Basketball: Indiana Pacers

Big, big game for Indiana on Sunday.

A young team faces adversity for the first time. Down 2 to 1 on the road. I think how they respond is going to tell of how much character this young team actually has.

[Edited on 4/28/2003 by Frank]

Indiana is not playing well at all lately and they seem like they dont even want to be in the playoffs and that they just want to go home and spend the rest of the summer their. Boston is playing well and Pierce is playing great bball. Indiana should and will lsoe the next game.

The Indiana Pacers signed forward Jermaine O'Neal to a seven-year contract Wednesday, saying they expect him to be the team's cornerstone for years to come.

O'Neal, a two-time NBA all-star, was one of the league's premier free agents this summer, but decided to stay with the Pacers.

O'Neal said he was focused on winning a championship with Indiana, which lost in the first round of the playoffs in each of O'Neal's three seasons with the Pacers.

"I don't want to play 82 practice games and then play four or five games and go home," he said. "You want the best players on the team. I want the best players who are going to fight. I don't want players who are going to give up."

The contract is for the maximum allowed under the league's salary cap, which would make O'Neal's deal worth about $120 million US.

O'Neal was a little-used reserve with Portland before the Pacers acquired him in a trade for Dale Davis.

The six-foot-11 O'Neal has blossomed into one of the league's top big men with the Pacers, averaging 20.8 points and 10.3 rebounds a game last season.

The Pacers have two other key free agents still on the market: all-star centre Brad Miller and guard Reggie Miller.

ESPN

As an unrestricted free agent, Reggie Miller apparently had an opportunity to join Karl Malone in Los Angeles with the Lakers.

But instead of taking shots alongside Malone, Miller sounded like he was taking a few shots at Malone. At least indirectly.

In announcing his new multiyear contract to stay in Indiana as a member of the Pacers, Miller took the anti-Malone approach. He opted to stick with the only team he's known instead of chasing an elusive NBA title with a more likely contender.

"I didn't want to be like some other guys who jump on another team's bandwagon just to get a ring," Miller said.

Pacers CEO Donnie Walsh said Miller, who turns 38 on Sunday, wanted to remain loyal to the city, fans and organization, even though there discussions with other teams.

The Lakers was Malone's destination of choice after spending his first 18 years in Utah. Malone joined fellow free agent Gary Payton as newcomers to a Lakers team just one year removed from three consecutive NBA titles.

The one thing Malone and Miller do have in common is that they both took significant pay cuts in order to help their clubs with the salary cap. Although terms of Miller's deal were not disclosed, he's not expected to make anywhere close to the $12 million he made last season.

Coming to terms with Miller was one of the first priorities for Larry Bird, who rejoined the team this summer as president of basketball operations.

sports.espn.go.com...

Let me just start by saying I am by no means a Reggie Miller fan, matter of fact I have never liked him at all, but this was a classy move in my opinion. He could have went to another team with a much much better chance of winning a title but he remained loyal to the team he has always played for, a rare thing to see in any sport these days. Not only is he staying put with the Pacers, but he took a paycut. I'm sure he has more than enough money than he'll ever need but he still has got to have that desire for a ring. Good move Reggie!

I just heard that the Pacers fired Isiah Thomas and are interested in hiring ex-Pistons coach Rick Carlisle. I wonder why Larry Bird gave Isiah the axe after Bird only being his boss for 7 weeks. Bird said it was a lack of communication and that they were both at fault and said that he just had a bad feeling about Thomas as his coach.



[Edited on 28-8-2003 by ProudAmerican]

I'm not really surprised.

Thomas didn't really do much with the Pacers. And he screwed up the C.B.A. too, when he was in charge.

o'neil is furious....i wonder if they really will get carlisle?

Originally posted by Fox Mulder
I'm not really surprised.

Thomas didn't really do much with the Pacers. And he screwed up the C.B.A. too, when he was in charge.

the Pacers were barely a .500 team when he first took charge. Despite the bad stretch during last season, he has improved them to 12 wins over .500 from the last couple seasons.

O'neil has good reason to be, furious, considering the main reason he decided to re-sign was to play for Thomas. I wonder if he will try and demand a trade....

Originally posted by Cannon:

the Pacers were barely a .500 team when he first took charge. Despite the bad stretch during last season, he has improved them to 12 wins over .500 from the last couple seasons.

That's true. I'm not giving Isiah enough credit. He did do well the last few seasons.

But I think they'll be fine with Carlisle as long as O'Neal buys into him which is anybody's guess right now.

yeah, Carlisle certainly is a good coach. Hopefully O'neil will chill out