Your 2011 Pacers wishlist (November 2010 edition)

[chube]

What is your wishlist for 2011 for Indy? (We'll see if this changes in the coming months.)

Coach: Jeff Van Gundy
Unless there's an assistant out there who I'm not aware of who might be better...like a Monty Williams situation. Van Gundy has taken teams deep in the playoffs before and seems eager to coach again. Double win because he won't be commentating anymore.
I know Mike Brown will be sitting out there and I know he used to be on the Pacers staff but...eh. In Cleveland, I always felt that his success was more the product have having one-man-show LeBron James on his roster. When the playoffs came and it came time to outsmart the other coaches - no dice.

GM: Kevin Pritchard
Did a great job taking Portland from the Jail Blazers to what they are today. The way he got fired is still pretty weird. Anyway, not to mention he'd be walking into a better situation with the Pacers than he did with Portland. And he's an Indiana native, always a plus.

Free agents (within reason, no Melo): Option 1 - Jeff Green, Option 2 - Nene, Option 3 - Carl Landry
This is as if we don't make any trades this year. Jeff Green would be a nice fit for Indy - he's athletic, he can shoot, stretch the floor, rebound and match up with a few different positions.
Nene would give us another big in the post. Can hit the glass, create extra possessions, DEFEND, play both the 4 and 5, all while scoring without having to draw up many plays for him. Landry is about the same except with a jumper and can't play the 5 also.

Any re-signings?: Josh McRoberts and Jeff Foster. (Foster won't be getting $6 million a year again.)
McBob can log time at the 4 or 5 and Foster, maybe more out of respect. Plus, he's a great intangible player who can coach up some young guys. Ford - well, I don't mind him on the roster, but not at 8 a year. He still gets himself into trouble, but he's quick and a good shooter. Seems like parting ways is in the interest of both the team and T.J. at this point though.

Draft picks: I don't follow college ball as much so I'll just post a positional player.
If one's available and worth the pick, a backup 5 who can at stretches play the 4. A lot of "what if's" have to happen to get that combo big like Nene - he has to be willing to go to a less-attractive NBA market in Indianapolis AND opt out of his contract. A backup 5 would be a nice insurance plan should Nene be out of reach. We could bring him along, allow him to learn and backup Hibbert.
Second pick, a pure 2. Automatic reliable offense off the bench. Won't be required to do too much except shoot and score. George and Rush are nice fits right now, but having a spot-up guy a la Ray Allen or Kyle Korver would be nice once the first unit goes away. Dunleavy likely won't be back, I think Posey expires after 11-12, so bring him along, let him learn the NBA and have him ready to be in the rotation of wings after Posey's contract expires.

2011-2012 wish-list (please, God, don't let there be a lockout!):

C: Roy Hibbert/Draft pick/Jeff Foster (or let Foster walk and sign Magnum Rolle if possible)
PF: Jeff Green/Tyler Hansbrough/Josh McRoberts (can split time at the 5)
SF: Danny Granger/Paul George or Brandon Rush (whichever doesn't start)/James Posey
SG: Brandon Rush or Paul George/Draft pick/Dahntay Jones
PG: Darren Collison/A.J. Price/Lance Stephenson

Coach: Jeff Van Gundy
GM: Kevin Pritchard

Best parts - no Jim O'Brien, no Solomon Jones eating up salary space and stopping us from signing Magnum Rolle (who would've produced similar numbers at a cheaper rate.)

[Starkiller]

1. New Coach: JVG, Mike Brown, Marc Jackson
2. Rough banging PF, rebounding and blocking machine. A Noah or Kevin Love esque player.
3. Resigns: Only McRoberts
4. OJ Mayo?

[Indy2thaWindy]

NBADraft.net has us taking Lucas Nogueira.

http://www.nbadraft.net/players/lucas-nogueira

Outside of the part calling him lazy with a stars attitude. I like him.

[granger33]

i think we should get either jeff van gundy or mark jackson for coachs. then we should draft deshawn thomas

[Indy2thaWindy]

i think we should get either jeff van gundy or mark jackson for coachs. then we should draft deshawn thomas

As much as I want Deshaun, there is no room for him on the Pacers with Danny and Paul. I could see Cleveland picking him, if he comes out after his freshman year.

[Boneman2]

I like Marc Iavaroni, his offensive philosophy developed Steve Nash.

Since we're set at the wings, we should focus on the interior, starting with PF, then maybe a b/u center & then a third pg.

[8305]

Coach, MIke Brown, Brad Stevens
Free agency, don't give any above market salaries just to be able to say you did something. I'm afraid Green, Landry, Chandler and Nene will be expensive.
Draft, best player available

Most importantly I'd like to see the guys we have develop by getting playoff basketball experince. Today I think we have a pretty good nuculas with the young guys we have now. The remainder of the season could prove me wrong.

[colts2004]

Coach - Mike Brown, JVG, Brad Stevens would be killer!!!!

GM? Id give Bird another year or two, he has done well the past year or so....

Draft? Ive heard this draft is gonna suck.... I think yahoo said that or something

[Gremz]

[quote="colts2004"]Coach - Mike Brown, JVG, Brad Stevens would be killer!!!!

GM? Id give Bird another year or two, he has done well the past year or so....

Draft? Ive heard this draft is gonna suck.... I think yahoo said that or something[/quote]

Someone ends up saying that every year.

[DrunkSkunkFan]

I feel really dumb after reading that.
Forgot what I wanted us to do.
1. O'Brien, whatever...I'd rather have him than Van Gundy, are u f'n serious!?!?
2. Trade: D. Jones, Dunleavy, McRoberts FOR Carl Landry, filler
3. OR a pretend "Jonathan Bender was good" type player...6th man, long forward

[Indy2thaWindy]

Deshaun went from 24 points and 8 rebounds in 20 minutes to 2 points in 8 minutes. OUCH

[Wizop]

I'm not wasting my energy wishing for a new coach. I don't expect one.

do hope Jeff Foster retires gracefully. he's earned the right to leave on his own terms. if he wants back, we should try to keep him but we sure could use the old Jeff right now.

At the right price, I resign Dunleavy. (couldn't help but notice last night that he's actually taller than Horford.)

the number one need is to replace Foster and Solo with a player like what Jeff once was and what we hoped Solo could become but didn't.

I hope we don't overpay to get a name player. we don't need to use all the cap room the first year.

[Solid]

We need four elements.

1. coach.
Twenty 3s per night just blows, unless you have a Larry bird or Reggie miller. We do not.
No D to speak of.
I would fire Job TODAY.
I like Mike Brown. some of the best Pacer D was played when he was on our bench.
I was very pleased with the Butlers team last year, so I'd be good with Brad. Van Gundy is ok too.

2. A starting 2.
We need a solid consistent shooter that plays solid D and doesn't pout if he doesn't get to dribble every time down. Dun's not a good 2. George right now looks better to me as a back up 3 and hopefully Granger's eventual replacement. I likely would trade one of those two depending on the chosen time-line for contending. Rush looks like a very good back up 2, or an ok starter if surrounded by superior players.
I would play Stephenson 5-10 min per. I think he has the best potential to start at the 2.


3. A starting 4. Best all-around starter we could maybe get here is David West. He'll be good for a while yet and can teach or youngsters a bit. I do not mind overpaying him a little. We have a better chance to entice him if we get a better 2 guard by trade before deadline.
The undersized guys are intriguing. Landry, Smith, Greene, Millsap etc. They are all an improvement but will either suffer against bigger guys or risk injury by constant jumping and banging with bigger bodies. Short careers, and lengthy rehabs are likely.
Generally speaking I only take weak D, or 'tweeners at bargain prices. They just give you more holes to fill.

4. Back up 5.
for the sake of efficiency I would try to get a 6'11" 250 guy to cover starting 4 and back up 5.
Nene as a free if we would rather spend cash and get a known commodity.
Jason Thompson if we would rather trade assets and hope for improvement. Or Tyson Chandler.
I like Okafor, wish we'd went for him when he was cheap last year. Lacks offense but perfect in our rotation. Add a real good Ray Allen type shooter and we'd be golden.

I'm ok with resigning Dun at a much reduced price, but I want reduced minutes for him. Our youngsters need the PT and I hope by next year either Rush, Stephenson, George or a newcomer puts him on the bench. Maybe he'll go at the deadline this year?
Foster likely retires.
TJ is ok too. I am not against resigning him again on the cheap but i would prefer a larger back up point to tandem with Collison. I hope that may be Lance.
McBob should be resigned. I think he and Tyler both have good careers ahead as rotation players.

Sounds like we're all on the same page, more or less.

[PaceWalker]

Great post.

I don't get too much into studying which coaches use systems unless their are own. But one thing is for sure that the next coach better focus on Defense. You can't win in this league trying to outscore people. At least once playoff time comes around. See Suns, Mavs, etc. Defense has to be the first thing to focus.

[Indy2thaWindy]

New Coach - Lester Connor
New starting PF - Carl Landry
New starting SG - Paul George or Lance Stephenson
New jerseys - please

[Miller4ever]

Lester Connor is still in Indy, huh? I'm slightly surprised. I wouldn't mind giving him a chance.

He might get his audition after we fire O'Brien after the all-star break.

[Indy2thaWindy]

Lester Connor is still in Indy, huh? I'm slightly surprised. I wouldn't mind giving him a chance.

He might get his audition after we fire O'Brien after the all-star break.

Lester is an assistant on the Hawks.

[Miller4ever]

^^That's what I thought. Saw him on the bench for the Hawks last night. I got confused.

[Starkiller]

2theWindy, we just got new Jerseys not too long ago hahaha. I like them, real clean, but not too basic. I think the Thunder's look terrible because they are so plain. I've seen High School teams w/ better unis.

[Grang33r]

NBADraft.net has us taking Lucas Nogueira.

http://www.nbadraft.net/players/lucas-nogueira

Outside of the part calling him lazy with a stars attitude. I like him.

I like him as well. He's a project that probably wouldn't play much next season but i think he'd be a very good player down the road and Brazil has a very good history of developing good talent that makes it at the next level, unlike the massive amount of European bigs that turn busts. He's obviously a project, since he just came to the NBA scene last summer when he had a monster tournament and became a legit NBA prospect, but, some people i've heard even mention that he compares well to Dwight Howard.

Another player i like a lot is Trey Thompkins from Georgia. I think it's a pretty weak draft and if we make the playoffs and pick middle of the pact, i think Thompkins is a good player to pick. Big upside, lacks the star power, but i think would be a very good role player and maybe even starter. Does the small things really well.

My favorite prospect in the draft is Jared Sullinger but we won't pick anywhere near where he gets picked.