Pacers rank 3rd best offeseason in East

[Miller4ever]

Chad Ford's article gives the PAcers an A- for the offseason.

Larry Bird and David Morway may have pulled off the trade of the summer in August. Desperately in need of a point guard and some fresh blood, they were able to grab Collison in a four-way trade that cost them just Murphy.

Collison is the point guard the Pacers have been longing for … forever. As a rookie starter for the Hornets during the second half of last season after Chris Paul went down with an injury, Collison averaged an impressive 18.8 ppg and 9 apg, while shooting 48 percent from the field and 43 percent from 3-point range. Those are rookie of the year numbers. Pair him with Danny Granger and an emerging Roy Hibbert and the Pacers finally have a young core to build around.

The Pacers also made some noise in the draft. George has Tracy McGrady-type talent. Whether he ever lives up to his abilities is still up for debate -- but at the 10th pick in the draft, he was worth the gamble.

The real steal, however, could be Stephenson. The second-round pick wowed scouts in the Orlando summer league with his play and drew a few comparisons to last season's rookie of the year, Tyreke Evans. A domestic assault charge for Stephenson and a five-game drug suspension for Brandon Rush put a bit of a damper on the summer but shouldn't set the team back too much.

The Pacers now look as if they have a legit shot at making the playoffs this season and should be $20 million under the cap next summer. After a long dark spell, things are finally looking up in Indy.

[mizzoupacers]

Ford's best is surely Miami...second best is who, Chicago?

Not sure how I would rate it in comparison to other teams, but I think Indiana had a very good summer, based on the Collison trade alone. Bonus points if any of the three draft picks pan out.

[Miller4ever]

Miami
Wizards (between Wall and getting Arenas back and the trades they pulled off)
Pacers
THEN Chicago
Knicks

So we beat out dudes who stocked up on expirings for the Lebron sweepstakes.

[pacers33]

I'm happy about this.

[chube]

Nice!

I am surprised that they put Washington ahead of Chicago considering the log-jam they now have at PG/SG with Wall, Arenas and Heinreich, but great nonetheless for Indy. I've been a believer in Hibbert since even his iffy rookie year and I'm glad he's starting to get some love from the analysts.

[pacers33]

Yeah Chicago is better then Washington.

Boozer is already proven, while Wall isn't. I think Kirk is a good player, just not GREAT. Oh and it's not a real jam, due to Arenas and Wall's combo-guard-ness so they'll do alright, I'm glad we're getting respect that we deserve.

[Gremz]

Good read. I would have thought that pundits would have put Chicago above us.

[ardthomp]

Ford has been very pro-Pacers that last season or so. I'm not surprised he gave us this high of a grade, but (and it is a big one!) if our draft picks pan out, then we could honestly be at the top of this list. I know the list is "as is" for the teams now, just saying

[Grang33r]

Awesome! If it's true what Ford wrote about Lance Stephensen, about him wowing the inner circle of the NBA and has received comparisons to Tyreke Evans, then all the talk of Pacers letting him go could go away. If he's that good, he'll get a second, and then a third chance even with an organization who's trying to rebuild it's image.

Just like in the NFL you can't win without a good QB, i think the same concept applies in the NBA where it's very hard to win without a good PG, and now that the Pacers have Darren Collison, everything just seems much more clear.

[Miller4ever]

Hopegully we won't need to give him a third chance.