Here are some items of interest to ponder on this, the best sports weekend of the year that doesn't involve basketball:

• Get to know your Pacers, Part 3 is up at Pacers.com. This time around, Chris Denari chats with Jeff Foster, Mike Dunleavy and Stephen Graham. We hear about Foster's immersion in the world of Dora and Diego, Dun giving himself a hair cut as a kid during an NBA game, and Stevie's ping pong prowess.
• No, Rasho Nesterovic was not interviewed and I'm still wondering if he will remain a Pacer, but he has been accounted for. Mike Wells was able to get the Pacers to comment on Rasho and reports he will be in town in mid-September. Wells updated his intial post with a comment about the Pacers store having the jerseys of 13 players available. Rasho's jersey is not available, nor is the jersey for Tinsley (natch) and McRoberts. Wells checked with David Morway again and he planned on having Rasho on the roster. Hmmm.
• Recent rumors of a deal with Golden State that would send Jamaal Tinsley and Marquis Daniels to the Warriros for Al Harrington and something else are certainly tantalizing. As strange as it would be to have Al in the blue and gold for a third tour of duty, reuniting the Club Rio Trio in the Bay Area would be spectacular. Chris Mullin would go down as the greatest GM in Pacers' history. One reason to doubt the rumblings is the way the teams kept mum on the last big deal. They surpised everyone. Kornheiser's Cartel nails the take on this issue, though, so I'll leave it to them.
• The Pacers TV schedule is out. This is key since there are no national games scheduled for the Pacers. Three of the seven games without TV are a problem. For one, both games against the New Orleans Hornets and more importantly, Chris Paul, won't be televised. I don't understand that one. Also, one of the games at Toronto against J.O. is not televised. The Toronto miss may be due to the Sunday afternoon start times for the Raptors and a conflict with network broadcasts. Still, that's a game I'll be dying to watch.

Mike Wells posted some interesting nuggets he picked up at the Fieldhouse yesterday on his Pacers Insider blog.

Marquis Daniels has been working on his shot this summer with noted sharp-shooter, Mark Price. Quisy figures to be in the mix with Brandon Rush for playing time behind Mike Dunleavy and Danny Granger. Add Shawne Williams and my man, Stephen Graham to the equation and there won't be any minutes by default offered this year. Playing time must be earned.

Even more exiciting is the item on TJ Ford working out at the Fieldhouse and reaching out to his new teammates to join him. Sounds like most of the new and/or young guys are doing just that as 7-8 players have been working out downtown this summer.

Shortly after the Toronto trade was announced but before it could be officially announced by the Pacers, TJ Ford was asked in an interview about his plans for the summer and if he'd be in town. At that time he said he preferred to work out back home in Houston and that he'd probably be in town a few times prior to camp starting.

In reality, it isn't a big deal. Whether someone in the organization pushed him to stay in town or he realized the team would be better served if he worked out locally, the act itself symbolizes a change in attitude and culture in the organization and specifically on the roster. Ideally every player on the roster would be working together, spending every minute of the day focused on turning things around. That's not exactly realistic not to mention the squad would burn out by New Year's Day. But, having the guy the organization hoped could lead  the team actually step up and show he wants to lead, is very exciting.

Another in an increasingly long list of little positive changes that are starting to mount to indicate that the direction of the franchise is taking a positive turn.

The Pacers announced today that they picked up a team option on Stephen Graham's contract for next year. Considering my minor obsession with Stephen Graham,  this is exciting news.

No, it's not a franchise altering move. In fact, at this point Graham simply solidifies the 12th man on the roster.

So why am I so excited?

Well, for starters, Stephen Graham is a salt of the earth-type guy who just works hard and appreciates his opportunity at the NBA level.  The fact that it is May and Graham knows he'll be in the L next year is a payoff for his hard work and well deserved. Larry Bird said much the same.

“Stephen is an exceptional individual on and off the court,” said Pacers President of Basketball Larry Bird. “He has a great work ethic and over the course of last season, we saw major improvement from last summer. If he continues to improve like that, he’ll play a major role for this team. He is exactly the type of player we want on our team.”

Nice guy, hard worker aside, I'm excited because Stephen may actually have a chance to earn more playing time. He's been caught in a numbers game at the 2/3 spots, but this move may be an indication that Kareem Rush and/or Flip Murray won't return.

If that's the case, Stevie has to step up from being a hopeful good story to a break-out productive story. That's another reason I'm excited about the potential for Graham to play because the Pacers are overdue to have player come out of nowhere and work his way into productive minutes at the NBA level. It happens to other team, why not the Pacers?