Something very interesting happened last night, in addition to the Pacers' comeback from a 23-point deficit to beat Toronto 105-101.
A.J. Price has come on strong at the point. (Ron Hoskins/NBAE/Getty Images) |
In Jim O'Brien's postgame press conference, A.J. Price naturally came up for discussion. And Bob Kravitz of The Indianapolis Star asked O'Brien if Price had shown enough upside to be considered the franchise's point guard of the future.
"That remains to be seen," O'Brien said. "Can he be a starting point guard on a team that is capable of winning 50 games? I don't know. Can he be a starting point guard on a team that is a .500 team? Probably. One of the reasons we moved to this rotation on the point guards was we suspected he was a very solid player and we needed to see it and we're starting to see it."
Keep in mind, before the game, O'Brien was asked if he could see Price moving into the starting lineup this year.
"That's getting too far ahead of ourselves," he said. "He's played one really good game. I like having a veteran start."
Of course, it's far too early to make an accurate projection about Price's future with the Pacers – other than he has one and it appears to be pretty bright. He's been the backup for six games. It's been impossible not to like what you've seen in that span, but it's a small sample from which to render a conclusion about a guy's future.
But here's the interesting thing to me: in the past two weeks, the discussion about Price has evolved from whether he's an NBA player to whether he belongs in the rotation, to whether he should start, to whether he might be the point guard of the future, to whether he's capable of starting on a 50-win team.
Not sure what's up next on the whether forecast but it's looking like blue skies and sunshine for the rookie from UConn.
Keeping up with the Joneses
While Solomon Jones was putting together his best all-around game of the season against the Raptors, scoring 10 points, pulling nine rebounds, playing solid defense and playing with enough energy, aggression and productivity to keep Roy Hibbert on the bench, Dahntay Jones was at the other end of the spectrum. He picked up his first DNP-CD of the season and it might not be the last.
"Dahntay is a great guy to have on the team and what I've tried to do, and it's nothing against Dahntay right now, I'm trying to put guys on the court that can space the court," O'Brien said. "We need to make threes. This basketball team needs to be a real threat from the perimeter in order to open up the inside. Dahntay is a very tenacious player but we struggle to space the court when he's out there.
"It doesn't mean that the coach's decision not to play him is permanent, it's just that as we got Danny (Granger) back and Murph (Troy Murphy) back, the small lineup is important. Now, the small lineup can be run with Roy at the center spot. As a matter of fact, Roy thrived early in the year when we were small. Saying 'small lineup' doesn't negate Roy Hibbert at all; in fact, it makes him better."
While Earl Watson extended the ball pressure on the perimeter, Solomon Jones' defensive presence inside was integral to the Pacers' third-quarter surge.
"Sol's energy level and the way he moved and what he gave us was very, very important. For him to get 10 and 9 is significant. Earl and Sol in the third quarter were absolutely huge for us. I was very pleased with what Sol gave us."
New protocol: get Granger mad before the game
Not sure if this will ever make its way into the playbook but it's worth considering having somebody aggravate Granger before every game. His angry technical foul in the second quarter, when he got fired-up at the Raptors' Sonny Weems, might've been the turning point of the game. It certainly awakened Granger, who went into attack mode at both ends and played with a fire that fueled the rest of the team.
"I honestly think the turning point of the game was when Danny and Sonny Weems got into it," said Earl Watson. "That turned a lot of things around. Danny's energy, his focus and almost literally fighting for it kind of changed the game and I just followed his lead. It definitely picked me up. I think our team started playing with an edge."
Granger chuckled when I suggested he begin every game with a quick T.
"I just did that to try to get the team going, get myself going," he said. "We were losing. I had to spice the game up a little bit and it was effective because I got going and we started battling back and ended up winning the game."
It's not enough for a bona fide trend yet but the Pacers are 2-0 when Granger gets a technical foul. Last time, he scored 31 with a career-high 16 boards in a 108-94 win over Golden State on Nov. 11.
Kahn denies offering Jefferson for Granger
Not long after Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo! sports reported Minnesota boss David Kahn offered Al Jefferson to the Pacers for Danny Granger, the Timberwolves' president of basketball operations issued a strong denial to Ray Richardson of the St. Paul Pioneer-Press.
"I have not offered Al to anybody," Kahn said. "As I've stated before, my preference is to go through the season and continue to evaluate the team before we do anything dramatic."
Kahn said he met with Pacers President Larry Bird when the team was in Minneapolis last Friday morning but there was no discussion of a Jefferson-for-Granger deal.
