As the Pacers prepare to take on the Raptors tonight, the front office is busy back home going on a PR offensive. The front office duo of Donnie Walsh and Larry Joe Legend rarely speak to the media unless spoken to and in those cases DW usually does the talking. Well, now within 24 hours, both DW and LJL have spoken on the team's situation in separate interviews posted on IndyStar.com (here and here). The articles were intriguing just by their existence, but I was really shocked when I hopped in my car after work and heard Larry Joe Legend doing a radio interview with JMV.
Desperate times call for desperate measures. I mentioned earlier this week that the empty green seats for Pacers' games are spreading like ivy at the Fieldhouse. Obviously the Pacers realize that and are hitting the media hard to counteract negative impact from the Tinsley/Daniels indictments. I was happy to hear Bird discuss the actual team and their play as opposed to just dwelling on the off court issues.
For the record, LJL is real happy with how the team is coming together. His main concern is a solid, consistent effort on defense. He mentioned the importance of the defensive effort at least three times and feels the wins will come in bunches if they can shore up the D. Maybe they should sign Bob Sanders. His mere presence seemed to completely transform the Colts' defense. Hey, these are desperate times.