IC Cold Links: As Losses Mount, Pacers Need To Keep Developing Young Players
by Tom Lewis on Feb 10, 2010 6:06 AM EST
in Indiana Pacers News
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PrintTime to exhale and enjoy the All-Star festivities while the Indiana Pacers take a week off to rest and regroup after losing yet another game last night to Chicago.
The Pacers hit the break with 34 losses which is currently tied with Sacramento (Kings have one more game tonight) for the fourth most L's in the league. Considering the brutal schedule ahead after the break the Pacers appear locked in where they are for the remainder of the season.
So once again, let me implore Jim O'Brien to give the youngster their run which I guess boils down to letting A.J. Price play. If and when Tyler Hansbrough is available again, he will play. Plus, Roy Hibbert and Brandon Rush are getting their share of burn, so I'm back to begging for more development time for Rush.
Now I've learned to take Jim O'Brien's comments with a grain of salt. His goal is to exit an interview without saying anything startling and making everyone sound good. I think he believes whatever he says at the moment he says it, but he may think differently ten minutes later. But a comment from last night stuck with me as he was sugar-coating Price's exit from the playing rotation.
"We always said come Jan. 1, if we were not hitting on all cylinders that we would use (Price) and see what we had," O'Brien said. "It's been a valuable five weeks to evaluate our (second-round) pick and to be able to project him into the future. I think he's done well. He's learning every game that he's playing."
Yeah, yeah, yeah...WAIT! What was last line again? "He's learning every game that he's playing."
Exactly.
And now Price is not playing.
More links of interest after the jump.
- PACERS: Inside the Game: Bulls 109, Pacers 101
Bruno's Inside the Game has all of the numbers, notes, quotes and highlights. - Cliff Brunt's AP Report
- Pacers go into break on a real downer
Mike Wells reports on the Pacers letting one last game slip away before a week off for the All-Star break. Earl Watson did his best to squeeze out something positive from the break. "I guess it is a good time for the break," point guard Earl Watson said. "The break is always good unless you're on a winning streak. For us, right now, it could be seen as a time to get mentally refreshed." - Tyrus Thomas big help in 109-101 Chicago Bulls victory
K.C. Jones reports on Tyrus Thomas returning to action and making a positive impact for the Bulls. - Turning on the 'D'
John Jackson reports on the Bulls slowing down the Pacers to finally take control of the game last night and leave with a win. - Bulls 109, Pacers 101: Ugly yet necessary
Blog A Bull is happy with the win for Chicago even if it lacked style points. - Pacers Notebook: Hansbrough gets number retired tonight at UNC
Mike Wells informs us on Tyler Hansbrough having his number retired at the Dean Dome, Danny Granger taking in the Saints win at the Super Bowl and A.J. Price going back to the bench. - Pacers Insider: Price goes from first to third
Mike Wells posts about A.J. Price falling out of the playing rotation and also includes an update on trade chatter out of Cleveland involving Troy Murphy. - J.J. Hickson's role in deadline trade deals becoming more unlikely
This is the Brian Windhorst article Wells references including this juicy information: "According to sources, the Cavs have made some progress in talks with the Indiana Pacers over power forward Troy Murphy. But the Pacers, like many teams, still want Hickson. The Pacers, a source said, are also in talks with the Milwaukee Bucks and Sacramento Kings involving Murphy and both teams can offer expiring contracts. " - Hansbrough excited to join UNC legends
Bruno's latest Caught In The Web checks in with Tyler Hansbrough as he preps for a ceremony to retire his number at UNC. Also, nuggets on Foster's back and Price's concussion. - Tyrus Thomas can be yours
KD digs into why Tyrus Thomas is on the trading block and worthy of a look by other teams. - NBA Power Rankings: Where Teams Look Ahead To The All-Star Break
Mike P has the latest power rankings up at SB Nation. The Pacers hang in at a lofty 24 once again.
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It is getting clearer by the day...
JOB better be out of a JOB if we are serious about turning this thing around. What is his contract extension? Yea it was fun turning Danny into an all-star last year, and watching people jack up 3’s for a few seasons, but this sh*t’s really got to come to an end. WIth so many good (or potentially good) coaches out there, if Bird man is truly serious about building a team, get JOB out. Enough already.
I didnt mean contract extension..
I meant to say what is his contract situation**?
by captain flitzy on Feb 10, 2010 9:22 AM EST up reply actions
We have some pretty bad luck with extensions!
Obie & Foster have sucked or been MIA ever since their deals were lengthened.
Tinsley was extended Bender was extended.
Im just saying …….. never seems to workout, and FYI Granger just got extended and is not the same guy that we gave the contract to.
Extension
If memory serves, he got the extension prior to his all- star campaign. I love Granger but he settles for way too many jump shots.
by STLPacerFan on Feb 10, 2010 10:28 AM EST via mobile up reply actions
Bird needs to give up on Hickson, I just don’t see how that’s going to happen. They are better off asking for 2 first round draft picks since they’ll be late picks anyhow.
If the Pacers can get a late first rounder, they could always pick up a good defensive PF named Jarvis Varnado. Dude’s averaging 5 blocks per game and 11 boards. He still needs to beef up some, but I think he’d be a great guy to get late in the first round or early second. Pacers don’t need a scoring PF, just one that is athletic and can play great D to help out Hibbert.
Hickson has the makings to be pretty good and I don’t see Cleveland giving that up, especially when he’s LeBron’s boy. Cleveland can’t afford to upset the King.
He'd be better off just getting the expiring deal.
Bird is being short sighted. If he hurries up and gets Z’s expiring deal, he can turn around and use it to pick up another asset.
I suggested trading it for Jared Jeffries and Jordan Hill yesterday.
" Tell me something Steve, How does a guy from Puerto Rico loose a ball in the Sun? "
yeah
I have no problem with just getting Z and either moving his contract or even just letting him go and get some breathing room and flexibility for this year
"If you don't [draft me], I promise you I'll come back and kick your ass for the next 15 years."
going to the bulls game in a couple weeks.....
seriously thinking about making it a “fire JOB paper bag over my head nite”. Not really my style but neither is keep trying to support a coach whose ineptness is beyond explanation.
If Youre not First, Youre Last
by drsuessrunner07 on Feb 10, 2010 10:43 AM EST reply actions
not a bad idea to get that started
"If you don't [draft me], I promise you I'll come back and kick your ass for the next 15 years."
Sad
It’s sad that it has come to that, but management is clearly not getting the message from fans that we find JOB’s existence on the bench unacceptable. Bird needs to try to save his own skin by ditching JOB either during the All-Star or immediately following when we tailspin into another losing streak. Bird used to know when it was time for a change. Time to clear the air and start over with new leadership.
Indy Cornrows
The JOB Doghouse
I have mentioned this before and still believe its the truth that Hansbrough is out because of JOB’s decision not to play him than an ear infection. This seems to be the Policy of the Pacers to bench players because of attitude towards JOB or Bird. How many times has this already happened to different players of the Pacers? Some players are only benched for a few games but others like Ford are out for long periods of time. What kind of management does this?? It seems to me the Pacers use injuries to their own advantages to try to teach a player a lesson. These are Adults we are dealing with not kids. You cant sit them in a corner or a time out room and think there going to be happy. There is only one thing that can change the Pacers, Fire JOB!!!!
by Slick4President on Feb 10, 2010 10:46 AM EST reply actions
What?
And how do you know that he doesn’t have an ear infection? Also, if a player is upfront enough to have an attitude towards management, why wouldn’t that same player be outspoken to the media? I can’t fathom that if a player was being benched for their attitudes, but the team was claiming that he was injured, that the player wouldn’t pipe up and state that he wasn’t really hurt.
I'm calling shinanigans .........
from webmd – While it is unusual for adults to get ear infections, they can usually be treated without complications. Consult your doctor to come up with a treatment plan that’s best for you
No way this kid who is “all heart” has had a ear-ache for over a month.
I have had them as a child and an adult never more than 3 days was I affected.
I think the dizziness he is feeling is from all this losing !!!!!!!!! and trying to figure out why the hell JOB is his coach ….. he had a better coach in college
The kid
The kid eats, sleeps, lives basketball. I don’t think you can question his integrity,and if hurts bad enough that he can’t take the court for a month . . . It’s a lot more serious than your web md is telling you. Web md can sukmyballs in fact. It’s kind of like when Rik Smits feet where bothering him. Everyone was saying his feet couldn’t possibly hurt that bad. He played through a lot of pain had operations and they got better and worse, but eventually ended his career. Brock Lesner just had a very wierd disease that almost killed him. All I’m saying is that wierd stuff happens that is not on “WEBMD.”
Agreed
Plus, calling it an “ear infection” might just be the simplest way to describe it to the media and fans. It might not be 100% dead on with what WebMD calls an “ear infection.” I can’t totally bash WebMD, as I did use it and it can be partly attributed to my going to the hospital and finding out that I had appedicitis and I was lucky that it didn’t burst. In summation: WebMD not always bad; Hansbrough faking ear infection is BS.
Hansbrough ear
I have personally seen the desperation and frustration in Hansbrough’s eyes when discussing the ear infection with him. It’s viral, there’s no drug therapy. His recovery is moving in the right direction, but even after he returns there’s no guarantee it won’t return.
in other words, any conspiracy theories are funny.
Tom?
Is this the type of ear infection that could prove chronic? And if so are we looking at a situation where he might never be counted on to play a full season in the NBA?
I think with something like this fans are going to speculate because it’s unheard of for an NBA player to miss this much time with an ear infection. I’ve been watching sports for a long time and can’t ever remember a player in any sport taking this much time off for an ear infection.
This just in:
Along with no ACL’s, doctors also noticed no inner-ear in DeJuan Blair. Conspiracy theorists speculate the lack of hearing ability impacted the Pacers pick more then the lack of ACL’s. Oh the irony…
JOB makes my ears hurt too...
…so I can’t fault Hansbro! :)
by FortWayneKarl on Feb 10, 2010 3:29 PM EST via mobile reply actions
Hickson
Obviously, hinging the Murphy deal on Hickson is a bad idea if we can move Murphy, but with the depth in the front court, I have to say pushing hard for Hickson is a good idea. We move Murphy, and we’re exclusively a small ball team without Foster, with Hansbrough in limbo, and with our other options being McBobs and Solo. Besides, Granger probably mopes the rest of the year cause he’s getting torched in the paint by guys 6’11" and bigger. We could do well with smallball, but that requires offensive movement, and since no one moves on offense, we can’t succeed by using it.
But no one’s curious about word of Milwaukee and Sacramento being in the running for Murph? Milwaukee I can somewhat understand…they can still make a playoff push, but I have no clue what Sacramento would gain from Murphy, unless they think they can use him with their young talent next year.
Yeah
No word really on what the Milwaukee deal or the Sacramento deal would involve. I’m not overly excited about either though because they won’t net Jennings or Evans, but word on the ESPN street is that the Wiz are leaning towards keeping Jamison and Murphy is 2nd on the list. So maybe the Pacers are being savvy, knowing that Cleveland wants him, by floating out names of other teams to get the Cavs to pull the trigger or risk losing both Jamison and Murph. I’m probably going to get fired if the deadline doesn’t hurry up; constantly refreshing the rumors page isn’t helping me get work done.
Who cares?
This season is lost. Hickson or no Hickson a deal needs to get done.
" Tell me something Steve, How does a guy from Puerto Rico loose a ball in the Sun? "
Well. . .
I don’t know about the absolute need to move Murph this season. I am one who wants something to get done as well, but if we are only going to take back expiring deals this year, maybe we can get more for him next year as he will be an expiring contract (which we will have boatloads of and could make a big splash in 2011). Also, just getting expiring deals only frees up capspace that we will inevitably overspend, so I’d rather get some pieces for the future in a deal.
Hell add McBob to the list of people who need to play
didn’t we give him a million this year or something.
Heck he is younger than hansbrough… give him hansbroughs hypothetical minutes.
And lets look at the D league. Take a chance on one of them for the minimum.
if JOB is around next year, idk if I can be a fan of this team. he and bird just irritate me so much… its frustrating.
Fire the dude, see what we have in Lester. If he doesn’t work out, their are lots of candidates that really can’t do any worse than JOB is doing.
and god unload murphy. if he is here after the trade dealine…
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