Larry Bird: “Good morning. It looks like we made a lot of trades here. The thing we talked about earlier, this summer of changing the culture and these young men here are the first step of that. They’re fine young men that can also play basketball. We feel like we’re moving in the right direction and these guys are going to help us do that. We’re very fortunate and very honored to have them as a part of our team to move this franchise in the right direction and we’re looking for big things out of them. We know they’re hard workers, dedicated to the community and they’re the kind of individuals that we need around here.”

Jim O’Brien: “I’m getting used to having these guys on our roster now. I knew I was getting comfortable because all I’m thinking about right now is defense. We have seven new players and I’m confident – very confident – that these are the type of people that we’ll be proud to have wear a Pacers uniform. I’m very confident that we’re going to score a lot of points. This is really the first time we’ve had all six of them (together) and maybe one of these guys can communicate to Rasho (Nesterovic). How successful we are depends on our team’s commitment to the defensive end. These guys were all told individually whether they are two rookies, a second-year player like Josh (McRoberts) or whether they’re veterans of the NBA wards that we expect leadership from them. And the place that we need to make the biggest gains are at the defensive end and it’s important for them to hear that now to start thinking about it so they know that this is not coaching hype. That it is reality of the next step that this team has to take which is again, we’re going to be a heck of a running team, we’re going to score a lot of points. I really think that we were horrible at the defensive end (last year). We hope with the skills of these guys, the toughness of these guys, their mental outlook, their desire to win, their desire to restore the pride to this franchise. It all starts in my mind at the defensive end. I know what they all can do offensively. We need to get this going at the other end.”

Maceo Baston: “Like coach said, the whole bread and butter of my game has always been defense. In my career, I’ve never been the one to score – which I can score – but defense definitely makes it easier to score and get easy buckets (as long as) everyone’s on the same page. Offensively, this team, this system is going to score a lot of points and that’s going to be a lot of fun. It will be more fun (if) we shut teams down and get easy points too so that’s what I’m going to really keep my energy for is defense this year and be dedicated and hopefully my teammates will do the same.”

T.J. Ford: “I’m just excited. This is a change for all of us and I think we all want to be apart of the change; the change and the views of Indiana Pacers basketball. We want to continue to get the fans back in the building. I think the staff that we have here is probably one of the best staffs that I’ve been apart of since I’ve been in the NBA. Having a coach who definitely brought everyone into the office and told everyone basically what he expects out of everyone. I just want to give my best effort every night and every day in practice, come to work and definitely surprise a lot of people in the NBA. (We want) to show them that Indiana Pacers basketball is back.”

Josh McRoberts: “I’m excited to be here, like T.J. said. I’m almost speechless to be up here and have a chance to make a dream come true and be up here as an Indiana Pacer. I’m very excited. I’m looking forward to getting the season started, working hard and bringing back great pride that’s here in Indiana in basketball and in the Pacers.”

Jarrett Jack: “To echo what coach said, I think one of the main reasons I was brought here was to bring some toughness as far as on the defensive end. I think that’s something I can definitely bring. With all of us, like coach said, we’ve got seven new guys. I’m just looking forward to us going together as a cohesive unit throughout the course of the season.”

Question. T.J., nobody questions your toughness or your ability to get up and down the court but a lot of people wonder about your durability. Do you think that’s a fair assessment of you because it seems to overshadow what you can do to help the team?

Ford: “I think that comes with my injury. I think (with) a lot of people, it’s always in the back of their mind wondering if I take a hard fall whether I’m going to get up or not. I think the staff that we have here, and the things that they discussed with me that can help my situation even better than what it is, I think I’ll be durable throughout the season.”

Q. For Josh, expanding on what you said, being three years removed from playing high school ball here and now to be back as an Indiana Pacer. What is this moment like for you and is it something you really dreamed about a lot playing for the Pacers?

McRoberts: “It’s exciting. It seems surreal right now to be here even. You always dream about being in the NBA and growing up not to far from here obviously being a Pacers fan. It’s a great honor and a great thing to be apart of this organization to have the chance to play as a Pacer and be apart of something special here.”

Q. Maceo, this is obviously your second stint here. Is this group, being a more up-tempo group, make it a better fit for you than the situation was when you were here before?

Baston: “Yeah, I think so. They had a lot of guys in positions and roles already established. I was kind of coming in trying to break a solid rotation role. Having new guys and changing the culture gives me the opportunity, for everyone starting on the same level, to work hard and see who plays the best, earns the minutes and time. I’m going to work hard and bust my butt all summer and all throughout the year to help the team win. I don’t have any individual goals or anything other than the team. If you do that everything else will be positive at the end. I think the style of play – when I played over in Israel we ran a lot, fast-paced up and down but we played defense too and that was the key. (If we) get up and down it will allow us to put a lot of pressure on teams. They don’t want to run every night in this league. If we can maintain that condition and run, I think we’ll cause a lot of problems.”

Q. Jim, can you talk about the stability you have at the point guard spot now? Not with only T.J. and Jarrett but with Travis (Diener) as the third point guard.

O’Brien: “I could talk about it for days. I think that what Larry and David (Morway) did across the board from the standpoint of our team, I really think it was genius. I think it was described on ESPN.com as being one of the most sophisticated in an organization in a long time. Last year, during the year Larry said and David echoed it, ‘We’re going to change this team. Just so you know Coach, this is going to change.’ To be able to go out and basically at the point guard spot; which was just a tremendous challenge for us last year because of injuries, playing Marquis Daniels out of position there, and having to get somebody in the middle of the year off the waiver wire. It was a huge challenge for us. To be able to go out and bring in two guys like Jarrett and T.J. to go along with Travis, who played very very well for us at the end of the year, and then at the same time to be able to give us great depth at the big spots with Rasho, Roy (Hibbert), Maceo and Josh to go along with Troy (Murphy) and Jeff (Foster). It gives you great competition in practice. This is a completely different team and what is unique about it, usually when you make a trade you have one or two new guys in and they’re new to this. Well, we’re bringing seven people in. That’s close to half the team. These guys’ ability to impact, as somebody mentioned, the culture of our team is significant. All of their personalities individually are going to be, they have a great chance to help change this culture. It starts, frankly, at the point guard spot.”

Q. Does T.J.’s ability to fit into your style well the way you want it, go-go-go and pressure the ball?

O’Brien: “Well, I think in sitting down with T.J. and Jarrett individually after we traded for them and talked to them at length – I think because they’re at the quarterback spot, they have a tremendous responsibility to be an extension of the coaching staff on the court. Both of them, separately, said ‘You have no worries about my ability – meaning their ability – to communicate loudly what needs to be done on the basketball court in practice and in the games.’ Frankly, that’s what every coach looks for. I think last year guys got tired of listening to my voice. We had a weakness in that people did not want to own their own team. I think the people up here in talking with them; they understand that a good team is one that is owned by the players.”

Q. This is for Jarrett and T.J., actually all four of you guys, it looks like you’ve already found a clothing store and a barber shop, all looking pretty clean up there. How aware are you how many problems this franchise has had and that you guys will be judged on the court as well as off?

Ford: “I think for all of us, it’s just a matter of us being ourselves. I think that everyone that is on this stage right now, I don’t think anyone has been in any major trouble. I think (we’re all) respectable grown men. I think we have good character and I think that a lot of us do everything that’s said and do right by the community. I understand we are role models to young kids around this world and also in this community. We want to do everything that we’re supposed to do as grown men and as individuals. In the situation we’re in, (we) just (need to) be good citizens and good role models.”

Jack: “I think for me it’s very important for us to not focus on the past. We’re right now. We’re the present and we’re just looking forward to the future. Those past things that happened with the franchise, we weren’t apart of it. We’re just trying to bring some new fresh energy to Indiana. Hopefully we can just roll and give the people what they want and that’s a respectable product on the floor.”

Baston: “I think that being a close-knit group for the whole year, policing each other, holding each other accountable for our decisions, being a good friend and teammate will keep a lot of the outside stuff from influencing and infiltrating the team. That’s the key, to stay together as a unit.”

Q. For both T.J. and Jarrett, your thoughts on how your styles are going to man the point guard position and how you guys are going to complement each other as basketball players?

O’Brien: “Could I just pre-empt that? Jarrett plays both two positions. He’s going to be competing at both (guard) positions. We don’t want to pigeon-hole Jarrett into the point guard spot.”

Ford: “One of the good things is that we’re both comfortable. Two colleges, good conferences – one of the best in the country. Obviously, the Big 12 is a lot better than the ACC. I’m kind of upset that Georgia Tech really didn’t recruit me before Jarrett got there knowing that was one of my favorite schools. This is not the first time I’ve been around Jarrett. Throughout the summers, we’ve been able to cross paths with one another especially through our mothers association. Just being able to watch basketball. Being in Toronto, I’ve caught a lot of west coast games at night when I caught Portland when they hit a stretch when they weren’t one of the favorite NBA teams at the time. Jarrett played well for them. He’s definitely a tough-minded kid. I think he definitely does a lot of things that people overlook. He’s a hard worker and he did a lot for the Portland organization. I’m glad that we’re here together. It’s not just me, it’s a team. We’re all going to do whatever it takes so we all can be successful because we are a team and it’s just a matter of us continuing to bond together and work together and make opponents not just fear one of us, but both of us.”

Jack: “I think for me, T.J. is going to do a tremendous job of pushing me in practice. Guarding somebody who is probably the quickest, fastest – whatever you want to call it – guard in the league, I don’t know anybody that can’t benefit from that. Going up against that every day in practice I think that’s something that’s going to give me a leg up on the competition as the season goes on. Like Coach O’Brien said, there’s already been some talk or visions of me and T.J. playing in the backcourt together out there on the floor. I don’t think that can do anything but help the pace that Coach really wants to play at.”

Q. Larry, can you talk about what was surprising about T.J. when you guys were talking about him to make a deal?

Bird: “He’s a point guard. That was one of our weaknesses last year because of the injuries and being a little light at the point guard. Even for Jarrett, making that trade. We’re going to get two players that we think can help us. We were very fortunate to be able to pull off both deals. We feel that we’re pretty stacked at the big position and at the point guard position and we’ve got some wing players that can play. Like I said yesterday, we know we’ve got some holes we’ve got to fill and that’s what we’re trying to do. Having these guys up here, the character they have and their ability to play the game, it’s nothing but a plus for the franchise.”

Q. Maceo, you’ve been around the league with a couple of different teams. Have you noticed two or three keys to making a new group come together with this many new guys? Like Coach O’Brien said, almost half the roster being new, how do you get everybody on the same page quick enough to be good this year?

Baston: “I think like we’re doing now, coming in early, we’re getting all the moving and transition stuff out of the way early. We can work together before the season starts. Me and Jarrett were practicing early. (We need to) get everybody here, learn each other’s games, movements, mentalities and hang out off the court too. That will carry in over onto the court. I think if we keep that up consistently it will come out and show. Everyone will be like ‘Wow, they’ve been playing together for ten years.’, but it will only be for a short period of time. It just depends on how committed everyone is to being brothers to each other.”

Q. Coach O’Brien, I know Rasho isn’t here but could you briefly talk about how he fits into the front court? I know he came on really strong at the end of last season.

O’Brien: “I think he is an underrated big man in the league. I talked to quite a few people down in Orlando. One head coach that had never coached Rasho described him as one of the most underrated bigs in the league. I like the fact that he has extensive experience in Europe because he can extend the court. He’s a very solid face-up shooter. He’s an underrated defensive player. I hope that’s right that he’s an underrated defensive player because we’ll bring out the best in him defensively. If he is what others think he is then he’ll compete for a starting job. He’s a very, very key part of all of this.”