OT - Is everyone having a fun off-season?

[boomershadow]

After all the hoopla over the Paul George trade and a very busy off-season in acquiring free agents, things finally calmed down a bit during the end of this summer. Basketball has been slow lately, so I have been spending time getting caught up at work, working on the lawn, going on walks and hikes, visiting the Broad Ripple dog park, hanging out with family, and the like. Still got a little ways to go until the first pre-season game this October 4th. I'm excited to have a new season coming up, but I'm also hoping to have a little bit more fun before colder weather hits and I start spending more time doing things indoors, like watching basketball.

What has everyone been up to this off-season? Any fun plans to share for the rest of the year? Is there anyone that had a great summer or is looking forward to fall beginning? I can hardly believe 09/22 is less than a week away....


https://growling-bear.deviantart.com/art/Brown-County-Fall-Colors-160082144

[HurricaneDij25]

In general, it's been a good offseason.

On the message boards, not so much.

This is only my 34th post on here and I'm just looking for a casual place to talk sports and to be embraced and accepted. My other message board on Sports Hoopla you pretty much had to be a snob from either Florida or California (either a Heat, Lakers, or Warriors fan) to have full credibility and trash-talk privileges. So naturally, I was the laughingstock of the whole board when the whole Paul George thing came about...

And just today, some mod on the general board here on RealGM (reagrding 3-and-D wings of the NBA) didn't appreciate that I copied a blog post of mine (regarding 3-and-D wing players of the NBA) onto the board. My post had been removed before I got home from work tonight and before I could see the responses to it.

Just hoping for better luck in the future, that's all.

[Moooose]

^ That's weird. I've seen people promote their blogs and all in the forums. What was the violation?

The silence of the Pacer fans is just too obvious this year. I am from Asia and I know fellow Pacer fans here, but now we don't even talk about the team that much anymore. Just recently, we just browsed through all the teams new uniforms and that's it.

The loss of PG and the tampering thing were both negatives and maybe we had too much of those already. Or maybe our team isn't as exciting this year? I am excited about Myles and Oladipo. But i am not optimistic about a winning season. Or a postseason slot. Or someone from the team getting invited for the all-star game (maybe GRIII to defend his crown). But that's it, I guess. My personal morale's about the team is just down this offseason.

Other than basketball, I am learning to play golf. And I now have a beer belly because of it. Nice.

[Wizop]

Colts aren't helping. They could draft higher than the Pacers in 2018. Who know the other team would do the tanking?

Pacers 2017 draft was a bit over-shadowed by the birth the same day of my third great-grandchild.

Fall plans include a Viking cruise from Montreal to New York in early October. Should be fun.

I was worried about IU football going into UVA game but that went well.

[boomershadow]

Colts aren't helping. They could draft higher than the Pacers in 2018. Who know the other team would do the tanking?

Pacers 2017 draft was a bit over-shadowed by the birth the same day of my third great-grandchild.

Fall plans include a Viking cruise from Montreal to New York in early October. Should be fun.

I was worried about IU football going into UVA game but that went well.

Wow. Congratulations. That's very exciting. You must be proud.





Colts are super disappointing to me right now. We've known since last year that Luck's injuries were serious, and that his timetable for recovery was uncertain. Tolzien is not an NFL level talent. We could have had Colin Kaepernick on the roster all summer planning for what to do in case Luck wasn't back in time. Instead we went with Tolzien, had a disaster of a first game, and traded away a decent receiver for a backup QB that's necessary now but really doesn't fit into our long term plans. And then started that quarterback yesterday after he'd been on the team like...two weeks? Two weeks isn't enough to prepare for your francise player missing games. It's definitely not enough time to get a starting quarterback optimally comfortable with a new team, new players, and new system. Especially worse when you already knew it might be a big problem all summer. All summer!

It sounded to me like we had done some things that could make the offensive line and defense better over the off-season, but if you totally botch the QB position then not much else you do matters. We were hoping to tread water until Luck comes back. You don't tread water by basically throwing away two games and then start hoping to get better.

[Pacers_Freak]

Colts aren't helping. They could draft higher than the Pacers in 2018. Who know the other team would do the tanking?

Pacers 2017 draft was a bit over-shadowed by the birth the same day of my third great-grandchild.

Fall plans include a Viking cruise from Montreal to New York in early October. Should be fun.

I was worried about IU football going into UVA game but that went well.

So I'm assuming the great-grandchild's name is TJ?

[Wizop]

Actual this one is Leo McHale Chester. No TJ among grandchildren and greatgrandchildren.

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[Wizop]

It sounded to me like we had done some things that could make the offensive line and defense better over the off-season, but if you totally botch the QB position then not much else you do matters. We were hoping to tread water until Luck comes back. You don't tread water by basically throwing away two games and then start hoping to get better.

Does it really matter how many games the Colts win this year? Same question with the Pacers? Neither is going anywhere in the playoffs. For the Colts, I think that means you should be extra conservative with Luck and for both I think it means playing youth even if it costs some games. I'm not at all sure the Colts botched the QB position because I don't think a veteran backup would have helped achieve the long term goals.

[Cresy06]

I really had fun this offseason with all the moves around the League. I am even quite positive about the Pacers future, we have great options. We can try to compete now and in the next few years and have a lot of good contracts on the team. Or we can trade some of the good contracts for picks and build up through the draft.
I watched a lot of Eurobasket the last few weeks and, if we suck this season, I hope we end up with a high draft pick and a chance to draft Luka Doncic, he is amazing.

I used to follow the Colts and NFL in the Peyton Manning days, and even a few years ago when Luck looked like the next big thing. But since his injuries I lost interest in the Colts unfortunately.

Other than that, I finally finished my Masters degree this Summer and are now looking to find a job close to home.

[boomershadow]

It sounded to me like we had done some things that could make the offensive line and defense better over the off-season, but if you totally botch the QB position then not much else you do matters. We were hoping to tread water until Luck comes back. You don't tread water by basically throwing away two games and then start hoping to get better.

Does it really matter how many games the Colts win this year? Same question with the Pacers? Neither is going anywhere in the playoffs. For the Colts, I think that means you should be extra conservative with Luck and for both I think it means playing youth even if it costs some games. I'm not at all sure the Colts botched the QB position because I don't think a veteran backup would have helped achieve the long term goals.

I think it's much more important for the Colts to win games than the Pacers. I would like to see the Pacers make the playoffs this year, but honestly that's just wishful thinking. I don't agree with those that say it's better not to make the playoffs than to make it, but that argument does exist and getting a higher draft pick would indeed be beneficial to us. Not enough to waste an entire season on, but that's just my personal opinion. I am well aware that there are those who disagree.

The Colts on the other hand really set the expectations high for the Luck era. They moved on from Peyton Manning after he helped bring the Colts by far the winning-est, most fan engaged, most financially successful period of the team's stay here in Indianapolis. And they did that because the argument was that Andrew Luck would keep us successful much farther into the future than Peyton Manning could at the tail end of his career. They're gonna have to prove that Luck is a player worth what we invested in him. And that they're capable of putting a team together that can be successful post-Bill Polian. And missing the playoffs for a second year in a row would really be proof that they're not accomplishing either of those goals.

That's just my viewpoint.

[Wizop]

I think it's much more important for the Colts to win games than the Pacers.

I think it's a player development year for both teams.

Luck covered up a lot of problems on the Colts and Grigson never admitted that. The defense needed a lot of attention and almost everyone on it is new this year. Hooker, Wilson, and Hairston look like the beginning of a fine defensive backfield. Geathers is another young keeper if he can get healthy. Davis and Butler are also injured and with their age could help this year but their end is near. The front seven has several good looking free agents but future drafts will need to address the linebackers ... and the offense. with playoff success a year or two away, I think they're doing the right thing allowing Luck to rehab slowly.

Pacers have some nice young pieces. like the Colts defense I think developing the young players we have is more important than drafting high next year,