Posted by Mike Wells
You can't beat Pacers coach Jim O'Brien and the way he runs practices.
O'Brien's the only coach I've covered in the NBA, albeit I've only covered three - Flip Saunders and Rick Carlisle were the other two - that allows the media see more than just free throws and individual drills at the end of practice.
O'Brien allows the media to watch scrimmages. He doesn't hold back voicing his unhappiness if he doesn't like what he sees.
No one should be shocked that the Pacers spent most of Tuesday's practice working on their defense. Jeff Rabjohns will have a story on their defense in Wednesday's paper.
One of the most surprising things I heard out of practice was O'Brien's glowing regard for Rasho Nesterovic's passing ability
O'Brien stopped a drill and told his players to look to give Nesterovic the ball. Not for his scoring, but for his passing.
"Rasho's a weapon," O'Brien said. "For the 15th time, if you pass him the ball something good will happen."
Speaking of passing, Roy Hibbert could be pretty effective distributing the ball from the elbow. He attempted a couple of backdoor passes during practice.
That's good news for Sunshine, who continues to remind me about how much Hibbert will help the Pacers this season.
--I've had some people say the Pacers brought Austin Croshere to camp to help out PR wise.
Don't believe it.
I'm definitely not calling a Croshere a savior or anything like that, but he's on a mission to make the roster and force team officials to possibly cut two players.
I don't recall seeing him miss a shot in the practice.
I think he'll help from the locker room standpoint. He's always carried himself well and did the right things. He also gives great quotes to the media.
--O'Brien is stressing not to over dribble the ball. He constantly told his players to keep the ball moving. He believes over dribbling allows teams to catch their breath. He doesn't want that. He wants constant ball movement so they can wear teams down throughout the game.
Full article here:
http://blogs.indystar.com/pacersinsider ... of_ca.html
