If a person takes a quick look at the Indiana Pacers schedule, one might wonder if the NBA has something against them. They started the season against Eastern Conference powerhouse Detroit, followed with the defending world champion Celtics, then the Phoenix Suns and will end with LeBron and his Cavaliers. They took it to the defending champs posting a 95-79 win, and were competitive against Detroit (100-94 L) and Phoenix (113-103 L). Quite frankly, with a team that introduced seven new players to the team and lost their only true franchise-type player with Jermaine O'Neal shipped to Toronto, I think the results are favorable.
The emergence of Danny Granger as a perennial player in the league will make this team a contender quicker than most will anticipate. The additions of TJ Ford and Jarrett Jack create a solid back-court tandem, and rookies Roy Hibbert out of Georgetown and Brandon Rush out of Kansas add talent, youth, and depth to this team. The one thing that is clearly hindering this team is the lack of a legitimate power forward. They lost that with O'Neal leaving and have the likes of Jeff Foster and Troy Murphy trying to fill that role. Neither is astounding defensively and that was evident against the Suns' Amare Stoudemire who went off for 49 points and used Foster as his personal poster-boy on a flurry of dunks.
Still, if the Pacers can find a way to overcome the power forward position, meaning help defense must be emphasized, they could find themselves competing for the playoffs again. The return of Mike Dunleavy should also aid them offensively as it is clear that they tend to lose their direction after awhile. Discipline on the offensive end will dictate efficiency on the defensive end. There is no doubt this team doesn't hustle, they bring it for 48 minutes (as demonstrated by Danny Granger diving for a lose ball and losing his two front teeth), but they don't always play smart for 48 minutes.
There is talent here and as the rookies progress and Granger becomes a real leader, this team will continue to improve and this early season test will only aid them later on when it really matters in the season. This team has cleared all players from the 2004 brawl and has replaced them with a quality-character team that actually has talent. Fans should be excited for the future.
Keywords: Danny Granger, Indiana Pacers, NBA Basketball
