Bird: Born ready is our most talented player

[Wizop]

Gary Payton and Chauncey Billips also looked like busts but Lance's probably is less on the court than in his head. he needs to learn to accept criticism.

[DWCP2]

This is why we spend the money on a veteran base for this young Pacer team. Yeah we could very well be paying guys 6-8 million or more to come off the bench, but a veteran base can gain control of these young guys and provide that maturity help some will covet more then others.

[Gremz]

Gary Payton and Chauncey Billips also looked like busts but Lance's probably is less on the court than in his head. he needs to learn to accept criticism.

Hard to disagree here.

[Indy2thaWindy]

Me and the Burrdman gonna have to talk this one over. He can't be sayin things I would say. It's bad publicity for the organization. Next he'll be claimin 6.

[Wizop]

This is why we spend the money on a veteran base for this young Pacer team. Yeah we could very well be paying guys 6-8 million or more to come off the bench, but a veteran base can gain control of these young guys and provide that maturity help some will covet more then others.

not only do I agree, but I think it is Bird's plan. I think he's looking for a veteran base - role players to steady the young guys. - and not super star free agents to displace the young guys.

[lilojmayo]

I"m just not seeing it happen for the Pacers with Lance. I think Larry sees Lance as his "stroke of genius move." The silly talented guy he got with a second round pick. But, i predict the reality will be a path similar to Shawne Williams. He will have to fall off the map before the light bulb goes off. In the mean time he sees himself as a guy so talented that everyone else needs to learn to play with him and that simply won't work for Indiana now.

If Larry can get Mayo cheap I still think that happens. Mayo is now what you hope Lance can be and now is what matters.

Larry without question has an eye for big time talent. And is willing to take a chance on talented players with character issues. Born Ready wasn't allowed to develop due to Pacers being at least a competitive team this year at least in the playoffs. If lance played a pure scrub team like the Twovles or Raptors he would have seen floor time.

Lance is an all-star potential his 6'5 frame 215 lbs helps.

With that being said Lance is no OJ Mayo. They aren't even the same kind of talents. Lance is a slasher, that has an iffy jump shot ( although improved) and his range only extends out to about 21 ft. OJ Mayo is a playmaker that can slash and can shoot, and from what I have seen has range that extends out about 30 ft ( 7 ft past the NBA 3 point).


I like how a Lance-Mayo Mayo-Lance backcourt looks. You will have a matchup problem for the defensive because both at the PG slot = trouble. You can only get so far with a 5'11 160 pg, it puts a ceiling to how your team can do especially with bigger PGs like Rose, Westbrook, Wall, etc. Collison then becomes a liability on defense and I know what I am talking about there before I watched Conley get torched throughout the playoffs.

Then if you keep Paul and trade Granger and or Collison for an asset your looking at a young nucleus that is able to compete.

Stephenson, Mayo, George, Granger or asset, Collison or asset, Hibbert, Hansborough

That's top 5 in the east potential easily.

[lilojmayo]

Mayo is now what you hope Lance can be and now is what matters.

soon matters a lot more than now. I don't see us winning 60 games next year absent a Superman type trade. a ten game improvement would be very pleasant. I would not throw out Lance's long term potential if he can show he deserves to be active as the third 1 and the third 2. Mayo might give us another five wins but I don't think five more wins gets us anywhere next year. do you see us passing Chicago, Boston, Miami, Orlando, or Atlanta next year? I don't.

One could ( like myself) make an arguement ( a strong might I add) that you could have possibly upset the Bulls this playoffs first round if the Trade in Feb had gone through and you acquired Mayo.

All the games against the Bulls this playoffs were clsoe, but Pacers lacked production from the SG spot and a guy that could make the clutch shot or plays. Granger is a great scorer, but has little to no playmaking ability to make others around him better. Collison is simply too short. Mayo is a guy that likes the big moment see the first overtime session of game 4 agianst the Thunder that does all the talking for me.

Boston, Orlando, Atl are all on the decline. The only team you have to worry about is Mia, NY and Chic. You will never pass Miami ( even I can't make an argument for that)probably not Chicago ( assuming they bring in a legit SG)

[paulgeorge24]

No surprise Bird is looking at Selby. Plays alot like Mayo.

[Wizop]

One could ( like myself) make an arguement ( a strong might I add) that you could have possibly upset the Bulls this playoffs first round if the Trade in Feb had gone through and you acquired Mayo.

at some point even with Mayo the lack of experience would have caught up to us. Miami is doing to Chicago exactly what Chicago did to us. actually good teams did it to us all year. we panic and stop running our offense when the other team makes a stretch run. my preferred answer is not to have a player able to get his own shot while the other 4 guys stand around and watch, but to have all 5 guys keep their heads in the game.

[paulgeorge24]

One could ( like myself) make an arguement ( a strong might I add) that you could have possibly upset the Bulls this playoffs first round if the Trade in Feb had gone through and you acquired Mayo.

at some point even with Mayo the lack of experience would have caught up to us. Miami is doing to Chicago exactly what Chicago did to us. actually good teams did it to us all year. we panic and stop running our offense when the other team makes a stretch run. my preferred answer is not to have a player able to get his own shot while the other 4 guys stand around and watch, but to have all 5 guys keep their heads in the game.

obviously thats ideal, but its not reasonable given our current squad. That's why we need a guy like Mayo.

[Indy2thaWindy]

With that being said Lance is no OJ Mayo. They aren't even the same kind of talents. Lance is a slasher, that has an iffy jump shot ( although improved) and his range only extends out to about 21 ft. OJ Mayo is a playmaker that can slash and can shoot, and from what I have seen has range that extends out about 30 ft ( 7 ft past the NBA 3 point).

Get outta here with that. OJ is definitely a better shooter than Lance, but he's nowhere near the playmaker Lance is. OJ could only dream about having the handles or passing ability that Lance has.

[bLuNgldTILimOLD]

I"m just not seeing it happen for the Pacers with Lance. I think Larry sees Lance as his "stroke of genius move." The silly talented guy he got with a second round pick. But, i predict the reality will be a path similar to Shawne Williams. He will have to fall off the map before the light bulb goes off. In the mean time he sees himself as a guy so talented that everyone else needs to learn to play with him and that simply won't work for Indiana now.

If Larry can get Mayo cheap I still think that happens. Mayo is now what you hope Lance can be and now is what matters.

I wish that josh.m deal for mayo would've worked out but IMO I see Lance making a bigger impact on our team than MAYO.... I could be wrong but I hope not. go pacers!! gigdi.

[lilojmayo]

One could ( like myself) make an arguement ( a strong might I add) that you could have possibly upset the Bulls this playoffs first round if the Trade in Feb had gone through and you acquired Mayo.

at some point even with Mayo the lack of experience would have caught up to us. Miami is doing to Chicago exactly what Chicago did to us. actually good teams did it to us all year. we panic and stop running our offense when the other team makes a stretch run. my preferred answer is not to have a player able to get his own shot while the other 4 guys stand around and watch, but to have all 5 guys keep their heads in the game.

obviously thats ideal, but its not reasonable given our current squad. That's why we need a guy like Mayo.

That seperates so many players. When a play breaks down give OJ the ball and a pick and let him make a play for himself or others. That's called being a playmaker. Danny is only a scorer that lacks vision ( nothing wrong with that), but it showed late in games against the Bulls.

[Grang33r]

You guys kick so much ass. Only you guys can have a legitimate 3 page conversation about a 2nd round rookie who only logged 9 minutes the entire season. I was away for several days and just came back and really enjoyed reading all this.

Just had to say that. Keep it up everyone!

[pacersfan1967]

I"m just not seeing it happen for the Pacers with Lance. I think Larry sees Lance as his "stroke of genius move." The silly talented guy he got with a second round pick. But, i predict the reality will be a path similar to Shawne Williams. He will have to fall off the map before the light bulb goes off. In the mean time he sees himself as a guy so talented that everyone else needs to learn to play with him and that simply won't work for Indiana now.

If Larry can get Mayo cheap I still think that happens. Mayo is now what you hope Lance can be and now is what matters.

Larry without question has an eye for big time talent. And is willing to take a chance on talented players with character issues. Born Ready wasn't allowed to develop due to Pacers being at least a competitive team this year at least in the playoffs. If lance played a pure scrub team like the Twovles or Raptors he would have seen floor time.

Lance is an all-star potential his 6'5 frame 215 lbs helps. I hope we can get Oj mayo ..I think it would give us about 5 to 10 more wins but lance stephenson scares me ...like bar fights ...

With that being said Lance is no OJ Mayo. They aren't even the same kind of talents. Lance is a slasher, that has an iffy jump shot ( although improved) and his range only extends out to about 21 ft. OJ Mayo is a playmaker that can slash and can shoot, and from what I have seen has range that extends out about 30 ft ( 7 ft past the NBA 3 point).


I like how a Lance-Mayo Mayo-Lance backcourt looks. You will have a matchup problem for the defensive because both at the PG slot = trouble. You can only get so far with a 5'11 160 pg, it puts a ceiling to how your team can do especially with bigger PGs like Rose, Westbrook, Wall, etc. Collison then becomes a liability on defense and I know what I am talking about there before I watched Conley get torched throughout the playoffs.

Then if you keep Paul and trade Granger and or Collison for an asset your looking at a young nucleus that is able to compete.

Stephenson, Mayo, George, Granger or asset, Collison or asset, Hibbert, Hansborough

That's top 5 in the east potential easily.