Still Digesting the Start of the O'Brien Era

After watching LJL/O'Brien press conference again, a few items stuck out (BTW, there's suddenly too many J.O.s, I'm in favor of trading the current J.O. just so I can start refering to the new coach by his initials).

• First of all, there is suddenly a glut of J.O.s with the Pacers. I'm in favor of trading the current J.O. just so I can save a few key strokes and start referring to the new coach by his initials.
• O'Brien took the job with the understanding that the Pacers expect to be in the playoffs next year, they are not rebuilding. Of course, in the Eastern Conference you can rebuild AND make the playoffs with a decent coaching effort.
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• coackK's Vermont connection with the Pacers is alive and well. O'Brien was asked about Dick Harter as a possible assistant. He indicated that he would like to have Harter as part of the staff and he thinks Harter feels the same way. Other assistants candidates are under contract with other teams currently.
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• LJL took the high road on whether or not he offered Van Gundy the job, but his body language spoke for him. First he mentioned Van Gundy wasn't there to defend himself and then praised Van Gundy as a coach and predicted future success...elsewhere.

Also wanted to mention Reggie Miller's comments at half time of the TNT broadcast tonight. He sounded less than thrilled with the hiring of O'Brien because his boy, Mark Jackson, didn't even get a call. I'm on record advocating Jax as someone I would've like to see hired. But, Reggie must not have been following this situation too closely because Jax did make public comments in which he not only took his name out of consideration but also took a swipe at the leadership of Walsh and LJL. The fact that LJL iced him out after those comments are no surprise.