Dunleavy Coming Back Soon!

chatard5 · Post #1 » by **chatard5** » Mon Jan 5, 2009 1:37 am

Indiana guard Mike Dunleavy is expected to return within a week or so after missing the entire season with a sore right knee.

"Obviously, it's been a long few months," Dunleavy told The Associated Press. "I'm on the mend, and I should be back soon. I'm looking forward to it."

He sat out just 11 games in his first six NBA seasons.

"I've been fortunate my entire career never to have had any injuries," said Dunleavy. "This is new to me. I've just tried to roll with it, just get better each day."

The Pacers start a five-game road trip Monday. Dunleavy hopes to be in the lineup before the Pacers return to Conseco Fieldhouse to play Detroit on Jan. 14.

Dunthreevy · Post #2 » by **Dunthreevy** » Mon Jan 5, 2009 1:55 am

I'm pretty excited to see Dunthreevy get back on the court. I imagine he's probably going to come off the bench on this road trip, but hopefully he'll be back in the starting lineup by the time our boys come back home. Although, the idea of him coming off the bench and slaying other team's bench players does sound pretty nice.

cdash · Post #3 » by **cdash** » Mon Jan 5, 2009 2:00 am

Our push has started...time to see what this team is made of.

Post #4 » by **PR07** » Mon Jan 5, 2009 8:09 am

I'm interested in seeing what happens to Granger's scoring production, but his addition should definitely help. Who knows? Maybe he's that extra 5 points we need to win games.

Post #5 » by **Gremz** » Mon Jan 5, 2009 12:12 pm

Man that is the best news I''ve heard in a while.

NashvilleKat · Post #6 » by **NashvilleKat** » Mon Jan 5, 2009 1:35 pm

PacersRule07 wrote:I'm interested in seeing what happens to Granger's scoring production, but his addition should definitely help. Who knows? Maybe he's that extra 5 points we need to win games.

Dunleavy's return shouldn't effect Granger's game...in fact, it might enhance it as teams will be forced to cover Dunleavy as a potential 20-30 pt per game scorer, instead of focusing all their defensive attention on Danny. The player who will lose playing time and points is Daniels. When Dun gets back in playing shape, Daniels will move back to the second unit as the first backcourt guy off the bench.

Post #7 » by **Gremz** » Mon Jan 5, 2009 2:36 pm

NashvilleKat wrote:
PacersRule07 wrote:I'm interested in seeing what happens to Granger's scoring production, but his addition should definitely help. Who knows? Maybe he's that extra 5 points we need to win games.

Dunleavy's return shouldn't effect Granger's game...in fact, it might enhance it as teams will be forced to cover Dunleavy as a potential 20-30 pt per game scorer, instead of focusing all their defensive attention on Danny. The player who will lose playing time and points is Daniels. When Dun gets back in playing shape, Daniels will move back to the second unit as the first backcourt guy off the bench.

When Dunleavy returns there will be a number of shots for him leaving Danny with less scoring opportunities. It's hard to say how much (or if at all) his scoring might fall,. But i do see his assist count rising with another scorer returning, especially one who is apt to catch and shoot quite well.

Post #8 » by **count55** » Mon Jan 5, 2009 3:43 pm

Gremz wrote:
NashvilleKat wrote:
PacersRule07 wrote:I'm interested in seeing what happens to Granger's scoring production, but his addition should definitely help. Who knows? Maybe he's that extra 5 points we need to win games.

Dunleavy's return shouldn't effect Granger's game...in fact, it might enhance it as teams will be forced to cover Dunleavy as a potential 20-30 pt per game scorer, instead of focusing all their defensive attention on Danny. The player who will lose playing time and points is Daniels. When Dun gets back in playing shape, Daniels will move back to the second unit as the first backcourt guy off the bench.

When Dunleavy returns there will be a number of shots for him leaving Danny with less scoring opportunities. It's hard to say how much (or if at all) his scoring might fall,. But i do see his assist count rising with another scorer returning, especially one who is apt to catch and shoot quite well.

Danny is averaging 18.5 shots per game this season, compared to only 15.1 for the full season last year. However, it is worth noting that Danny averaged 18.1 shots per game over March & April last season, with Dunleavy playing. Also, Marquis is actually taking more shots this year (14.3 vs. 13.6) in fewer minutes (34.2 vs. 36.0), so there appears to be plenty of shots to go around, and I would be surprised if Danny's dropped by more than 1 or so per game.

I would expect a strict minute limitation on Junior when he returns (probably 12-20 minutes for the first two-four weeks minimum), and I'd expect those minutes to come out of Marquis' and Brandon's pockets. Objectively, if Dunleavy can return to form, it is likely that Brandon will fall down to the fringes of the rotation, behind Junior and Daniels, primarily, with a few minutes going to Jarrett Jack at the two.

Regrettably, Brandon has yet to establish a consistent presence that would prevent him from falling out of the rotation.

writerman · Post #9 » by **writerman** » Wed Jan 7, 2009 3:02 am

It's hilarious to remember the reaction on this board when we made the trade with Golden State. Dunleavy and Murphy were about as popular here as the Ebola Virus. Almost everyone was convinced we got bent over and reamed by GS in the trade. The Golden State fans who came on here were really whooping it up about how they put one over on us.

Compare that to now--Dunleavy's return awaited with great anticipation as a key mssing element for our improvement, Murphy a double-double machine, and, IMO, maybe the unsung hero of the team this year.

The moral of this little drama? Never rush to judgment. I see a bunch of people here who think they already have the futures of our young draftees (Rush, Hibbert) pegged to a "T".

I think a lot of what is being said about those two, in particular (most of it dismissive and negative) is just plain bull. There seem to be a lot of people here that take perverse pleasure in prematurely urinating on the potential of those two--who, it must be remmebered, are rookies who will make rookie mistakes.

So when you render those oh-so-wise judgements, oh ye infallible seers, remember what many of you were saying about Dunleavy and Murphy when you heard they were coming here. It might inject just a tad of much-needed humility into your perspectives.

cdash · Post #10 » by **cdash** » Wed Jan 7, 2009 4:25 am

It is kind of funny. I wasnt arond this board at the time, but I wasn't overly thrilled with the trade. Whats really funny is with his recent extension, Stephen Jackson's deal is now seen as "hard to move", whereas Dunleavy's is market value. Whats not funny is that both teams have crappy records and will need a mini-miracle to make the playoffs.

TJFordisGod · Post #11 » by **TJFordisGod** » Wed Jan 7, 2009 7:10 am

Dunleavy is expected to play vs Phoenix!!

Post #12 » by **Gremz** » Wed Jan 7, 2009 9:20 am

Really? That's awesome, i'd update the gamethread but meh, too lazy.