There have been a few news stories about the Pacers catching my eye, so I thought I’d throw them together for a Friday post. We’ll call it the Friday Frenzy.
First thing to talk about is this trade talk popping up between the Blazers and Pacers that features Jamal Crawford for AJ Price and a first round pick. Now at first glance, this looks to be an okay trade for the Pacers, and one that could get another scoring option. It would be tough to part with AJ Price as I think he’s provided some spark at times, but getting a scorer in the mix could add something to this team.
But then you look at giving up a first round draft pick, and that seems to be the red flag waving around yelling don’t do this trade. I don’t ever like the idea of giving up draft picks because those can really help improve your team if you get that right player out of college.
Also the idea that Crawford is a scorer could mean he’ll want the ball a lot more than what is needed, hence another red flag. In the end, I think this is just rumors and won’t go anywhere.
Next up is the talk that some people feel George Hill should start and Darren Collison should go to the bench. I think overall this is the wrong move, and it probably won’t happen, but obviously it gets people talking.
I think Hill is perfect coming off the bench and adding his leadership and his presence to the second unit. He can score in bunches, plays good defense, runs the offense well, and is that glue that holds the second unit together. Therefore, no reason to switch it up, especially after the mid point of the season.
Finally, the Pacers are heading out for SPRING BREAK! Okay, not really, they’re heading to Florida to play Miami and Orlando back to back, so that should be fun. For the Miami game, Pacer fans should hope that this team can keep it close maybe single digits and the Heat pull away in the fourth quarter. But definitely, not another blowout or leads of 20 and 30 and even 40 I believe happened in that first game.
This Pacers team has had a rough week with the two losses to Chicago and Atlanta, so they have to stand strong against the Heat. The Magic game who knows what could happen. They’ve won down there in Orlando by 21, and lost at home by 21 and 4 to that same Magic team.
Dwight Howard is still there, so he could give the team problems. But it’s been some of the role players who just scored at will, and the Pacers have to lock down on those guys. That is a game the Pacers might need to win just to get back on the winning track.
This is the tough stretch of nine games against teams with winning records, so to be a contender, they have to win some. This team has the talent to do that, and just need to start making that all work.