Eight Points, Nine Seconds » TJ Ford

TJ Ford Thinks Joakim Noah Is the NBA’s Biggest Hipster

Jared Wade — Fri, 11 Nov 2011 18:19:03 +0000

Hard to disagree. Most other people said James Harden, which too me seems to much of a beard-based vote. I like the Jon Brockman pick from Nate Robinson. I’m not 100% sure who I would vote for but Amar’e's hipsterism is underrated. I mean, just look at how his name looks with a possessive apostrophe in it? (via Daily Thunder)

The Pacers’ Recent Past & Near Future: Part 4, How the Other Guys Performed

Kevin Hetrick — Wed, 21 Sep 2011 18:38:47 +0000

(As his first contributions to 8p9s, Kevin Hetrick is digging deep into how the Pacers performed last year and what they can do to improve next season — whenever it begins. Read Part 1, Part 2 and Part 3 of his series here.)

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.

TJ Ford Stays Ready, Banks in a Buzzer-Beater

Jared Wade — Tue, 19 Apr 2011 15:50:04 +0000

Pacers fans know: TJ Ford has been nothing but the consummate pro over the past two-plus years as his role has continually been marginalized on this team. He was a slated to be a starter then he backed up Jarrett Jack but then Jack went to Toronto and he was again poised to run the first unit only to be supplanted by journeyman Earl Watson. Then even AJ Price passed him in the rotation, and the team traded for Darren Collison in the offseason and drafted Lance Stephenson, both of whom the franchise considered a part of the future nucleus — something it became clear that TJ is not.

TJ’s name was permanently affixed to the trading block as he was essentially relegated to assistant coach status and routinely, at least by the actions we saw in terms of how minutes were handed out, shown that he is really nothing more than a warm body for practice. I know it’s an unfortunate reality of today’s era of professional sports and athletes with guaranteed contracts, but many, many, many men would become major distractions to their teams in such situations.

If not continually demanding a trade publicly and talking junk in the press, they would do the same things that us non-multimillionaire employees unsatisfied by our challenge-less work environment do: show up late, call in sick, do the bare minimum not to get fired, look and act unprofessional, undermine our supervisors, etc. Pacers fans may be able to recall another point guard in NBA history whose behavior fits some of those characterizations.

I’m not in the locker room very much and have only spoken with TJ a few times in my life, but to my knowledge, TJ has done none of that. At least not habitually. And when he was called on last night to play some spot minutes for the injured Darren Collison, he played admirably.

He scored 5 points and had 1 assist against only 1 turnover in his 8 minutes. Meanwhile, most importantly the Pacers outscored the Bulls by 7 points while he was on the court, due in part to him making both the shots he took — including the 70-footer to close the third quarter shown in the video below.

There was a lot of praise thrown at Celtics reserve Nate Robinson for staying ready and playing at a high level in the playoffs for Boston last year despite not really being in the team’s rotation during the end of the regular season. On a smaller scale, TJ Ford did the same thing last night.

We also saw a similar ability to remain focused enough to step in and play big minutes out of the blue by Dahntay Jones earlier this year. He barely saw the floor under Jim O’Brien. Then O’Brien was canned, Frank Vogel took the reins and, soon after, Dahntay started getting some burn. He responded by shooting 17-for-26 and averaging 16 points in the first three games in which he played at least 15 minutes — two of which were Indiana wins and the other of which was a close loss to Miami.

Now, if Collison is indeed sitting in suit on the bench during Game 3, TJ will have to jump in an play even more minutes. Based on everything I have seen during his tenure in Indiana, I imagine he’ll be ready to do so. And if he is, like he was last night and Dahntay was earlier in the year, we should share some of the praise with Vogel.

I don’t know exactly what management quality it takes to keep players ready during times when they should naturally be disgruntled in their jobs, but Doc Rivers did it last year and rightfully received his due credit.

Vogel may deserve some accolades for this as well.

video via SLAM

TJ Ford’s Enchilada Recipe

Jared Wade — Tue, 15 Mar 2011 20:14:15 +0000

OK. We’re going to need one lucky 8p9s reader to make TJ’s enchiladas and review them for the site. This is serious business, folks — much like the diminutive, former University of Texas standout’s March Madness endorsement deal with Betty Crocker. (via @darrenrovell … h/t @IndyCornrows)

Here’s the full recipe.

Ingredients

1     can (18.5 oz) Progresso® Traditional chicken cheese enchilada soup
1    can (10 oz) Old El Paso® hot or mild enchilada sauce
2    cups shredded cooked chicken
1    cup Green Giant® Valley Fresh Steamers™ Niblets® frozen corn, thawed (from 12-oz bag)
2    cups shredded pepper Jack cheese (8 oz)
12    corn tortillas (6 inch)
2    medium tomatoes, diced
1/4    cup chopped fresh cilantro
Lime wedges, if desired

Step 1

Heat oven to 350°F. In medium bowl, stir together soup and enchilada sauce.

Step 2

In large bowl, mix 1 cup soup mixture with the chicken, corn and 1 cup of the cheese. In small bowl, set aside 3/4 cup soup mixture. Spread remaining 1 1/2 cups soup mixture in ungreased 13×9-inch baking dish.On microwavable plate, stack tortillas and cover with paper towel; heat on High 1 minute to soften. Place about 1/4 cup chicken mixture along middle of each tortilla. Roll up and place seam sides down in baking dish with sauce.

Step 3

Pour 3/4 cup soup mixture over enchiladas. Sprinkle with remaining 1 cup cheese. Bake 25 to 30 minutes or until cheese is melted and sauce is bubbly around edges.

Step 4

Meanwhile, in small bowl, stir together tomatoes and cilantro. Spoon tomato mixture over each serving. Garnish with lime wedge, if desired.

Don’t forget: the lime wedges are optional. Don’t let anyone force you to use lime wedges you don’t want to use. Now get cooking and report back after Thursday’s March Madness game.

Who Can the Pacers Trade?

Jared Wade — Wed, 23 Feb 2011 19:44:19 +0000

Carmelo is a Knick. Deron is a Net. Carl Landry is a Hornet. Someone named James Johnson is a Raptor. Yup … must be trade deadline week.

The Pacers now have a little more than 24 hours to complete a deal this season. Given their plethora of expiring deals, at least two of which belong to guys who I presume would be desirable to playoff squads, I have long expected them to do something before next summer to improve the roster. Then again, some of Larry Bird’s comments in regards to providing Herb Simon with as many options as possible and a “clean slate” could lead us to believe the team will stand pat unless an absolute gem of a deal is offered.

Regardless, if the Pacers are going to make a move (and Mike Wells expects them to call the now-fire-selling Utah Jazz about Paul Millsap or Al Jefferson), it would be helpful to know exactly what they have to offer. They of course can make every player on the roster available (*cough* Brandon Rush *cough*) and they still have all their future first round draft picks. You can envision as many possible scenarios as you want including picks and/or Rush, Tyler Hansbrough, Josh McRoberts and the other guys who almost certainly aren’t going anywhere (Danny Granger, Paul George, Roy Hibbert and Darren Collison), but here’s a quick look at the three guys most likely to be sent packing before Friday morning.

Mike Dunleavy, Jr.

Contract: Makes $10.6 million this year; becomes free agent this summer
2010-11 Stats: 29 mpg | 11.2 ppg | 4.8 rpg | 1.8 apg | FG: 45.7% | 3PT: 40.7%

Desirability Around the League: Lil Dun would seemingly be a great acquisition for any contender. He is posting career-high shooting percentages from the field and behind the arc while also rebounding well and not turning the ball over. He’s a savvy vet who could be a big offensive boost to any team’s bench. He doesn’t play defense but you already knew that.

Who Might Want Him: MDJ would be a perfect fit for San Antonio. SVG would love him on offense. Boston already has a lot of depth but I think they could find some minutes. The only problem is who is a contender willing to give up? And are they willing to give up anyone the Pacers want? The answers to those two questions are probably (1) no one of importance, and (2) no. Thus, Indy probably can’t get a ton of mileage out of the added benefit of Dunleavy playing well this year in addition to being an expiring deal. (This is why, in my view, they should have acted sooner here and tried to pry something away from a delusional team that thought they were close to contending last fall.) So they have to find a partner who just wants salary relief in exchange for a player on a longer-term deal. For example, if Bird wanted to target Millsap, they would likely have to take back a negative asset like the high-salaried Mehmet Okur. Perhaps something like this.

Jeff Foster

Contract: Makes $6.7 million this year; becomes free agent this summer
2010-11 Stats: 18 mpg | 6.8 rpg | 3.2 Orpg | Rebound Rate: 21.0 | Off. Rebound Rate: 19.9

Desirability Around the League: Jeff is posting the highest offensive rebound rate of his career and is generally just rebounding like an absolute fool now that he looks healthy again for the first time in a few years. He’s a pro’s pro and plays first-rate defense. There isn’t a coach in the NBA who wouldn’t want Jeff Foster on his bench.

Who Might Want Him: Trying to deal Jeff has the same problems as trying to deal Dunleavy Part II: Anyone who actually wants him as more than an expiring deal will not want to give anything up. Still, he is a big guy and desperate teams might do desperate things. The Spurs would seemingly love some extra size to go against the 21-foot front line of Pau/Bynum/Odom. Would they give up Gary Neal? Only in my man-crush fantasies where the NBA rules about salaries matching in trades don’t exist. (San Antonio is pretty much impossible for Indy to deal with salary-wise.) Again … tough to find a good partner here. Foster and Hansbrough for Millsap works.

TJ Ford

Contract: Makes $8.5 million this year; becomes free agent this summer
2010-11 Stats: They’re really, really, unthinkably bad. Don’t even look at them in the presence of children under the age of 13

Desirability Around the League: n/a

Who Might Want Him: Any team looking to shed $8.5 million in salary. HEY … Paul Millsap makes around that amount. Throw in Okur and have Indy throw in Foster plus a pick and let’s get the paperwork signed.

Improving Defense from the Point Guard Spot

Jared Wade — Wed, 26 Jan 2011 23:29:37 +0000

In the below video, coach Jim O’Brien, Danny Granger and Mike Dunleavy, Jr. discuss the Pacers playoff chances at the midway point of the season. Obviously they are all still optimistic and think they can make the postseason. We knew they would say that.

The interesting part starts at the 2:34 mark when coach Jim O’Brien starts talking about how demoting TJ Ford may hurt the team’s defense. Even though I know it’s true, it’s still weird to hear; TJ has been the team’s best defender at the point guard position this season.

And he is is now out of the rotation.

Now, I don’t think TJ is a terrible defender — he’s just an undersized guy with flaws — but his status as best PG defender on the team is less about him being really good and more about Darren Collison being really bad.

Particularly in the pick-and-roll, DC has just been out to lunch all season. He fails to fight through the screens and takes way too long to recover. When he goes under the screen, the ball-handler all too often has a good look at a mid-range jumper. When he goes over the screen, he is usually way too slow and can’t prevent the ball-handler from penetrating into the thick of the defense or otherwise causing havoc by dishing it around the perimeter. And no matter whether he goes under or over, he is almost always so slow to recover that it leaves the guy guarding the screener exposed, forcing him to hedge at the dribbler to mitigate the quick play while at the same time keeping track of his own man, who is either rolling to the hoop for a layup or popping to open space for a jumpshot. Aside from Tim Duncan and Kevin Garnett in their primes (neither of which are on the 2010-11 Indiana Pacers, FYI), there aren’t many players in the history of this sport that can contain both players in a pick-and-roll for as long as Darren’s lackluster recovery demands.

In addition to the hours of game film illustrating these failings, there are some numbers that show just how bad he has been, both in pick-and-roll situations and just overall.

In Darren Collison’s 1,028 minutes on the court this season, the Pacers have given up 107.8 points per 100 possessions — more than three points per 100 worse than the team’s overall 104.5 per 100.

Worse still, in the 801 minutes the team has played with Collison off the floor, the Pacers only give up 100.1 points per 100 possessions. For reference, only one NBA team has a stingier defense than the Pacers units have posted when Collison sits. (The Bulls only give up 99.4 points per 100 possessions.) As is always the case in a game that requires teams to play 5 on 5, there are definitely other rotation-based factors involved in addition to simply whether or not DC is in the game. But a swing of nearly 8 points is pretty damning circumstantial evidence.

With TJ now out of the rotation and AJ Price not exactly a defensive stopper himself, it seems obvious that Darren is going to have to improve if the team hopes to maintain its top ten defensive ranking. And for Indiana to make the playoffs, that seems a prerequisite. I believe that the team’s offense (currently the 7th worst in the league) will improve. But it certainly won’t improve to the degree that it can become a staple for winning this year.

Ultimately, the road to the playoffs is paved with defense.

And Darren Collison must improve his.

Playing Two Point Guards Together

Jared Wade — Wed, 22 Dec 2010 17:05:10 +0000

Fans have grown accustomed to two-point-guard lineups in recent years. This year, however, there has been little opportunity — or need — to play the diminutive Darren Collison alongside the even-more-miniature TJ Ford.

But they tried it against New Orleans for only the second time this season (with the first being an unsuccessful, three-minute pairing on opening night against the Spurs).

Mike Wells of the Indianapolis Star reports why.

O’Brien made the move because Mike Dunleavy was struggling to defend Jack and Marcus Thornton.

“(Monday) was a day it presented itself,” O’Brien said. “(Dunleavy’s) not going to guard Jack off pick-and-rolls. Thornton is kind of a real small guy, so we just went with a small lineup. It worked out well for us.”

Collison was the point guard and Ford shooting guard in that lineup.

“If teams go small, you can do it and get away with it,” Ford said. “At the same time, I think it will be hard to do it consistently when you have guys like Mike and Brandon (Rush) playing so well stretching the floor.”

Again, given the point Ford makes at the end there and just the statures of Collison and Ford, I don’t expect this to become a regular thing. But it’s at least sort of nice to know that it can be an option when teams like the Hornets or Mavs (who have been known to run out a bunch of pipsqueaks) go small.

Breaking Down the Pacers Buzzer-Beating Win

Jared Wade — Tue, 21 Dec 2010 20:41:09 +0000

Huge and much-need win for the Pacers last night. While the elation of the final tip-in was wonderful, it’s hard not to think that it shouldn’t have come to that. Indiana played fantastic defense in the first quarter in particular and held New Orleans to 39.8% shooting for the game. They led by as much as 13 points in the first half and caught (or helped force … probably both) an off-night for all-world point guard Chris Paul.

Then things got increasingly sloppy and the increasingly bad play of Roy Hibbert (2 points on 1-for-10 shooting and 0-for-0 from the line, 3 rebounds and 3 turnovers in 24 minutes) started to make it look like the Pacers would lose. It just started to feel like Indy had blown too many opportunities to put away a team that wasn’t playing well. Someone was going to have to win this one, and the Pacers looked just as uninterested in doing so as the Hornets.

As it so often does, it came down to the end.

Neither team executed beautifully throughout the final two minutes, but each team made some big plays. In the video below, I’ve done a breakdown of the final six possessions, highlighting both the good and the bad points for the Pacers.

Here’s a complementary written breakdown from Tim Donahue on the pick-and-pop from CP3 and David West that put New Orleans up by 1 with 3 seconds to play.

The Hornets run that play better than anyone else in the league, and Paul and West are the best pick-and-roll/pick-and-pop combination in the game. They executed it perfectly.

Foster was staying in the lane, and West came all the way out the three-point line to set the pick. Ford tried to go under, but West actually hopped a little to his right and caught Ford — hanging him up for a second. It was an illegal screen, but the type that never gets called. (Watch a replay of Foster sliding to his right to try to set a screen for Danny on the following play.)

Paul, meanwhile slides at an angle towards the elbow, creating enough space so to make it hard to cover both players. After Ford gets disengaged from West, he frantically tries to recover, and then — and this makes the play — Paul pump fakes a shot. The pump fake does two crucial things.

First, it gets Ford in the air and moving between Paul and the basket, which opens up a pristine passing lane to get the ball back to West. Second, it gets Foster to take one step up to challenge the shot — a half-jump that delays his recovery to West just enough to make sure West doesn’t have to rush it.

Beautiful work by the best in the business at it.

The other big thing was what New Orleans did with the other three guys. They got them completely out of the play. The wings — Jarrett Jack and Marco Belinelli both stood on the the sideline outside of the three-point arc, and Okafor actually set up out of bounds on the baseline. Jack and Belinelli drifted waiting for the pass, and Okafor came in bounds directly under the basket and started pushing Posey out to get rebounding position.

It was set up so that any help besides from any of the three defenders not involved in the pick-and-roll defense would have opened up a guy for a good look at the basket — leaving Ford and Foster on an island of sorts.

I criticize the Pacers for this play a little bit in the video, but Tim’s take is definitely more nuanced. Ultimately, this play is a lot like the Andrew Bogut tip-in game-winner: really good execution. Sometimes you just have to tip your cap. (Still, TJ letting himself get man-handled that badly can’t be considered good work.)

Jeff Foster Really Wants to Retire as a Pacer

Jared Wade — Mon, 13 Dec 2010 22:55:57 +0000

I fully expect that at least one of TJ Ford, Mike Dunleavy and Jeff Foster will be traded during this season. All three are in the final year of their contracts and between then and the soon-to-end buyout the team gave Jamaal Tinsley, Indiana will will shed more than $31 million in payroll next summer.

Cap space is great to have but this summer is not 2010. There are a few guys I’m sure the front office would love to target, but I think we all understand that even an improving team playing in Indianapolis is not the marquee free agent draw that, say, New York or Miami is. So it would probably make sense for Larry Bird to use some of this expiring salary as an asset to make a deal. I imagine that the closer we get to the deadline and the impending lockout that is nearly certain to happen next summer while the players and owners haggle over the new Collective Bargaining Agreement, the more NBA owners will be pressuring their GMs to shed some salary if they can. Just makes sense to cut some payroll in times of uncertainty.

So Bird will almost certainly get a few decent offers. Maybe he opts to keep the team together as is since they are (at least as of now) exceeding expectations. But I don’t think a 7th seed in the playoffs is his ultimate goal, so I’m sure he would be willing to shake things up a little bit if he thought it would improve the team for the future.

All this means that Jeff Foster’s future with the Pacers is far from certain. He hopes to stay. (h/t Pacers Digest)

“It’s extremely important,” Foster told HOOPSWORLD on the significance of ending his career as a member of the Pacers organization. “I never thought about going anywhere else. Those thoughts have never even crossed my mind.”

“I guess in a way it’s a scary thought,” continued Foster in regards to the prospect of ever having to play elsewhere during his career. “But we’ll see how things go the rest of the year and see what plays out with the lockout next year. But nothing would make me happier than to finish my career as a Pacer. So that’s what I plan on doing and hopefully we’ll be able to follow that through.”

Even if he does need to be included as a trade asset in February, I wouldn’t be surprised to see Bird bring him back next year. Age has taken its toll and he’s not even close to being the player he once was, but he has been a Pacer lifer and I think, even if he is traded, we’ll see him back in Conseco next season.

After that? Who know?

Maybe after his playing days are over he will go on to found the Jeff Foster Center For Children Who Can’t Read Good (And Who Want to Learn to Do Other Stuff Good, Too).

Darren Collison Frustrated by Point Guard Rotation, Says Sitting in Crunch Time Is “Tough”

Jared Wade — Mon, 13 Dec 2010 08:22:47 +0000

As we have seen on multiple occasions, Darren Collison doesn’t always close games at point guard for the Pacers. Sometimes, TJ Ford finishes things. Saturday in Atlanta, Darren didn’t even play at all in the fourth quarter.

This is frustrating to Darren, writes Mike Wells of the Indianapolis Star.

“I don’t know why I didn’t play,” said Collison, who has started all 19 games he’s appeared in.

“I’m not going to lie, it’s been tough. Right now, I’m not used to it. It is what it is.”

O’Brien liked what Price could bring to the Pacers, so he got his shot.

“I thought our best chance of coming back was with A.J. in the game because he spaces the court, he shoots the 3 and he also needed playing time,” O’Brien said. “I also think he did a nice job.”

O’Brien has sat Collison in the past because he prefers Ford’s experience. Collison’s problem is that he’s still having a difficult time running the offense and playing the type of aggressive defense O’Brien wants.

Collison is averaging 13.5 points and 4.2 assists in more than 28 minutes a game.

“It’s real tough, but I guess you have to control things when you’re in the game,” Collison said. “When you’re not in the game, you just have to stay in tuned and try to help other guys.”

Aside from the normal ups and downs of winning and losing, things have by and large been smooth sailing in Indiana so far this year. There was the summer arrest of Lance Stephenson and the five-game suspension of Brandon Rush for failing a drug test, but there has been almost no turmoil since.

Given that, it will be interesting to see how this reverberates over the days and weeks to come. Stay tuned.