If Reggie stayed for le, he'll be disappointed

[KoriEllis]

www.indystar.com/print/ar...7-036.html

Bob Kravitz
If Reggie stayed for le, he'll be disappointed

August 22, 2003

I would love to think that Reggie Miller could be one of the few sports megastars to remain in the same place his entire career, then get rewarded with that much-deserved run at a le. He has given body and soul for this city and this franchise, and nothing would be more heartening than the sight of Uncle Reggie showing off his gaudy new diamond ring as the parade winds down Meridian Street.

I fear, however, that he will be John Stockton. Or Ernie Banks. Maybe Dan Marino.

Because the Indiana Pacers won't be winning a le -- even contending for a le -- any time in the next two seasons.

Put it this way: If Miller's primary motivation for returning to the Pacers was the desire to win a championship here -- and there's no reason to doubt that it was -- he made a huge mistake.

He can take all the not-so-veiled shots he wants at Karl Malone and Gary Payton, suggesting they're nothing more than le-chasing mercenaries who chose to take the easiest path to a championship. Bottom line is, Malone and Payton have a great chance at a ring. Miller does not.

What have the Pacers done so far to give anybody, Reggie included, the idea they're going to be appreciably better?

Right now, this team looks a whole lot like last year's team -- minus an Eastern Conference All-Star center. Last I checked, they still have Jamaal Tinsley as their starter at point guard. They still have a rotation nightmare of 20 guys who think they should be starting at the two or three spot. They still have the same basic chemistry that existed when the team flopped in the second half.

Granted, there's still plenty of time before next season to change the roster, but the Pacers have limited resources.

Free-agent bucks? They might have enough for some new shower curtains. The Pacers signed draft choice James Jones on Thursday for the rookie minimum of $366,931. If you assume that Miller took a monster pay cut and signed for between $4 million and $5 million each of the next two seasons -- and it's a pretty fair assumption -- the Pacers will have just enough left under the expected luxury-tax threshold to sign a low-salary bench player.

(For those who think Miller somehow hamstrung the Pacers with the contract, think again. The Pacers were going to balk at paying Brad Miller regardless of Reggie's salary; the price, in their minds, was too high over the long term. As for Jon Barry, for the Pacers to meet the Nuggets' exorbitant price, Reggie would have had to sign for next to nothing. When the Pacers couldn't unload much of their cap load earlier this summer, they doomed themselves to this fate.)

The only way Miller can hope to compete for a le is if the Pacers can make the kinds of seismic deals Donnie Walsh talked about at his season-ending news conference. But they weren't able to do it before the free-agency period. It's hard to imagine how they're going to do it now -- unless Austin Croshere's value increased when we weren't watching.

For all the marvelous things Walsh did over the years -- and the Walsh Era quietly and unofficially ended with the Miller signing -- he's left his successor, Larry Bird, with frightfully few options.

Even if the Pacers find a way to get better, they now find themselves competing in a brave new NBA world where everybody, it seems, has found a way to improve.

New Jersey is better. Detroit is better. Even the East's bad teams have a chance to become compe ive. The Western Conference gets better every 10 minutes and figures to dominate the NBA Finals for years to come.

Now I hear the cynical chorus: Reggie came back because the money was here. The Pacers could pay the most, and nobody else would pay anything close.

I don't doubt the latter is true. But I'm not convinced Miller's decision was motivated by much more than a fervent desire to spend his whole career here and win a le here. He's a different breed. He values loyalty and all those other old-school notions. Even after all he's done in his career, I get the sense he still feels like he has something to prove -- especially after an injury-filled season that ended with a miserable playoff performance.

Sometimes, though, the best stories never get written. I'm glad Uncle Reggie is going to be here until the end. I'd be happier if I could somehow envision him at the front of a Meridian Street motorcade.

Bob Kravitz is a columnist for The Indianapolis Star. Contact him at 1-317-444-6643 or via e-mail at [email protected]

[pacers4ever]

Am sure you loved that article, KoriEllis! :P
I guess Bob Kravitz read your mind, stole the ideas and fine-tuned them a little bit.. then transformed them into some sort of a wakeup call article.

Fact is, Bob has a point, but I have to disagree with him on a couple of points. The Pacers didnt change much from last year, except that they traded Brad Miller for Scott Pollard. While Brad Miller was an eastern conference All-Star last year, i dont see why Pollard cant emerge into one given the easier compe ion in the EAST. Dont forget that Pollard was a backup behind Webber and Divac, and now he will be the starter.

Detriot got better? Well, they got rid of Rick Carlisle and i dont see that as a positive!

NJ? Well, Mourning was a great player, but can he get back to his best days? Very doubtful.

Bob mentioned that Tinsely is still gonna be the starting PG. He got a point there, coz even if Tinsely played well, there will not be a reliable backup behind him.

As far as team-chemistry is concerned, there was no problems in that category in the first half of last season when the pacers were leading the pack in the East. Hoping that Artest won't get himself in trouble this season, and that Pollard will add that emotional element we're expecting from him, chemistry should be in a good shape.

Reggie is back for 2 more years, hoping for a ring. Problem is, even if Indiana won the east, the west is flying in a whole different zone.

[Pooh]

Kravitz made some good points. However I agree with what Pacers4ever said...All the Nets did was get Mourning, who in his own right is a risk at best. It's going to take him at least half the season to shake off a years' rust.

As for the Pistons, getting the second overall pick isn't exactly improving, especially from a team who fired its' coach after two consecutive trips to the Eastern Conference Finals.

Granted, the Pacers didn't improve in some areas. It's kind of hard when you're strapped cap wise. The only sure thing this off-season for the team was to get Jermaine O'Neal signed up. That was priority one, and whatever was left over to spend was to be used to hopefully get both Brad and Reggie Miller signed up too.

They knew it would be difficult to keep both but they tried. When it became obvious that Brad couldn't be signed for perhaps a smaller amount, instead of letting another team sign him up, leaving the Pacers out in the cold, they traded him to Sacramento.

Is Pollard the answer to the Pacers in the middle? Who knows? He's been backing up Divac and Webber for the past few years, so now he'll get his chance to shine.

As for Reggie not getting a le, who knows? Anything is possible. Who would've thought that David Robinson was going to win a le last year with the Spurs? They headed into the season with question marks too and look where they ended up.

The key word for this season is "Chemistry". It was there for four months into the 2002-2003 season. Hopefully this time, they will be able to sustain it throughout, this season.

While it's true that the West reloads it seems every 15 minutes, perhaps in the not to near future, they'll be primed for an upset.

[KoriEllis]

The Pacers didnt change much from last year, except that they traded Brad Miller for Scott Pollard. While Brad Miller was an eastern conference All-Star last year, i dont see why Pollard cant emerge into one given the easier compe ion in the EAST. Dont forget that Pollard was a backup behind Webber and Divac, and now he will be the starter.

Detriot got better? Well, they got rid of Rick Carlisle and i dont see that as a positive!

NJ? Well, Mourning was a great player, but can he get back to his best days? Very doubtful.

Bob mentioned that Tinsely is still gonna be the starting PG. He got a point there, coz even if Tinsely played well, there will not be a reliable backup behind him.

As far as team-chemistry is concerned, there was no problems in that category in the first half of last season when the pacers were leading the pack in the East. Hoping that Artest won't get himself in trouble this season, and that Pollard will add that emotional element we're expecting from him, chemistry should be in a good shape.

Reggie is back for 2 more years, hoping for a ring. Problem is, even if Indiana won the east, the west is flying in a whole different zone.

Early last season, I thought Indy had a serious chance to be the Eastern Conference Champs.

My issues with their offseason are more question marks than actual problems.

When the season ended abruptly with their first round dismissal, O'Neal (their franchise) had issues with some of the other players. He wanted to keep the Millers, but was disgruntled with some of his other teammates.

The Pacers lost Brad Miller, but did a good job of getting at least SOMETHING back in Pollard. I don't think Pollard will do much in Indy.

O'Neal showed maturity and loyality in remaining in Indy. Keeping Reggie was important, so they accomplished that.

But there were a lot of good "role players" available this summmer and with the Pacers having all their exceptions (including the $4.9M MLE) I thought they could have accomplished more in the free agent market.

They didn't upgrade their roster at all (in fact you can argue that it's downgraded). So now, at this point, what they need to do is improve their team by improving their current players.

And I guess that comes from FOCUS and WORK ETHIC. Artest needs to keep his head straight. Harrington needs to take his game to the next level. Pollard needs to be more consistent. And you MUST get something out of guys like Croshere.

Why I like Indy in the East is because they are very balanced -- many times having six players in double-figures in scoring last season. And they play solid ball on both ends of the court (unlike most of the other teams in either conference).

I think you guys will be okay in the East. NJ and Detroit will be up there too. But Indy could capture the Eastern Conference le if they remain focused and work hard.

[Pooh]

The key words are "focus" and "chemistry". We'll see how they mesh together during training camp and as the season progresses along.

[ducks]

if they start of slow they could be chemistry problems:tyson