Indy Cornrows has a good entry on the Pacers loss to the Nets last night that officially put them out of playoff contention. First time in ten years they’ve missed the playoffs. Seems like they’ve been dying a slow death ever since The Brawl featuring Ron Artest a couple of years ago. Hopefully they’ll somehow begin to regroup and start a new chapter.
I’m afraid things will get worse before they get better. Looks like they’ll finish with the 11th pick in the draft, meaning it goes to the Hawks as part of the Al Harrington trade, who’s no longer here, etc. etc. etc. We can’t unload Tinsley because they signed him to a super long/super expensive contract. The only tradable person we have is O’Neal, whom I’d hate to see go…As much as I liked Larry Bird as a player, he & Walsh have been making horrendous personnel decisions in the past 3-4 years or so…I think the primary blame for the current mess lies with those two.