. Not a fan of their off-season moves, really, especially the Dahntay signing.

I understand that the Pacers don’t have the means as almost every team in the NBA. And in order to compete we will actually have to BUILD a team, not spend, trade ibg, and acquire big time free agents. I just do not see myself getting excited on game day this year, knowing Danny will be running around almost solo. I know I know, Murphy put up numbers last year, Dunleavy led our team in scoring 2 years ago, and all of that good stuff.

But when it comes down to it, Murphy, Dunleavy, Foster, and quite honestly probably TJ, will not be here for the final piece of the rebuilding. Danny, Roy, Brandon, and Hansbrough surely will. As for Dahntay, I like that signing, the other 3 signings were slmot non events to me. I am excited to see Tylers growth and more than anything Brandon this year, I think we will see a monster year, especially defensively. But as for the team getting better, no I dont think so at all. I will miss Jack terribly, and I think the whole team is really going to struggle this year. Again, its not to be pessimistic, and I pray that I am wrong, that is just how I am feeling right now, right or wrong.

As for tonight , I am a Dolphins fan, so lets see those Colts go down down down…

As I am for the start of every Pacers season. Everything starts anew and we have a new team to watch. I do have tempered expectations, but would love to see the team gain playoff experience, even at the expense of higher draft picks. This team showed they could fight and stick around with the best of teams last year. I can’t wait to see that fire and drive translate to the playoffs this year.

It’s a shame we’re wasting Danny Granger. Another dreadful offseason. Gonna be bad again. Too bad Larry Bird is basically un-fireable.

But then, I’m hopeful every year.