RealGM

http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/preview20 ... 910-Pacers

Every "Expert" has the Pacers finishing 4th in the Central. The only person I care for (prior to these rankings included) is Chad Ford. He has the Pacers finishing 8th in the East. All others have the Pacers 11-13th.

Some of these "experts" need to watch more of the Pacers. Example, JA Adande said, "Somehow they beat the Celtics, Lakers, Cavaliers and Magic last season. That probably says more about those teams snoozing than about the Pacers' talent." Ignorant and stupid statement. Arguably the 4 (or not-so-arguably the 3) best teams in the NBA all snooze against the same team, when it is very rare for each of them to do so? Also, there were a couple other snoozers like Houston and Denver. So that means that really all the top-tier teams snoozed against us except the Trailblazers (ooops, does it count as a "snooze" if they only win by 2 at home with 2 free throws with 1 second to go? Oh yeah, it was a **** call, too. Even Roy, who made the two free throws, said so) and the Spurs (ooops, does it count as a snooze if they gave up 121 points, which happens to be the most points they gave up ALL season in regulation?) So how lucky are the Pacers! Every good team that plays us snoozes against us at least once a year!

Sorry for that rant.

Ooh, and thank you Chad Ford, for some love to our squad: "The Pacers were the best team no one paid attention to last season. Riddled with injuries, the team still almost made the playoffs and could score on anyone. They didn't add star power this summer, but they did shore up their defense. If Mike Dunleavy gets healthy, they'll surprise a lot of people."

P.S. That's fine if you don't think the Pacers with make the playoffs, but don't just BS something like Adande. And my guarnatee for this season: THE PACERS WILL FINISH AHEAD OF THE PISTONS!

Eh, nothing really new here. I really don't know what to expect currently. I'd be banking on a spot outside of the playoffs, but a lot does hinder of Dunleavy really.

11th-13th really doesn't seem out of the question, then again neither does 8th.

I think several teams will finish ahead of the Pistons, if Detroit doesn't immediately gel as a team. Too many new parts, and none of those parts are really THAT good to make them much more than a 7th seed at best. Add to the fact that they are REALLY thin in the front court, and I could see Pistons fans being extremely disappointed this season.

Then again, they should already be disappointed considering they broke up a Championship contender for cap space and then wasted all of that cap space on 2 guys who won't win them a title, or even a conference championship.

Well in hindsight, they're capspace plan was a solid idea. Unfortunately, guys like Boozer weren't available on the market and they also were unable to make a deal for a center (Kaman possibly?).

Both of which led to rush decisions in Charlie V and Gordon, which as you pointed out, really doesn't make them such a quality team.

i love jalen rose's "analasys" of the team: Danny Granger has emerged as a top small forward. Troy Murphy is automatic from 3 at or near the top of the key. Mike Dunleavy hopes to shake the injury bug.

^^He's totally not doing the writing thing because he likes it. He does a good job in the studio, but he's not that much in the way of writing.

yea ive noticed that, he is much better and into it when hes in the studio. id just think with the season finally coming up and espn doing almost nothing on basketball after the offseason deals died down that they'd start putting some more into these season previews. oh well, i suppose im just antsy for the season to start.

I will be really surprised is we aren't better than Detroit. What could keep us out of the playoffs are Atlanta, Toronto, Washington, Chicago, Phil, Miami. That's six teams and only five playoff positions (seeing Boston, Cleveland, Orlando as sure things). All of those teams probably have better veteran talent than we do. If those six teams click and we don't get a strong comeback from Dunleavy and significant contributions from Rush and Hibbert we will be watching again in May.