22. Indiana Pacers

 Six years ago Larry Bird made this statement:

“I think it's good for a fan base because, as we all know, the majority of the fans are white America. And if you just had a couple of white guys in there, you might get them a little excited.”

              Then Larry Bird decided to put the entire white basketball race on his back and assemble a white American all-star team for the Indiana Pacers. He traded away Stephen Jackson and Al Harrington for Mike Dunleavey and Troy Murphy. He drafted Tyler Hansbrough and Josh McRoberts (uniting UNC and Duke players under the Pacer white banner) and kept onto Jeff Foster, who I always assumed was the same guy who used to play backup center for Greg Ostertag in Utah. Then slowly he realized you can’t go “full white” and gradually inserted Danny Granger, Brandon Rush, and Roy Hibbert. With the recent addition of Darren Collison at the point guard I think the Pacers have finally figured out a roster that might just work.

Point Guard

            Darren Collison filled in for the New Orleans Hornets extraordinarily well last season and will be a huge upgrade from T.J. Ford for the Pacers. The only problem is Jim O’Brien, head coach, runs more of a slow it down style offense. Having Darren Collison in this system is like your mom buying you a Ferrari for your high school car but locking up the speedometer so you can only go 35 mph rather than its full, Tyreke Evans potential. I think O’Brien will make the necessary tweaks to the system to allow Collison’s talent to shine.

Shooting Guard

            Brandon Rush will have to fight off James Posey for this position. Posey is a better defender, but Rush is a more typical shooting guard body. Rush needs to tap into his inner 2008 Jayhawk self and become Paul Pierce 2.0 rather than a slightly more successful version of his brother Kareem.

Small Forward

            The only thing surprising about Danny Granger was his limited play on the USA team this summer at the FIBA championships. His averages the last two seasons speak for themselves at 24-25 ppg. The issue this summer’s limited play raises is the question of whether or not a team can be built around Granger as their superstar. Most people would agree Rudy Gay, Andre Iguodola, and Eric Gordon aren’t enough to carry a team past Kobe, Durant, or Wade, so if Granger found himself behind those guys on this year’s US team, can Indiana really be confident with making him the centerpiece of their franchise? Granger can be a part of a starting unit of a championship caliber team, I just don’t know if he can be the go-to guy to lead the Pacers into the next level.

Power Forward

            Tyler Hansbrough. I think he’s going to find himself under the same 6’9 peaked in college power forward curse that has struck so many times before. Can’t knock the guy’s work ethic, but if I’m a Pacers fan, the idea of Hansbrough guarding Garnett, Boozer, and Chris Bosh shouldn’t make me feel too confident in my chances.

Roy Hibbert

            I desperately want Hibbert to become a dominant center in the NBA. It’s the same type of wishful thinking that I had when I wanted Travis Diener to be an all star point guard or my new desire for Mario Chalmers to emerge as the Rajon Rondo to the Miami new three. Hibbert is a solid 7’2, 280 pound, wish I could say force, who averaged 13 ppg and 5 rpg last season (improving from his 9.3 rpg in his rookie season). One thing I think the NBA misses right now is dominant centers and with Shaq now on his way out I want to believe in the Odens, the Hibberts, and the Bynums of the league to join Dwight Howard in that role. Growing up in the 90’s there was Shaq, Ewing, Morning, Olajuwan, Kemp, Robinson, and several others who would do battle in the playoffs. As of now there is really only Dwight Howard. I would love to see a repeat battle of the Georgetown vs. Ohio State game where Hibbert and Oden are both 20 and 10 centers in the NBA. A dominant center would take pressure off of Granger and move the Pacers quickly up the Eastern conference.

Key player on Bench

            I thought James Posey would be the Robert Horry of this generation. He was essential to both the ’06 Heat title and the ’08 Celtics victory over the Lakers. I thought the addition of him to New Orleans to play alongside Chris Paul and the former 2 seed Hornets would work far better than it did, but here he is fighting for a starting spot on the Pacers. Posey belongs back on a contender and maybe the Pacers can strike a deal with the Lakers, Celtics, Heat to bring in a young talent, preferably another post player.

            The Pacers will be in battle with the Bobcats, New York Knicks and Philadelphia 76ers for the last playoff spots out east. I think they go back to the lottery again and continue to build a more balanced team unless this is all apart of a new Larry Bird scheme to trade away all these pieces for Kirk Heinrich, JJ Reddick, and Gordon Hayward.

Verdict

37 wins.