NBA Franchise of the Year: Passion. Pride. Pacers.

[mfbmike]

Wow, its defenitly DerMarr time,

Funny thing is, looking at the free agents that were available, I actually considered it. I chose another route though.

[LC AAU]

[mfbmike]

Pacers Act Quickly To Try And Patch Up Rotation After String Of Injuries



The Indiana Pacers pulled off a three-team trade today and acquired two players in hopes of filling holes left by a season ending injury to guard Ricky Davis and an injury to forward Danny Granger that will keep him on the sidelines for up to a month.

After reporting earlier in the week that the Cleveland Cavaliers showed interest in Troy Murphy due to his size combined with his ability to shoot the long ball, the Pacers finally agreed to part ways with the Notre Dame alum in exchange for Wally Szczerbiak.

However, due to salary complications, the Pacers needed to find a way to clear some room to welcome Wally.

That's when talks shifted and the Oklahoma City Thunder were brought into the mix.

Quoted only last week saying, "Right now, we've got nine big men. something has got to happen," referring to the Thunder's roster, Chris Wilcox was the target the Pacers were most interested in. Playing behind Nick Collison this season has the former Clippers lottery pick anxious to get back into a starting lineup. The Pacers needed a solid 4 to take over the starting duties upon Murphy's departure and Wilcox looked to be the perfect fit.

With all 3 of the Thunder's centers only 22 years of age and very much raw and the Thunder giving up a 6 million dollar expiring in Wilcox, they inquired about Rasho Nesterovic , the 7 foot center acquired from the Raptors this offseason, who has seen minimal playing time so far this season for the Pacers and whose 8 million dollar contract also expires at the end of this season.

The Pacers finally got salaries to match after including Travis Diener to the deal, who will also be heading to Oklahoma City.

The Cavaliers are currently 8-4 and sitting atop the Eastern Conference with their eyes on a championship while the Thunder are 5-8, only 2 games out of the 8th spot in the Western Conference.

Trade Breakdown:



Pacers Receive:

SG/SF Wally Szczerbiak
PF Chris Wilcox



Cavaliers Receive:

PF/C Troy Murphy



Thunder Receive:

C Rasho Nesterovic
PG Travis Diener

To finish off a day full of wheeling and dealing, Pacers GM Larry Bird signed free agent guard/forward Dermarr Johnson to a 1yr/$2.24M deal. Johnson's versatility and ability to play multiple positions may prove beneficial down the stretch.

[mfbmike]

Just kidding! lol. It was either him or Gelebale. I went with Dermarr. Hopefully he works out for me for this next month or so with Granger out.

[Lupe]

WALLY'S WORLD! omgz

[LC AAU]

ZOMG DERMARR ZOMG ZOMG ZOMG I JUST POOPED MYSELF!

[mfbmike]

Actually my first time on VSN and I have to say the quality of these write-ups and everything is tremendous.

Now back to business :D

Trading away Jamaal Tinsley, good move the guy is a head case and if one little thing goes wrong his morale plummets. Getting Kaman and Davis was nice, Kaman is a monster rebounder and before the trade besides Foster you really didn't have any big guys capable of doing that (I suppose Hibbert or Nest but both seem a little too soft imo). This most recent trade though is the final piece of the puzzle I think. Bringing in a banger like Wilcox who can get you 10/10 each night is crucial and adds some strength to your frontcourt. The Granger loss is huge, but I think if you slow down the tempo to a half court game and try to work a little inside/outside with Kaman and Rush you can win games. The only criticism I have is that now you've shifted your team's philosophy in an entirely new direction which can be difficult to adjust to especially chemistry wise. Starting the season I would say you were more of a run and gun team, looking to chuck 3 pointers at any opportunity. Now you're obviously more of a strong team inside with a few capable shooters. Irregardless I think this team is a contender in the East with the moves you made. With Granger and Rush you have that outside presence. Wilcox and Kaman are huge assets to your frontcourt. Ford is a great distributor. And your bench is very good with prototypical role players like Jeff Foster and young guys like Hibbert.

Nice chise and I will continue to follow

I'm glad you're liking it man. It's so refreshing to get a wall of text reply like this as opposed to the typical nice win, tough loss replies. lol. Nice to know people are actually reading the stuff I, or anyone else for that matter are taking the time to put together.

With that being said, yeah, as opposed to writing game recaps for every game, I'm trying to put together a little news piece regarding the team to give the followers a deeper look at the team and the process I'm going about in trying to rebuild this team.

My 1st priority with this team was finding fair and believable opportunities to get rid of Dunleavy, Murphy and Tinsley; mostly because of their contracts. Tinsley for obvious reasons. Dunleavy was a solid scorer but didn't really fit into what I'm trying to create here and Murphy seemed to get me burnt on defense too many times despite being a very versatile scorer.

Kaman is most definitely a presence in the paint and my defense has improved drastically since adding him to the roster.

You nailed it on the head though, this team is one that pushes the ball in transition a lot, especially with how fast T.J. Ford gets up and down the floor. Funny thing is though, on the Pacers home floor, whenever you get a steal or rebound and it looks like your going to push the break, there is a sound effect of cars racing similar to that of the Indy Car races. lol. When I hear that I'm generally looking to get buckets in transition. Rush and Daniels run the wings surprisingly well though and Rush I have found to be a dead eye shooter.

A contender in the East? lol, I'm flattered but don't think I'm there just yet. Besides Kaman, I've aimed at bringing in expiring contracts. I had to let one go in Rasho but it was worth it to get Wilcox. I'm going to try to land a number of pieces in free agency as opposed to the trying to get the biggest name in free agency. I'd be happy with a 7th or 8th seed with an opportunity to upset in the 1st round assuming I meet a weaker team. lol.

I'm glad you approve of the moves I've made thus far. I doubt I will make any more and I actually intended on making this second trade a lot further down the road but the injuries crept up on me bigtime. I really didn't have a choice. lol.

Nice to have you aboard man.

[mfbmike]

Pacers Score First 11 Points Out Of Half But Heat Manage To Pull Out Win In Overtime Thriller

Starting Lineups:
T.J. Ford PG Mario Chalmers
Marquis Daniels SG Dwyane Wade
Wally Szczerbiak SF Shawn Marion
Chris Wilcox PF Michael Beasley
Chris Kaman C Jamaal Magliore

(5-6) 131 @ 133 (7-5)


Chris Wilcox shows off his hustle in his Pacers debut, diving for a loose ball. Wilcox scored a team high 26 as the Pacers 3 game win streak was snapped at the Triple A.

Top Performers:
Player Of The Game:

Michael Beasley

Quote Of The Game:
"For us to fight as hard as we did tonight without our best player in Danny, I'm proud of our guys. We scored the first 11 points out of the half after going into the half knotted up at 53 and instead of building on that lead, we became complacent and only tried to protect it. It's human nature I suppose but the Heat were able to slowly chip away at it. Wade hit that buzzer beater to send it into overtime and from there they pulled ahead." - Pacers GM Larry Bird

Next Game:

[LC AAU]

Dude wtf play DerMarr douche.

[mfbmike]

Trades:

<=====>
The Wizards traded Deshawn Stevenson to the Timberwolves in exchange for Corey Brewer. Stevenson takes over the 6th man role on the Timberwolves while Mike Miller is still in town while Brewer joins an already talented bench in D.C.

Other News:

- Lakers new #1 in Power Rankings
- Ben Gordon is #1 in latest True Shooting % Report
- Grizzlies knock off Spurs 111-95 behind Gay's 36
- Iggy scores 5000th career point in win over Bobcats
- Hornets start slow, finish strong in win against Clippers

[mfbmike]

Dude wtf play DerMarr douche.

rofl, relax. He played roughly 8 minutes in the Heat game. Scored 1 point on 0-3 shooting and pulled down 2 boards. I've never used him before lol.

[CB4]

Damn, Kaman, Wilcox and TJ did great looks like you didn't have a problem without Granger out.

Lol, I thought Wilcox got injured too after seeing the picture.

[mfbmike]

Damn, Kaman, Wilcox and TJ did great looks like you didn't have a problem without Granger out.

Lol, I thought Wilcox got injured too after seeing the picture.

Yeah, I'm taking the advice given to me earlier in the thread and going to the hole with TJ more as opposed to taking jumpers like I did in the beginning. That and trying to get buckets in transition since he is so fast up the floor. Wilcox kinda surprised me with the scoring binge and the caveman just puts in work.

lol after the injuries to Davis and Granger, anytime a player dives or hit the floor I think they are gonna come up grabbing a shoulder or limping or something.

[mfbmike]

Pacers Weekly Stats Update:

Starters:



Reserves:




(Red name denotes currently injured)



Players Of The Week:

Western Conference


Deron Williams - Utah Jazz

Eastern Conference


Lebron James - Cleveland Cavaliers

Weekly Conference Standings Update:



1. (10-2)

2. (10-4)

3. (9-4)

4. (10-5)

5. (9-5)

6. (7-6)

7. (7-6)

8. (8-8)

9. (6-8)

10. (5-7)

11. (6-9)

12. (6-9)

13. (5-9)

14. . (5-9)

15. (3-10)



1. (9-4)

2. (9-5)

3. (9-5)

4. (8-5)

5. (7-6)

6. (7-7)

7. (6-7)

8. (6-7)

9. (5-6)

10. (5-7)

11. (6-9)

12. (5-8)

13. (5-8)

14. (6-10)

15. (4-8)

[Lupe]

16 PPG for wally lol?