RealGM

It is said that "talent borrows, but genius steals." Well, this is stolen with pride from last summer. Here are the rules:

Someone posts a "Fact or Fiction" question, which the next poster will quote, then respond, answering "Fact" or "Fiction", then giving their reasoning.

Then that poster must pose a "Fact or Fiction" question of their own.

I'll start:

Fact or Fiction? - Jamaal Tinsley will be on the Pacer's roster on opening night of the 2008-2009 Season.

Fact or Fiction? - Jamaal Tinsley will be on the Pacer's roster on opening night of the 2008-2009 Season. FICTION


Fact or Fiction?- The Pacers will draft DJ Augustin with the 11th pick in the 2008 NBA Draft.

massey1992 wrote:Fact or Fiction? - Jamaal Tinsley will be on the Pacer's roster on opening night of the 2008-2009 Season. FICTION


Fact or Fiction?- The Pacers will draft DJ Augustin with the 11th pick in the 2008 NBA Draft.

Fiction - While I certainly have no real problems with the idea, I actually believe that Augustin will be off the board by the time the Pacers draft, going to either the Clips at 7 or Bobcats at 9. His size is a little unnerving, but the Clips are as desperate as we are for a 1, and I can see Larry Brown really liking Augustin.

Fact or Fiction? - The Pacers will be able to move Ike Diogu for a late first round draft pick (plus filler).

count55 wrote:-= original quote snipped =-


Fact or Fiction? - The Pacers will be able to move Ike Diogu for a late first round draft pick (plus filler).

Fiction. Edit: I think we would like to move Ike for a late first rounder, but I'm not sure he has that much value. It depends on if anyone is as in love with him as Bird was.

Fact or Fiction: We acquire our new starting point guard this offseason via trade.

cdash wrote:-= original quote snipped =-



Fiction.

Fact or Fiction: We acquire our new starting point guard this offseason via trade.

Ficton-They will look for one in the draft.

Fact or Fiction? The Pacers will not have Ike Diogu on their roster at the start of next season.

Timeout...make sure you give us your reasoning on why it's fact or fiction.

OK...back to massey's statement:

massey1992 wrote:-= original quote snipped =-



Ficton-They will look for one in the draft.

Fact or Fiction? The Pacers will not have Ike Diogu on their roster at the start of next season.

Fact. he

FICTION - The Pacers almost made the playoffs without getting much out of O'Neal and he slows our offense up too much. Getting pieces and picks for him will only make us better.

FACT or FICTION - Pacers will move up to draft Eric Gordon Jr?

Grang33r wrote:FICTION - The Pacers almost made the playoffs without getting much out of O'Neal and he slows our offense up too much. Getting pieces and picks for him will only make us better.

FACT or FICTION - Pacers will move up to draft Eric Gordon Jr?

Fiction - As always, the asking price for top 10 draft picks will go from merely ridiculous to completely insane as the draft approaches. The Pacers, lacking sufficient assets to move up, will keep the #11, but either trade or buy their way into another late first or perhaps second round pick.

FACT or FICTION - Danny Granger will average over 20 pts per game for the entire season next year.

Grang33r wrote:FICTION - The Pacers almost made the playoffs without getting much out of O'Neal and he slows our offense up too much. Getting pieces and picks for him will only make us better.

FACT or FICTION - Pacers will move up to draft Eric Gordon Jr?

Fiction-- LB & Co. will certainly think about it, but won't have enough to get a sufficient trade done in time.

FACT or FICTION-- Will the Pacers end up with have more than 2 draft picks in the 2008 draft?

count55 wrote:
FACT or FICTION - Danny Granger will average over 20 pts per game for the entire season next year.

FACT - Granger improves each and every year, he is our leader and our best player and next year will be no different. He almost had 20ppg this season but was just short, i think he will get over 20ppg.

FACT or FICTION-- Will the Pacers end up with have more than 2 draft picks in the 2008 draft?

(Im using Indydave's question since him and count responded to mine at the same time)

Fiction- For no other reason then I don't see the front office acquiring another draft pick with any of the guys we currently have on our roster. We may move up or down, but I don't see us acquiring a 3rd pick.


FACT or FICTION- The Pacers will hold opponents to less than 105 points per game on average next year.

FICTION - Our defense is bad. And our team will not get any big help this year and our team will probably get much younger, and younger team usually means your defense will suffer. On top of that, i don't think JOB knows how to coach defense.

FACT or FICTION - At some point during the off-season, they will bring in Reggie Miller as some type of role in management?

Grang33r wrote:FICTION - Our defense is bad. And our team will not get any big help this year and our team will probably get much younger, and younger team usually means your defense will suffer. On top of that, i don't think JOB knows how to coach defense.

FACT or FICTION - At some point during the off-season, they will bring in Reggie Miller as some type of role in management?

Before I respond to the fact or fiction, I'm going to challenge the bolded above. Prior to his stint here, O'Brien's teams were actually well above average defensively. In his two full seasons with the C's, they were 5th and 7th in Defensive Rating. In his one full season with the Sixers, they were 10th.

DRtg
Defensive Rating (available since the 1977-78 season in the NBA); for players and teams it is points allowed per 100 posessions. This rating was developed by Dean Oliver, author of Basketball on Paper. I will point you to Dean's book for complete details.

Last season, the Pacers were actually better in their Defensive Rating (at 15th) than they were offensively (19th).

Now, clearly the defense was flawed, but I tend to believe that it is more a function of personnel than coaching. I'm not wild about his system, but his record shows it to have had some success. If, however, the defense doesn't move upward this year, then I will be more ready to assign the blame to O'Brien for either (a) failing to properly teach the players, (b) failing to properly adjust his system to his players, or (c) a combination of both.

Fiction - I do not see Reggie taking any ceremonial or figurehead type roles, and I do not see the Pacers offering him a substantive role in the organization.

FACT or FICTION - Shawne Williams will play in 75+ games and average 20+ minutes per game.

count55 wrote:FACT or FICTION - Shawne Williams will play in 75+ games and average 20+ minutes per game.

Fiction. At least the first part. It's difficult even for established starters to hold up for 75 games, without looking it up, I'd guess that on average there are only two or three guys per team who play in 75 or more games in a typical season.

I do think that in the games he does play in, Williams could average 20 minutes, although that's probably on the high end of my guess...I'd guess 15 to 20 minutes next year, somewhere in there. Still a lot of traffic ahead of him at his positions, though, barring a big trade.

FACT OR FICTION: 2008-2009 will be Larry Bird's last season in charge of the Pacers.

mizzoupacers wrote:-= original quote snipped =-



Fiction. At least the first part. It's difficult even for established starters to hold up for 75 games, without looking it up, I'd guess that on average there are only two or three guys per team who play in 75 or more games in a typical season.

I do think that in the games he does play in, Williams could average 20 minutes, although that's probably on the high end of my guess...I'd guess 15 to 20 minutes next year, somewhere in there. Still a lot of traffic ahead of him at his positions, though, barring a big trade.

FACT OR FICTION: 2008-2009 will be Larry Bird's last season in charge of the Pacers.

Fact. I dont have much confidence in him and I think the Simons are going to keep him on a short leash. I could see Bird getting the ouster and power being handed over to Morway.

Fact or Fiction: Granger will be in Phoenix for the 2009 All-Star game.

Fiction- He will deserve it, but playing on a subpar small market team will hurt him.

FACT or FICTION: The Pacers will draft a player ready to contribute next season.

joew8302 wrote:Fiction- He will deserve it, but playing on a subpar small market team will hurt him.

FACT or FICTION: The Pacers will draft a player ready to contribute next season.

FACT-- or should I say, they better-- I agree with the above LB is probably on a short leash with the Simons, so he'd better at least get one solid contributor out of this draft (or he'll be playing a lot more golf next summer ). Past the top 2 elite prospects, and 4-5 very good prospects, it sounds like there could be as many as 20-35 players that can contibute for an NBA team in some capacity. Another thing about this draft is that there dosen't seem to be a bunch of "project" players so I think we'll get at least one contributor from this draft.

FACT or FICTION-- Marquis Daniels and Troy Murphy will be on the Pacers' roster come opening day in October 2008.

Indydave wrote:FACT or FICTION-- Will Marquis Daniels and Troy Murphy will be on the Pacers' roster come opening day in October 2008?

FICTION - One of the two will definitely be traded, or rather should be. We can't stand pat and keeping both of these (both disappointments in my opinion) would be awful.

FACT or FICTION - Larry Bird will be making basketball decisions for the Pacers in 2010.

FACT - Larry Bird will pull off a few deals this summer to help the team, i think we'll have a strong draft and he will find an idiot to deal for Tinsley. We will be a playoff contender but look like a very good promising young team and peoples opinion will turn on Bird and he'll be here in 2010.

FACT or FICTION - Mike Dunleavy Jr will NOT be a Pacer by training camp?