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01-30-2005, 11:12 PM
MIDSEASON Q&A WITH DONNIE WALSH
"I Think This Will All Come Together"
The Pacers reached the midway point of the season with a 20-21 record, an achievement in some ways but a disappointment in others. Franchise President Donnie Walsh offered his perspective on what has happened in the first half and what needs to happen in the second in a wide-ranging Q&A session with Conrad Brunner of Pacers.com.
Q. Though your eligible suspended players have returned and the team is now relatively healthy, it seems the team has had trouble moving forward and climbing out of the circumstances created by adversity. Why is that?
A. A lot of what's happened to us in the last couple of games is a culmination of everything that happened before. You've got a combination of players that seem to be kind of stretched thin because they played more time than they were used to playing when they were carrying the load for a while – and they looked whipped. And then you've got players who are coming back to the team that aren't in shape and even if they play well right away, there is going to be a period where that conditioning starts to kick out for a while; you start to get tired because you went from playing not at all to playing 35 minutes a game. You can do it on adrenaline for so long, and then all of a sudden the bottom drops out. For us, those two elements seem to have come together and we need a rejuvenation.
Right now, I think we're at the bottom of the pit, as far as the mental outlook if the team seeming to be down right now. As bad as it may seem, that will get better, but you have to pull yourself out of it and that's easier said than done. We really haven't had consistent rotations where we know who's going to be there. There seems to be somebody getting hurt every now and then that disrupts everything. But I think this will all come together and we'll have a chance to be the team we're going to be this year. I think that can be a good team and if we really click, it's a team that could do well in the playoffs. But all things have to happen in the right way.
Q. What is your level of confidence that the team will regain its stride?
A. I'm confident that can happen. The only thing you can't discount is that, if you start losing games, no matter who's there or not there, a confidence level kicks in and it starts bringing you down and you must get yourself out of that. There are certain teams that will get out of it, and some teams fight but can't get out of it. You're always afraid that can happen.
Q. Given the number of combinations of lineups and rotations that have been forced by the team's never-ending wave of adversity thus far, has it been particularly difficult to evaluate the players?
A. If you start judging players today on how they're playing, you're going to be too harsh on them because when you're missing key elements, there are a lot of players on this team who are going to function at a high level if we have our core players in the game. But if they're not, then you're expecting more out of them than they can deliver. Nobody has a team of 12 stars. Everybody's built around two or three guys that you've got to have and then the other guys fit with that. We've been missing our star players, and obviously may miss one of them for the whole year, and that does have an impact with the other players on the team because they fit with those guys. That's what I see happening right now to a lot of players. They're not going to be in a position to look good.
Q. Do the circumstances that have arisen in the first half of the season make you more likely, or less likely, to take an aggressive approach to the February trading deadline?
A. I like to think that we're active all year long and that we're always talking to people and listening to people. The majority of trades should be viewed over a three- or four-year basis, not just on if it's going to make us better for this year. We won't make a trade like that. But if there's a trade out there that will make us better over the course of three years, even if it's a reduction of salary that allows us to do something in the summer, then we should look to do that.
Q. Given his continued injury problems, do you believe Jonathan Bender can still have an impact this season?
A. I wish there was an easy answer with that. I did not expect him to be out this length of time this year. I think the doctors are correctly trying to bring him along in a way that he won't step back again. I'm going with their advice on that because I think they're right. And so I think we have to look at Jonathan and if he keeps getting stronger then obviously what they told him to do was right with the idea that he could play at some point in the season and be injury-free, so to speak. But that's what we've got to determine how: where is he physically? When a player's hurt that isn't the time to judge what his future is. You've got to make sure that you're doing the right thing so that he has a career, and that's what we're doing with Bender.
Q. As well as Jermaine O'Neal has played, he appears to be carrying a lot of the weight of the team's inconsistency on his shoulders. How do you view his evolution as both a player and a leader this season?
A. It makes it harder on Jermaine when you're missing pieces around him and you put the pressure on him to win the games by himself. There aren't many players that can do that; there are no players, in fact, who can do that. He feels that pressure of trying to win the game without the necessary pieces being out there. But he's doing every single thing he can do. His level of play this year has been the highest it has ever been, but you could have a tendency to wear him down if you keep going to him like this, and we know that. We've been waiting to see if we can get pieces back so we can give him the help that he needs. Take Shaq: if you just put him out there and don't have the right pieces around him, it's going to be very difficult on him, as great as he is. Obviously, Kobe (Bryant) is finding that out.
Q. For this team to achieve its potential, is the bigger obstacle physical or mental?
A. It starts with the physical. Now, the suspensions are not going to stop Stephen (Jackson) or Jermaine from playing. They're back. We need to get all the other guys back healthy. It seems like there have been at least two or three guys out every single game. We need to get all of our players back and we need to start in a direction where the players know what their roles are, the players coming in off the bench know when they're coming in, and we get a set rotation. It's been impossible to do that when every night there are two or three guys in and out of the lineup. I don't know how Rick (Carlisle) has done as well as he's done, but the coaching staff has done a great job of trying to piece that together each night. It's caught up with us recently, but I think if we can get our 12 players back and start moving in that direction, we can be a good team. But until that happens it's going to be hard.
When you get everyone back, you're going to go through a period where you think you should win and you may not be able to right away. But if you can keep the team together, keep their confidence and you start playing good basketball, you will end up winning.
Link (http://www.nba.com/pacers/news/walsh_midseason_050128.html)
"I Think This Will All Come Together"
The Pacers reached the midway point of the season with a 20-21 record, an achievement in some ways but a disappointment in others. Franchise President Donnie Walsh offered his perspective on what has happened in the first half and what needs to happen in the second in a wide-ranging Q&A session with Conrad Brunner of Pacers.com.
Q. Though your eligible suspended players have returned and the team is now relatively healthy, it seems the team has had trouble moving forward and climbing out of the circumstances created by adversity. Why is that?
A. A lot of what's happened to us in the last couple of games is a culmination of everything that happened before. You've got a combination of players that seem to be kind of stretched thin because they played more time than they were used to playing when they were carrying the load for a while – and they looked whipped. And then you've got players who are coming back to the team that aren't in shape and even if they play well right away, there is going to be a period where that conditioning starts to kick out for a while; you start to get tired because you went from playing not at all to playing 35 minutes a game. You can do it on adrenaline for so long, and then all of a sudden the bottom drops out. For us, those two elements seem to have come together and we need a rejuvenation.
Right now, I think we're at the bottom of the pit, as far as the mental outlook if the team seeming to be down right now. As bad as it may seem, that will get better, but you have to pull yourself out of it and that's easier said than done. We really haven't had consistent rotations where we know who's going to be there. There seems to be somebody getting hurt every now and then that disrupts everything. But I think this will all come together and we'll have a chance to be the team we're going to be this year. I think that can be a good team and if we really click, it's a team that could do well in the playoffs. But all things have to happen in the right way.
Q. What is your level of confidence that the team will regain its stride?
A. I'm confident that can happen. The only thing you can't discount is that, if you start losing games, no matter who's there or not there, a confidence level kicks in and it starts bringing you down and you must get yourself out of that. There are certain teams that will get out of it, and some teams fight but can't get out of it. You're always afraid that can happen.
Q. Given the number of combinations of lineups and rotations that have been forced by the team's never-ending wave of adversity thus far, has it been particularly difficult to evaluate the players?
A. If you start judging players today on how they're playing, you're going to be too harsh on them because when you're missing key elements, there are a lot of players on this team who are going to function at a high level if we have our core players in the game. But if they're not, then you're expecting more out of them than they can deliver. Nobody has a team of 12 stars. Everybody's built around two or three guys that you've got to have and then the other guys fit with that. We've been missing our star players, and obviously may miss one of them for the whole year, and that does have an impact with the other players on the team because they fit with those guys. That's what I see happening right now to a lot of players. They're not going to be in a position to look good.
Q. Do the circumstances that have arisen in the first half of the season make you more likely, or less likely, to take an aggressive approach to the February trading deadline?
A. I like to think that we're active all year long and that we're always talking to people and listening to people. The majority of trades should be viewed over a three- or four-year basis, not just on if it's going to make us better for this year. We won't make a trade like that. But if there's a trade out there that will make us better over the course of three years, even if it's a reduction of salary that allows us to do something in the summer, then we should look to do that.
Q. Given his continued injury problems, do you believe Jonathan Bender can still have an impact this season?
A. I wish there was an easy answer with that. I did not expect him to be out this length of time this year. I think the doctors are correctly trying to bring him along in a way that he won't step back again. I'm going with their advice on that because I think they're right. And so I think we have to look at Jonathan and if he keeps getting stronger then obviously what they told him to do was right with the idea that he could play at some point in the season and be injury-free, so to speak. But that's what we've got to determine how: where is he physically? When a player's hurt that isn't the time to judge what his future is. You've got to make sure that you're doing the right thing so that he has a career, and that's what we're doing with Bender.
Q. As well as Jermaine O'Neal has played, he appears to be carrying a lot of the weight of the team's inconsistency on his shoulders. How do you view his evolution as both a player and a leader this season?
A. It makes it harder on Jermaine when you're missing pieces around him and you put the pressure on him to win the games by himself. There aren't many players that can do that; there are no players, in fact, who can do that. He feels that pressure of trying to win the game without the necessary pieces being out there. But he's doing every single thing he can do. His level of play this year has been the highest it has ever been, but you could have a tendency to wear him down if you keep going to him like this, and we know that. We've been waiting to see if we can get pieces back so we can give him the help that he needs. Take Shaq: if you just put him out there and don't have the right pieces around him, it's going to be very difficult on him, as great as he is. Obviously, Kobe (Bryant) is finding that out.
Q. For this team to achieve its potential, is the bigger obstacle physical or mental?
A. It starts with the physical. Now, the suspensions are not going to stop Stephen (Jackson) or Jermaine from playing. They're back. We need to get all the other guys back healthy. It seems like there have been at least two or three guys out every single game. We need to get all of our players back and we need to start in a direction where the players know what their roles are, the players coming in off the bench know when they're coming in, and we get a set rotation. It's been impossible to do that when every night there are two or three guys in and out of the lineup. I don't know how Rick (Carlisle) has done as well as he's done, but the coaching staff has done a great job of trying to piece that together each night. It's caught up with us recently, but I think if we can get our 12 players back and start moving in that direction, we can be a good team. But until that happens it's going to be hard.
When you get everyone back, you're going to go through a period where you think you should win and you may not be able to right away. But if you can keep the team together, keep their confidence and you start playing good basketball, you will end up winning.
Link (http://www.nba.com/pacers/news/walsh_midseason_050128.html)