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Hi Im a Raps fan. I wanna know if you guys are happy with the trade. On our end, we cant be any happier to see some defensive presence, someone who can scare the crap out of league's dominant slashers (in the game against Bucks, Jefferson did not dare to drive it to the hoop after a couple of shots were altered/blocked by JO) At least in the game against Celts, TJ must've been jumpin like a monkey right? He scored 19pts and dished 4 dimes Maybe hes back to his old self, the crazy lil pg with mad crossovers, fadeaways etc. I havent watched a full Pacers game, but becuz of TJ's contribution to the Raps, I do wish him the best of luck and so on.

We've been pretty happy so far with both Ford and Hibbert. Ford really drove Rondo nuts the other night, and Roy is coming along nicely.

Glad to hear you're pleased. Best of luck (unless you're playing us)

I can say quite honestly i'm extremely pleased he has arrived. He brings an energy and fire that this team has been lacking for quite some time now.
WIth the prominant outside shooting we have in abundance atm, he will find it quite easy to stick to what he does best, that being driving the hoop and his spot up mid-range game. It will also be a blessing that he won't have to compete here for the starting job, and has every option available to run this team in a way that he sees comfortable. I'd love for his FG% to rise again this year, just like it has done for every year in the league.

^^ yeah, totally. I love seeing the Pacers play their up tempo style with Ford. He seems like he knows what he's doing and he's attacking like noone i can remember since Travis Best, although i think we can all agree TJ Ford is a better player then Best ever was. He gives us a chance each and every time we have the ball in our hands. It's very nice to see.

I think you guys will pose trouble for the Celtics this season because of the fact that almost every time Rondo and TJ match up, TJ completely abuses him. As long as your wings can defend Pierce, it should result in W's. I'll be rooting for you guys, along with my Raps and Hornets.

NG15 wrote:I think you guys will pose trouble for the Celtics this season because of the fact that almost every time Rondo and TJ match up, TJ completely abuses him. As long as your wings can defend Pierce, it should result in W's. I'll be rooting for you guys, along with my Raps and Hornets.

Yea, Granger did a great job on Pierce the other night, 3-15 shooting.

So far TJ has been great, as evidenced by his complete domination of Rondo the other night. He may even be faster that people realize, if that's possible. I expect him to only improve under JOB system and once he learns more about his teammates.

I expect his stats to go up when the offense starts clicking more. He should've had something like 19/9 against the Celts but people were missing shots.

I remember TJ had a sick 3 to tie the game against the Celts last season when he was with the Raps, so it seems like he does perform well against Boston..

Here's the link if anyone is interested: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DMbE_CWFw8s

Start around the 5:00 mark, and TJ does a great job at penetrating and took a big shot..

Last game was no surprise to Raptor fans, TJ Ford owns Rajan Rondo when ever they go heads up. Rondo relies on his speed for his game and thats where Ford kills him.

As a Raptor and Pacer fan I could not be happier with this deal.

Great trade for both teams, I love the way the raptors are playing right now, and I was happy with either TJ or Calderon, just needed to get rid of one so we could have more talent on the floor at once.

Good luck with your season, wish TJ all the best, even when he plays us.... as long as JO plays even better

I'll be following TJ closely from here in T.O. One of my favourite Raptors, but he was just stuck in a situation here where there was too much talent at one position. Hopefully, both he and J.O. will remain healthy for a long time. I really hope Indiana makes it back to the playoffs this year as TJ has always played in the post-season. Truthfully he fits Indiana's style of play better than he did the current incarnation of the Raptors. As he gets more comfortable with his new teammates, I expect him to improve once again as he seems to do every season.

Good luck (except when you play the Raptors of course )

It should be interesting to see how the Ford/Jack vs Nash match up goes tonight, I don't really know what to expect.

While I am extremely pleased with the trade, and I am happy with how TJ is performing... Am I the only one that is concerned that the assist numbers are as low as they are... I know that we are with out Dunleavy, and we are still trying to gel, but I would like to see TJ getting more assists than what he is...

bballpacen wrote:While I am extremely pleased with the trade, and I am happy with how TJ is performing... Am I the only one that is concerned that the assist numbers are as low as they are... I know that we are with out Dunleavy, and we are still trying to gel, but I would like to see TJ getting more assists than what he is...

Yes, I was wondering the exact same thing here, his numbers have been really good, however his assists are rather lower than expected. I actually expected something upwards of at least 8-9 assists per game...

I'll wait until Dunleavy comes back though, is there a date or its still unknown?

im alright with his assist numbers so far. hes still been one of our top players. we have a ton of new guys and its gonna take some time for the team to gel. i expect fords assists to go up, hopefully soon

pacers33granger wrote:im alright with his assist numbers so far. hes still been one of our top players. we have a ton of new guys and its gonna take some time for the team to gel. i expect fords assists to go up, hopefully soon

I ttlly agree pacers33granger!

Wow.... I wasn't sure how much this would hurt us in the long run but TJ Ford is an absolute STUD. I love the trade for O'neal but part of me wonders what we would be like if Jose came to Indiana instead. TJ has been a BEAST this season, is he getting guys that normally don't have any offense involved as well? I noticed Foster's scoring is up someone please elaborate!

Dennis P wrote:Wow.... I wasn't sure how much this would hurt us in the long run but TJ Ford is an absolute STUD. I love the trade for O'neal but part of me wonders what we would be like if Jose came to Indiana instead. TJ has been a BEAST this season, is he getting guys that normally don't have any offense involved as well? I noticed Foster's scoring is up someone please elaborate!

Foster's scoring is the function of two things:

- Better passing overall and specifically better PG play has gotten Jeff the ball in a position to get an easy bucket or get fouled
- Jeff is taking, and hitting, the mid-range J to some degree. He's also hit 14 of his last 17 FT's, including 7 of 9 on Monday and 4 of 5 last night.

Raps fan here as well, and dear god do I miss TJ. He may be the most under appreciated guy in the league. Better than average defender, tenacious attacker, improved his shooting every season of his career, creates havoc for the defense. He can get a little too locked in at times and he has his off nights but all in all he's (IMO) the best PG in the league not currently considered to be 1st tier (nash, paul, dwill, parker). I'd take him over kidd, calderon, baron, rondo, miller, bibby - pretty much anyone you'd care to mention. Enjoy him - don't take him for granted like we did. Hold on to him and you can build quite a team.