What really grinds my gears about JOB

[Miller4ever]

^Definitely agree with cdash on this one. The scouts and the draft experts made a big deal of his "instant contribution" factor, and the season is more than halfway over. It doesn't mean I don't like him. I guess I'll just blame the stupid draft experts who said that Villanueva was going to be an all-star and that Danny Granger only had the potential to be a sixth man at best.

[Pacersike]

You should do that. They were all wrong about it. He's not NBA ready.
I would give him some years to proove he is NBA worthy. Now, if Obie only would give him a couple of minutes...

[Grang33r]

If Rush wants the minutes, make him earn them. However, O'Brien should be giving him more opportunities to earn them.

Exactly. Teach the rookies the hard road from the get-go and make them earn their minutes. Just because they are not playing also doesn't mean they are not developing. I am sure the Pacers are making Rush and Hibbert work hard in practice. Pacers do want to win and want to play other options because letting people go. It should be no secret that almost anyone on this roster besides Granger, Ford, Rush and Hibbert could be traded almost anyday now. Even Dunleavy. I don't really blame the Pacers for anything right now. To me, it seems like they are taking the very safe route with Hibbert and Rush, while show casing Rasho, Mike, Foster and Graham. Not only to the rest of the league, but to themselves. Are these the guys we want opening day next season or should they trade them? Larry Bird has tough choices and the one positive i see is his friendship with JOB. He must seriously get like hourly updates on his roster. They have full control of what's going on in the Pacers camp.

[ajizzle]

^^Good post, Grang33r! I do think they're developing, too. Rush is playing defense better than at the beginning of the season. He just needs to find his game, so to speak. He reminds me of Nick Anderson, who also struggled with consistency early on in his career. But as soon as he learned his role, he was a major contributor to a good team.

Hibbert has a much more difficult road ahead, IMHO. He gets no practice defending bigs who post-up, b/c we don't have any on this team. He reminds me of Zydrunas Ilgauskas, good IQ, but he just needs more experience. He also must work on foot quickness and hand-positioning; realize that at 7-2, w/ long arms and better position, he can block/contest 85% of shots in the paint rather than trying to time a block. He's not a quick leaper. Let your height do the work for you, big man.

With a good off-season and some specialized coaching for both guys, I could see them being starters or at least major contributors by AS Break 2010.