Patience is a virtue...

Every year I get excited about the Pacers and their potential, and every year I am let down. I still can't help but watch every game, looking for signs of life. Watching this group recently you can't help but wonder what exactly is keeping them from reaching the potential they realized earlier this season. Blame Bird, blame O'Brien, blame the players... whatever it is everyone seems to agree that someone needs to step up or something has to give. 

I'm happy with the team Bird has brought together. A big fan of Stephen Jackson's game, I wasn't very excited when the Golden State trade went down, but you couldn't blame Larry (or was it Donnie?) for needing to silence the local media and bandwagon fans, who until this season were still aimlessly calling the team a bunch of thugs. Out with the troubled talent, in with the overpaid white bread. We've been stuck paying all-star money for Dunleavy and Murphy, not to mention Tinsley's contract, mostly because the local community forced the hand of the upper management. It is impossible to trade players for equal value if the fans are calling for their heads. Despite this Bird was able to keep the team competitive by retaining Danny Granger, drafting Roy Hibbert and trading for Darren Collison. Given the circumstances I'm impressed with the makeup of our team despite our record. Sure we're still a few pieces away from contention, but I'd rather have this squad than Charlotte's, Cleveland's, Detroit's, Golden State's, Miluwakee's, Memphis', Minnesota's, New Jersey's, Philadelphia's, Phoenix's, Portland's, Sacramento's, Toronto's, or even Washington's.That being said, we really should have a better record than these teams. 

While I think O'Brien gets a worse rap than he deserves it was nice to read last week that the Pacers' upper management was also concerned with his crazy rotations. Our team is too deep with talent that deserves to play, that's part of the problem, but O'Brien's system deserves to be questioned as well. While Collison is coming around (apparently O'Brien adjusted his system to play to Darren's pick and roll game), it seems not to play directly to player's strengths, but rather to the whole team competing at a high level within the system all the time. This is the type of basketball Indiana fans want to see, but it seems our players are unable to keep their mettle and play that way for 4 quarters. Why?! Is it the coach? Is it these players? By now our core group of guys (Danny, Mike, Roy, Darren, Brandon, etc) should be up to speed on what the coach wants. When they win they've looked like a well oiled machine, but when they lose they have such poor body language.  Perhaps this team isn't talented or mentally tough enough to hang with O'Brien. How else can we explain Hibbert's fall from grace? When his play went down so did the teams' overall performance. Coincidence? 

We are a half a season from financial freedom as far as the makeup of this team is concerned. Even if we aren't playing as well as we should, our guys are still young and improving. It seems a move is about to happen and I couldn't be more excited, but a part of me is scared. NBA trades are almost always a gamble and if for some reason the guy we get gets injured, or the coach we replace O'Brien with is a lame duck, then the past 3 seasons of torture watching and hoping that the Pacers might win could all be for naught. Lets all take a step back and try to appreciate how hard O'Brien's job might be, how difficult it is to manage a team given the financial makeup of the market and fickle fans, and how easy it might be to take a play off when you are going to make millions either way. ;)

Whatever the outcome this year, let's be patient Pacer fans.  We've waited this long, what's one more season? Hopefully Larry will indeed make a good move... just don't expect instant gratification.