In our last installment, we looked at the “core six” players in terms of how they played last season and how they project to fit in with this franchise long term. Now, it’s time to look at the other players — some of which may not even be on the roster the next time the Pacers pick up a ball for a league-sanctioned game. Whenever that may be.

We will look at the rest of the squad in descending order by minutes played.

(Stats courtesy of Basketball-Reference, 82games, BasketballValue, HoopData and ESPN.)

Brandon Rush

Rush will be 26 years old next year and is slated to become a restricted free agent at the end of the season. At best, he should be a fourth guard. Unfortunately for the Pacers he led the team in minutes in 2009-10 and was fourth in minutes last year. He shot an excellent 42% on threes, but was otherwise unspectacular with a PER around 10, which is basically replacement level. Seven of every ten shots he took were from outside 16 feet, resulting in him rarely getting to the foul line. This offsets his three point shooting and results in true shooting (54%) that is almost exactly average (surprise) at 54%.

On the strength of his long-distance accuracy, his eFG% shooting was a little better — but not much, only outpacing the league average SG by 1.5%. Worse still, he is a low-usage player who struggles to create his own shot, making only one unassisted field goal per game in 26 minutes.

He was average at rebounding and protecting the ball, but was 51^st of 55 shooting guards in assist rate and 53^rd in assists at the rim per 40 minutes (per Hoopdata). He’s not an elite defender and tends to lose focus, particularly off the ball and in rotation situations. While not completely indicative of his performance, the Pacers were 5 points per 100 possessions worse on defense last year when Rush was on the floor.

Mike Dunleavy

Since we’re going down the list in order of minutes played, it disconcerting to see Dunleavy behind Rush. Junior had struggles of his own last season, no doubt. But with Rush on the court last year, the Pacers were outscored by 5.98 points per 100 possessions. Meanwhile, during Dunleavy’s 779 minutes at shooting guard, the Pacers outscored opponents by 7.94 per 100.

There certainly isn’t a 14 points-per-100 difference between the two players, but these numbers do reflect how much better the Pacers operated with a starting caliber NBA shooting guard. Dunleavy and Rush had similar usage rates. However, Dunleavy’s TS% and eFG% were 5 points higher than Rush’s, and he was also a much better distributor, recording nearly twice as many assists per 40 minutes with fewer turnovers. Dunleavy grabbed 16.2% of available defensive rebounds, ranking 17th out of the 107 NBA swingmen who played 40 games.

In sum, he plays effectively within both the team offensive and defensive systems, and doesn’t take much off the table. Dunleavy will be 31 next year and is a free agent.

Josh McRoberts

McRoberts was very effective last year as a role player. He didn’t try to do too much and played solidly when opportunities presented themselves. His TS% and eFG% were 6% and 7% higher, respectively, than the average power forward. While only shooting 60 three pointers, he made an impressive 38% while also finishing second on the Pacers in FG% at the rim (among those with at least 50 attempts).

He was a capable defender last year as a league-average rebounder, while averaging 2.71 defensive plays (blocks plus steals) per 40 minutes (compared to a league average of 2.33 for power forwards) against only 4.1 fouls per 40 (average is 4.7). The Pacers were 1 point per 100 better on defense with him on the court, and the combination of these attributes resulted in McRoberts having the lowest defensive rating of all Pacers.

McRoberts’ best skill is probably his passing — something even more valuable on a team bereft of passers. Of 57 power forwards who played 40 games; McRoberts was 4th in assists per 40 minutes, and 8th in assist-to-turnover ratio (per Hoopdata). McRoberts will turn 24 years old next season and is a free agent.

Jeff Foster

Foster will turn 35 next year and, like the last two players, is a free agent. After missing almost the entire 2009-10 season, Foster played nearly 1,000 minutes last year. As Pacers fans know, he has never been a very good scorer, peaking at 7 ppg, but he’s becoming even less effective as he ages. Last year he scored only 7 points per 36 minutes and had shooting percentages well below average for a center.

Focusing on scoring, however, obscures the thing that Foster is great at: getting the ball off the glass. Foster’s offensive rebounding rate of 19.1% was the best in the NBA last year, and the closest center only grabbed 13.9% of available offensive rebounds. Of players that played over 600 minutes, the nearest player (Dejuan Blair) was at 14.8%. No one in the NBA was in Foster’s neighborhood as an offensive rebounder. If he had played enough minutes to qualify, this would have been the third time that he led the NBA in this category. (He is 5th all time for qualified leaders since 1971.) Foster also takes care of the ball well; his assist-to-turnover ratio was 5th among 58 centers. In short, Foster was a very effective anchor for the second team.

James Posey

Posey will be 35 next year and, unfortunately, is not a free agent. (He has one year left on his contract, which, at $7.6 million for the final year, was the price Larry Bird accepted to obtain Darren Collison in that trade with New Orleans.) Last year all he wanted to do offensively was shoot threes, taking 88% of his shots outside the arc. Unfortunately again, he was not very good at making them. No need to belabor that Posey is probably not part of the team’s short- or long-term plans.

AJ Price

Price will be 25 next year and is under contract for one more season. After giving the team solid minutes in 2009-10, Price was very poor offensively last year. He shot 8%-9% below average for guards in TS% and eFG%, which is a shame considering his 23% usage. He was an average passer and below average rebounder.

The Pacers were 3.49 points per 100 possessions better with him on the court, but his adjusted +/- was negative 12.7 points per 100. That metric gives Price no credit for the Pacers successes when he was on the court. (Most of the credit appears to go to Foster, which we will discuss more in part five of this series.). Given Price’s offensive “contributions,” this seems reasonable.

TJ Ford

Ford is 28 and a free agent. He was likely the worst offensive point guard in the NBA last year. He was benched the second half of the season. There is not much to say about T. J. Ford as it relates to the future of the Indiana Pacers.

Dahntay Jones

Jones will be 31 next year and has two years remaining on his contract. It’s hard to make much of last season’s 600 minutes, but efficiency-wise, Jones had a career offensive year. His career high TS% of 56% was paired with career high usage. His turnover rate was at a career low. This may be due to playing primarily against back ups; in 2009-10 (in 1,900 minutes) his shooting was below average and he had the 7th highest turnover rate of all shooting guards. Jones is a solid defender, but is a below average rebounder that fouls too much.

Solomon Jones

Jones will be 27 next year and is a free agent. There is not a lot positive to say about his play last season. His eFG% and TS% were approximately 10% below league average for a center. Of the top 58 centers in minutes, Jones ranked 53d in defensive rebounding and fouled the 5th most times per 40 minutes.

Lance Stephenson

Stephenson will be 21 next year and is under contract for one more year. He was the 8th ranked player in the high school class of 2009, but through his one year of college and one year in Indiana, there are concerns about conditioning, shot selection and behavior. Larry Bird has said that he is the most talented player on the roster. So far, we have yet to see this reflected in his numbers.

Related posts:

1. The Pacers’ Recent Past & Near Future: Part 2, How the 2010-11 Team Stacked Up
2. The Pacers’ Recent Past & Near Future: Part 3, The Core Six and What They Bring to the Table
3. The Pacers’ Recent Past & Near Future: Part 1, What Makes an NBA Team Effective?

Jeff Rabjohns reported the following for the Indianapolis Star.

“I was on the phone with Memphis. We had a deal with five minutes to go. At two minutes, they (New Orleans) pulled the deal, and it didn’t happen,” Bird said, referring to the 3 p.m. deadline set by the NBA.

Larry elaborated further about the opportunity to get Mayo and “not give up a ton” — a characterization that must make Josh McRoberts, Brandon Rush and Solomon Jones (the three guys who would have been shipped out) feel all warm and fuzzy inside.

“We felt we had the opportunity to get a player who would help us and not give up a ton, even though I like Josh and Brandon,” Bird said. “It’s unfortunate it had to be a three-team deal because when you get more teams in it, anything that happen.

“It’s tough on me because we worked three days to get a deal done, and they (New Orleans) pull it off the table with two minutes to go. That’s pretty hard to take.”

Now the Pacers look ahead to the summer. Barring the new Collective Bargaining Agreement capping all salaries at “one peanut butter sandwich with a team option for jelly,” the Pacers should have plenty of money to target some free agents. We’ll see how that goes, but I’ve increasingly become enamored with the idea of Zach Randolph playing power forward for Indiana.

The only responses from Brandon and Josh on the matter were typical, “say the right thing” fodder, although Rush again dropped a similar line to the one he gave me last night regarding his thoughts on what the front office has in store for his future in Indiana.

“They tried twice. I’m thinking they’re going to try again. But it’s the NBA. Everybody gets traded.”

The only real surprise here is that neither Brandon or Josh used the phrase “it is what it is.”

Good call, Dime magazine. Also, I love how every other cover line is a person’s name aside from “Kenyon’s Ink,” which now that I think about it, should be something K-Mart can claim as a dependent on his tax return no matter what Ron Paul thinks. Also Part II, I bet reading this issue with posterity would be hilarious. Just look at those names.

Related posts:

1. “Indiana Was Not Able to Get It All Together,” Says Grizzlies Owner About Failed OJ Mayo Trade
2. Larry Bird Wants to Make a Trade “If We Can Get a Good Player”
3. The Pacers (UPDATE: DIDN’T) Trade for OJ Mayo

Allow me to explain.

Years ago, I worked for a website that often sent me to high school girls basketball games. The early stages of this game brought back all kinds of nostalgia: a barrage of missed shots, stands completely devoid of spectators and general confusion as to my purpose for watching.

Fortunately, after a sloppy beginning, things did start to pick up and resemble a professional basketball game. Unfortunately, Tayshaun Prince was the main reason for this as he nailed his first 7 shots in a perfect first period (one missed free throw notwithstanding). By the end of the opening quarter, the Pacers had allowed 33 points and nearly revived the careers of both Prince and Tracy McGrady.

In a game on the brink of turning ugly, the Pacers went to their new go-to guy: Dahntay Jones, who had the team’s first 11 in the second quarter to keep Detroit within arm’s reach. By halftime, Indiana had to have felt fortunate to be down by just 5 considering the broadcast included the phrases “Detroit has shot 65% from the field in this quarter,” “Paul George has been taken to the locker room” and “Yes, that is Solomon Jones in the game.”

It was a contest of Detroit’s what once was vs. Indiana’s what could be. Tonight, the Pistons were a team of former stars showing flashes of brilliance in an otherwise lethargic environment. It’s like a series of reunion shows for an old rock band used to touring the world — except now they’re playing in bars in Omaha rather than sold-out forums in Oslo.

Those throwback performances coupled with solid play from the Pistons’ young players had Detroit in control for most of the game. Pacers play-by-play TV announcer Chris Denari even commented that the team “never made Detroit feel uncomfortable” in the first three quarters.

In the final period, Roy Hibbert and Josh McRoberts certainly made things a little tenuous. Down 98-88, the two big men sparked a 9-0 run to bring the Pacers within 1.

But Prince answered.

After the Pacers played nearly a full-possession of tough defense, he nailed a 20-footer to beat the shot clock before drawing a foul on Danny Granger on the next possession and sinking 2 free throws, doing nearly everything besides putting on the choke sign for the 350 fans in the arena.

This would have been enough to send the young Pacers reeling just a few weeks ago. Instead, Indiana relied on their stars down the stretch. Granger banked in a 3, Hibbert scored on a short hook and Collison scored on a fast break to tie the game.

The Pistons had one last possession to win. Tayshaun was given carte blanche to create in isolation and got to near the foul line before being thwarted by some tough Granger defense that included up to three fouls. No matter. Detroit didn’t score and the refs didn’t blow the whistle so the two teams were forced to play another five minutes.

But in the overtime, the mistakes were just too much down the stretch. The slow start defensively caught up, and the second chances given to Detroit piled up. Two turnovers (one a McRoberts palming violation and the other an offensive foul called on Hibbert when he was battling for position and Ben Wallace was flopping) and two offensive boards given up were just too big of a hurdle to overcome. And when Prince grabbed an offensive board on a Ben Gordon airball and put it in with 1:34, a straw broke the camel’s back.

As Prince probably didn’t say, “Game, blouses.”

The league now enters the All-Star break (or as I like to all it “Now What the Hell Should I Do Between Work and Sleep?” time). Tonight, a winnable game slipped away, and if the Pacers give those up like they allowed offensive rebounds tonight, it could be another pick at the end of the lottery and another season over too soon.

Related posts:

1. Game #30 Recap: Pacers Play the Heel
2. Game #74 Recap: Al Horford REALLY Likes Playing the Pacers
3. Game #43 Recap: Best Game in Some Time

13. Solomon Jones, Indiana Pacers (BS)

BS: I kind of used to think he was going to be good. He was for a quarter in 2007.

EF: It was a wonderful moment.

Not quite as brutal as the Sheldon Williams entry, but not altogether off base either.

Related posts:

1. 5 Questions: Hoopinion on Solomon Jones
2. Some Guy Named Solomon Jones Now a Pacer
3. Pacers Players Are Not Running the Floor Properly

“Josh was getting dominated,” Pacers coach Jim O’Brien said. “He had one rebound. We needed rebounders in there. I’m going to stick with Roy [Hibbert] because we don’t have options. Roy is going to be our starting center. We have options at power forward.”

If he is going to make the move, I suppose he has to let people know that it’s because Josh is playing poorly, not because Tyler has really earned a larger role

But in doing so, this marks the third player in as many days that coach O’Brien has called out publicly for poor play. It also makes admonishment number two for Roy Hibbert (and another for Solomon Jones) if you take the “we don’t have options” comment as meaning “I would sit that bum if I could but have you seen that other guy shoot a basketball?”

Here’s what O’Brien said about Hibbert the other day.

“I think that Roy would say – and I certainly share this belief – I don’t think he’s having a very good season,” O’Brien said. “I think that he can play at a much higher level right away than he’s doing right now.”

O’Brien wasn’t finished.

“I don’t think he’s being the facilitator of our offense that I think he’s going to become,” he said. “I think he’s a great passer. I think he can be a much better rebounder. And my expectations probably aren’t as high as Roy’s expectations.

“So even though he could be mentioned as Most Improved, I think he has a long way to go and he has a long way to go this year.”

Harsh indeed.

Then again, it is honest. Hibbert has been playing like hot garbage for about two weeks now. Even he admitted that he has been “playing like crap” ever since the Pacers came back from their much ballyhooed West Coast road trip that featured a convincing win over the Lakers and a 2-2 outcome.

Then there was O’Brien’s reaction to his point guard’s frustrations with the point guard rotation. Darren Collison had described the fact that he was sometimes on the bench during crunch time as “tough” — to which coach said this.

“Guess what? When you play in the NBA, there are 12 guys that get an uniform and it’s tough,” O’Brien said. “That’s why they call it the big league.”

Collison has had a difficult time running O’Brien’s pass-oriented offense and playing the type of defense his coach expects every game.

“He’s our starting point guard and he’s getting 30 minutes a game,” O’Brien said. “Again, any first- or second-year guy, it’s a matter of getting minutes.

“He’s getting minutes. He’ll find his stride.”

Another zinger there from the coach in the first quote: “That’s why they call it the big league.”

Honestly, I don’t have a strong opinion either way on whether or not a coach should regularly scold his players in the press. Sometimes, I’m sure it is effective motivation. Often, I’m sure it’s the same thing the coach tells the player in private so it’s not exactly “news” to the person whose name gets mentioned.

On the other hand, it sure is a curious leadership strategy.

I will say this: I think honestly assessing situations is always the preferred route in almost all situations. Some coaches sugarcoat the situation and are way to happy-go-lucky when reacting to questions from the press about their struggles. Others go too far in the other direction and take a gloom-and-doom outlook about everything even when things are going well.

To me, it’s less about the demeanor than it is the truth.

Three currently active Hall of Fame coaches can be awfully grumpy. Phil Jackson, Gregg Popovich and Jerry Sloan, while certainly all different guys with different outlooks, rarely provide and Pollyanna sentiments but they are almost always very honest in their assessments. They rarely give off the vibe that they are buddies with their players, but they do usually tell you what they think is working well while also being sure to point out the flaws of their team and their players.

Doc Rivers is sort of the antithesis of this style. He is equally honest, but there is a “we’ll work it out” positivity that doesn’t necessarily always come through with Sloan, Pop or Phil. Maybe it’s because of the age difference, but their characterizations tend to be “I just saw this … who knows if it will change? I’ll keep telling the guys what to do but I can’t tell you whether or not they’ll actually listen and execute. Next question.” Doc is more likely to tell a reporter that ‘Big Baby is struggling right now and he is lost out there in the rotations, but he knows what he needs to do and he’ll pick it up.”

While I’m in no way trying to compare Jim O’Brien to the three four coaches in this sport (with apologies to Stan Van Gundy), his recent trend of calling out players by name, while somewhat odd in the midst of what even during this bad stretch has so far been a positive season, has been honest.

But it certainly is starting to seem like he’s going out of his way to mention guys by name for some reason, which just seems odd to do with a young team. Odd if you’re Jim O’Brien anyway. Maybe a guy with a finger full of rings like Pop can rip Tony Parker in the paper and nothing will come out of it, but when you have a career record 297-312 and you’re trying to get a roster of middling talent in their early 20s to follow your lead, you might start alienating some people.

You might want to slow your roll is what I’m basically trying to say, Jimmy.

You’re being honest. And the names your calling out can’t claim they don’t deserve to be called out. But perhaps you’re being too honest.

You had a good thing going for the month of November and you had a roster full of players who looked fully committed to the defensive system you implemented. If we’re going to stick to the honesty theme here, that was pretty much only reason you were winning games and starting to become a “league pass” darling for media folks, most of whom have been increasingly interested in watching games involving a franchise they had not cared about in at least three years. The offensive system you’re trying to get these guys to execute has not been effective. But you already know this.

Look, I’m not an Xs and Os genius by any stretch of the imagination. But if the defensive effort — the current keystone to any success this team has had this season — starts to wane even a little bit, this whole 11-13 thing might actually look pretty good come January 1 instead of making us think the team is going through a temporary slump against good competition.

That’s real talk, Coach.

I know you can appreciate that.

Related posts:

1. Pacers Pick Up Options on Darren Collison, Tyler Hansbrough. No Word on Brandon Rush’s Option
2. Why Tyler Hansbrough Isn’t Getting Minutes
3. Tyler Hansbrough and Paul George Are Struggling … And That’s OK

You couldn’t draw it up any prettier. And you probably couldn’t replicate the execution.

Pruiti does take issue with the defensive strategy, however, primarily questioning the team’s decision to not either (a) play zone, or (b) put the 7’2″ Roy Hibbert beneath the hoop to protect the cup.

the Pacers didn’t think it was important to protect the rim with their big man.  Jim O’Brien would much rather have him on the basketball trying to bother the pass.  Now, I agree with the philosophy of having a big man defending the inbounds pass when it is obvious that the inbounder is going to make a pass to a shooter on the outside.  There, a center’s length can bother the pass, cause the pass to be off the mark, and maybe force a miss.

But when it is painfully obvious that there is going to be a lob play (less than 1 second left), why do coaches insist on having their centers play 45 feet away from the rim?  Their reasoning is that they want to bother the pass, but do centers really have that much of an effect?  Andrew Bogut and Brandon Jennings both said they practice this play every day, and presumably the same guy is practicing the actual pass over and over, so is a center there really going to effect him?  I personally think that a center standing at the rim (remember, because the ball [isn't] in play, defensive three seconds isn’t a factor) bothers the pass more than if he [is] covering the inbounder.

In this situation, I understand why Jim O’Brien would put Foster, a guy who is theoretically the team’s best one-on-one post defender, on Bogut. But with 0.5 seconds left, you do know that they are probably going to try a lob. If the ball is likely headed to the rim, Foster’s better quickness at fighting through screens is less important since Roy could easily just stand closer to the rim and “play the ball” more so than the man. Why not just plant him below the hoop and let Hibbert volleyball spike away any pass that may be headed towards the rim?

Devil’s advocate part two, however, are we really sure that, even this season, Roy can be trusted not to foul there? Foster stayed with Bogut and challenged the shot — he just couldn’t elevate with the Australian. But he did manage not to foul, which is pretty major there.

Ultimately, this is a play that probably won’t work more than 10% of the time simply because everything has to go perfectly. By fouling while trying to protect the rim, you allow them to win the game without everything going perfectly. That would probably be even more heart-breaking. At least this way you can dop your cap to the opponent and say “Fantastic work, sir” rather than kicking yourself.

Also, I have to think that putting a 7’2″ guy in front of the passer can potentially disrupt the pass more so than putting a 6’10″ guy in front of him — no matter how many times the guy has practiced the throw in an empty gym. Maybe putting the smaller Solomon Jones on the inbounder has the same effect, but I think it’s just good strategy to put one of your tallest guys on the ball. One more way to help ensure everything doesn’t go perfectly.

I do like the zone idea though, I think.

Maybe next time they can try that.

And then when the inbounds pass goes to a guard on the perimeter and he hits a Derek Fisher-style prayer, we can question the logic of not protecting the outside.

In conclusion, helluva play, Scott Skiles.

UPDATE: Henry Abbott of TrueHoop talked about this play with basketball smart guy David Thorpe, who was mostly perturbed with the fact that Foster was sticking too close to Bogut even before the screen, as if the proposition of the 7-footer catching and shooting from 18 feet was a big threat.

I called David Thorpe to ask him what he would have had Jeff Foster, Hibbert’s replacement, do on this play. It’s tough to keep a seven-footer like Bogut from getting a hand up by the rim.

His response is that Foster made a glaring error in his starting position, before the ball is even inbounded: “The whole team looks more concerned about the catch-and-shoot. See how they’re hugging their guys, all over the court? The last thing you want to give up is a seven-footer — and not just any seven-footer, but a former top overall pick — at the rim. He’s hugging Bogut 18-feet from the hoop, but what’s the threat there? The real threat is at the rim.”

Foster made himself easy to back-screen, because it was clear the whole time exactly where he would be — attached to Bogut. And the screen prevented him from having the freedom and timing to elevate and meet the ball.

Food for thought.

Related posts:

1. Andrew Bogut Tip-In Gives Pacers Gut-Wrenching Defeat
2. Starting Lineup Change for Toronto Game
3. Pacers Weekend Recap: Breaking the Losing Streak and Getting Embarrassed

The team is 24th in the league in fast-break points so far, according to Coach Jim O’Brien — and that’s not going to cut it. Moreover, it’s not strategy that has a team that has for the past three years played at a rate of 97.1 possessions per game (2009-10), 96.5 possessions (’08-09) and 97.7 possession (’07-08) only getting 94.1 possessions a night this season.

The problem is that the Pacers players are not executing, says the coach.

“We have one big (man) that’s running to the front of the rim, and that’s Solomon Jones. Roy Hibbert, Josh McRoberts (and) Tyler Hansbrough are not committed to running to the front of the rim and, as a result, we are not in position to get the type of points we want to get early in the shot clock.”

Starting point guard Darren Collison, O’Brien said, is pushing the ball correctly but needs to keep the ball in the middle of the court. Last year, Collison played for New Orleans, which runs a sideline fast break, something the Pacers don’t.

“We are not getting guys who are persistent and mentally tough to run and run consistently,” O’Brien said. “If you can’t get the basketball in the lane, reverse the ball and move constantly.

“Mike Dunleavy and Brandon Rush do it consistently. If everybody moved like them and ran like them, we’d be fine.”

I personally expected Darren Collison to make a little more of a splash early on this season. His quickness in the open court and ability to get by his defender, particularly when aided by an offense that keeps shooters on the wings, were skills I expected to quickly translate into production. It has been difficult to pinpoint exactly why that hasn’t always been the case. Thus, I have figured that it has mostly been the expected learning curve issues with him trying to get comfortable in the offense and balance his floor general responsibilities with his freelancing abilities. (Don’t get me wrong — DC has been more than adequate so far. He just hasn’t had the same impact on the offense that I expected immediately. His defense on the other hand, especially in the pick-and-roll, has been rather bad. We’ll discuss this later.)

In that sense, it is at least helpful to hear the coach note one technical aspect in which he thinks his point guard is faltering. The best part is that this seems like a very fixable issue. Darren’s learned habits tell him to push the ball up the sideline since that’s how he was taught last year. Now he is supposed to go middle. Pretty easy solution to that problem. (I will note, however, that I have actually been quite fond of how Darren receives outlet passes. Josh McRoberts in particular has gotten the ball from the rebound to the attack very adeptly and I think a large part of that has been Darren’s ability to make himself clearly open for a pass while already moving up the court. Most of the times that I’ve noted this as a positive, DC has caught the ball near the back court hashmark. Maybe he can keep doing this and then dart middle? Or maybe he shouldn’t be doing this at all and my affinity for it is something that O’Brien does not share? I dunno. I’ll watch some tape and get back to you.)

As for the other guys?

Well, they’ve been here for at least a year. We can give Tyler a slight pass for botching the running lanes perhaps since he’s still so inexperienced due to his vertigo, but not on the effort to simply run. His relentless effort is supposed to be considered a skill. I’m basing this on Jimmy’s quote, not necessarily my own experience watching him run, but if the coach is going to call you out in the paper for not running when you’re paid to be a runner, that certainly doesn’t bode well for his assessment of what you’re bringing to the transition game.

Same goes for Josh.

Lastly, nice little feathers for Solomon and Brandon’s caps. (Also, kinda weird that there’s no mention of Danny here. Weirder still that he references all six players he mentions in that passage by both their first and last names.)

Related posts:

1. UPDATE: Cap & Trade: Options Picked Up on Roy, Rush
2. Indiana Loses One They Should Have Won: Bucks Beat Pacers 94-90
3. Where Have I Seen This Before?
   Bulls 104, Pacers 95

Other than that, the Pacers have some serious big man issues.

We all knew James Posey would see some time at the four. So far, he has given the team nothing in terms of actual production. Danny Granger will likely see some more time at PF as well. We knew this would happen after Troy Murphy was traded away and no outside replacement was brought in, but I think we also know that even Jim O’Brien doesn’t think this is a viable long-term solution.

Then there is Solomon Jones. Who has been a disaster.

In 58 minutes so far this season, he has 3 rebounds, 10 points, 0 blocked shots and 14 personal fouls. Not only is that not helping the team win, it is directly increasing the chances that the Pacers will lose. The guy has been a pretty good shot-blocker the past two seasons, so expect his blocks-per-minute totals to revert back to the mean before much longer. But the rest of the stuff is likely going to stay ugly. He has never shown any ability to rebound or put points on the board when given minutes since he entered the NBA in 2006.

And thus we delve into one of the key storylines of the early season: the Pacers simply have a lot of trouble competing when Roy Hibbert is not on the floor.

Overall, Indiana has outscored its opponent by 32 points when Hibbert is in the game. When he sits? The team has been outscored by 59. If Roy had played exactly 50% of the minutes possible, that +32/-59 disparity would be bad enough. But the big fella, free from the minute-restriction shackles that his conditioning and foul-prone ways have imposed in the past (not to mention O’Brien at times), has played 166 of the total 240 minutes of the Pacers seasons thus far — meaning he has been playing for nearly 70% of all game action.

What are the Pacers to do presuming Jeff Foster is not going to be ready to fill in any time real soon and Solomon Jones isn’t going to turn into Connie Hawkins even sooner?

Given the fact that they have a 15-man roster, it would seem as though making a move for the now-available (and former Pacers first-round draft pick) Erick Dampier might not be possible. Considering he reportedly might want to head to Toronto, it might be even less possible.

Still, the three-man rotation of Hibbert, McRoberts and Hansbrough doesn’t seem like nearly enough. So whether or not Dampier himself is a actually viable option to scoop off the free agent pile, it seems clear that Indiana needs someone like Dampier to mop up the minutes that Roy is off the court with unspectacular, but serviceable play.

Dampier would immediately be the most imposing defender the Pacers could put in the paint. He would also be their best rebounder. Of all NBA centers last year, Dampier ranked 22nd in overall rebounding percentage (the percentage of available rebounds a player grabbed while he was on the floor). Such a ranking — nor his actual percentage of 17.9% — is not going to blow anyone away. But compared to Roy Hibbert’s woeful 12.4% — good for 74th last year … among centers — that part of the game would likely improve when Dampier was spelling Roy.

Again, I don’t think the Pacers have a legitimate chance to sign Dampier.

But it is increasingly starting to seem like the team may have to use one of its expiring contracts to acquire a back-up center if they actually do want to make a serious run at the playoffs this year. That may not be the best course of action, but it’s hard to see the Pacers scaring any other team with a big man rotation consisting solely of Roy, two inexperienced PFs, Solomon Jones, perhaps a refurbished Jeff Foster and a couple of SFs playing out of position (Danny and Posey).

And, yes, I know they have only played five games.

But barring a major evolution by both Josh and Tyler really soon, do you see anything changing in the near future?

Related posts:

1. Indy’s Usage of the D-League, or Lack Thereof

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Well, you knew it couldn’t go on forever.  Heck, you’re probably still not sure that the Pacers really and truly had a five-game winning streak.  Regardless, it all ground to a halt in the second half as the Pacer offense that had been running like well-oiled machine seized up.

Atlanta is a tough matchup for our boys in Blue.  Their frontcourt is quick and athletic, capable of protecting the rim and controlling the glass.  Backcourt mates Joe Johnson, Mike Bibby, and Jamal Crawford all can make you pay if you lose them on the perimeter.

The most glaring advantage Atlanta has is in the pivot, where Al Horford has just destroyed Roy Hibbert all season long.  In the first two matchups, Horford has outscored Roy 49-12, outrebounded him 35-13, and recorded 7 blocks vs. only 2 for Roy.  Still, those were both played before the first of the year, and Hibbert has made some great strides since then.

Unfortunately, not great enough.  A good chunk of the story can be seen on their comparative shot charts:

The Pacers tried to work Roy early, but he missed his first four shots as Horford used his strength to force Roy into jump hooks from just a foot or two outside his comfort zone.  Meanwhile, Horford continually found himself wide open for 12 to 15-foot jumpers, and he capitalized.  Hibbert either got lost in rotations or (understandably) gave the Hawks’ center space due to a lack of foot speed.  At the end of the day, Horford posted 18 points and 12 boards, essentially in three quarters of play.  Conversely, Roy managed only 6 points and 2 rebounds in 23 ineffectual minutes.

As for the rest of the Pacers, they posted an impressive 31-point 1st 1uarter, buoyed by 6-of-9 shooting from beyond the arc.  Brandon Rush drained all four three-point tries in his 12 first quarter minutes, and the Pacers entered the 2nd up 31-26.  From there, it was a tough road-a-hoe.

Over the next 36 minutes, the Pacers managed only 53 points while hitting only 2 of their 17 threes.  Brandon Rush, who was so hot in the first, didn’t play at all in the second, then went 1-for-5 from the floor the rest of the game and was generally nonexistent.  At least twice in the second half, he was completely exploited defensively by Jamal Crawford.  Rush committed a dumb foul on Joe Johnson late in the first.  It’s unclear as to whether his second quarter absence was some sort of punishment by O’Brien, or if it was because Brandon had two fouls.  Unfortunately, there was no Pacer TV coverage, and Mike Wells didn’t make the trip to Atlanta, so we’ll have to wait to find out what happened there.

Danny played a good, bordering on great, floor game today, but couldn’t buy a bucket.  He scored 18 points on 7-for-19 shooting.  He did play some good defense, and his attacking the basket was creating the few second quarter opportunities the Pacers got.  Unfortunately, any day that finds both Danny and Roy struggling to score is pretty much going to doom the Pacers limited offense.

Watson, like Rush, played a fantastic first quarter, then showed us his down side.  Josh McRoberts was unable to repeat his recent aerobatics, as he was at an athletic disadvantage to Josh Smith, Marvin Williams, and Al Horford.  Solo got the call after McBob’s first rotation, and performed admirably, posting 7 points and 7 boards.  AJ Price and Dahntay Jones, God Love ‘em, played like hot garbage.  The only Pacer who was able to maintain his play of late was Troy Murphy, with 21 points and 14 rebounds.

Still, despite being overwhelmed by the Hawks, the Pacers largely kept their heads in the game.  This wasn’t a game where they just rolled over.  No question they were soundly beaten in the second half, but they kept chasing it.  The Pacers have had several losses this year where the final score was closer than the game really was.  This game was really closer than the fourth quarter and the final score showed.

None of it was good enough, and the Pacers dropped their 47th game in 74 tries.  It’s long been a foregone conclusion, but if Toronto holds onto the double-digit lead they hold in Miami late in the third, then the Pacers will officially be mathematically eliminated from the playoffs.  One more loss, and the Pacers will be guaranteed of having their worst record in 21 seasons.

Related posts:

1. Game #1 Recap: Hawks 120 – Pacers 109
   Actual Observations and Related, Possibly Stupid Conjectures
2. Game #1 Preview: Sekou Smith Talks Hawks
3. Game #30 Recap: Pacers Play the Heel

Here’s the set-up:

When the Bucks entered the fourth quarter against the Pacers, it looked like it was going to be an easy 12 minutes.  The Bucks were leading by 14 at the start of the fourth, and have only allowed 62 points to the Pacers.  However, the Pacers decided to make things interesting in the fourth quarter.  In fact, with 2:19 left a Solomon Jones dunk made the score 90-94, cutting the lead to 4 points.  The Bucks were reeling and they needed a bucket to try and put the game away.

Sebastian then shows exactly what happened in full detail, but the gist is that Solomon Jones and Brandon Rush collectively misread/mishandled a simple up-screen from John Salmons that freed Andrew Bogut for a wide-open bucket at the rim.

Rush, by an large, is a pretty good defender — especially by this roster’s standards. He guards his man rather well when he has the ball and, as we saw in the Laker game during the last West Coast trip, he definitely has the chops to slow down even elite scorers.

But he still does slip up on a lot of the more nuanced stuff. He doesn’t fight through screens consistently and often gets caught napping or just out of position. Veterans are all too often able to find free space while he is guarding them by employing some relatively run-of-the-mill cuts. Sometimes, they don’t even need a screen to get open for a good look.

Of course, this probably isn’t the best representation of Brandon failing in this regard — Solomon simply cannot allow a guy like Bogut to get that much separation so close to the hoop. Most of this bucket is probably on Mr. Jones. Still, Brandon is too often involved in multi-player defensive break downs like this, and his defensive development is not going to progress much beyond where it currently is if he cannot make better off-the-ball decisions/reads.

He seems to have all the foot speed, strength and soft skills to learn how to do everything on the defensive end better. He looks like he may have the potential to be a key perimeter presence in a very good defense some day. That, combined with his shooting and his ability to get to the hoop on occasion is what made a lot of Indy fans glad that the rumored deadline deal with the Bobcats never happened.

The rest of this year and the 2010-11 season will be all about him putting it all together.

Related posts:

1. Game #30 Recap: Pacers Play the Heel
2. Game #26 Preview: Pacers vs. Pterodactyls
3. Game #63 Recap – Forget All About That Macho Tish, and Learn How to Play Guitar