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Busy, busy offseason for Roy. He has essentially lived in the Pacers' practice facilities the last four months. They say he has spent more time working with trainers and coaches than anyone else on the team. He went to Orlando of course and had a successful summer league. Has really worked on reshaping his physique. Is reportedly more trim and quicker and his stamina is much improved. The Indiana Pacers' brass are really talking him up and hopefully he'll live up to it. This week Tom "Creepy" Crean raved that Roy went to his 9:30 workouts in Indianapolis and once done drove an hour to Bloomington and worked out with the current Hoosiers (was probably checking up on Jeremiah too). Crean tweeted that Roy is a guy who can set a tremendous example for his current players because Roy is determined to make himself a great player.

If the Pacers miss the playoffs again Jim O'Brien won't be around the following season. Personally I like O'Brien but I'm aware he has a rep of being allergic to coaching defense and running post plays on offense. In his defense he has been yapping the past few weeks about needing a guy who can score in the post and therefore claiming Roy will need to get a lot more touches in the paint. He's also been talking up the idea of improving the pacer's defense. But O'Brien coaching decisions don't always live up to his promises. Nonetheless he did coach the Pacers in the summer league and he had the team feed the ball into Roy as much as possible and his guys did play probably the best defense of all the teams in Orlando.

http://sportsjamaica.com/read_article.php?id=16195

Jamaica's national basketball team, the Caribbean champions, could very soon get a major boost by the addition of a potential future star in the National Basketball Association (NBA).

According to Ajani Williams, president of the Jamaica Basketball Association (JBA), Roy Hibbert, the 23-year-old starting centre for the Indiana Pacers basketball franchise, has Jamaican lineage and could very soon don the national colours.

The seven-foot-two, 278-pound player graduated from Georgetown University in 2008 and was selected 17th in the NBA draft by the Toronto Raptors. He signed his rookie deal for US$1.2 million and was acquired by the Pacers in a multi-player deal for Jermaine Oneal.

Expressed interest

Williams, himself a former NBA player for the Atlanta Hawks, said Hibbert has expressed an interest in playing for Jamaica and he (Williams) is going to be doing what is necessary to ensure that Hibbert gets his wish.


Williams revealed to The Gleaner that Hibbert's agent, David Faulk, who also represents basketball icon Michael , called him recently to express his client's wishes.


And here's the REAL kicker.


He added that all the national team would need is a really good point guard to make the team even stronger. He hinted that Patrick Ewing Jr, the son of NBA and the New York Knicks legend, would be one such potential candidate. Patrick Ewing is Jamaican by birth.

"It would be history in the making," Williams said.


Pat must have really been working on his ballhandling skills. That or the writer or perhaps the president of JBA doesn't know what he's taling about.

The Pacers aren't horrible. They still rely too much on outside jumpers but they'll give that Nuggets team fits during the regular season with their depth. You add Foster, Dunleavy and Hansbrough to that mix and if Granger doesn't get kicked out of the second game the pacers very likely win both times against Denver.

The Pacers' problems are:

1)the PG position is still iffy. TJ is god at kicking out but not so good at penetrating and finding a teammate close to the basket.

2)Even if Hibbert comes on strong there seems to be no plan to give him (or any of the big men) the ball in the paint enough times. The big men's main purpose seems to be to set screens and to not clog the lane. To be blunt Hibbert hasn't played in a traditional offense that expects big men to stay in the paint since his high school days. Still this has allowed Hibbert to add to his overall game and skill level.

3)The swing players don't drive to the hoop enough.

4)Defense i still a bit iffy.