Indiana 5th in ESPN future Power Rankings

daschysta · Post #1 » by **daschysta** » Wed Feb 8, 2012 9:28 pm

Nice to get some love!

5. Indiana Pacers | Future Power Rating: 748

PLAYERS: 399 (7th)
MANAGEMENT: 130 (10th)
MONEY: 141 (7th)
MARKET: 41 (18th)
DRAFT: 37 (20th)

We continue to get more excited about the roster Larry Bird and David Morway have put together. While there are no superstars, the team is incredibly deep and plays well together. Danny Granger is in his prime, David West brings leadership, Roy Hibbert is playing like an All-Star, Darren Collison continues to improve, Tyler Hansbrough brings manic energy, George Hill (when healthy) has given the team a scorer off the bench, and Paul George may very well be the best player on this team in another year, if not one of the best players in the league -- he has that much potential.

The team continues to be prudent with its money, too, and still has significant cap room to add other pieces. Adding one more scorer could put the Pacers in serious contention for the Eastern Conference crown.

But it's the Pacers' jump in management score that moved them up to No. 5. Owner Herb Simon remains committed to putting a winning team on the floor, which means the front office has the green light to spend if it's on the right guy. And while no one had heard of Frank Vogel before last season, he's quickly looking like one of the best up-and-coming coaches in the NBA. He doesn't get enough credit for his contribution to the unselfish culture on the Pacers.

Bird, however, deserves the lion's share of the credit. Is this the year the three-time NBA MVP and former coach of the year completes the triple crown and takes home executive of the year honors? It's hard to think of anyone else who deserves it more.

(Previous rank: 7)

Courtesy of John Hollinger/ ESPN

If George develops like we think he could/should we could be real contenders sooner rather than later.

JONEAL · Post #2 » by **JONEAL** » Wed Feb 8, 2012 11:04 pm

Great post!
it's good to see Bird get some love for the roster he and david put together.

frizzledizzle · Post #3 » by **frizzledizzle** » Fri Feb 10, 2012 12:51 pm

Anybody see realgm's horrible power rankings?

1. Chicago Bulls
2. Philadelphia 76ers
3. Miami Heat
4. Portland Trail Blazers
5. Boston Celtics
6. Atlanta Hawks
7. Denver Nuggets
8. Oklahoma City Thunder
9. Los Angeles Clippers
10. San Antonio Spurs
11. Dallas Mavericks
12. Los Angeles Lakers
13. Indiana Pacers

Beaten five of the teams ranked higher(Boston x2). @LA, @Dal, @Bos, @Chi, Atl, Bos. Barely lost at Philly without both Granger and Hill. Currently have the 5th best record behind only Chicago, Miami, Philly and Oklahoma. All are only like a game ahead of the Pacers, Sixers only half a game.

Thunder got shafted in those rankings too.

frizzledizzle · Post #4 » by **frizzledizzle** » Wed Feb 22, 2012 5:42 pm

While I'm taking a hiatus because I believe in this team and some of our fans want to burn everyone at the stake, I'm sick of ESPN. Pacers are the only team I cheer for from Indiana but all of my teams are made a mockery of by them. You see something labeled off to the side saying "Granger goes off". They show something else during it and then they go to commercial, come back and show other stuff. That's after waiting like an hour to see the Pacers highlights. When it is University of Tennessee, in place of their regular logo, they show the one with light blue which is only for the women's basketball team. ESPN constantly craps all over my favorite teams and it's annoying.

Since last night, the standings continue to show Philly 4th and Indy 5th when you click conference standings. How is 20-13(Philly) seeded higher than 20-12(Indy). ESPN is a joke and I'm sick of seeing LA this, Miami that. I know the Pacers lost to Philly but if the season ended tomorrow, head to head does not matter. Pacers have a higher winning percentage.

ESPN sucks.

frizzledizzle · Post #5 » by **frizzledizzle** » Wed Feb 22, 2012 5:46 pm

frizzledizzle wrote:When it is University of Tennessee, in place of their regular logo, they show the one with light blue which is only for the women's basketball team. ESPN constantly craps all over my favorite teams and it's annoying.

Adding to that, they've not only done that with the logo more than once. Underneath highlights of Tennessee's QB Tyler Bray, they put "Taylor Bray".

ESPN doesn't give a crap about small markets. So annoying.

Indy2thaWindy · Post #6 » by **Indy2thaWindy** » Wed Feb 22, 2012 6:11 pm

It has little to do with markets and everything to with stars.

If the Knicks sucked and never had Melo we wouldn't ever hear about them. Lin's just hoopin right now. The constant Linsanity is overkill, but it's what the mainstream wants to see. Tebow and Denver wasn't about market. Wait until March and this Peyton Manning thing.

And who the fudge is Taylor Bray?

chube · Post #7 » by **chube** » Thu Feb 23, 2012 6:28 am

frizzledizzle wrote:Since last night, the standings continue to show Philly 4th and Indy 5th when you click conference standings. How is 20-13(Philly) seeded higher than 20-12(Indy). ESPN is a joke and I'm sick of seeing LA this, Miami that. I know the Pacers lost to Philly but if the season ended tomorrow, head to head does not matter. Pacers have a higher winning percentage.

That's gotta be because Philly leads their division, whereas we obviously don't. No matter the record, a division winner/leader is guaranteed one of the top 4 seeds.

Wizop · Post #8 » by **Wizop** » Thu Feb 23, 2012 1:42 pm

chube wrote:That's gotta be because Philly leads their division, whereas we obviously don't. No matter the record, a division winner/leader is guaranteed one of the top 4 seeds.

the NBA shows us in 5 too, but who gets home court advantage in the 4/5 series, the division winner or the team with the better record? I think it is the later so while Philly looks to be headed for a division win I think we can get a home court series even if Orlando takes the 3 spot. it used to be that the three winners were guaranteed the top 3 spots but that's changed and now they are only guaranteed one of the top 4. home court has always gone by record not number so the effect of the change was to allow one non winner to get to a spot where they could play someone lower than the 5 seed. however, the weakest division winner is never going to have to play a team better than the 4th best record.

I'm projecting Chicago and Miami 1/2 and Orland 3 unless they trade Howard. I expect Philly to fall because they have a lot of road games yet to play and wouldn't be surprised if the Knicks catch them. I see us with the 4th best record. I hope that gives us home court even if we're called the 5 seed. wikipedia says we do.

Orlando plays at Atlanta tonight. if Atlanta wins, we'll go into the break at 3 and Orlando will drop to 5. I don't expect that but it'd be nice.

Post #9 » by **Miller4ever** » Thu Feb 23, 2012 5:24 pm

There's only 3 divisions.

Wizop · Post #10 » by **Wizop** » Fri Feb 24, 2012 5:13 pm

Miller4ever wrote:There's only 3 divisions.

I'm not sure who you were directing that to. yes, 3 divisions and 4 home playoff spots. it used to be that the 3 division winners were seeded 1-2-3. now the lowest seeded winner can drop to 4 (I don't know if 2 can also drop to 3 or if the only change is 3 can drop to 4). 3 plays 6 and 4 plays 5 but the home court goes to the better record not the higher seed number. so if 5 has a better record than 4, it's still called the 5, but it gets home court.

in any event, Hawks beat Magic last night as I hoped and Pacers are 3 heading into the break. the preseason odds on that happening had to be pretty rich. great year so far.