Indiana Pacers - Billy Donovan Era - Game 1 and a trade up!

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O'NEAL UNHAPPY WITH PACERS - DEMANDS TRADE



Jermaine O'Neal has expressed his feelings about the past NBA season, stating that he wants a championship ring, and he thinks that he will not be able to achieve his goal if he stays with the Indiana Pacers.

O'Neal has stated that he wants to go to a team where he can win a championship ring, and even if the Pacers are under new coach Billy Donovan, he does not think it can happen in Indiana.
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DONOVAN RESPONDS TO O'NEAL TRADE DEMAND



New Pacers coach, Billy Donovan has stated in a recent interview that an unhappy member of a team does not belong on that team, and thus he will try to trade O'Neal to his liking, though at the same time helping the Pacers get to the playoffs.

Here is an extract from the interview. "Jermaine O'Neal is obviously unhappy with many of the decisions made by the Pacers staff, and I can understand where he is coming from. My job isn't to make 1 player happy, it is to make the fans and the whole team happy, and 1 player not liking how a team is run hurts our chances of winning. I will look into trading O'Neal, but I guarantee you one thing, now that I'm running the Pacers show I will try my utmost best to keep the fans happy and make this team a championship contender, with O'Neal or without him."

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O'NEAL/OWENS TO PHOENIX - MARION TO INDIANA







Before the season started, Billy Donovan has traded Power Forward, Jermaine O'Neal and Shooting Guard, Andre Owens to Phoenix for Power Forward, "The Matrix" Shawn Marion.

After Jermaine O'Neal expressed his feelings that he wanted to leave Indiana, Billy Donovan was looking around for a good trade, he found Phoenix Suns Power Forward, Shawn Marion who was also asking for a trade. Marion initially wanted to move to the LA Lakers but when the Lakers showed no signs of trying to get a trade happening he continued to try and move from Phoenix. Why anyone would try to leave a championship caliber team such as Phoenix, no one knows. Billy Donovan had a few talks with Marion in his short time in Phoenix and ended up persuading him into coming to the Pacers.

Phoenix now have a great starting line-up, which consists of Amare Stoudamire, Jermaine O'Neal, Boris Diaw, Raja Bell and Steve Nash, and let's not forget to mention last years 6th Man of the Year, Leandro Barbosa.

Marion had this to say about his trade to Indiana. "I'm going to be honest, at first coming to Indiana wasn't something I thought that I would do, though after a good 2 hour talk with Coach Donovan, he got me thinking. Maybe the Pacers "can" be a championship team, maybe they can make the playoffs. I will try my best to get this team where the fans want it to be, and I hope I can make both the players and the fans happy."

Jermaine O'Neal had this to say after finding out about the trade. "I'm extremely happy that the Pacers staff acknowledged that I did not want to stay in Indiana, and I thank them for that. Hopefully I can make a fresh start in Phoenix. This season we have a great team with both veterans and up and coming stars, and all I have to say is that it will be an honour to play for the Suns this season.

Coach Donovan said the following about the trade. "As I mentionned a few days ago, having a unhappy player on a team already struggling is bad, so I tried my best for both the Pacers and Jermaine O'Neal. Somehow, we managed to get an amazing athlete from the trade, Shawn Marion who in my opinion is an amazing talent. Marion has already proven himself in the NBA as one of it's top Power Forwards, and hopefully Marion can help myself, the team and the fans get back to the playoffs."

PACERS TRADES STILL GOING

Trade #1 w/ Philadelphia 76ers






Trade #2 w/ Denver Nuggets






Following the O'Neal, Owens/Marion trade, Coach Billy Donovan continued trading to make his "revamped" Pacers better.

The first trade was with the Philadelphia 76ers, who have an up and coming young team. Donovan saw Korver as a big shooting threat and tried to get him on the team. Dunleavy wasn't really fitting the style that Donovan was aiming for and thus was put in the trade, though with Philly's big cap space of just under $10mil, Donovan decided to add in big man Jeff Foster to to trade with his $5mil contract and also added Sophmore Forward, Louis Amundson to the trade.

The second trade was in order to get a better center, as Troy Murphy also wasn't fitting Donovan's "Style". He saw Power Forward/Center Nene from the Nuggets as a great option. He then packaged Troy Murphy along with Stephen Graham and the Nuggets accepted his offer.

PACERS SIGN RELEASED ROOKIE



Rudy Fernandez prior to the season was released from his contract with the LA Lakers to make room for other players. With some of the cap space that the Pacers had thanks to trades with the Suns, Sixers and Nuggets the Pacers were able to sign Shooting Guard, Rudy Fernandez to a 1 year contract paying $1.49mil.

[A-Sot]

It's nice to see u getting Rudy in the League

[TheMC5]

Nice dynasty. Looks eerily similar to my just-canceled Pacers dynasty. I too, shipped O'Neal to Phoenix (for Barbosa and Diaw, though), and grabbed Nene from Denver for Dunleavy. I also sent Troy Murphy to Philly, but for Thaddeus Young instead of Korver.

Anyway, I hope you take yours longer than I took mine. It's fun doing a dynasty with crappy rebuilding team, take them from the ground up. Good luck.

[Effekt]

Yeah, your diary gave me inspiration, but I wanted mine to be different, thus why I brought in the concept of an NCAA coach instead of a NBA player.

[TheMC5]

I like that you got the Matrix for JO. Hopefully now you can find a taker for Tinsley and get a better PG, then you'll be looking pretty good.

[McDwyane]

Nice job getting marion and rudy

[k-d]

Which roster do you use in this dinasty? NLSC or Realistic Roster?

Rudy and Marion are very good additions. Good luck.

[Clutch]

nice pick up - Matrix is definitely a fresh start and O'Neal should be happy in PHO

good riddance to Bumleavy but hated to see Murphy go; of the two, he's the better ex-Warrior; hmmm... actually playing with AI and 'Melo, he might come back to haunt you

looking good man; can't wait for season tip-off

[Effekt]

Which roster do you use in this dinasty? NLSC or Realistic Roster?

Rudy and Marion are very good additions. Good luck.

NLSC 1.13 or 13 I think.

Oh and first game will be up soon.

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Marion takes Pacers past Bobcats in season opener


Shawn Marion viciously dunks on Raymond Felton (Below)

Indiana Pacers - 129 - Away
Charlotte Bobcats - 117 - Home
(boxscores)

Amazing season opener for the Pacers, as Marion, Nene and Danny Granger took the Pacers to victory in this high scoring game. Nene had a phenomenal night on defense, nearly sealing a triple double in his Indiana Debut. Nene finished the game with 11 Points, 9 Rebounds, 8 Blocks, 4 Assists, 2 Steals and only 1 turnover. Nene even blocked a half court shot attempted by Jason Richardson at the end of the 4th quarter.

Shawn Marion also had a great night in his debut game. Marion had 28 Points, a team high 11 rebounds, 3 Assists, 2 Steals and 3 Blocks. Marion had some vicious dunks in the game, most notably a dunk on Raymond Felton 2 minutes into the 4th quarter. Marion stole the ball from a missed pass by Felton who rushed back on defense. Marion then jumped from a bit past the free throw line, knocking down Felton in the process getting the foul and completing the dunk.

Danny Granger, the only high scoring Pacers player from last season had a team high 29 points, 4 Rebounds, 2 Assists and 2 Steals. Coach Billy Donovan after the game said the following about Granger. "Danny Granger showed just why the Pacers drafted him, he is a great forward, capable of many things. He can score, rebound, steal, block, and much more in his time to come in Indiana".

Adam Morrison was the man carrying the Bobcats even though they lost. The 3rd Overall pick from last year scored 28 points and had Game high 11 Assists. Morrison shot 9-17 from the field and 4-6 from beyond the arc. Jason Richardson had a reasonable game in his debut for Charlotte. Richardson had 14 Points, 4 Rebounds, 5 Assists and 1 Steal.

Tinsley didn't have a good game as expected by coach Donovan. Even though Tinsley got a double double with 14 points and 10 Assists to go with 5 rebounds and 3 steals, though this was after shooting just 5-19 from the field and a horrible 1-8 from the 3 point line.

Overall, the Pacers showed that Billy Donovan has made the correct decisions with his team, but the question that remains is, can the Pacers continue to win?

Next game vs. New Orleans Hornets @ Home

[McDwyane]

Impressive win against charlotte Yes,I believe the pacers continue to win.

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Donovan continues with more trades!







Billy Donovan cotinues to "improve" his new Pacers with yet another trade. This time, trading starting point guard, Jamaal Tinsley, small forward, Shawne Williams and Louis Amundson, a power forward who was on the Injury-reserve list to Seattle for starting point guard, Luke Ridnour who last season averaged 11 Points, 5.2 Assists, 2.3 Rebounds, 1.17 Steals and .27 Blocks and French Small Forward, Mickael Gelabale who last season averaged 4.6 Points, 2.5 Rebounds, .8 Assists, .34 Steals and ..31 Blocks.

After Donovan saw Tinsley not performing well in the Pacers season opener, he decided to trade Tinsley. Donovan stated that he was considering to trade Tinsley during the time he was trading for players such as Shawn Marion, Nene and Kyle Korver to name a few though eh wanted to see if Tinsley fit the style he was going for. Shawne Williams was a secondary back-up small forward to starter Danny Granger and back-up SF, Kareem Rush and Amundson was currently not doing anything par training on the injury reserve roster.

Ridnour stated the following after finding out he was traded to the new and improved Pacers. "I'm really happy to be on a team with a good big man such as Shawn Marion and a great center like Nene. Being on the Sonics, I never really had an amazing Power Forward or Center. Having a dominant force on a team like that is great, and not to mention Danny Granger, who has proven himself to be a great starter and Kyle Korver, who will be a phenomenal shooter in the future, and to be honest, is pretty great right now. I'm delighted to be on this team and hopefully I can make the team, Coach Donovan and the fans joyful."

[McDwyane]

So,now you have good chemistry with ridnour getting on.

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Travis Diener Released



Injury-reserve Point Guard, Travis Diener was released following the Ridnour/Gelabale trade.

Donovan stated that the reason that they released Diener was because of some of his demands and his attitude towards the organization. Travis Diener after the trade with the Sonics confronted Coach Donovan and told him that he wanted playing time, and that he wasn't going to get any on the injury reserve roster. Donovan told Diener that he will get time to play, but not right now. Diener then said that it is unfair to not get time to play and Donovon told him that if he wants then he can go to the D-League and train there for a while, Diener disagreed and stated that he wasn't D-League material, but NBA Material. Diener continued ranting about wanting to play and in the end, the Indiana Pacers released Diener.

[kbryant24]

nice dynasty

[Its_asdf]

Wow, you must really hate the current Pacer lineup with all of these trades your making. Hopefully this group can gel quickly because on paper you've definitely got one of the top teams in the NBA.

Also a little side note, head coaches don't make any player transactions. That's the general manager's job.

[Effekt]

Well, don't the head coaches have a say in the trades? If so, this is what is happening, Donovan is coming up with trade ideas whilst the Pacers GM is finalizing them.

vs. New Orleans will be up today.

Edit: Oh yeah, I didn't really like the Pacers lineup...many of the trades they did were horrendous, i.e. 8 man trade giving up Harrington and Jackson

[Mark.]

Whoa thats a hell of a team shake-up you've put the Pacers through, but I like the moves and the JO trade was pretty realistic, although IRL I would expect the Pacers to ask for a little more than Marion back.

Keep it up dude

[Lamrock]

I really hope this one lasts. This is what, your 8th? And hopefully live 08 doesn't tempt you.

And I'm sorry to be harsh, but all the trades just ruins it. You might as well do a fantasy draft. It seems the only reason you picked Indiana is because of Danny Granger and that they suck.

I'm fully aware that all this criticism is things that I'm notorious for (all 3 of you that visited my 3 dynasties)