Earlier this summer, Larry Bird, President of Basketball Operations for the Indiana Pacers, said, and I quote, “We’re going to stay the course and see how this works out.”
Bird also wants to try and make the Pacers better while trying to stay with his same philosophy.
Even though the Pacers have lost Lance Stephenson, they added Rodney Stuckey from the Detroit Pistons, which can be a great move to a team that still has an opportunity to win a title. As far as the loss of Evan Turner to the Boston Celtics, the Pacers still have a good nucleus of players who can fill in where Turner once was.
August 15th now becomes critical, because if the Pacers do not re-sign Donald Sloan, they are in a world of hurt. The backup point guard is capable of becoming a key part of the Pacers bench, something he told JeremiahBoyce.com earlier in the summer would be key for Indiana next year.
“For us to get where we need to go, I think we need to instill more trust in our bench,” Sloan said. “Late in the season, I think we needed those guys. It’d be good to go to the bench early in the year, so late in the year it’s a lot easier to throw them out there.”
