| Stability Returns Authored by Andrew Perna - September 25, 2006 - 11:51 am
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The picture of stability in the eyes of Pacer fans is, was, and always will be Reggie Miller. He spent an amazing eighteen years in Indiana, and it’s unlikely that another player will spend that amount of time with the same franchise ever again. While the Pacers and their fans may have been lucky enough to keep Reggie for nearly two decades, they’ve been punished with several years of revolving locker room doors.
Towards the end of the nineties Jalen Rose emerged as one of the league’s most promising young talents. He became a leader on the Pacers, and even surpassed Reggie to lead the team in scoring as the Pacers made a strong playoff push towards the NBA Finals. How long did that last? Before long Jalen was send to Chicago for Brad Miller and Ron Artest.
The new duo that arrived from the Bulls became instant successes. Along with Reggie and the emerging force of Jermaine O’Neal, the Pacers seemed destined to succeed for years to come. However, instead of toasting downtown Indianapolis with an NBA championship the Pacers struggled to get past the first round of the playoffs, and the younger Miller was shipped to Sacramento.
Indiana didn’t struggle after the loss of the all-star center - they even advanced to within two games of reaching the NBA Finals. In the summer following their loss to the Pistons in the Eastern Conference Finals, things looked as bright as ever in Indianapolis. The team launched a campaign for the upcoming season entitled ‘One Goal.’ The basic meaning was ‘Championship or Bust.’
After opening the 2004-2005 season with a flourish and a 6-2 record, the Pacers strolled into Detroit and had the Pistons beat by double-digits. Then the unthinkable happened, and Ron Artest was gone for the season. With the countless suspensions and mounting injuries the Pacers limped in the playoffs and Reggie Miller bid ado to the NBA after a second round loss to those same Pistons.
That season the Pacers effectively lost two of the games’ most talented players. Miller, who retired after an illustrious career, left Indiana with a sour taste in the mouths of most fans because of how it ended. That season Indiana also lost Artest in a sense. After having been given countless chances by Larry Bird, Donnie Walsh, and his teammates, he was still the same immature twenty-something.
The following season, 2005-2006, didn’t go any better. Again filled with injuries and drama, Artest asked for a trade less than two months into the season. Before long Artest was shipped to Sacramento and reunited with former Bull and Pacer teammate Brad Miller. In return the Pacers acquired Peja Stojakovic, a long range threat that the team sorely needed, and it seemed as though the post-Artest era would be a much more predictable one.
Instead changes became more frequent and unpredictable. Before the offseason even officially began, Stojakovic bolted to New Orleans for a fat paycheck, leaving the Pacers with nothing to show for the Ron Artest trade except a 7.5 million dollar trade exception. As the summer wore on more changes were made, and the longest tenured Pacer, Austin Croshere, was sent to Dallas in exchange for Marquis Daniels. After what seemed like just a few days Indiana sent another veteran to the Mavericks when they traded Anthony Johnson to Dallas for Darrell Armstrong and a pair of training camp hopefuls.
But the team wasn’t done undergoing its transformation just yet. Indiana watched Fred Jones leave the nest for a new contract and a chance to shine in Toronto. In a matter of months the Pacers lost Artest, Stojakovic, Croshere, Johnson, and Jones – all of whom played important roles for the team during their stay. In addition to all the subtractions, Indiana added Al Harrington back into the mix, using the trade exception they acquired when the Hornets signed Peja Stojakovic.
If you look at the big picture think of the players that have left the locker room at Conseco Fieldhouse over the last seven years.
Veterans like Mark Jackson, Rik Smits, Antonio Davis, and Dale Davis (twice).
Young stars like Jalen Rose, Travis Best, and the Joneses.
All-Stars like Brad Miller, Ron Artest, Peja Stojakovic, and Reggie Miller.
Even recent fan favorites like Austin Croshere and Anthony Johnson.
Setting salary cap and collective bargaining agreements aside think about what the Pacers roster could have looked like for this season (assuming Reggie remained retired):
PG: Jamaal Tinsley, Anthony Johnson, Sarunas Jasikevicius
SG: Stephen Jackson, Fred Jones, James Jones
SF: Ron Artest, Danny Granger, Shawne Williams
PF: Jermaine O’Neal, Al Harrington, Austin Croshere
C: Brad Miller, Jeff Foster, Antonio Davis, David Harrison
The Pacers sure haven’t lacked talented over the last six or seven seasons, but what they have lacked is stability. But maybe that’s about to change…
It was recently announced that the Pacers intend on extending the contract of Coach Rick Carlisle. This is bad news for the fans that spent last season calling for his head, but great news for those of you who might be looking for some stability in Indianapolis. The terms of the contract haven’t been finalized, but expect Carlisle, who is in the final year of his contract, to remain on the Pacers bench for several years to come.
So maybe the Pacers, who have been the picture of instability in the NBA for the last few years, can finally return to a state of predictability. After all the shuffling of players that the management has done in recent years, the next four or five years look much more concrete than they have as of late. Indiana has Jamaal Tinsley signed through 2011, and Jermaine O’Neal and Stephen Jackson signed through 2010.
Bird and Walsh also have a team option to extend the contracts of Shawne Williams and Danny Granger past 2008, and to sign Marquis Daniels through the 2010 season. The team also has Al Harrington until at least 2009, when he’ll have the option to remain in Indiana. Jeff Foster will have a similar decision to make following the 2008 season.
This means, barring any trades, the Pacers can have their main nucleus of Jermaine O’Neal, Al Harrington, Stephen Jackson, Marquis Daniels, Jamaal Tinsley, and Danny Granger together until 2009. This provides the players and fans with a moderate amount of stability over the next few years. If the teams excels, the options are in place to keep the core together for longer, but if the team combusts like it has over the last few seasons, they can continue their high turnover and the winds of change will pick up one again.
Do you know Reggie Miller? Give him my e-mail…Andrew.Perna@RealGM.com! |
