I’d Like to Buy a Banjo

If you’re a ball fan, you’ve got feelings about the upcoming season stirring inside you. You just know that a certain team is going to have a monster year. You can visualize another squad having major setbacks. Come on, you watch the games. You know the tendencies of the clubs you follow.

Thankfully, you can bet on these hunches.

Although Skeets and I will give you a winner versus the spread every night during the regular season, we’ll be firing some money makers at you during training camp. My 1st pick is on the over/under line for total wins this year by the Pacers:

Indiana – 44.5 – OVER

The silence in Pacer-land is sweet, sweet music. This team was a powerhouse only 2 years ago in 2004 when a well tossed beer ruined their chances of something great. They were coming off an Eastern Conference Finals loss to the Pistons and 61 regular season wins. Since the brawl, it has been very difficult for the entire organization to concentrate on the actual game. The distractions have been endless and I expect this group of talented veterans to come out focused.

The way Indiana handled the Ron Artest saga and major injuries to key players like Jermaine O’Neal and Jamaal Tinsley last season, it’s amazing Rick Carlisle squeezed out 41 wins. Carlisle is continuously underrated but remains a fantastic coach. He has won 60% of his regular season games and always seems to get the most out of his players. The addition of Marquis Daniels and the return of Al Harrington make this team much more athletic and they can both slash when J-O gets doubled. With O’Neal back in stellar form, Tinsley healthy, Danny Granger, Stephen Jackson and Sarunas Jasikevicius a year older, a rock solid Jeff Foster in the middle, and the ability to simply focus on basketball, look for this bunch to perform like they did pre-Auburn Hills incident.

A major downfall for Indiana is that they play in a division with the Bulls, Cavs, Pistons and Bucks. And yes, they lost Peja Stojakovic and Fred Jones to free agency. But this core group has excelled before and now all things have been set up for them to do it again.

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By Tas Melas at 6:40 am on 10.03.2006 — Tags: '06/'07 Pre-Season Picks, Pacers, Book It!

Comments

5 Responses to “I’d Like to Buy a Banjo”

  1. grish at 9:13 am on 10.03.2006

    Greg Foster…Rock solid in the middle? Let’s not get too excited now.

  2. Jack at 12:03 pm on 10.03.2006

    Pretty convincing argument…but I can’t pick them over the Bulls and Pistons. I think they will definitely be a good matchup for the Cavs though, and will be much better than the Bucks.

  3. totoro at 12:26 pm on 10.03.2006

    Jermaine + Al + Granger + James Flight White = over 44 wins. If that were a line in Vegas I’d be all over it. By the way, take the Blazers under 20.

  4. Tas Melas at 5:15 pm on 10.03.2006

    Grish, you’re right. Greg Foster is flimsy. Good thing we’re talking about Jeff. You were the one who offered horrible trade after horrible trade in fantasy last year right? Now, it’s all coming together.

    Totoro, that is the line on most betting sites. 44.5.

  5. Pradamaster at 5:44 pm on 10.03.2006

    I’m going to disagree with you and take the under. Too many changes to the core of the team in too short of a time. Like with the Wizards last year, it will take Indiana a long time to figure out their rotation. How do you divide minutes on the wing between Jackson, Daniels, and Sarunas? How do you divide the minutes at forward between JO, Granger, Harrington, and the two rookies? Can Harrington really be the key second option that Peja was supposed to be and Artest really was? Is Granger really ready for prime time? Can Tinsley really bounce back? I just see too many questions and too good of a division. I say Indiana misses the playoffs this year.

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