Surprisingly, however, Stack Jack actually isn’t the worst MC I’ve ever heard. He’s at least better on the mic than 99% of athletes (including former Brawl co-participant Ron Artest) and even many full-time rappers that get play on the radio. Extra credit for telling the owners to shut up with an Eazy E sample. And shout out to Marquis Daniels at the 2:24 mark (I think).

(NSFW video via Complex)

Related posts:

1. Danny Granger’s Flip Video Diary
2. 1985 All-Star Game Video from Indianapolis

As you may have heard, NBA players are still locked out. So there isn’t much going on in real news. But we know you guys need your Pacers fix, so here’s a list of links to marginally interesting goings-on from the past week or two that at least sort of relate to your fine team.

• Watch Al Harrington enter The Octagon and punch a reporter in the head in the the video above. (via Ball Don’t Lie)

• George Hill is going to play an game exhibition with a San Antonio ABA team called the Texas Fuel, but he has yet to make any plans to go abroad — something an increasingly large list of players is doing. Wilson Chandler, who signed to play in China despite not getting any opt-out clause to return to the NBA if the lockout ever ends, is the latest to head international. Oddly, so far, there are still no Pacers prepped to play overseas. And Magnum Rolle is the only player who has ever even been connected among the 41 guys on ESPN’s list.

• A lawsuit filed by a former nanny of Pacers owner Herb Simon is about to be dismissed from court, says the Associated Press. ”It’s hard to infer an anti-family, anti-pregnancy animus from Mrs. Simon when her whole history has been pro-child,” said the judge. The article also mentions that the judge added that Mrs. Simon “runs a foundation for orphans and she adopted the daughter of a sister who died and raised her as her own child even before she married Simon.” I did not know that.

• The four Pacers jerseys every fan must have.

• In related news, today is your final day to bid on an autographed Providence Friars warm-up jacket signed by former Pacers/Friars legend Austin Croshere.

• “Is Reggie Miller to Save Indiana Again?”

• Ron Artest will reportedly be on Dancing With the Stars. Meanwhile, he must pay some outstanding traffic tickets before the state of California will allow him to rename himself Metta World Peace. It should be noted that the Sacramento Bee’s headline for the article I learned this in (“Artest Remains Player to be Named Later”) is tremendous. He is going to change his number to 70 though, traffic violations or not. For the Universe.

• Donnie Walsh isn’t scared of being bored when he retires, saying “Who the hell knows how I’ll fill my time … I’ll fill it, though, I guarantee that.”

• Eddie White talks with Todd Taylor, the Pacers chief marketing officer / chief Sales officer / senior vice president / unofficial guy with too many titles.

• Conseco is the second best arena in the NBA.

• Perhaps the five best Pacers small forwards.

• Indy Cornrows: Now available on your iPhone.

Related posts:

1. ESPN Pacers Chat with Me and David Thorpe
   Tuesday, 2:30 pm EST
2. Some Pacers Links
3. Some Links

It wasn’t the fact that I was in Detroit during Spring Break, the free throw shooting of my favored team or even the final result that upset me. The problem was the atmosphere of the game.

In a city far removed from its team’s latest championship, the Detroit crowd was lively and responsive. The Pistons played a good game — certainly helped by their opponent’s 7-of-19 performance from the free throw line — and the crowd fed them energy.

Why does it matter that Detroit had a good crowd on a Saturday night home game in March? Great question. I’m glad that you asked.

The real problem is that it was a more energetic game than any of the dozen that I have been to in Indianapolis all year. This came in the building of a team that is effectively out of the playoff race and has very few, if any, long term answers.

As the regular season draws to a close, and the postseason vaguely threatens to disappear entirely, it is not unreasonable to take a quick glance to the Pacers’ future.

Mike Dunleavy ($10.5 million), T.J. Ford ($8.5 million) and Jamaal Tinsley ($5.5 million) all have contributed about equal amounts since the switch to Frank Vogel, and all will be off the Pacers’ cap next year. This gives the team a considerable amount of wiggle room to sign new free agents to complement the assumed existing core of Darren Collison, Danny Granger, Roy Hibbert, Tyler Hansbrough and Paul George.

In a rapidly changing NBA, the question becomes: what will bring the players to Indiana?

We’ve seen from the recent migrations of LeBron James, Chris Bosh and Carmelo Anthony that money isn’t enough in every circumstance. Oftentimes it comes down to the existing players on the roster (also known as the “Miami Cheat” or “LeBron White Flag”) or location (also known as “Carmelo Takes Denver Hostage”). Unfortunately, the Pacers really don’t have either advantage on their side.

Don’t get me wrong: I’ve lived in Indiana my entire life, and with the exception of a few months-long excursions to perfect my Spanish, I don’t expect to leave anytime soon. But I’m not an NBA free agent, the majority of whom aren’t from the Midwest.

So if money isn’t enough to bring a big-time free agent to Indianapolis, what’s getting him here?

See, the problem in Indiana may be the weather: the cold-weather tendencies of the winter and the fair-weather tendencies of the fans. The Colts even had some trouble selling out this year’s home playoff game initially, and the Pacers can’t get a full house without help from either LeBron or fans from Chicago.

If I’m an NBA player, I’ve noticed this in my past trips to Indiana over the years. I’m not entirely sure that I want to spend the next three to five years of my career playing in front of a Conseco Fieldhouse half-full of lethargic supporters. I don’t know what the small market of Indianapolis, a city where the bars close at 2:00 and the winter lasts a full three months, has to offer me other than a paycheck. I’m going to think twice about playing almost 50 games a year over six months in an arena in the self-proclaimed capital of basketball where the fans can’t match the energy level of a destitute team in a city that just set a national record for population decrease.

If you’re reading this thinking that sounds ridiculously immature and shortsighted, you may not completely understand the mind of a millionaire athletic phenomenon in his 20s.

On November 19, 2004, Ron Artest and Stephen Jackson ran into the stands at the Palace of Auburn Hills; the Pacers have never been relevant since. As I sat less than a hundred feet from that very spot six years and change later listening to an invigorated Detroit crowd celebrate a fundamentally meaningless victory, I worried about how my team could ever return to what it once was if the fans just don’t really care.

Related posts:

1. Game #74 Recap: Losing By Double-Digits to Detroit
2. Dear Washington Wizards Fans
3. Lance Stephenson’s Future With the Pacers

Most immediately, Indy beat LA earlier this year so … tonight … the Lakers … are … back … WITH A VENGEANCE. Plus, we know that Pacers great Chuck Person is now coaching in the City of Angels. And we had that whole NBA Finals match-up thing.

Best of all … remember this fight between Reggie and Mamba? I bet Kobe does. He never forgets. He is like a hiphopopotamus that way. Or is that an elephant? Who can remember?

The video comes to us from Complex’s blog, which included both Mr. Bryant and Mr. Knick Killer in its 50 Dirtiest Players in Sports History list. (They rank number45 and number 41, respectively. Your boy Ron Artest came in at number 22.)

Related posts:

1. Larry Bird on Miami’s Moves, Kobe Bryant
2. “Winning Time” Arrives Just in Time
3. “Winning Time” to Air in T-Minus 3 Hours

Controversial Los Angeles Lakers forward Ron Artest is back in the headlines, only this time to star in his own reality series.

The bad boy NBA player is to develop and produce the “They Call Me Crazy” show with E1 Entertainment and Tijuana Entertainment.

The series will document the ups and downs of Artest’s life, allowing him to “make amends for past transgressions,” according to E1 Entertainment, and help develop aspiring musicians through his hip-hop label, Tru Warier, to be supported by E1 Music.

No word yet on whether his plans to “make amends for past transgressions” will include him inventing a time machine and going back to November 2004 to prevent the Pacers franchise from taking a six-year nosedive and instead with a title for the State of Indiana. But stay tuned.

Adds Trey Kerby of Ball Don’t Lie:

Could there be a better name for a Ron Artest show than “They Call Me Crazy?” I submit that there cannot.

There’s no indication of when the show will start, or what channel it will air on, but as soon as it goes on-air it will instantly be the best show on television. I mean, between his random Internet videos, his escapades with his recording artists, that time he went on Jimmy Kimmel in his underwear, and about a million other things, Ron Artest has basically been living a reality show anyways — now he’ll have the cameras. I consider us all very lucky.

Should be entertaining.

Related posts:

1. A Very Special Episode of The Larry Bird Show
2. Game #15 Recap: The Monta Ellis Show
3. True Talk from the Tru Warier

How are you holding up? I know things have been rough. I hope you’re still eating well and sleeping regularly. Those of the best things you can try to remember to do for yourselves during these trying times. Some days are better than others, I’m sure, but I know that there are so many reminders of the past — of assembling your own “Big Three,” of the carefree rise to NBA relevancy, of always thinking that next year would be the season it all comes together — that it is nearly impossible to forget what happened.

Or, what is still happening, really.

My condolences.

Seeing your favorite franchise transform from a something discussed as a basketball team to something only mentioned for legal, disciplinary or other knucklehead-related reasons is very difficult to go through.

I know how you feel. I’ve been there. All of us Pacers fans have.

But as you progress through the stages of grief while witnessing your once-proud franchise spiral the commode, you should keep something in mind: It could be worse. It really could. As Kyle Weidie of Truth About It recently reminded us, even your coach, Flip Saunders, speculated that the Gilbert incident would not be the end of the team’s tribulations: “‘Don’t think it can’t get any worse because it can,’ is prob the worst thing Flip Saunders (in mid-Dec) could have ever said this season.”

The Gilbert Arenas ordeal will forever tarnish the team. There is no coming back from that. For the rest of your life, your favorite NBA squad will be the team whose captain illegally brought guns into the city then brought said guns into the locker room then got caught doing all that and then thought it was funny. For those who think the NBA is a league full of thugs, the incident will go down as the last straw. (Although, personally, I think we should reserve that moniker for Caron’s 2/24/10 game with Dallas vs. the Lakers). Others will just call it FINGA GUNZ.

Regardless of how high of a moral soapbox the observer has, however, Gilbert’s guns will now be brought up ad nauseum whenever an analyst, writer or just some drunk guy at the bar discusses the worst moments in NBA history.

You will hear about it forever.

Trust me.

I still hear about the Malice at the Palace every week.

In many ways, the incidents will be remembered very similarly. Both were “off-court but sorta on-court” events. Both were unthinkable outrages to most fans. Both will cause many people to remember exactly where they were when they saw/heard it. Both forced an All-Star into a season-long vacation. Both set in motion a franchise-altering downfall that has yet to end.

Of course, Gilbert has to serve time in a halfway house and you will probably have to watch him represent your city again next year after an awkward, post-mea culpa reunion with the franchise that tried to wish him out of existence immediately after the incident. Ron Artest was merely banished to Sacramento after he sabotaged his relationship with the Indiana front office the following season.

But, hey, at least Gilbert didn’t actually hurt anyone physically. Compared to some other crimes committed by players in the NBA, what he did — while infinitely stupid and embarrassing for you — did not physically harm any victims. I’m not saying that that’s something that you should hold your head high about, but fortunately, whatever went on in that locker room did not escalate to the point where any people were hurt.

And it isn’t like Gilbert was the first player to ever have a gun.

Pacers fans who are old enough — or anyone who has read Loose Balls — remember the days when Pacer players openly brought guns to the locker room. Apparently Marvin “Bad News” Barnes of the “Detroit Hoodlums” remembers those days fondly as well. And we now know that former Celtic player and coach ML Carr, who is much more infamous for his towel-waving than anything nefarious, was consistently packing heat like the oven door.

But, I know, I know. Those were simpler times. Times before a national crack epidemic led to unprecedented gun violence and millions of men being incarcerated throughout this country. ABA stories from the early 1970s are hardly relevant to today’s discussion of firearms and understandably give you no solace.

Still, it could be worse.

Stephen Jackson, who has starred in such films a “Crazy Haymaker Thrower Guy in the Brawl,”  infamously brought shame to the Pacers and the NBA again when he shot up the sky during an altercation outside an Indianapolis strip club before being run down by a car. Jamaal Tinsley was there with Jackson that night and later got indicted on felony charges of intimidation and misdemeanor charges of battery for a bar brawl that put both Jamaal and Marquis Daniels in the pokey. About a year later, Tinsley again made the police blotter, this time as the victim in a high-speed chase where someone in the trailing vehicle opened fired with an automatic weapon on Tinsley’s car, leaving gunshot wounds in both elbows (don’t ask me how) of the Pacers equipment manager, who had been hanging out with Tinsley that night. (You can watch video of the aftermath of the incident here.)

In the midst of all this, Shawne Williams, who was at the time a semi-promising first-round pick for Indiana, was once arrested after being pulled over while driving, without a license, an unregistered car containing a lit blunt and a stolen handgun. OK, not the worst thing in the world. Could happen to a lot of people. But then he missed his court appearance to deal with the driving without a license charge. And then a murder suspect, who was one of the guys riding in the car Shawne was driving when he was locked up, was arrested while leaving Shawne’s house. In Shawne’s car.

Yes, when it comes to having run ins with Johnny Law, it definitely could be worse.

Ultimately, your troubles spawn from a guy who once pooped in a shoe for a laugh and later proved to have a truly delusional sense of how the real world works when he brought a gun to the locker room. Was it purely a prank or more nefarious? We’ll never know. But even a judge considers him “basically a good person” who has “demonstrated genuine remorse.”

More importantly, no shots were ever fired. And no one was ever physically hurt.

Sure, there’s also the Andray Blatche incident from earlier this week. Given the tornado-force winds of trouble already in town this week as Gilbert awaited sentencing, I’m sure that must have felt like another true embarrassment. I mean, here you have the same guy who was arrested a few years ago for trying to hire a hooker and now he’s publicly embarrassing the team by pulling some pouty, Scottie Pippen-refusing to enter the game/Robert Horry-towel-throwing shenanigans? Sigh. And perhaps worse still, you read these types of seemingly sensationalized stories about what a mess your franchise is. Stories that will continue for a while, it’s safe to assume.

I get it. Times are bad in the nation’s capital. And not just on Capitol Hill anymore.

I know what it’s like. I had to read similar pieces about the Jamaal Tinsley banishment for over a year, not to mention all the stories speculating on the ways in which management brought these problems on itself by letting guys like Ron Artest and Stephen Jackson flaunt the rules for years.

It’s ugly. Really ugly.

But guess what? You guys are already ahead of the game. The Gilbert contract will likely remain a millstone around the team’s neck for years to come, but the front office wisely gutted the roster rather then try to pretend it could continue as constructed. The Caron-and-Haywood-for-not-much deal had to hurt. And even though getting out of Antawn’s deal was probably wise regardless, giving him away such a great player in Wizard history for literally nothing can’t feel good. But at least now you have some flexibility. There is hope that things can change.

I’m not going to lie to you: Your team is going to be really, really bad again next year. By now, you should be used to the losing though. The losing is embarrassing, sure, but the legal and disciplinary problems are a whole different type of embarrassing. When your favorite franchise is constantly discussed for its legal problems, you are rooting for an NBA laughingstock. When your favorite franchise is constantly losing, your favorite team is merely irrelevant.

Trust me. I now understand that part of this first-hand, too.

So if you want a silver lining in all this, that is it.

Within 12 months, you will again just be another bad NBA team. That’s not great news, no, but it’s better than what you’re going through now.

And in that sense, you are not far behind us Indiana fans in the recovery process. We wallowed in court-room embarrassment stench for years before fixing the problem. And even the fix (the Peja rental, the decision to take on the terrible Troy Murphy and Mike Dunleavy, Jr. contracts, the Tinsley Ordeal) extended our irrelevancy stage for longer than the one you will likely have to withstand. And my guess is that we will both be emerging from even that irrelevancy at the same time.

We’re still both a while away from that, I know. But just remember: You’re not alone. We Pacer fans are here for you. When you are not strong. We’ll be your friend. We’ll help you carry on. Just call on me, brother, if you need a hand.

We all … need … somebody … to … leeeeeeaaaaan … ooonnnnn.

Or hit up a Jail Blazer fan.

Those cats are also highly-equipped to talk you through this, too.

Sincerely,
Somebody to Lean On

Related posts:

1. Pacer Fans Not the Only Ones Rooting for AJ

“It was all my fault. The first team, in Chicago, I was a head case. I worked really hard but still had this ghetto thing in me that I could not get out. … I could’ve stayed at Indiana my whole career, but I said I wanted to be traded. I was getting more stable, but I was still unstable and I was a bad teammate. They had to get rid of me.”

He goes on to talk about his remaining hostility towards Ben Wallace, presumably pursuant to that night in November 2004 that Pacer fans remember all too well.

“I see Ben, I’m on my guard now. I’m always in the mood to fight him. … I’ll get suspended 10 games, 15 games (because) I’ll just fight him right there. It won’t go into the stands.”

Oh, Ronald.

UPDATE: Forgot to post this video of Ron on Jimmy Kimmel last week. My fault.

Best exchange:

Jimmy Kimmel: “I have a feeling Coach Jackson is going to be delighted by this appearance.”

Ron: “He might be giving me a book tomorrow. Yeah. He might be giving me a book.”

Oh, Ronald again.

No related posts.

UPDATE: I forgot to add what I had tweeted earlier, which is the only thing I really have to say about the whole incident at this point:

“I saw the Malice at the Palace live in an NYC bar that was later destroyed when a 24-story-tall construction crane fell on it. Apropos, I thought.”

(video from FanDome)

Related posts:

1. Ron Talks About the Brawl

We’ll probably mix up the format from game to game to keep things interesting, sometimes interviewing people more familiar with the opponent and other times just writing a straight preview ourselves. Maybe we’ll even dig up some wildcard methods here and there to keep you on your toes. For the opener, however, we obviously don’t have a ton of interesting things to say other than “Welcome back, oh sweet, sweet NBA basketball goodness.”

Thus, I reached out to a man who always has a ton of interesting things to say: Sekou Smith

Many of you are already very familiar with Sekou from his work covering the Pacers, among other things, at the Indianapolis Star from 2002 to December 2004. To the dismay of many a Hoosier, he took his reporter hat and engaging prose with him to Atlanta thereafter and has since been holding down the Hawks beat for the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, blogging regularly on the paper’s Hawks Blog and relaying all the NBA news fit to tweet through his @sekousmith01 feed.

Honestly, who could be better to provide some perspective on tonight’s season opener for both the Pacers and the Hawks from the ATL? And fortunately, he was gracious enough to share some of his vast Hawks knowledge with you 8p9s readers.

Here’s a Q&A we did yesterday, with me asking the Qs and Sekou bringing the As.

Between Joe Johnson, Mike Bibby and Jamal Crawford, the Hawks have a ton of offensive firepower in the back court — and three guys who all took a ton of threes last year (each had more than 5 three-point attempts per game last season). Do you see them all continuing to put up a lot of shots or do you see either Bibby or Joe making a concerted effort to make sure guys like Horford and Josh Smith get more shots near the hoop?

I don’t know that Bibby or Joe will sacrifice shots for the other guys, but I think their minutes (should be) curbed to the point that they’ll be forced to give up some shots in the process. If anything, I think Crawford’s assist game will stun some people, mostly because he’s such a willing passer, and he’ll be on the floor with guys that can finish (Smith, Horford, Joe and Marvin Williams).

There are two things I think most NBA players are loathe to surrender (consciously) and that’s shots and minutes. So don’t expect any humanitarian moves from anyone for the sake of the greater good.

Speaking of Josh Smith and threes, he said this summer that he needs to stay away from the allure of the perimeter and instead focus on getting to the rim off the dribble and scoring in the paint. Will he abide by that pledge or will he fall back into settling for too many jumpers?

He’s going to take some jumpers. There’s no doubt about that. But in seven preseason games he didn’t take a single 3-pointer. That’s a stunning stretch for a guy that treats threes like those old Lay’s potato chip ads (“Bet you just can’t eat one”). Well, some of Josh’s teammates have wondered aloud if he’ll be able to keep from taking just one. Time will tell. It’s obvious that his game is far more effective when he’s doing other things. Plus, there are so many other guys capable that he needs to steer clear of the three-point line anyway.

People forget that Marvin Williams is only 23 years old. And last year, he started to look like he was really about to begin making good on some of his enormous potential. How has he looked in camp and will we see his game progress even further this year?

I’ve been getting roasted on my own blog for floating the idea that Marvin was having a breakout season last year before being sacked by that back injury late in the season. He’s looked good in camp and Marvin’s always been better than he gets credit for. He’s always going to get venom around here because he’s not Chris Paul or Deron Williams. I thought that theme would have vanished a bit by now, but it remains strong.

He’s still a youngster, as are Josh Smith and Al Horford. So they’ve all still got room to improve. One of them has to move up to the next level this year if the Hawks want to challenge for anything more than the fourth spot and another 12-15 game playoff run.

No one ever talks about Zaza. But he’s got a cool name and a solid game to match. Discuss.

No one ever talks about Zaza? Where? He’s a fan favorite down here. Maybe not to Austin Croshere proportions, but folks down here love him. Some love to hate him because of his antics on the offensive end and his complaining to the officials. But he earns his money, which can’t be said for a lot of 7-footers in the NBA. (You know who you are).

Zaza is a renaissance man of sorts. He’s a restaurateur, a fashion icon (mostly in his own mind, ha) and one of the all-around best cats you’ll ever meet. His game isn’t sexy and he’s not going to tote the load for you as a starter, but he’s a valuable player here. There’s no shame in that.

Few Pacer fans — or any NBA fans, honestly — know much about Solomon Jones. Were you ever impressed by anything other than his athleticism and do you think he will emerge as a decent rotation guy for the Pacers this year?

Solo was always intriguing here. Remember, he was the Hawks’ second-round pick the year they whiffed with Shelden Williams as the fifth pick in the draft. It took me all of two weeks of rookie camp to realize that Solo had more physical potential than Shelden. He was just so raw. He worked at it, though, which is a credit to the kid. He worked on his offensive game and did what he could to improve his physical deficiencies. That’s what I want to see out of a developmental player in his first couple of years.

The thing I’ve always liked best about Solo, though, is that he’ll dish out a hard foul. He slapped the DNA off of Andre Iguodala a couple years ago and got tangled up with Dwyane Wade in the playoffs last year without hesitation. That impresses me, when a dude like that isn’t afraid to knock a superstar on his tail. I was sad to see Solo leave. At the same time, I realized he was going to a situation (and particularly an offense) that suited his talents a little better.

Jeff Teague is a guy I thought would have been a great fit for the Pacers back court. How’s he looking so far and what do you expect from his as a pro?

Teague has been fantastic, sans his 0-for-everything shooting performance from the floor in the preseason finale Friday in Orlando. I lived in Pike Township when I was in Indy, so I knew he came from good prep basketball stock. I watched very little of him at Wake Forest, so I had to do some research on him this summer with people I know back in Indy and around the league. Everyone raved about his game and his personality, and they were right. He seems like a great kid.

The key to his season will be consistent minutes. If he starts in the 12-18 range and moves into the 20-25 range as the season goes on, I can see him being a major factor for this team. The only missing piece to his game right now is a consistent outside stroke. That’ll come with work before and after practice, which he’s been putting in alongside Mike Bibby, Joe Johnson and Jamal Crawford on a daily basis. That’s good company for a young guy.

You left the Indianapolis Star very soon after the brawl. How has it been to watch all the turmoil of the past few years and how do you view the overall state of the franchise now? More specifically, how do you think the team will do this season?

I did leave right after the brawl. The Christmas day rematch game between the Pacers and Pistons was my last day. I’ve been floored by all the fallout since then. Mark Montieth and I have had many long conversations about it since then. I’m not sure I’ve witnessed a more complete gutting of a once-proud franchise in such a short period of time. And I certainly have no idea if you can point to just one culprit. (I know Ron Artest is the easy target.)

Still to this day, I’ve thought that the turning point was the summer they had to decide what to do with Brad Miller and Jermaine O’Neal. Plenty of people have disagreed with me on that, including Mark (who remains a great friend to this day). I just felt like free agency forced them to dismantle a team on the cusp of something big. Once the core of that team was scattered it was pretty much a matter of time. More than anything, it reminded me what a hell of a job Donnie Walsh did building that thing the way he did. To last that long in this era of professional sports is an accomplishment in itself. Donnie held it together for so long, so to see some people taking shots at him once he left was more than a bit disingenuous to me. The brawl and the aftermath just sped up the process.

As for this season, I won’t count them out before actually seeing them with my own eyes. But I don’t have them in the pool of playoff hopefuls I’m expecting big things from.

Related posts:

1. Ron Talks About the Brawl
2. 8p9s/Pacers TrueHoop Network Season Preview
3. TrueHoop Network 09-10 NBA Season Preview

I haven’t read the preview in its entirety yet, but in addition to breakdowns of all 30 teams, I’m really looking forward to seeing Kevin’s chat with Blake Griffin, The Painted Area’s forward-looking “10 NBA Questions for the 2010s” and the thrilling conclusion of Henry’s ongoing series on Wayne Winston, the Indiana University professor who has has been the Dallas Mavericks’ stat guru for the past nine year and authored the book “Mathletics.”

As for me, I naturally did the Pacers preview. (In related news, I did a different, yet similarly toned Pacers preview for Heels on Hardwood.) And aside from informing you that this post consists of nine separate sections, each of which is explained under the heading, there’s not a lot else that needs saying.

So here it is: Your TrueHoop Network 2009-10 Pacers Season Preview. Enjoy.

Crowd Says / Blogger Says

The consensus win total prediction of the TrueHoop Network bloggers …
and the best hopes of the blogger who covers the team.

Yes We Can!

The sun is out. The seas have parted. The basketball gods are shining upon us.

The Pacers franchise is in tumult. So much has changed since Ron Artest charged into the stands. The roster has been torn down. The playoffs have become merely a fond memory. The stands have emptied. The owners have hemorrhaged millions.

To stem the tide, the Pacers need a jolt of positivity. And on-court success is likely the only thing that will reinvigorate the fan base and re-brand the Pacers as something other than a punch line. This upcoming season may not exactly be playoffs or bust, but it’s hard to believe that anything short of the postseason will remove the dark cloud over Conseco.

Given all this, it would be great to pretend that there is a nuanced range of factors that will determine how successful the 2009-10 season will be. But that’s just not the case. Ultimately, it will come down to one thing: Dunleavy’s knee.

Currently, we know very little about how healthy Junior is. Although the self-assessments on Mike’s aptly titled blog “You, Me and My Knee” have been optimistic, guys like Gilbert Arenas have previously predicted ahead-of-schedule returns only to suffer setbacks. And Pacers fans know all too well how Jermaine O’Neal’s continual confidence worked out.

But we shouldn’t presume the worst. The original prognosis was for a Christmas return, so anything that accelerates Mike’s comeback is positive news. Until Dunleavy returns to the court, however, the Pacers roster will likely look as rudderless as it has since the last time he was healthy.

Danny Granger’s emergence as one of the most promising, fundamentally sound players in the league buoyed the franchise last season. By early December, Granger displayed a dynamic, multi-faceted game that few of even his largest supporters knew existed. Troy Murphy’s newfound proficiency was even less expected, and I’m not sure even his relatives foresaw gaudy stats like 14.3 ppg and 11.8 rpg on 45 percent shooting from 3-point range.

If Dunleavy can round out that trio, the Pacers should end their three-year playoff drought next April. Many will scoff at a surrounding cast of TJ Ford, Brandon Rush, Jeff Foster, Roy Hibbert, Tyler Hansbrough, Dahntay Jones and Earl Watson. Don’t listen to those skeptics. Larry Bird may not have discovered an array of future All-Stars, but he has assembled a cast of capable role players.

The development and integration of these secondary players will make for an interesting story this year regardless of anything else. With everything that has happened since the Malice in the Palace, however, interesting stories no longer resonate in Indianapolis. This team needs a playoff appearance. Realities on and off the court demand organizational progress.

Will it happen? If Mike Dunleavy plays 70 games, it should. And if he doesn’t? Well, at least the Pacers will have one more lottery pick to build around.

No You Don’t

A rousing dissent from a rival blogger.

“Listen, Mr. Legend. Larry Bird is not walking through that door – no matter how many times you try to find the next Larry Bird.”

– Ryan Schwan of Hornets247

All-a-Twitter

140-characters of insight into the soul of the team.

On the Record

Single best quote concerning the team during the last 12 months.

“The last three or four years have been disasters, and generally speaking, you can almost pinpoint it from the [brawl] game in Detroit. Not only has our fan base deteriorated but our financial condition has, too.”

– Pacers Co-Owner Herb Simon (Indianapolis Star, 2/4/2009)

The 2008-09 Almanac

Some key stats from last season.

If Jim O’Brien is coaching a team, there will be threes — and with good reason. Since O’Brien took over, the Pacers have shot 37.8% and 37.4% from behind the arc the past two seasons, good for eighth-best in the league both years. While those numbers are decent, what is more impressive is how his spread offensive system has been able to improve his key players’ long-range accuracy. Here are some numbers showing how four Pacer players have benefited from “The O’Brien Bump” after they started playing for the coach with the Paulie Walnuts hair.

The Play

With the Pacers down one and 9.2 seconds to play…

Troy Murphy inbounds to Mike Dunleavy, who jab-steps, pump-fakes and then leans right before ripping the ball across his body to dribble left along the perimeter. Danny Granger moves towards Mike, takes a dribble hand-off and drives hard towards the top of the key. The defenders switch and the guy guarding Mike jumps in front of Granger. Danny catches him off-balance, crosses the ball back over to his left and steps back. He pulls up, elevates and releases the ball at the top of his jump shot. All net.

(Although if there’s only 0.9 seconds left, I suggest they just go with this play again.)

The People’s Choice

The fan favorite the crowd will be chanting for to see some action.

Tyler Hansbrough will be a rotation fixture, but fans will always want to see more of his relentless hustle and frenetic tenacity. And why not? Floor burns, black eyes and tip-ins will always trump blown rotations, missed assignments and sloppy close-outs in the popular vote.

If You’re Watching the Bottom Line, You’re Watching This

The single biggest financial issue hanging over the team.

Between the onerous contracts the front office acquired to unload Stephen Jackson (a burden otherwise known as the “Murphleavy Compromise”) and the go-away money spent to make Jamaal Tinsley disappear, the Pacers salary situation has become an organizational millstone. But there is now a light at the end of the tunnel. The Tinsley buyout and the deals of Troy Murphy, Mike Dunleavy and TJ Ford all come off the cap in the summer of 2011, at which point Indy’s management can once again start making personnel decisions based on talent rather than affordability.

Related posts:

1. Exiting the Tinsley Bear Trap
2. William Carlos Williams’ Pacers Season Preview
3. Season Preview Season