Watching Larry Bird And The Pacers....

[charlottenian]

do you wonder "what if" Bird's ownership group beat out Bob Johnson? Would he have assembled a team like the Pacers here? Would he have drafted DJ Augustin instead of Hibbert?

[King Taharqa]

Larry Bird isnt the owner of the Pacers, and he more than likely wont be back next year. For the majority of his tenure in Indy as GM they sucked and had some of the worst attendance in the league. 2 years ago they were calling for his head. He deserves Exec Of The Year because theyve finally turned it around, but Charlotte would not have been patient enough for him. Id also add had the Bobcats faced a Dwight Howard-less Magic in the playoffs 2 years ago we wouldve been the Pacers.

[JGib23]

King T- the Pacers roster is better than any roster the Bobcats have ever put together.

Their salary cap situation is as good as any in the league.

We don't have a single player on our team that would start for them.

To try and compare where these 2 teams are in relation to one another is stupid.

Every sane basketball fan in the universe would trade our roster and salary cap situation for theirs. They are clearly a better team on the court than we are.

Their attendance is horrible but, that's irrelevant. Bird is the GM, his job is to build the team and he has done a fantastic job.

[4Corners]

King T- the Pacers roster is better than any roster the Bobcats have ever put together.

Their salary cap situation is as good as any in the league.

We don't have a single player on our team that would start for them.

To try and compare where these 2 teams are in relation to one another is stupid.

Every sane basketball fan in the universe would trade our roster and salary cap situation for theirs. They are clearly a better team on the court than we are.

Their attendance is horrible but, that's irrelevant. Bird is the GM, his job is to build the team and he has done a fantastic job.

But but but Larry bird is racist!

[Panthers128]

But but but Larry bird is racist!

He stole LeBron's' big mac once. Not sure what the reason for that was.

[Doyle]

Ask yourself this:

Could Larry Bird have done worse?

[King Taharqa]

Yes, his money is nowhere near a Bob Johnson. Which is why the folks in the NBA didnt award him a franchise. He's still not in ownership and probably never will be. Being liked is one thing, having 100's of millions in capital at your disposal is another.

[yasuhara2241]

Fact is how long has it been for the Pacers to be relevant?? I got to agree with King T. We are the most impatient group of fans. We are finally starting to do things the right way and we get reamed for it. Bird would have been great but we got what we got and lets stop looking at the past.

Jordan is putting us with cap flexibility, high picks for impact stars and now we can finally start to build which is better than 1 and done in the playoffs.

[JGib23]

8 years is not impatient.

I'm glad we finally got off the treadmill but, calling us impatient is BS.

[JGib23]

1 more thing... Jordan inherited a similar situation to what he is trying to build now. Hopefully he gets it right the 2nd try.

We had high picks that were either wasted on poor drafting (AMMO) or traded for average players with high salaries that have set up the merry go round of shitty salary cap flexibility.

[JGib23]

For reference when MJ took over the team, Gerald Wallace was the highest paid player at 5.5 million and we had he #3 pick in the draft.

From that basic clean slate, we have evolved into the worst team in the history of the NBA and owe

Corey Maggette , Tyrus Thomas, Desagna Diop and Matt Carroll a combined 29 million dollars next season.

[King Taharqa]

Watching Larry Bird and the Pacers we see what happens when a small market that got lucky as hell with their first round matchup tries to play the "tough guy" role against a more veteran team.

From the Bobcats 2 years ago, to the NOLA Hornets, to the Pacers, who's bandwagon will they jump on next? Loyalty means nothing in Charlotte.

[JGib23]

King T-

Simple question.

Would you trade every player and contract the Bobcats have currently for every player and contract the Pacers have currently?

Right now, Today... the Pacers roster is better than any team we have ever built and their cap situation is among the best in the entire NBA.

The Pacers had the 5th best record in the NBA and have only 34 million in committed Salaries for next season

The Bobcats have the worst record in the History of the NBA and have 43 million in Salaries for next season...

What position do the Bobcats have an advantage over the player that Indiana has at that position?

Why is it wrong to wish that our team had the 5th best record and a better cap situation?

Do you really want us to suck and have no cap space?

[King Taharqa]

Besides beating a team without its superstar and being led by a lame duck coach what has Indy accomplished or won? If that was us, yall would complain "so what you made the playoffs, you choked against a contender, blow the team up!"

Jgibs you lack patience and are too much a prisoner of the moment. What was the Pacers record 2 years ago when we made the playoffs? Do they have great attendance? Do they sell a bunch of merchandise? They rebuilt for years to get to this point, it didnt happen in one offseason.