ESPN basketball writers Chad Ford and John Hollinger offer their take on which NBA franchises have the brightest future. Oklahoma City is #1, Miami #2, Chicago #3, L.A. Clippers #4 and at #5:

5. Indiana Pacers | Future Power Rating: 748

PLAYERS	MANAGEMENT	MONEY	MARKET	DRAFT
399 (7th)	130 (10th)	141 (7th)	41 (18th)	37 (20th)

We continue to get more excited about the roster Larry Bird and David Morway have put together. While there are no superstars, the team is incredibly deep and plays well together. Danny Granger is in his prime, David West brings leadership, Roy Hibbert is playing like an All-Star, Darren Collison continues to improve, Tyler Hansbrough brings manic energy, George Hill (when healthy) has given the team a scorer off the bench, and Paul George may very well be the best player on this team in another year, if not one of the best players in the league -- he has that much potential.

The team continues to be prudent with its money, too, and still has significant cap room to add other pieces. Adding one more scorer could put the Pacers in serious contention for the Eastern Conference crown.

But it's the Pacers' jump in management score that moved them up to No. 5. Owner Herb Simon remains committed to putting a winning team on the floor, which means the front office has the green light to spend if it's on the right guy. And while no one had heard of Frank Vogel before last season, he's quickly looking like one of the best up-and-coming coaches in the NBA. He doesn't get enough credit for his contribution to the unselfish culture on the Pacers.

Bird, however, deserves the lion's share of the credit. Is this the year the three-time NBA MVP and former coach of the year completes the triple crown and takes home executive of the year honors? It's hard to think of anyone else who deserves it more.

(Previous rank: 7)

The BS Report with Bill Simmons

Listen to the first 5-10 minutes of Bird's Interview with Bill Simmons. Seems to me that the chances of him trading Danny Granger, after all he has been through with this team, are pretty small. I think Larry would like to see Danny retire with the Pacers.

I don't really have much else to day, but it won't let me publish this without putting some more letters in. Cheers to loquaciousness.

Clearly every person that participates on this site is a hardcore Indiana Pacers fan. Up until 53 or so weeks ago it was pretty easy to question why, but that's not how we roll, for better or worse. I love and appreciate you all, even the ones I perpetually think are out of their damn minds.

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I think the Pacers are in a tricky situation, but as Tom posted on the front page the other day, albeit slight, there is a chance the Pacers could score a diamond in the rough via a 10-day contract. Personally, I think completely overpaying a legit veteran or two for the remainder of the season is probably a more productive use of funds, but there are plenty of examples guys recently who've come out of the D-League, or some other obscure realm, to make an impact in the NBA. Jeremy Lin is the most recent example.

I'm not suggesting the Pacers expect to cherry pick some future star from an anonymous location. I am suggesting that they get some able bodied guys in here to bang around in practice and provide blows for our increasingly-depleted rotation, at least until Hill and Foster can get right.

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I usually start off by saying "let's trade DG", but today, I'll be a little more subtle than that. The Pacers are playing pretty good basketball right now "when" they play as a team. With a sell out crowd the other night against Orlando, the old selfish Pacers showed up, and of course 'lost'. Everyone must've decided on that particular day, that they wanted to be a superstar. And, of course we have none. DC had zero assists!!! That's our point guard, the one who is suppose to be running the team, the extension of the coach on the floor. If your point guard isnt' handing out assists, one of two things are probably happening. 1. Your team is gonna be in a mess, and /or 2. he's tryng to be the superstar that night, and DC just isn't! So now, for the trading of DG. Yes, he's picked up his game for the most part, and playing pretty good, but still taking alot of shots, missing most, in order to get his 20 pts. per game. What if? We trade DG for a great shooting guard, move Paul George up to Danny's spot, and then we get good production from both areas. Paul George is not a guard. You can call him that till you're blue in the face, but he's just not! Move him to the SF spot, and have a true point guard feeding him the ball, and have a good shooting guard out there, and maybe we'll look even better. Coach should've had a good talking to Collison after that game! Actually, he should have told him at halftime to 'run the offense, get the ball to the other players, and then let the cards fall where they may. As bad as we played, we still just barely got beat. Maybe 2 or 3 "assists" by Collison would've made a difference. No one will know for sure, but lets not have another repeat where the point guard gets no assists, please.

Mike Wells at the Indy Star

Injured Indiana Pacers guard George Hill has some work ahead of him before he returns to the lineup, but he took a step in that direction Saturday when he wore a shoe on his left foot instead of a walking boot.

Hill has missed the past three games after suffering a small chip fracture in his left ankle against New Jersey on Jan. 31.

"It's not as bad as they thought it was," Hill said. "It's only a partial chip instead of it being fully chipped. They say my return is looking pretty good."

Neither Hill nor the Pacers would put a timetable on his return, but the former Broad Ripple High School and IUPUI star said his goal is to return before the All-Star break, which starts Feb. 23.

"I'm planning on it," Hill said. "I have to continue to do the rehab they've got me doing and things like that."

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we would have the 4th seed and would be playing Atlanta with home court advantage. We would have won that series then we play the winner of the Bucks-Bulls series. Winner of that series would probably be the Bulls. That should be a fun series and we have a good chance of winning and advancing to the ECF to play the winner of possibly Heat-76ers series. Against the Heat, we might be a little overmatched unless we bring our A game the entire series. If we did, we have a good chance of beating them especially if we play zone against them. Against the 76ers, we all know we can beat them and we will beat them. I truly believe, when healthy, we can go deep in the playoffs this season.

I know we are just coming off a loss, our 2nd loss at home but when I looked at the standings, I couldn't help but look at the bright side.

Feel free to do your own Pacer forecast and say I'm wrong.

Yeah, I know it's silly to discuss breaking up a team with the chemistry the Pacers have shown recently. Still, even if the Pacers hadn't demonstrated their need for more depth against the Magic last night, it's something we all know that they need. I'm not talking about some monster trade scenario involving Danny Granger, or really any contributing player. The only players I'd really be willing to give up, actually, would be ones like AJ Price, Lance Stephenson, Lou Admundson, or Jeff Pendergraph, so I know this all kind of "in an ideal world" hyperbole. Still, if Larry Bird could somehow make it happen, these players might be interesting for the Pacers.

Anthony Randolph: I remember this guy was on Bird's radar in the last couple years, when the Knicks were trying to ship him out. The Timberwolves have so much depth with their big guys (Milicic, Brad Miller, Kevin Love, Tolliver) that Randolph was actually a DNP-CD against the Pacers, and hasn't played since. This is a guy who's never really gotten a fair chance at some playing time, but who has performed well when given some here and there. Being that he's still only 22(!), there's plenty of room for development. He's in the final year of his contract, so this could basically be a trial run to see how he fits with the team. At 6'11" he could arguably play some C when Foster isn't available, but he'd be best as an insurance policy for these bad spurts Hansbrough has had recently. The trade machine shows that we could get him straight up for Admundson, although in real life we'd obviously have to sweeten the deal somehow. As a young team with fifteen players already under contract, the Timberwolves might be more interested in a future second rounder.

Leandro Barbosa: The Pacers probably need more depth at the guard position than anywhere else except C. With George Hill out, we've been forced to go with Price and Stephenson, who combined against the Magic had twenty minutes of playing time and no points to show for it. If we'd had George, or a true scorer off the bench, it's possible we'd have had the depth to pull an ugly win out of that game. Barbosa, in the final year of his contract with the Raptors, could be that guy. The Raptors are 8-16 and, realistically, should probably be more worried about their draft position next year than winning games this year. Especially with DeRozan locked in as their SG of the future and three other guards on the roster, Barbosa (maybe) could be had. His 3 PT% is a little lower than we'd probably like at 35%, but he's a proven scorer. Again, we have nothing of real value I'd be willing to offer them, but a future second rounder and a player to make the numbers work (any of the previously mentioned players work in the ESPN trade machine) might be enough for a team that should be more concerned about the future. Even if he can't be had in a trade, Barbosa might be a player the Pacers could get in free agency for a relative bargain during the offseason.

Could it happen,should it happen?

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Father Time catches up to all of us. There's no particular year, no particular month, no particular day thats written in stone. It just happens. One day Father Time creeps up like a thief in the night, puts his hands on you, and on that day you realize you're getting older and your generation has passed. I remember clearly when that day was for me.

Before I share that day with you, let me tell you a little about BigBlackRichard. I'm a big guy, always been big. Despite my size I'm a pretty nimble guy. I could play some roundball. Not on a pro level, hell, not even on an NAIA level; but on the playground I could always hold my own. Down low, BigBlackRichard could get some work done. Rebounding, posting, and punishing was my skill set. I brought my son up having a no mercy attitude with him on the court. Block his shot at 6 years old? Yep! Throw a little elbow at him with a post move when he was 10? Yep! Lay him on his a@# when he was going to the basket at 15? You know I did! That brings me to the day I knew I was thru.

Three summers ago, my son is 19 years old. It was my first time out that year to play. We shoot for ball and he wins. Top of the key, I check the ball to him, he grabs it and blows by me like my feet were nailed to the court. As I stood there at the foul line watching him finish, I did the only thing that any self respecting father would do. I grabbed my hammy and faked an injury! I even had a fake limp going for a week to try and sell it. He had never beat me and I wasn't gonna let it happen. I told him I would heal up and we would play again. I never played him again and never will. I'm retiring on top! If I ever play him again, I won't be on top anymore. I am old, I can't do it anymore, my generation is a thing of the past. Of course I will always look back on my generation fondly. I will swear to my children and grandchildren that it was the greatest generation ever because it was mine. Not too many things remind me of the heroes of my generation, but we have a young Pacer who does.

Paul Georges game is sick! Smooth, explosive, skilled, and appears effortless. When I see him on the court I can squint my eyes and see George Gervin pouring in 40, Dr J dunking in Bill Waltons face, the Pacers winning yet another ABA championship. Oh the fond memories of the greatest generation :) After being inspired by the Pacers recent retro ABA uniforms I realized Paul is only missing one thing. The Superfly fro.

Sport the doo PG, grow it out and pick it out. Your game is 70's retro, you need the look that matches. The good lord knows you have the hairline for it. Do it for my generation. The generation that helped make the NBA the above the rim game it is today, the generation that brought you the 3 point line, the generation that brought the players your game is molded after.

I would like to start a petition for Paul to "sport the fro." If you would like to see it as well, post here and make your desire known....Finally I'll leave for your entertainment a couple videos of some of my childhood heroes (who Georges game reminds me of), and a classic 70's basketball song. Thank you Pacers nation

Julius "Dr J" Erving

George "Ice Man" Gervin

Paul George rookie highlights. It's a little eerie how much Pauls game reminds me of these two.

Cheech and Chongs "Basketball Jones." I read a comment below that this was a racists video. It's not. Keep in mind this was made in the early 70's. It's Cheech and Chong and they wanted it to be funny. EVERYONE in this video looks silly. White men, black men, Asian men, they all look silly. Believe me, BigBlackRichard would not post ANYTHING that was racists in any way.