tfarks

The only thing that was clutch was that advertising spot.

A bullpen v bullpen extraordinaire. I can't wait to see the amazing strategy put forth by Guillen and Lou here, its gonna be awesome.

And thats not a strike F U ump. In the ear.

I despise this umpire.

Well, not in the 1st inning.

Fontenot is obviously trying to get a home run streak going - and Lou will NEVER move Lee out of the 3 spot. He will make Marquis pitch on his head. Hell, Lou might even pull a bear out of the circus to play center field before Lee is disturbed. Come on Cobs eye of the tiger out there let's effin rage

somebody's caught the ghey :shock:

I've already done did it.

That sounds like a good time. Yeah it does. And I don't even like the Fugees all that much. Ready or Not is a good song though.

Haha. I don't know why Lee has such a high GB rate this year but Perry needs to start working with him. This is going beyond disheartening. Maybe he needs to start hitting to RF again because he is consistently pulling the ball into the ground.

Are you joking? I like Rush and Jack is a good pair with Ford, but they traded the steal of the draft. This was a bad night for the Pacers. The way I see it is simple. I was ecstatic when Bayless fell to the Pacers. My top 2 choices for the Pacers was Bayless(or someone else falling) then Rush. However, Bird's agenda seems non conducive to the long rebuilding mode and he appears to want to try to do this quicker - perhaps because of the declining attendance at Conseco Fieldhouse. I really like Rush - his perimeter defense and jumpshot are both incredibly valuable and he should be NBA ready and doing it for us either starting or backing up Dunleavy/Granger right away. Bayless has the higher potential and may become a superstar, or he might possibly flame out. Bird didn't want to take this chance. O'brien I'm sure has a huge man-crush on Rush with his up tempo offense and perimeter shooting. What the Pacers were severely lacking was defense, which they now have in Rush and in the paint with Hibbert. Not to mention with Jarrett Jack, who at 6'3" can guard the bigger point guards who give us trouble like Billups. Huge strides forward with that department. My main complaint is what they got for Bayless. They also threw in Ike - who never got a fair shake for Rush and Jack. Were they that concerned about a backup PG? You don't usually trade 2 young promising players for someone you passed in the draft and a backup PG, they didn't even get an extra pick from the Blazers. They got robbed in this deal - sure the Pacers got what they needed but they undersold Bayless. Now we will always look back at this, both franchises. It will hurt if Bayless goes on to be the next Gilbert Arenas. However, time gives us the opportunity for rationality. After getting wasted drunk last night and waking up at 1 p.m. today, I clearly see how improved the Pacers are. What a drastic change in this franchise basically overnight. Once Tinsley's contract is bought out the members of the Brawl are gone. Well besides Foster but he wasn't much of a player in that. They have a true center for the first time since Rik Smits in Hibbert. A guy who can play good defense, rebound, score on the post(we really need this after the departure of JO) and perhaps the most overlooked factor - screening. Hibbert is a great screener, this right here can make Rush a rookie of the year candidate - who excels as an off the ball offensive player. PG: We have TJ Ford now, possibly the fastest player in the NBA who can penetrate with the best of em'. 6th in PER last year - and a quality backup that will help keep him healthy in Jack - who is proven capable 10 ppg 4 asst with defensive skills and size. This compared to Tinsley and crap is such a huge step forward there's nothing left for me to say. SG: Dunleavy/Rush/Daniels. That's nothing to scoff at. Dunleavy made huge strides last year. 19-5-4 - that's an incredibly valuable all around player there with great passing skills. Daniels is a guy that can come off the bench and penetrate and put up numbers quickly - he averaged 8 points a game last year on 43% shooting - not too bad for a backup that also ran some point. SF: Danny Granger/Rush/Williams. All that needs to be said here is Granger is the leader of this team. 20-6 last year, 45% shooting, should better that this upcoming year. Thats our franchise player right there. His only shortcoming is his defense - hello Rush. Williams has a lot of potential but hes making mistakes - hes already on his last strike with Bird. If he can stay out of trouble we have ourselves an excellent player here-hes full of potential. I'd like to see him rotate in the 3 and 4 positions. I've said enough about Rush, hopefully he contributes. PF: Troy Murphy/Baston/Williams/Foster: Murphy was 12-7 last year but he plays away from the basket a lot and is not showing what he did earlier in his career when he was an 15-10 guy. Baston is a backup nothing special there. Williams I'd liek to see get time at the 4 like I mentioned earlier - we might be able to pull this off with Hibbert at C. Foster is a terrific rebounder and energy guy - when Foster and Hibbert are our frontcourt we're solid down low. C: Hibbert/Nesterovic/Foster: Best situation we have had here in a while. We haven't had a true center since Smits - or an especially useful one since Brad Miller left. Now we have Hibbert and good depth. Our defense gets a major upgrade and we have some low-post scoring ability that we will sorely need. We have a playoff caliber team here being in the East. We don't have a true PF but O'brien realizes this and will set the offense accordingly. We have an offense that scored 106 points a game at home and 101 on the road. This is not bad at all and should actually improve with better point play and perimeter shooting. This team will be able to put some points up and quickly - bring back the Boom Baby. What was sorely inefficient was the defense and I have expressed my optimism there - this should improve the Pacers by leaps and bounds. So to sum up what I can't say succinctly is that this is a good team, a different team, a refreshing team. This is by far the best I've felt as a Pacer's fan in a long time. I haven't even mentioned the wonderful cap position we will be in next offseason - we should have around 16 million available. This can land us a free agent or help us with netting a trade. If Bayless goes on to have an astounding career good for him - we have what we have now and I think it's pretty damn capable. It's a new era in Pacer land and I know I'm not the only one who's excited.

You a Pacers fan? yup

Well we gave up Bayless which was just stupid. At least Rush is a good player and has a good outside shot - Bird did say he wanted polish over potential. I hope this trade doesn't come back to bite us. I'll stop complaining now its time to go drink.

I liked Rush and wanted him after Bayless but there is no way I would have made that trade. Ahhh why couldn't they have just taken Hibbert and called it a day.

#-o I knew it was gonna happen so I've gotten used to it. But what the heck is this trade about? I like Rush, and wanted him after Bayless. Ike doesn't seem to fit in Obrien's system so I can understand moving him but Jarrett Jack? Don't know anything about him.

damn you sixers...one pick away

I don't see Speights falling past the Pacers...I really hope Bird doesn't take Koufos or Hibbert before him.

NBADraft.net has them taking George Hill, an Indiana native. http://www.nbadraft.net/admincp/profiles/georgehill.html But obviously someone will have a better answer than me.

R. Lopez, Jordan, Speights, Koufos, Randolph, Hibbert are all still on the board. The Pacers look to have a great chance at getting one of the bigs they need.

Thanks for the congrats splinter...I'm as happy as I can be about the draft right now. Bayless is a very good combo guard...He can be subbed in at the point because Ford can probably only play 30 minutes a game to avoid injury, and can play the 2 with Daniels and Dunleavy. I'm hoping Speights falls to 17, but won't mind someone like Hibbert - whom Bird seems to like. Now who will take Tinsley I have no idea, I just look forward to his exit.

Are you talking about Mayo? That's pretty ridiculous. I'm happier with the Westbrook pick then I would have been with Lopez . Well if the Clippers don't pick Lopez and announce the trade then you're good.

The Sonics just traded their #4 to the Clippers for the #7 and a protected pick next year. Reports are the Clips are gonna take Westbrook and the Sonics are looking to take Lopez at 7. Looks like Bayless might drop to 11.

I would be ok if the all star game was like the 5th tiebreaker. And who are we kidding? The AL will win once again - it's an inevitability.

The draft is tonight at 7 ET on ESPN. Being a bit of a draft junkie I'm looking forward to this before I hit the bars. I know you Bulls fans have been looking forward to this ya lucky bastards. But my Chicago love never reached to the Bulls, besides being a Jordan fan when I was younger like everyone else. I'm a Pacers' fan, and while that's been tough recently I like the position they set themselves up with. By moving O'neal to Toronto for TJ Ford and Rasho Nesterovic...and someone like Maceo Baston to fill out the trade they got themselves that desperately needed point guard as well as rotational big men. They also received pick #17. This gives the Pacers the 11th and 17th picks in the draft. The top 10 talent is pretty rich and I look for the Pacers to gobble on a leftover. I mean whens the last time the projected top 10 actually went 1-10? 1. Derrick Rose 6-3 PG Memphis Stock Up The best pure point guard in the draft could push for the No. 1 overall pick. 2. Michael Beasley 6-8 PF Kansas State Stock Down Best outside-inside talent in the draft. A lock for the No. 1 or No. 2 pick if character questions check out. 3. O.J. Mayo 6-4 SG USC Stock Up It's clear Mayo's going to be a great NBA scorer ... but will he give a team anything else? 4. Russell Westbrook 6-4 PG UCLA Stock Up Athletic combo guard seems to have the tools to be a star ... but are they refined enough? 5. Danilo Gallinari 6-9 SF Italy Stock Up Many in Italy feel he's a better long-term prospect than Andrea Bargnani -- think an Italian Toni Kukoc. 6. Jerryd Bayless 6-3 PG Arizona Stock Down Athletic combo guard put up big numbers as a freshman at Arizona. 7. Kevin Love 6-10 PF UCLA Stock Up 8. Joe Alexander 6-8 SF West Virginia Stock Down 9. Eric Gordon 6-3 SG Indiana Stock Up Do-it-all combo guard has a chance to be a bigger, better version of Ben Gordon. 10. Brandon Rush 6-7 SG Kansas Stock Up Thats Chad Ford's Big Board...if one of those players falls to 11 I'll be happy. Every single one of those players will help the Pacers...It would be great to see someone like Bayless, Gordon, or Lopez fall into the Pacers' lap. I'm not a fan of Koufos, if none of those guys falls I'd hope for Anthony Randolph, Mario Chalmers, or one of my favorites - Marreese Speights at 11. At 17 there's a lot of good options, perhaps Robin Lopez, Roy Hibbert or DeAndre Jordan. The Pacers need an influx of capable big men to offset the loss of O'Neal. Overall I'm feeling positive, I feel this is a fairly deep draft and the Pacers' franchise is finally rebuilding the right way. Let's get this thing going already.

Rube Waddell sure seemed like an interesting guy: "He began that year (1903) sleeping in a firehouse in Camden, New Jersey, and ended it tending bar in a saloon in Wheeling, West Virginia. In between those events he won 22 games for the Philadelphia Athletics, played left end for the Business Men's Rugby Football Club of Grand Rapids, Michigan, toured the nation in a melodrama called The Stain of Guilt, courted, married and became separated from May Wynne Skinner of Lynn, Massachusetts, saved a woman from drowning, accidentally shot a friend through the hand, and was bitten by a lion."