The Indiana Pacers "thrilled"
their owner and improved their chemistry.
Now the players just need to improve.
As team president Larry Bird and general manager David Morway look to touch up the roster during the summer, their players will be in the gym addressing flaws that contributed to their third consecutive playoff absence.
Everyone has an offseason to-do list, but these are the most pressing:
Danny Granger
The fourth-year forward averaged a career-high 25.8 points, made his first All-Star Game and showed he could dominate offensively.
Now it's time to recommit on defense after making it a distant second on his priority list this season.
"Once you reach a level where you're so efficient on offense and scoring a lot of points, you forget about the defensive end,"
Granger said. "Next year I'll have more of a commitment to it, because you kind of get zoned out on it."
LeBron James, Kobe Bryant, Dwyane Wade are all perimeter defenders who welcome the challenge of stopping the opponent's best player.
The Pacers need Granger to adopt that mind-set.
Early in the season, the Pacers decided they needed Granger's scoring more than his defense. That's why he didn't guard the top player at the start of the game until late in the season.
T.J. Ford
Coach Jim O'Brien wants constant ball movement. Ford wants the ball in his hands most of each possession.
The two had a tug-of-war most of the season until O'Brien demoted Ford in late March.
Ford, who referred to the transition as being a "challenge,"
has to get better at giving up the ball because his frequent dribbling, driving into traffic with nowhere to go and bad shots frustrated his teammates at times.
Roy Hibbert
Hibbert never overcame frequent foul trouble.
The 7-2 center averaged a foul every 4.6 minutes. Some were rookie calls; many were not.
"I'm going to work on my quickness so I can move a little faster so I don't get in those situations,"
he said. "After 82 games, I was still fouling within the first five minutes of the game, so something is wrong."
Staying out of foul trouble, and O'Brien deciding to feed him the ball, are about the only things stopping him from giving the Pacers the low-post presence they need.
Brandon Rush
Rush can't let his offense dictate his overall game.
His confidence usually was determined by whether he was playing well offensively.
He's too talented to let his defense and rebounding slip because he's missing shots.
The opportunity is there for Brandon Rush to hold down the starting shooting guard spot for years to come.
Jim O'Brien
The Pacers, somehow, were worse defensively this season than last season.
They gave up more points (106.2 to 105.4) and opponents shot a higher percentage (45.8 to 45.4). This after O'Brien entered the season saying defense would be a priority.
O'Brien recently said they need better athletes to improve defensively.
There's no guarantee the Pacers will be able to acquire better athletes during the offseason.
O'Brien will be entering his third year, the second with this group. He knows what he has and what he doesn't, so the onus is on him to find a defensive philosophy that works.
