Does anyone feel sorry for the Indiana Pacers Franchise?

[JordansBulls]

Does anyone feel sorry for the Indiana Pacers Franchise?

This was a team that was pretty good in the 90's and for the most part in 2004 and 2005. The 90's they couldn't overcome the Bulls. At times they would beat or lose to the Knicks and then have to worry about the Magic and other good teams. Their best chance was in 1999 when they were one of the two favorites after the Bulls demantled and they lost to the 8th seeded Knicks.
In 2000 they got to the finals and had to deal with the Lakers.
In 2004 they had the best record in the league and had JO, Reggie and Artest and got upset by the Pistons.
The following year in 2005 I think the Pacers had their best shot and then the brawl happened and they haven't been the same since.

Now they are dead last in attendance.

Source: Indystar

Playing in what they call "the heart of basketball country," the Indiana Pacers aren't feeling much love from their fans this season.
A losing record and a stream of negative off-court news have created gaping green holes at Conseco Fieldhouse, where empty seats sometimes outnumber fans.
The team's average attendance of 12,183 ranks last in the NBA and represents its worst norm since the 1990-91 season. Those figures include unused tickets. Actual attendance sometimes fails to reach 10,000, and has dipped below 8,000.

Top 3
Rk. Team Attendance
1. Detroit 22,076
2. Chicago 21,978
3. Cleveland 20,258

Bottom 3
Rk. Team Attendance
28. Phila. 13,263
29. Memphis 12,985
30. PACERS 12,183

[LiquidFire]

i love how the central devision has the top 3 most fans showing up.

[barkley34]

The Pacers have great fans. I feel bad they have had to deal with all the problems in recent years. It is like the same thing that happened in Portland.

Hopefully the Pacers turn it around just like Portland was able to.

[bleu]

I'm definantly am not a Pacers fan and I never have been, but yeah I do feel bad for them. I always feel bad for teams that only get around 20 wins in a season because I remember just a couple years ago when my Jazz only got like 22 wins. Most depressing year of my life.

[miller31time]

Bad management. They need to choose a direction in which to take the franchise, and stick with it.

Either trade Jermaine for young players and picks, or take some chances and acquire some talent.

[Rich Rane]

I remember Kidd's first year with the Nets and we had to face the Pacers i nthe first round. That Game 5 was incredible.

I couldn't care less about upsets or them losing in the playoffs really. It's just sad to see what their front office has done from the 90s and the first half of the 00s to now.

[Prophet_C]

I don't.

But it's nice to see Larry when they play us.

They were doomed the moment Isiah came into the picture.

[Texas Longhorns]

Larry B needs to do a better job.

[Optimus_Steel]

I dont feel sorry for the team, i feel sorry for their longtime fans. They have had great fans but years of turmoil and shady characters have turned people off and i cant say i blame them.

[Buck You]

I'm a Buck fan, they have more wins than us, no.

[Moses_Malone95]

Nope. They made two horrendous trades (for Artest and with Golden State) that ruined their roster. Jermaine O'Neal is nearly a has-been. I don't know if they can hang their hat on anybody these days.

[Cammo101]

I dont feel sorry for the team, i feel sorry for their longtime fans. They have had great fans but years of turmoil and shady characters have turned people off and i cant say i blame them.

x2

[Moses_Malone95]

They need to ship everything out for cheap. You know it's really bad when Kareem Rush looks like an appetizing SG to you.

[Dtown84]

The brawl killed the Pacers, it was a shame too Detroit and Indiana had an old school rivalry starting to brew between them. The person that compared them to the Jailblazers was spot on, they don't even really need to be good for the crowds to come back. Just likable with a direction.

[CircleCitysportsfan]

The brawl killed the Pacers, it was a shame too Detroit and Indiana had an old school rivalry starting to brew between them. The person that compared them to the Jailblazers was spot on, they don't even really need to be good for the crowds to come back. Just likable with a direction.

Yep, the thing that kills me is the fact the Pacers beat the living **** out of the Pistons that night. I was following the game on the net then all the sudden the score stops updating, i go to the game thread and...
I really believe that Pacer team would have made it to the Finals.

And it's true that the Pacers don't need a 50 win team to bring back fans. Just guys that play hard and stay out of trouble. The crowd was crazy the game after the brawl the Pacers almost beat the Magic with only 6 players..and they beat the Wolves on Thanksgiving...it was special.
In a way I'm pretty thankful for this season, FINALLY the Simons are going to do something about it this summer. Tinsley, O'Neal, Daniels, need to go...Bird needs to go...and any Pacemates with ugly feet need to go.

[Cammo101]

Ron Artest killed the Pacers, it was a shame too Detroit and Indiana had an old school rivalry starting to brew between them. The person that compared them to the Jailblazers was spot on, they don't even really need to be good for the crowds to come back. Just likable with a direction.

fixed

[Patterns]

You know its bad when your best player and your player with the most potential is Danny Granger who is pretty much a 25 year old already.

They don't have any leaders. They should have traded JO when they had the chance.

[Jemini80]

Larry Bird is the worst GM in the league, and might actually be the worst GM of all-time. He took a team with 60+ wins the year before the brawl and then has managed to turn them into a team that has just as bad of a future as the NY Knicks.

Bad contract signing, after bad contract signing. Trading Artest for an expiring contract, trading Jackson and Harrington for overpaid chuckers (Dunleavy is a good player, but Murphy is horrible), letting Reggie Miller retire even though they had just made the conference finals, not trading O'neal when he still had value, allowing Tinsley to still be on this team, firing Rick, etc...

Larry Bird has ruined that team, and he is so lucky the Colts are good, and he isn't in a major market so he doesn't have all the attention on himself.

I feel bad for them, but I doubt the Pacers make all these moves to improve the team's "image" if the fans didn't ask for them. They need to have a fire-sale, but unfortunately Tinsley, O'neal, Murphy, and Dunleavy all have crappy contracts. Really the best value per contract they have on their team as a trade chip is Jeff Foster who is very underrated.

but yea, Larry Bird sucks at life and is lucky Isiah Thomas sexually harasses transexuals or the attention would be on him. Jim O'brien was a bad hire as well IMO. If you knew what kind of style O'brien was going to bring, then you should have traded O'neal on draft day last year. You probably could have gotten Boston to bite on O'neal because at that point they still thought KG didn't want to come to Boston.

[Jemini80]

Larry Bird is the worst GM in the league, and might actually be the worst GM of all-time. He took a team with 60+ wins the year before the brawl and then has managed to turn them into a team that has just as bad of a future as the NY Knicks.

Bad contract signing, after bad contract signing. Trading Artest for an expiring contract, trading Jackson and Harrington for overpaid chuckers (Dunleavy is a good player, but Murphy is horrible), letting Reggie Miller retire even though they had just made the conference finals, not trading O'neal when he still had value, allowing Tinsley to still be on this team, firing Rick, etc...

Larry Bird has ruined that team, and he is so lucky the Colts are good, and he isn't in a major market so he doesn't have all the attention on himself.

I feel bad for them, but I doubt the Pacers make all these moves to improve the team's "image" if the fans didn't ask for them. They need to have a fire-sale, but unfortunately Tinsley, O'neal, Murphy, and Dunleavy all have crappy contracts. Really the best value per contract they have on their team as a trade chip is Jeff Foster who is very underrated.

but yea, Larry Bird sucks at life and is lucky Isiah Thomas sexually harasses transexuals or the attention would be on him. Jim O'brien was a bad hire as well IMO. If you knew what kind of style O'brien was going to bring, then you should have traded O'neal on draft day last year. You probably could have gotten Boston to bite on O'neal because at that point they still thought KG didn't want to come to Boston.

[JordansBulls]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=537ELaB4aek