I personally think I can sum this up pretty dam quickly.  But TrueHoop linked to a website that maps exactly how we got where we are today.  Link and my thoughts after the jump.  (I always wanted to type that)

http://gmapuploader.com/iframe/x8eS6Jgqyo

Visual view of how we acquired the entire current team, really neat, and they have one for every team.

Here's how I think we got here, couple bullet points.

-Jermaine was a diamond in the rough coming from Portland, and blew up.  Than proceeded to take Max Money, and go right on to complain about basically everything.  Had some great seasons, but failed to realize by being the max franchise player, the burden to win was on his shoulders.  Besides the horrible attitude and health issues, the little fact he ate up an enormous amount of our cap didnt help.  During this time, he also became my least favorite Pacer of the last 15 years.

-Ron Artest and Ben Wallace had 45 gallons of extra testosterone, got under each others skin, a teeny tiny little riot between fans and some Pacer players broke out, which led to the departure of Ronnie Boy and Stephen, and ultimately the pacers run as a top 3 East team.  Worse, it left us with horrible contracts of Troy Murphy and Mike Dunleavy.  Even worse than that, it led to Dunleavy mustache and Troy's fast break trailing 3s and pump fakes.

-Tinsley, Jermaine, Artest, and Stephen Jackson together gave us wins and a good teams, but too much personality and insnity.  This led the Pacers to do the direct opposite, and take on players who for the most part are very bland, sorry.

-Granger was a great pick.

-Reggie left, and took the whole heart and soul of the team with him.

-The end.

-----Captain