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Now that the season is over I'd like your thoughts and ratings on players
I'll start

Hibbert B-
Started out pormsing, then struggled until Vogel came in. Got his confidence back and was a low post presence for us.
Still somewhat inconsistent throughout the season. When he plays well the Pacers usually play well

Hansbrough B+
Essentially a rookie. Like most of our players it is a tail of two halves. Tough to judge him under O'Brien. Under Frank he played very well and was our best player for a month straight (if not longer). Was a little dissapointing in the playoffs apart from game 1.

Granger A-
Was much more of a team player under Frank and was still our leader. Too turnover prone and trigger happy at times but he is our leader.

George B
Showed a lot of promise as a rookie, scored some clutch baskets. Can create his shot, is athletic and deflects a great deals of passes. He can really develop into a great defender. Needs a little more consistency with his shot and I felt he faded towards the end of the season

Collison B-
Points and assist per game picked up under Frank but too many turnovers. Still not bad from a 2nd year point guard having 3 different coaches in 2 seasons.

Mikey D B
Smart player, did not hurt the team throughout the season and was his consistent self

BRush C+
I am a big fan of his, but after 3 seasons of not much offensive growth I am a little disappointed. His playes good defense though but really needs to find the offense

Dahntay A
some might think this a high grade but he remained professional whilst in obie's doghouse and played well when called upon. Under Frank he moved up in the rotation and played some good ball.

AJ Price B
When he gets going he really gets going. Provides good offense off the bench and is a good scorer when hitting his shots. Would like his assist to turnover ratio to increase and more movement from the offense whilst he is in

McBob B
Energy off the bench under Frank. Highlight reel. Needs to be in the dunk comp next season. Also hope his contract is extended

Foster A
One of the best rebounders and hustle players in the NBA. For a 34 year old he has done fantastic

TJ Ford C-
Not really sure to give him a rating or an N/A as he rode the bench for half a season. Remained professional throughout. Guess i rated him based on yet another dissapointing system where he could have challenged for the starting job or been a significant back up but ended up being a 3rd stringer.

Posey N/A

Solomon Jones N/A

Lance Dance N/A
Although when watching some of the games he was always dancing, laughing and smiling. Please stay out of trouble and you could become on of my favourite pacers.

Frank the Tank (coach V) A-
Easy schedule, yes indeed but the team still needed to win. We had consistent rotations, players responded well and in-game adjustments and play calls were good. We made the playoffs and could have easily won the first 3 games against the Bulls. Some might even say he outcoached Tom Thibodou.

Brandon Rush gets an N- from me.

Well done.

One slight correction though. Collison has actually had 4 coaches in 2 years. Byron Scott was fired after 20 games or so last season in New Orleans and replaced by Jeff Bower. Then of course JOB and Vogel.

Otherwise, a pretty good assessment.

PG's shooting is fine. When you're taking only a couple shots a game and they are far between, its nearly impossible to get into a rhythm.

Other than that, similar sentiments on all. (People on this board misuse "professionalism" ALOT btw)

Solomon Jones gets an A+ from me for not doing anything to warrant a contract extension.

Gremz wrote:Solomon Jones gets an A+ from me for not doing anything to warrant a contract extension.

+1

I definitely don't give Granger an A-... A solid B at best. I mean, he sort of regressed in a few ways from previous years. At one point, you could fairly claim that he was a top 5 SF - behind LeBron, Durant, Melo, Pierce... but now? Are you so certain?

He didn't really improve too much of his game, which I can understand (you reach a point where you've maxed out your key skills and masked the deficiencies, but there might not be much more room to improve.)

Rush gets a solid C, no plus for him.

are we grading their potential as players or the work they turned in this year? if the later, I'd give Danny what we used to call a gentleman's C+. that's the grade we used to get when we just went through the motions and turned something in that followed the instructions but didn't reflect significant work.

Reggie's great strength was that he'd spend every summer adding something new to his game. Danny took a step back last summer perhaps because he played on the US team instead of working on his game. we all hoped that getting bench time last summer would motivate him. I didn't see it although late in the year he did start to drive more and settle for jumpers less and that was a good sign. if he'd just become a better passer I'd be very happy.

Tyler needs to work on his left hand. our old high school coach at Shortridge, Cleon Reynolds, wouldn't have let him off the JV until he could dribble and shot layups with both hands.

Rush baffles me. I love what he could be and then he disappears.

I don't completely understand Josh's limitations. I never understood why Obie played him so little and assume there was something missing in his game that I didn't see. he's still quite young. I hope we bring him back. I wish he'd get a little of Jeff Foster's attitude. over the years we've brought in a lot of players that were expected to push Jeff to the bench and he just fights to keep his spot and always wins.

I think we're all crossing our fingers that's Lance just needed a year to mature.

George exceeded my expectations. He is not only better than I thought, but farther along in his development. Too bad so much of the season passed by before he got more playing time.

Hansbrough was also a pleasant surprise. He not only overcame his health problems but also turned in a solid year, proving he can be a productive NBA player.

Collison was fine. Struggled a bit adjusting to the Pacers and maybe to a starting role in only his second season, but he looks like he will be a solid starter for us.

Granger added further proof that he is a well-above-average NBA starter, but not really a truly elite player. I think he had a good year--some of the expectations for him are perhaps a bit unrealistic.

Hibbert was OK, but I think we're all starting to see his limitations. He's just not particularly strong or athletic. Right now he's sort of a Rik Smits Lite. I'm hoping he'll continue to get better.

McRoberts and Dahntay were adequate role players, at times a bit more than that. Price was mostly adequate but sometimes erratic. Foster is who he is, and we're glad to have him as long as his back holds up.

Rush continued to be a disappointment.

Stephenson continues to be an uncertainty--maybe he will mature into a good player, maybe not.

Dunleavy, Ford, Posey and Solomon Jones are pretty much irrelevant to the team's future so no point in grading them.

Paul George A-
Performed above expectations. Defended at a higher level than typically seen from rookies which I think speaks volumes about his understanding of the game in general. Offensive potential is evident as well.
Tyler Hansbrough B+
Also exceeded expectations. Scored better than most expected. Didn't do a bad job defending Boozer in the playoffs.
Roy Hibbert B
His offense was really inconsistent but he generally has more in his game than a year ago. The reduction in weight made him much more a factor defensively.
Danny Granger C+
Solid playoff performance raised his grade with me. It may be that he's pretty much maxed out as a player. That said, if the rest of the guys can raise their games the way Danny did his first 4 years in the league we would be pretty good.
Darren Collison C
I'm sympathetic to his challenge of playing for four coaches in his first two years in the league and still feel like he could be the answer at pg. His defense and propensity for turnovers at key moments disappointed me.
Lance Stephenson F
There was never a question about his talent and I think that's still the case. But, I'm not optimistic when he behaves so badly that the Pacers saw the need to put him on the shelf. How often do guys who are their own worst enemies ever succeed?

Lance Stephenson is going to have a hard time like so many big PG's before him. Most bigger PG's before him either become late bloomers 5+ years in the league or they simply phase out into average players.

See if any of these names sound familiar.

Jason Kidd
Ron Harper
Jamal Crawford

Some to a lesser degree

John Salmons
Rodney Stuckey

These are the only names off the top of my head, sorry.

I'm hoping Lance becomes a combo guard who can play some point when it's necessary to defend someone too tall for DC but can also play some two. I'm hoping he moves up to the 5th back court spot next year and gives AJ and Dahntay a run for their PT.