Creative rotations likely in Pacers' final preseason games

By Conrad Brunner - Oct. 22, 2004

Missing two starters and four regulars – all in the frontcourt – the Pacers embark upon an unusually grueling stretch of preseason games: five in seven nights, beginning Saturday against Minnesota in Bismarck, ND.

Jermaine O'Neal and Jeff Foster will travel with the team, but neither will play against the Timberwolves. Foster could return for Sunday night's game in Denver. Jonathan Bender and David Harrison will not make the trip.

"Injuries are always going to hinder your progress on some level," said Coach Rick Carlisle. "Then again, it offers opportunity to other people. We've got to deal with things that come our way. Right now, we're down some bodies, and some of our better players, but this is a good opportunity for some other guys, so that's the tack we'll continue to take.

"Guys like (Scot) Pollard and (Austin) Croshere are getting more reps with the starters and other guys are moving up. So, in a way, that's an opportunity for some guys. It's not ideal, but it's where we are."

Carlisle definitely will have to get creative with his rotations. With O'Neal expected to miss the final five preseason games, Croshere is likely to get a heavy dose of time with the first unit at power forward. That leaves free agents John Edwards and Randy Holcomb in position to pick up some time in the backup rotation. Second-year forward James Jones could also get some work inside.

"We need to look at rotations, but we don't want to wear anybody out," Carlisle said. "It's a combination of staying fresh, yet keeping our conditioning and being able to maintain what we need in terms of reps with things that are new."

One major byproduct of the injuries has been the absence of roster reductions. Carlisle hasn’t had to make any cuts yet because of the need for healthy bodies.

"I like all the guys we have here," he said. "They've worked hard and, to this point, they've earned the right to be here. The injury situation probably makes it so that there's no need to cut right now, anyway. It helps to have the bodies."

The next week offers both opportunity and peril. While players will be able to work extensively on game conditioning and situations, the team can ill afford any more injuries so the coaching staff will be monitoring minutes closely.

"It's good to go on a streak like that before the season starts so people can kind of get their bodies ready for that," said Stephen Jackson. "It's going be a challenge for us. We're not going to have J.O., so it's a challenge to see where our team is without an All-Star.

"We definitely have got to take this as a learning opportunity. There might be times during the season where J.O. or Ron (Artest) aren't there. So we've got to start practicing like that and make the best of it and try to win without him."

The Pacers have won their first three preseason games (over Washington, Memphis and Minnesota), but victory is hardly the first priority.

"Getting better during the preseason games means much more," said Reggie Miller. "It's nice to win the ballgames but you want to come out of preseason games having some type of structure of what you've put in throughout the course of (camp), and you want to remain relatively healthy.

"Obviously, starters and major-minutes guys don't play a lot, so you try to stay away from guys getting hurt. And you try to get in the best shape possible. I think that's what preseason games are really for. … You just want to remain healthy and get ready for November."

Or, as Artest put it, "We're not going to burn ourselves out trying to win all those games. Every time you play you take it serious, but you don't want to get too burned out. You want to take it easy, get better and make sure the team is on the same page."

Link