Changing Pacers

Evening basketball heads -

As I'm sure you can tell by the title, I wanted to talk about the Pacers today... Well, I didn't want to talk about the Pacers, but after last night's mini-scruff with the Warriors I thought I'd strike while the iron was hot.

I hate the Pacers. --- But don't give up on this post just yet.

They've annoyed the hell out of me as a team ever since Reggie Miller was knockin' down every shot he could to keep Jordan from his 5th and 6th rings, unsuccessfully, to my intense relief. But just because the Pacers of old made me want to break Reggie's shooting wrist, doesn't mean I don't respect the Pacers of today. I do. In fact, I see the Pacers as one of the most fundamentally sound teams in the league, and looking  at the game from a coach's perspective, I can appreciate that.

Since Reg retired a few years back I've been enjoying the opportunity to watch the likes of Ron Artest, Stephen Jackson, and Danny Granger struggle with a team as dismally landlocked in its conference's middle as its city is in the continent's. Nothing has made me happier. But within the last few years even I must admit that the Pacers have, at the very least, begun to turn things around. The main catalyst that I attribute this progress to is the change in the role of Larry Bird behind the scenes.

Bird, who obviously knows the game, took over as the team's GM a few years back (off hand I think it was around 5 years ago, but I haven't looked it up), and has since switched to the more appropriate title of "President of Basketball Operations". In the years since the team has added players like Roy Hibbert, George Hill, and Paul George, who continually give Sportscenter reason to report on the very forgettable Pacers. 

In the team's starring role, Paul George has been able to gain personal fame while still managing to work inside a team-centered system, which has contributed greatly to the team's respectable level of success, given its outstanding degree of youth and inexperience. Such inexperience sows its roots so deep in the Pacers' bench that it dips down even into the coaching staff. Led by head coach Frank Vogel, the NBA's youngest and newest coach, the Pacers work with only three players who have more than 4 years of league experience, and a roster that looks more like a who's who of college stars for the last 5 years (Tyler and Ben Hansbrough, Miles Plumlee, and Pitt-alum and my personal favorite, Sam Young).

Clearly Larry Bird has used the good head on his shoulders to screw a good head on his team's collective shoulders, and they seem more than likely to return to the playoffs and get another shot at the Heat and Bulls teams that knocked them out the past two years. Maybe 2013 is Indy's year to make it to the Finals --- although they'd have to be playing the Lakers to get my support.