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Discord in Indiana/Trade chatter
January, 21, 2011
Jan 21
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Broussard By Chris Broussard
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Indiana Pacers brass is not pleased with the performance of head coach Jim O'Brien, according to several league sources.

That said, O'Brien, who is in the last year of his contract, is likely to remain as coach the rest of the season. Part of the reason is that no one on O'Brien's staff -- Dan Burke, Frank Vogel, Jay DeFruscio, Vitaly Potapenko and Walter McCarty -- is viewed as a suitable replacement.

One complaint about O'Brien is the strange way he divvies up minutes: Tyler Hansbrough plays 36 minutes one night, posting 23 points and 12 rebounds, and just 23 minutes the next; Paul George plays 21 minutes one night, four the next.

GM David Morway could also be in trouble after the season, and league scuttlebutt has former Portland GM Kevin Pritchard as a likely replacement. Pritchard was close to being hired as the replacement for Rod Thorn in New Jersey, but the Nets, of course, settled on Billy King.

yes please..get job out..and id take pritchard over morway in a heartbeat

Nice find.

In the future, please put anything taken from a source in quotes when you're copying and pasting something, and supply a link to the source.

Bird publicly defended O'Brien, but I see that Broussard has dirt that we are generally pleased with, between dumping Obie and maybe getting Pritchard. But does Broussard give any credence to in either case?

The only reason Bird defended O'Brien is cuz if he didnt then the players wouldnt play hard for him but now the players are becoming disinterested so whats the point in keeping him around? Fire his ass,name one of the assistants as an interim and see how the players respond. Ive been a Pacer fan since I was a kid and everytime I listen to O'Brien talk I wanna vomit. Hes an absolute moron when it comes to the NBA game. You win with continunity and a solid rotation, not flip-flopping starting lineups every night and rotating guys in and out of the bench rotation every night. I almost forgot Solomon Jones even plays for us

wavz360 wrote:Discord in Indiana/Trade chatter
January, 21, 2011
Jan 21
11:30
PM ET

* Email
* Print
* Comments13

Broussard By Chris Broussard
Archive
Indiana Pacers brass is not pleased with the performance of head coach Jim O'Brien, according to several league sources.

That said, O'Brien, who is in the last year of his contract, is likely to remain as coach the rest of the season. Part of the reason is that no one on O'Brien's staff -- Dan Burke, Frank Vogel, Jay DeFruscio, Vitaly Potapenko and Walter McCarty -- is viewed as a suitable replacement.

One complaint about O'Brien is the strange way he divvies up minutes: Tyler Hansbrough plays 36 minutes one night, posting 23 points and 12 rebounds, and just 23 minutes the next; Paul George plays 21 minutes one night, four the next.

GM David Morway could also be in trouble after the season, and league scuttlebutt has former Portland GM Kevin Pritchard as a likely replacement. Pritchard was close to being hired as the replacement for Rod Thorn in New Jersey, but the Nets, of course, settled on Billy King.

For anyone looking for a link to this guys post... here it is- http://espn.go.com/blog/truehoop/post/_ ... de-chatter

Nice article!

Answer me something... Who really runs this team? What is Larry's role in the team compared to Morways?

Sucks that he will probably remain our coach until season's end. Honestly though I would take any of the assistants over JOB for a couple months... I don't think any of them could do much worse or have rotations that make any less sense than JOB.

Nice! Glad to see more national articles like this!

colts2004 wrote:Nice article!

Answer me something... Who really runs this team? What is Larry's role in the team compared to Morways?

Larry has the final say. Morway is the accountant, he makes the numbers work. It's kind of hard to fault David, especially if you consider all the soon-to-be capspace that he helped create.

I am on the fence in regards to Morway, beacuase I like Pritchard too. JOB on the other hand is DOA.

I have no doubt O'Brien is done. His style and system though I think could suit a Division I College program with the way he can play and I could see him as an assistant with Paterno until some college jumps at the chance.

The fact they are trying to be rid of Dunleavy suggests it's all over but the shouting.

Why not replace him now? I think it's about continuity. You don't want to run the chance that these assistant, whom btw are only signed through this season, develop an attachment to the players and vice versa.

With the young players we have, he has to go. We need someone who can develop DC, Big Roy, Brandon, Lance, AJ and PG.

And get Danny to play at the level we know he can

Boneman2 wrote:

colts2004 wrote:Nice article!

Answer me something... Who really runs this team? What is Larry's role in the team compared to Morways?

Larry has the final say. Morway is the accountant, he makes the numbers work. It's kind of hard to fault David, especially if you consider all the soon-to-be capspace that he helped create.

I am on the fence in regards to Morway, beacuase I like Pritchard too. JOB on the other hand is DOA.

I am the same way. I've read about about Morway being one of the top up and coming general manager's in this sport, and he has a lot of experience in baseball and now here and he has done real good work on the job tasks that he has been assigned to do, like you mentioned, so i think we may be playing with fire by letting him go, however, if the replacement is a guy like Pritchard, i think i am willing to take the risk. He's one of the best guys in the league and did an amazing job in Portland.

Also, he had his own "cap geek" in Portland, who now works for ESPN (atleast ive seen him a few times) i wonder if he also brings him in too? The name escapes me.

Finally, more and more NBA analysts are scratching their heads regarding JOB's rotations and jerking around minutes. The Portland announcers just mentioned basically the same thing that Chris Broussard's article did.

George needs atleast 20 mpg going forward. He is becoming more comfortable by the minute, and seems to have the required amount of confidence to be relied upon.

Rush must've stumbled upon the chronic in his home state. He is reverting into last years version of himself.

81 minutes between Dunleavy, Rush & Posey. 8 minutes for PG. JOB you deserve to lose because your distribution of minutes is not based off playing the best available option. When other teams look that fresh, late in the 4th, it is time to make some lineup changes.

I hope we go on a massive losing streak just so he can be fired, then go on a super streak to make playoffs.

I'm amazed Bird hasn't lost it, gone into O'Brien's office and told him to play Hansbrough and George. They both have played well in the very limted exposure they've gotten and the guys O'Brien insists on using (I'm thinking of Ford, Posey, Dunleavy and Solo) aren't in the future plan or remarkably effective. Its like O'Brien is totally oblivious to the big picture for this franchise.

If this continues the Pacers are going to lose this season completely and that's a shame. There's enough talent on this team to make the playoffs and gain valuable experience the playoffs would bring.

Good point 8305...O'Brien is only playing guys like Posey, Ford etc. in order to save his job although in Posey's defense hes been one of our big shotmakers this year. Its time for JOB to go...it was time last year honestly. Hes a college coach. You dont jerk around minutes in the NBA. These guys are professionals and get paid alot of money to what they have worked their lives for. That crap wont work in the NBA but it will work for snot-nosed 18-20 year olds

Lemme knock on Posey: he's shooting 33% from 3. That's not even efficient, especially for a spot-up guy. That's Antoine Walker territory.

Grang33r wrote:Also, he had his own "cap geek" in Portland, who now works for ESPN (atleast ive seen him a few times) i wonder if he also brings him in too? The name escapes me.

The gentleman's name you are thinking of is Tom Penn

Brandon-Clyde wrote:

Grang33r wrote:Also, he had his own "cap geek" in Portland, who now works for ESPN (atleast ive seen him a few times) i wonder if he also brings him in too? The name escapes me.

The gentleman's name you are thinking of is Tom Penn

Yes! Thank you.