Would you be happy or sad if the Rockets resemble the Pacers in a couple of years?

Absolutely, which is why you have to trust your front office people and your scouts to make sure they do their homework. Drafting at a higher position doesn't guarantee that you get a star player but theoretically, it does increase your chances of being able to obtain the player you have deemed a star-caliber player. Also, having a higher draft pick serves another purpose as well as it presents itself as more attractive trade bait to other teams.

 

I love that Indy team. They're young, athletic, have a deep squad and a great coach. Their assets are also way better than ours so they can easily improve that team. I know Granger struggled today but I'm a big fan of his and I think he's a not below superstar level. P. George is also a stud as well. They can significantly improve that team by trading either one of those guys packaged with other assets to improve elsewhere.

Also, the BIGGEST factor on why I think that Pacer team is good and has the potential to be great is because of LARRY BIRD.

The dude was obviously a legend on the court, but he was absolutely fantastic as a head coach as well and as a President of Basketball Operations he's not getting enough credit. Bird is responsible for personnel moves, coaching moves ( I think he hired the next great young coach in Vogel)and draft selections (George at 10 and Granger at 17 were both steals). Pretty safe to say Bird knows his stuff so as long as he's there I think the Pacers will continue to get better.

 

If we were to get a good defensive big man in the draft to play next to Motiejunas next season, we could resemble the championship Mavs.

 

Perfect case of severe HOMER-ism. Granger and Paul could/would field a lot of nice offers as they're highly regarded around the league by other GM's in comparison to Lowry and Dragic.

 

Money. Jordan might be better than Bird on the court, but Bird has his number in the office (evaluating talent).

 

Yea maybe in like 8 years when that good defensive big man we draft develops into a Tyson Chandler and Motiejunas turns out to be the second coming of Dirk...

 

I don't understand the M-Morris pick, Dmorey said he knew what Kenneth Faried is good at, and also Iman Shanpert looks a lot better than MM. May be he just need another year, more PT. I really hate the rockets always do not have PT for a 14th pick player and that just sucks.

 

This is a very good question. It would be nice to have a young and talented team like Indiana but we all know that this indiana team will never win a championship unless it is able to get itself a superstar.

I think the one thing that Indiana has going for it is that a smart superstar would be willing to sign with a team like Indiana because of how great that team could be potentially. I guess in the end i'd rather just tank hard hope for high draft picks that end up becoming superstars. I don't see any point in being a team like atlanta or indiana.

At the end of the day it isn't about how many consecutive seasons you make the playoffs like denver. It is about championships.......and a team like indiana will never win a championship the way it is currently assembled.

 

Seriously, Danny Granger is way overated on this board, he is a Jump-shooter and he is 28. I think he hit his prime already where Lowry and Dragic(especially him) can improve some where of their game, around 25. Paul George is a different scenario and next year is his third year(break out year).

 

I think they are very talented and young. And Pacers will get better with Roy hibbert and Paul George getting better. They have bright future. Sadly they have Heat on the East Conference. I think they need a better coach with a better offensive system like Rick Adelman. I really enjoyed watch us play that year playoff against Lakers and last season.

 

Sad as they are stuck to losing in the 2nd round and never winning a title. Not what I want for us.

 

People who think Indy is stuck in the Atlanta Hawks-type 2nd tier status need to pay attention to two things (a) the age/upside of the main guys, and (b) the contract/cap situation.

Indy may not have a superstar right now, but guys like Paul George and Roy Hibbert are still relatively inexperienced and have made improvements to their game. None of their guys are really on what can be considered "bad contracts" and they should have plenty of cap room either to spend in free agency or to be used to facilitate trades-- this even after spending $10 million a year on David West. They've just recently went from sub-.500 team to a solid playoff seed.

Atlanta, on the other hand, mostly depend on guys whose upsides have been tapped-- Joe Johnson, Josh Smith (not old but in his 8th season) and are paying these two plus Marvin Williams & Co. a lot of money. They really don't have much money to spend in free agency--had to let Crawford go at the MLE and replace him with TMac at the minimum due to luxury tax issues. The team overall has been at the same level for years.

Indy might never make it to elite status-- it's hard to get there by any means. But they certainly have better assets to get them there than Atlanta does.

 

Bird is history though going forward

 

The Pacers are currently in a better position than the Rockets to compete for a title, but I honestly don't envy the Pacers current situation. I envy the Heat and Thunder situations far more and honestly I don't even consider the Pacers a threat at all to the elite teams in the NBA. Everybody knows that the Pacers are going to be a decent playoff team for a next couple of years, but won't be threatening the crown anytime soon. Even though the Pacers have a stronger core than the Rockets, they are still miles and miles away from actually catching the Heat and it's kinda sad because their best player's (Danny Granger) best years happen to coincide with the prime years of the Heat trio and it's gonna take a lot more than Roy Hibbert and David West to get the job done. While they definitely have some nice young chips in Paul George and Darren Collison, those two don't exactly strike me as the complimentary pieces for a championship contender. Solid role pieces, but not exactly superstar material. With players gravitating towards the big cities, bright lights, and other star talent, a lot of things are going to have to happen before the Pacers ever get a shot at a title.

While the Pacers are certainly better equipped to combat the near future than the Rockets, I don't exactly envy their situation as their are other teams in the league that are just as young and have more talent to compete for a title (i.e. Thunder, Clippers, Bulls (we'll see about Rose), and to a lesser degree the Clippers and the Grizzlies). If the Rockets became a perennial playoff team, I would certainly be happy for them but would I be satisfied with simply being a "run-of-the-mill" playoff team? No, and I don't think the Rockets should settle for that either. Over time, it's going to have the same exact effect as winning the perennial "best of the worst" award. People are going to get tired of the same old story and as fans we'll expect more and more. While I do hope the Rockets can obtain some young talent like the Pacers, I don't envy their position one bit.

If you are going to build a contender, you find the contenders and you create the blueprint that will put you in the best position to beat those teams. Nobody cares if you can beat the Pacers, the Hawks, or the Magic of the league and in the words of Ricky Bobby, "If you're not First, your Last."

 

The Pacers have some nice young pieces in Hibbert, George but I'm not exactly gushing over the team as a whole.
If Granger was a Rocket he would get flamed so much, if you guys thought Tmac took bad shots you would pull your hair out watching Granger! He's so streaky it's quite frustrating to watch.
That team is definitely playoff squad for years to come but unless PG an Hibbert make huge strides they will be a second round team for years

 

If we're not better than these Pacers by the beginning of next season, I think Morey should lose his job.

Frankly, I think we were already better than the Pacers this season, it's just that we play in the West rather than the East.

 

We ARE the Pacers - We are just in the West . . .

 

This.

 

D.Morway > D.Morey

Not to be confused with each other.