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Anyone who has followed Larry Bird’s career?as a player for the Boston Celtics knows that he was “money-in-the-bank” during crunch-time – especially during the playoffs.? Perhaps right now is the time that Bird faces his biggest challenge – as president of the Indiana Pacers, he is charged with returning the team to the playoffs and preferably beyond.? And truth be told, he truly has his work cut out for him.
Prior to Bird, the Pacers were hit-and-miss at draft time – mostly miss.? Let’s throw some names out there.? James White – back in 2006, Indiana traded their pick at #45 (second round) and 2 future 2nd-round picks to get White; needless to say, White went down in flames. Oh, there’s more where that came from.? The record’s spotty, although to be fair, Donnie Walsh was responsible for the drafts back then.? There was George McCloud in 1989, Malik Sealy in 1992, Scott Haskin (who?) in 1993, Eric Piatkowski in 1994, Erick Dampier in 1996, Austin Croshere in 1997, Jonathan Bender (what a waste!!) in 1999 after sending Antonio Davis to Toronto, Primoz Brezec in 2000, Jamaal Tinsley in 2001, taken a pick ahead of *gulp* Tony Parker, Fred Jones in 2002 and David Harrison in 2004.
Only?4 quality picks were made by the Pacers during that span – Reggie Miller, Rik Smits, Antonio Davis and Dale Davis.? Walsh isn’t around anymore, so Bird has a very small margin of error to work with.? In other words, Bird’s gonna have to get it right from the jump.? He has 2 years left on his current contract with Indiana, so he will need to improve the team immediately; he won’t have Walsh to hold his hand as he did in the past.? What Bird will need to do is get a long-term starter with the 11th overall pick and enhance the Pacers’ bench withtheir second-round pick.? The more successful teams in the NBA have strong benches (the Los Angeles Lakers have Luke Walton, Sasha Vujacic and Ronny Turiaf while the Boston Celtics have Glen Davis and Leon Powe), so Indiana will have to be mindful of that fact.
In the meantime, the Pacers don’t have the salary cap flexibility to grab a top-tier player and they have had nothing but bad luck in obtaining international talent – the aforementioned Brezec is a scrub, Bruno Sundov had no value whatsoever and Sarunas Jasikevicius was a waste.? Indiana did draft big man Erazem Lorbekback in 2005 but he’s expected to spend at least another season overseas.? So really at the end of the day, the Pacers’ short-term and long-term fortunes rest on the draft this year.? And as in years gone by, Bird will need to pull some magic out of his bag of tricks.? He has a destination to get to and a short time to get there.
Bird’s Biggest Challenge
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Anyone who has followed Larry Bird’s career?as a player for the Boston Celtics knows that he was “money-in-the-bank” during crunch-time – especially during the playoffs.? Perhaps right now is the time that Bird faces his biggest challenge – as president of the Indiana Pacers, he is charged with returning the team to the playoffs and preferably beyond.? And truth be told, he truly has his work cut out for him.
Prior to Bird, the Pacers were hit-and-miss at draft time – mostly miss.? Let’s throw some names out there.? James White – back in 2006, Indiana traded their pick at #45 (second round) and 2 future 2nd-round picks to get White; needless to say, White went down in flames. Oh, there’s more where that came from.? The record’s spotty, although to be fair, Donnie Walsh was responsible for the drafts back then.? There was George McCloud in 1989, Malik Sealy in 1992, Scott Haskin (who?) in 1993, Eric Piatkowski in 1994, Erick Dampier in 1996, Austin Croshere in 1997, Jonathan Bender (what a waste!!) in 1999 after sending Antonio Davis to Toronto, Primoz Brezec in 2000, Jamaal Tinsley in 2001, taken a pick ahead of *gulp* Tony Parker, Fred Jones in 2002 and David Harrison in 2004.
Only?4 quality picks were made by the Pacers during that span – Reggie Miller, Rik Smits, Antonio Davis and Dale Davis.? Walsh isn’t around anymore, so Bird has a very small margin of error to work with.? In other words, Bird’s gonna have to get it right from the jump.? He has 2 years left on his current contract with Indiana, so he will need to improve the team immediately; he won’t have Walsh to hold his hand as he did in the past.? What Bird will need to do is get a long-term starter with the 11th overall pick and enhance the Pacers’ bench withtheir second-round pick.? The more successful teams in the NBA have strong benches (the Los Angeles Lakers have Luke Walton, Sasha Vujacic and Ronny Turiaf while the Boston Celtics have Glen Davis and Leon Powe), so Indiana will have to be mindful of that fact.
In the meantime, the Pacers don’t have the salary cap flexibility to grab a top-tier player and they have had nothing but bad luck in obtaining international talent – the aforementioned Brezec is a scrub, Bruno Sundov had no value whatsoever and Sarunas Jasikevicius was a waste.? Indiana did draft big man Erazem Lorbekback in 2005 but he’s expected to spend at least another season overseas.? So really at the end of the day, the Pacers’ short-term and long-term fortunes rest on the draft this year.? And as in years gone by, Bird will need to pull some magic out of his bag of tricks.? He has a destination to get to and a short time to get there.
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