Another season in the books, another playoffs where the Pacers are left watching from their respective sofas. This marks the second year running. It's a streak that Larry Bird will surely want to snap if he can help it. So where does this once proud franchise go from here? It starts first and foremost with the draft. If a franchise wants to be successful, they have to be able to develop their own talent. Trades and signings can help improve a roster, but that isn't how one typically builds a contending core (the Detroit Pistons are the exception, not the rule). No one has drafted better than the San Antonio Spurs, and that's why they're looking for their 5th championship in the past 10 seasons. Tim Duncan? Tony Parker? Manu Ginobili? Developed. Developed. Developed. I'm not saying the Pacers are going to hit the jack-pot and draft the next Tim Duncan, but as a fellow small-market team, I think there are a few things they can surely use from the Spurs. This franchise has to be able to draft well to get back to being a contender again, and it starts this season with presumably the #11 pick in the draft (don't hold your breath for a Top 3 pick Pacer fans, with a 3% chance you'll die of suffocation). So where do we look? Who are some of the prospects? I think it has to start at PG. Luckily, the Pacers' brass has given up Jamaal Tinsley as a starter. I swear if they had tried to sell the fans again on that, I would've had to browse for a sale in the Sunday paper for pitchforks and flaming torches (Home Depot anyone?) as well as mapquest directions to Conseco Fieldhouse. Fortunately, this isn't the case. Jim O'Brien closed the volatile and often depressing Jamaal Tinsley era by saying the team can't count on him to stay healthy and is looking to move on. Good luck  finding a taker. I'm sure Larry's phone is ringing off the hook to acquire an injury prone, trouble making PG with 20+ million left on his contract over the course of three years. Maybe we can have a buy one, get one free and include Troy Murphy....wait, Isiah's not in power anymore is he? Squash that idea.
             Ok, to the prospects. DJ Augustin and Russell Westbrook both fit the bill at #11. Augustin is undersized, but he's been a flat-out playmaker  during his time as a Texas Longhorn. He could end up as good as Damon Stoudamire (Toronto days) or as bad as DaShaun Wood (Who? Is right).  Meanwhile, Westbrook is considered a super-sleeper. His numbers weren't off the charts at UCLA, but there's a lot of room for growth with his out-of-the-gym athleticism and defensive tenacity. I'm not sure he can play the point full-time, but time will tell.
              What we don't need is another small-forward. Sorry Larry, no Danilo Gallinari. No Joe Alexander. This team has more than enough talent at the small-forward position with Danny Granger, Mike Dunleavy, and Shawne Williams all claiming it as their natural position.  We could also use some front-court depth, particularly at center. I, for one, am saying no to UCLA's Kevin Love though. Sure, he's fundamentally sound across the board, but what was already a rather slow and unathletic team last season becomes even more slow and unathletic. Is that even possible? I love Texas A&M's DeAndre Jordan's potential, but what I don't like is his lack of drive and passion towards the game. A voice in my head keeps whispering David Harrison. It's probably well-deserved too as both are talented 7 footers who could and should be a lot more productive than they are.  
             Ok, ok, so who do I like? I tend to like OSU's Kosta Koufos the most. He has a soft touch from outside and has the frame and skills to be a force inside too. Florida's Mareesse Speights interests me too, I think he can become a better offensive Antonio Davis, and provide the type of bruiser that Jermaine O'Neal needs next to him at this stage in his career.                                      
           Speaking of Jermaine O'Neal, it looks like it will be yet another summer of trade rumors involving him. One that looks like it could have some steam is the Stephon Marbury for Jermaine O'Neal swap. Donnie Walsh has taken over the reigns in New York, and it seems possible that he could take a gamble on Jermaine to provide his new coach D'Antoni with an inside presence at least for the two seasons remaining on Jermaine's contract. Does it make sense for the Pacers though? Maybe, if the Pacers believe Marbury can still run a solid point. However, there's also the issue of Marbury's character. I can't really pass judgement because I've never been in a Marbury-led locker room. I can't see the cost-conscious Simon Bros. simply buying him out though. The Josh Howard for Jermaine O'Neal rumor was stopped before it even started. Would the Pacers acquire another player with questionable character? The answer is a resounding no (at least that's the hope).     
           Don't expect much in free agency as the Pacers are cap-strapped and don't really have much wiggle to do much of anything. Maybe we'll find another diamond in the rough like a Kareem Rush, or maybe not. Either way, it looks like this will be a busy and active offseason for the Pacers. It's also one that they can't afford to be watching the Boston Threeparty or The Kobeshow for long. There's too much work to be done and too much to change in Pacerland. For a team looking to avoid a three-peat of not making the playoffs, they better get moving.
 

     You can call them stupid or crazy, but while other teams like the Miami Heat and Memphis Grizzlies are blatantly throwing in the towel to try get a hold of phemon Michael "Beastly" Beasley (deactivating Dwyane Wade, giving Pau Gasol to the Lakers for peanuts), the Indiana Pacers are pushing for the eighth and final spot in the Eastern Conference. Even though they would face a seemingly unstoppable force in the star-studded Celtics, they still have the desire to win. It's a tribute to the team almost as it is to the current state of the Eastern Conference (since when does a team that is 31-43 even sniff the playoffs?). This is a team that hasn't had its best player in Jermaine O'Neal for 33 games and its starting point guard in Jamaal Tinsley for 35. The play of Mike Dunleavy and Danny Granger  has kept the team in the playoff hunt. Dunleavy should get a long look as the league's most improved player. He has gone from a draft bust to a really good player just not the type of go-to guy the Pacers' have been missing in Jermaine O'Neal's absence (whether Jermaine O'Neal is a go-to player is another subject entirely, but he's paid like one).           
     The Pacers have always been about winning. They have been since their ABA days, and they were constantly an Eastern Conference contender throughout the 90's and early 2000's. Even today, at the franchise's lowest point, where attendance is at it's lowest and the fans don't seem to care, the Pacers are still all about winning even though a better "ping-pong ball" could be at stake. It's what separates them from perennial losers like the Hawks and Clippers. What these franchises don't understand is that you can accumulate all the young talent in the world, but they'll never develop if they don't have the proper winning atmosphere. I'm not saying the Pacers do either right now, but at least they are attempting. The thing is, is that losing is contagious. Tank one year, and your team may never sniff the playoffs for another ten years because once young players get the idea that losing is acceptable, they may never learn the error of their ways. The Clippers accumulated a ton of young talent throughout the mid-90's. They acquired Elton Brand, Lamar Odom, Darius Miles, Quentin Richardson, and Michael Olowokandi through means of the draft. You want to know how many of those players are still in uniform for them? 1. The combination of bad drafting and a losing atmosphere doomed the core that the Clippers had invested so much in. I care too much about this storied franchise to see that happen.     
      Call me crazy, but I'd take trying to win over betting my franchise's hope on a ping-pong ball any day because history doesn't lie. Apparently, Larry Bird feels the same way. Good for him, but the road still won't be easy in restoring this franchise back to its glory days. It will take some smart drafting and maybe a few shrewd trades as well as getting the overall team healthy. To end on a positive note, even though the team's winning fortunes have changed, at least the franchise still stands for what it did 40 some odd years ago. The navy and gold stands for winning, and hopefully, it always will. Still, it won't stop Pacer faithful from convulsively crying out the name of Reggie Miller though from time to time. Trust me people, he's not coming through that door, but maybe someone like Texas's DJ Augustin is...and maybe, just maybe, we can make the playoffs at the same time. I think it's a chance that's worth fighting for. It's the winning way. It's the Pacer Way.