2011 Pacers Pre-Draft

So what do the Pacers need to get them to the playoffs next season? They hope to answer that in the 2011 NBA Draft on June 23^rd. Pacers president Larry Bird has said he wants a consistent scorer to help out small forward, Danny Granger. That player will probably end up being a shooting guard, because all the other positions have a solid starter and backup.

There has been a lot of discussion on Jimmer Fredette possibly being selected. To that I say, “NOOOOOO!!!!” Jimmer is so over-rated it’s disgusting. He racked up gaudy numbers against weak competition and everybody praises the ground he walks on. Ever heard of Adam Morrison and J.J. Riddick, or even Steve Alford? They are all shooting guards that posted great numbers in college and did nothing in the NBA.  Fredette is also white (like Morrison, Riddick, and Alford), which I think played a huge part in the amount of attention he got.

The big name players that have worked out for the Indiana Pacers include: Jon Deibler, Kyle Singler, Tyler Honeycutt, Jimmy Butler, Jamine Peterson, and Jake Kelly. (Kelly attended Indiana State University, but I think the only guy that is giving the guy a chance is former Sycamore, Larry Bird)

Jon Deibler- 6-6, 205lbs. junior from Ohio State University.  Deibler broke the all-time OSU records for career 3-pointers and single-season 3-pointers. He was the best 3-point shooter not in only the Big Ten Conference, but in America. Of his 328 career field goals, only 21% have been 2-pointers. I’d much rather have this guy than Fredette.

Kyle Singler- 6-8, 230lbs. senior forward from Duke University. Anybody from Duke is gonna be at least a decent player. Singler owns the Duke career records for games played, consecutive games played, games started, and minutes played. According to Pacers scouts, Singler is a “highly skilled offensive player with the ability to score on the block or from the perimeter ... one of the top inside-outside threats in the country. As well as fluid athlete with an advanced and well-rounded skill set ... has the ability to lead the team in nearly every statistical category”. Singler is an outstanding player. I never really liked the guy though, and I think a team will have already drafted him before the Pacers have a chance to.

           

Tyler Honeycutt- 6-8, 188 lbs. sophomore forward from UCLA. Honeycutt averaged 12.8 points per game with a .406 field goal percentage. From espn.com and pacers.com, that’s all I got besides a random compilation of statistics. I have never seen this guy play, so I have no clue if he’s the real deal or not. He’s a forward and the Pacers have plenty of those already, so hopefully we don’t pick him up.

            Jimmy Butler- 6-7, 220 lbs. senior guard from Marquette University. Butler received All-Big East honorable mentions last season. He averaged 15.7 points, 2.3 assists, and 6.1 rebounds per game. He’s not an outstanding player, but I have seen him play a lot (and beat Notre Dame) and he is an alright player. He may be able to become great, but I don’t think he’s worthy of a first round pick.

Jamine Peterson- 6-6, 230 lbs. sophomore forward from Providence College.  Peterson averaged 19.6 points per game and 10.2 rebounds per game. There was talk of him possibly receiving the Big East Play of the Year Award, but come on, the guy plays for Providence. I could be their best player! Unless this guy has some ungodly talent he’s been hiding, the Pacers should stay away from him.

Other possible selections include: Diante Garret (guard, Iowa State), Kenneth Fried (forward, Morehead State), Andrew Goudelock (guard, Charleston), Charles Jenkins (guard, Hofstra), Trey Thompkins (forward, Georgia), Nikola Vucevic (forward, USC), and Rick Jackson (forward, Syracuse).

It’s interesting to me that local players JaJuan Johnson (Purdue) and Shelvin Mack (Butler) are considered possible first round draft picks, but are not even being looked at by the Pacers.

2011 Pacers Off-Season

Pacers' mascot "Boomer"

            The Indiana Pacers finished the 2010-2011 seasons with a losing record, but made it the postseason under interim coach, Frank Vogel. He is youthful and seems to connect with the young Pacers team. The Pacers increased their scoring average from 97.8 points per game to 102.1 points per game after Vogel took over from fired head coach Jim O’ Brien.

            
            Vogel took advantage of his younger players, and seldom-used players under O’ Brien's reign. Tyler Hansbrough, "2010 Player of the Year" at the University of North Carolina finally looked like the star he was expected to be. He became a starter with Vogel and added a sense of aggression that the Pacers had definitely lacked before.

            
            Vogel also played around with the lineup until he found one that was firing on all cylinders. It was great to see players I had never even heard of make a contribution to victories. Vogel has not yet been given the Pacers head coach job for the 2011 season, but he is considered to be the leading candidate. He knows the system and the players, and has shown he can win. Hopefully, he’ll be back again leading the Pacers to the playoffs.

Frank Vogel

Here is who the Indiana Pacers currently have on their roster:

Guards- Darren Collison, Mike Dunleavy*, T.J. Ford*, A.J. Price, Brandon Rush, Lance Stephenson

Forwards- Danny Granger, Paul George, Tyler Hansbrough, Dahntay Jones, Solomon Jones*, Josh McRoberts*, James Posey

Centers- Roy Hibbert, Jeff Foster*.

*-free agents

             

            Collison, Granger, George, Hansbrough, and Hibbert are the definite core of this team. They are all young players who all have great potential, not to mention the standard starting rotation. Dunleavy is a solid shooting guard, but he’s not getting any younger or better. T.J. Ford has been a disappointment so far. Price, Rush, Stephenson, Jones, Jones, and Posey are just names that could be replaced with anybody. Sure, they’re all good players that know the system, but none of them will ever be all-stars. Foster and McRoberts are both good backups for their respective positions, and sometimes started games.

            

            Larry Bird said in a recent press conference that he wants "10 players that can be competitive every night” . From the 15 players currently listed, I see 7, maybe 8. If the Pacers office can nail this 2011 NBA Draft, then Pacers will have a very bright future.

GRAND-AM in Indy?

Rumors began to start early this week that there were talks between NASCAR and the owners of the Indianapolis Motor Speedway about having the Grand-Am Series race on the road course at IMS. The Grand-Am series, which I know as the Rolex Sports Car Series, is owned by NASCAR.        

On Wednesday, June 15, it was confirmed that IMS and NASCAR are seriously considering adding a Grand- Am race to the Brickyard 400 weekend, and possibly holding the Nationwide race at IMS too.

            

           The Rolex cars had tested at IMS a few years ago, but nothing ever came of it. I even asked one Indianapolis Star writer a few months ago if IMS would ever have a Grand-Am race; his response, in short, was no.

           This is all just rumors right now, but I’m not a big fan of any of this change, esp. the Nationwide switch. The Indianapolis Motor Speedway is for the best drivers in the world, and to bring the Nationwide drivers would dilute that. The other part that upsets me is that the Brickyard 400 weekend is something I really look forward to. I get to see all the drivers, cars, and teams that I love. I don’t want to see them share the track with anybody else. Not to mention the ticket prices for the whole weekend would increase greatly.

            Here’s the low-down on the Grand-Am Series, because I know next to nothing about the series.

“GRAND-AM Road Racing has the largest sports car fan base in the United States, with nearly 20 million adults, and has also had the highest percentage growth of any major motorsports series on television over the past five years.

GRAND-AM sanctions the Rolex Sports Car Series presented by Crown Royal Cask No. 16 and the Continental Tire Sports Car Challenge. The Rolex Series and Continental Tire Sports Car Challenge deliver professional sports car racing to key markets throughout North America in addition to being televised in the U.S. and Canada on SPEED and distributed globally through ESPN International.

GRAND-AM Road Racing showcases emerging and legendary drivers from around the globe and thoroughbred racing machines from the industry's leading constructors and the world's top automobile manufacturers.

GRAND-AM was founded in 1999. The organization's first race was February 6, 2000, at Daytona International Speedway - the 38th Rolex 24 At Daytona.”

http://www.grand-am.com

Apparently it’s spelled “GRAND-AM”, not “Grand-Am” like I was writing it.

When something is announced officially, I will post it on here ASAP!

Rolex Sports Car Series cars. The first two are "Daytona Prototype" class cars, the third one is a "GT" class car.

2011 Pole and Bump Day

 Pole Day and Bump Day have been staples of the Indianapolis 500 for over 50 years. The two days, which are now on the Saturday and Sunday before the race, are always filled with drama. This year was no different.

           

On Pole Day, everybody expected the two heavyweights of the IndyCar series to duke it out for the poles position like last year. Neither Penske Racing nor Ganassi Racing though, was able to claim the top spot. Instead, the field will be led by Alex Tagliani, driver for Sam Schmidt Motorsports. Tagliani had a four lap average of 227.472, which was good enough to start position one. Also starting on the first row will be Oriol Servia, part of Newman/ Hass Racing, and Ganassi driver Scott Dixon.

-By the way, for the Indy 500, the cars start 3-wide.

           

                                     - Alex Tagliani and car owner, Sam Schmidt
                                                      
             There is only one Penske driver starting in the Top 9, that being Will Power. His teammates Helio Castroneves will start on the inside of Row 6, and Ryan Briscoe will start on the outside of Row 9. Will Power is the IndyCar series points leader, but has never won a race on an oval.

           

As said earlier, Ganassi’s Scott Dixon will start on the front row. Dario Franchitti, last year’s winner, starts on the outside of row three.

If it seemed like a rough day for Team Penske, it was nothing compared to what Andretti Autosports endured over the weekend. Only one out of the five cars a part of the team was guaranteed a spot in the race, that being John Andretti (nephew of “500” legend, Mario Andretti). Thus on Sunday, the intrigue of Bump Day began.

           Bump Day involved 17 cars all vying for just nine spots (positions 25-33 in the starting grid, the top 24 were locked in on Pole Day). The weather added even more drama to the day, as it rained twice, and took about a combined four hours to dry the track. That allowed only two hours of actual qualifying.

After the first rainfall, Paul Tracy took off to complete his four laps. While on the track rain started to fall, but it held off long enough to all Tracy to finish and get into the race. Waiting to head onto the track though, was IndyCar’s most popular female driver, Danica Patrick.

Patrick had yet to make a qualifying run, so if it rained hard enough and cancelled qualifying, she would not be in the field of 33. Well it did rain hard enough. Every IndyCar and IMS official had to be on their knees praying for sunshine. If Danica Patrick was not in the 500, it would be like Indianapolis without construction, incomprehensible!

           

 Fortunately, Mother Nature let up, and when the track was finally dried, Danica peeled out of pit road and completed her qualifying laps. She will start 26^th, her worst starting spot in the 500 ever.

           

Oh, but the drama did not end there. When Danica made it in, she bumped out Alex Lloyd, which then put Marco Andretti (teammate of Danica) onto the bubble. With only nine minutes left to qualify, Alex Lloyd went onto the track and after finishing his four-lap run, made the field and bumped out Marco Andretti.

            

Now, the climax of the day’s compelling storyline would occur. Marco Andretti would be the last driver to qualify before time ran out. If he made it into the field, he would bump out teammate Ryan Hunter-Reay. If he doesn’t make it in, then the 500 will be without one if most famous names.

            

Andretti averaged a four lap average of 224.628 mph, and did bump out Hunter-Reay. It was a bittersweet moment for Michael Andretti, owner of Andretti Autosports (the team Hunter-Reay drives for). His son will be in the race, but two of his drivers will not be.

            Also failing to qualify was Mike Conway and Scott Speed.

UPDATED STORY (5/23/2011 at 9:43pm)

            

Ryan Hunter-Reay will take Bruno Junqueira’s ride for the Indy 500. Bruno was in the #41 car, owned by A.J. Foyt. The car will now be driven by Hunter-Reay, will still be #41, but will start 33^rd.

             

            
              Starting Lineup for the 100^th Anniversary race of the Indianapolis 500

Row 1

Alex Tagliani-77

Scott Dixon- 9

Oriol Servia- 2

Row 2

Townsend Bell-99

Will Power- 12

Dan Wheldon- 98

Row 3

Buddy Rice- 44

Ed Carpenter- 67

Dario Franchitti- 10

Row 4

Takuma Sato- 5         

Vitor Meira- 14                                                   

JR Hildebrand- 4

Row 5

James Hinchcliffe- 06                       

Bertrand Baguette- 30                             

Davey Hamilton- 11

Row 6

Helio Castroneves- 3***                               

John Andretti-43                                     

E.J. Viso- 59

Row 7

Bruno Junqueria- 41#                        

Justin Wilson- 22                              

Jay Howard- 88

Row 8

Tomas Sheckter- 07                         

Tony Kanaan- 82                                 

Simona de Silvestro- 78

Row 9

Paul Tracy- 23                                         

Danica Patrick- 7                                       

 Ryan Briscoe- 6

Row 10

Marco Andretti-26                              

Charlie Kimball- 83                            

Graham Rahall- 38

Row 11

 Alex Lloyd- 19                                           

Pippa Mann- 36                                        

 Ana Beatriz- 24

*Denotes amounts of 500 wins.

# Driver will be replaced by Ryan Hunter-Reay and will start 33^rd.