HERB SIMON
 |
But before I let him say anything, I just want to tell you I'm going to become more involved with this franchise, also. And so the other announcement I want to make is before I was a hands-on, hands-off owner. Now I'm going to be a hands-on, hands-on owner. I'll be participating with the two gentlemen here to re-look at the franchise from top to bottom to make us more responsive basketball-wise, more responsive to our fans and our sponsors. I'm getting energized myself over this and I'm getting excited. I should've done this a long time ago but it seems like it's going to be a lot of work but it's going to be also rewarding, I believe, for everybody.
I'm so pleased, in looking to re-connect with the community and fans, I couldn't think of anyone better than Jim Morris. I was so honored that he would even consider, after he's been all over the world, saving starving people, doing all the great things he's done, for him to love this city and love this community enough to want to help us is remarkable. I'd like you all to say hello to Jim Morris.
JIM MORRIS
 |
I care deeply about Indianapolis, as all of you do. Teams and museums are great assets in terms of bringing people together. Everybody in Indianapolis, regardless of what their other interests are, can care about the Pacers, want the Pacers to do well, feel the same about the Colts and it's this tremendous community-building opportunity the Pacers continue to represent. I care about community and I care about downtown Indianapolis and I care about what our players can mean and how they can inspire young people in our city. So for me this is a perfect opportunity to continue to be engaged with interests that I've had for all of my life. The Pacers, Conseco (Fieldhouse) and the Fever will bring two to three million people downtown this year. It's been the anchor of the revitalization of the south side and the southeast quadrant of downtown Indianapolis.
There's a story about our basketball team in the national media every single day. The Pacers are a part of the signature of Indianapolis. It's the way the rest of the world knows about us. Basketball happens to be the most international of all sports and almost every place I went the last five years, people would talk about the Pacers and they would talk about the NBA and they would talk about our city and that context. I said earlier I think leadership is about seeing what you do in the broadest possible context and this basketball team, this facility, brings people together. It's a unifying influence. It can be a very positive inspiring influence for young people in our city. As I've said, it's been the anchor in the revitalization of downtown. It tells our story, so I'm grateful for the opportunity to work with Herb and Larry and really an incredible team of people that have worked at Conseco since the place was opened, to take it to the next level. It's an honor for me to be a part of this, a gift, and I'm grateful for it.
HERB SIMON
Our challenge is to take this organization and make it one. We want to have complete openness between the basketball and the business side and we're going to really do everything we can. The most important thing is I'd like Larry to tell you some of his thoughts about the basketball side.
LARRY BIRD
 |
HERB SIMON
Q. What brought this on for you, to take on this role? In the past, it seemed you were very hands-off and now you're going to be the complete opposite.
A. There is some reason for me to get involved, moreso than I've ever been involved and it's a time in my life with where I am in my business career that I have more time to devote to it. It's something I probably should've done a long time ago and I think I'm going to like it.
Q. Are you going to be in Indianapolis a lot more now rather than in L.A. a lot?
A. I do travel a little bit but I'll be around – back and forth, but around.
LARRY BIRD
Q. It was obviously a disappointing season but how do you feel about the way the team fought and played down the stretch?
A. I think they did everything necessary to win the games to put them in position to get into the playoffs. It's unfortunate they got the flu bug at the wrong time. Not to make excuses, but losing to Charlotte at home was very disappointing, there's no question about it because I thought if they kept the pressure on Atlanta that they would've probably folded down the stretch. Overall, the season was up and down. Obviously, losing 40 percent of your starting lineup hurts you but injuries are a part of our game. I thought we had a lot of guys that played very well this year. The one thing that Jimmy (O'Brien) said when he came in at the beginning of the year was the guys would practice hard and they're going to play hard and I think we accomplished that. Obviously, we've got to get better players in here and we have to do the things necessary to get us some cap space and we'll have the 11th pick in the draft, we'll get a good player, so the building phase of this is just starting. Hopefully by the time we're done we're going to have a team you can be very proud of.
HERB SIMON
Q. What are some of the specifics about how you’d like to rebuild the relationship between the team and the community?
A. In the 28-some-odd years I've been here, there are times when we really excited the community. Of course, it's not any one thing. Number one, we have to improve our product on the floor and we have to be more sensitive to the needs of the community. That's why I can't believe how lucky I am that Jim Morris, who understands this community as well as anybody, would probably be able to answer you better.
JIM MORRIS
In my previous job (with the United Nations World Food Program), people would ask about the sacrifice, the travel, 'How did you do it? Wasn't it terrible?' And I said, 'No, no, the blessings were mine.' It was my good fortune to be there and I feel the same about this. It's a chance to be a part in this incredibly important community enterprise that touches every person in Indianapolis. We're going to work very hard, one, to be sure the business and the basketball operations both Pacers and Fever, operate as one. We're one team. Secondly, we're going to work very hard to have our players, our coaches, all of us, out in the community. We have some remarkable young men and young women on these two teams. You cannot find a more extraordinary person than Tamika Catchings. Our basketball players are extraordinary young men, as well. We're going to work hard to see the community knows who they are.
When you know someone and you have a relationship, you want to be a part of their life and support what they are interested in and what they do. We're really going to make that a top priority. We're also going to try to become the most sponsor (and) fan friendly institution we can possibly be. We're going to find out how we can help our sponsors and our suiteholders and our ticketholders advance their own individual interests. We're going to be the best partner. When I was at WFP, I used to say our motto was, 'We're going to do more, we're going to do it better and we're going to do it together.' This is a very special opportunity to build community and a very special opportunity to inspire young people, especially young people who are at risk and kids who are vulnerable. They look up to our players and our coaches, both the Pacers and the Fever, and we're going to find ways to make a really profound difference for young people in this community.
LARRY BIRD
Q. Given the salary cap situation, you can't wave a wand to get better players, how tough a position are you in?
A. It's tough, no question about that. But there's some things I think we can do in the summertime to relieve some of that and give us an opportunity to maybe go out and pick up a player that will help us down the line. You just don't want to sit here year after year and go into the draft to pick up players. You have to have flexibility and hopefully this summer we can put ourselves in position to have some of that.
Q. Do you expect Jermaine O'Neal to opt our or are you operating under the assumption he will be back next season?
A. Business-wise, I don't think he'll opt out. But you never know. I really haven't sat down with Jermaine and talked about that. Tomorrow's our final interviews with the players. I'm sure he'll look at all of his options. We'll look at all of ours. Throughout the summer, we'll probably be talking to some teams and seeing what kind of interest they have in him. He hasn’t told us if he wants to stay here or if he wants to go somewhere else but there comes a time in any player's basketball career that you want to try to do what's best for yourself and for your team. It's just something I'll have to sit down with him and talk about.
Q. Do you feel he fits in with the style you guys are trying to play?
A. It's hard to tell because going into training camp last year he still had a knee problem. He was going well last summer then he got hurt, well, not hurt but it wasn't coming around the way he thought it would. He got into training camp and he had the sore knee throughout. He played, I don’t know, 30 games and then he went out again, so it's really hard to tell. He never was in basketball shape, the way you have to be to play Jimmy's style, so that's a question I can't answer right now. Obviously, they get up and down the court and he played the last eight or nine games and he struggled a little bit with it because of his shape. If he's not in top shape, if anybody wasn't in top shape, it'd be hard to keep up with what they're trying to do.
HERB SIMON
A. Since I'm not the basketball man, I'd like to answer that question. If Jermaine gets back to the playing ability he has had and has shown us in the past he'd be a very important part of our team.
LARRY BIRD
Q. How do you feel about the job Jim O'Brien has done?
A. Coach O'Brien's fine. He's doing everything he said he was going to do. We've upped the tempo, given our fans a different look. We had some players that have had their best years so far so hopefully we can improve on the defensive end. We've got the guys here on the coaching staff and hopefully over the summer they can look at the talent we have and we can get better on the defensive end. We're going to score points. We're going to move the ball. I think if I look at our team this year, the one thing I'm most disappointed in is the way we defended.
HERB SIMON
Q. This being Fan Appreciation Night, what would you say to those fans that have stuck with you?
A. I'd tell them we appreciate them sticking with us and we're going to go back to basics. We're going to do everything we can to improve our product, everything we can to improve the enjoyability of coming to a Pacer game and a Fever game and give us the opportunity to do it.
Q. How patient are you willing to be with what looks like a major rebuilding program?
A. I'm going on 25 years; I've got at least another 25 years.
LARRY BIRD
Q. As you identify the team's primary needs, are they more positional or do they involve certain skill sets?
A. You want skilled players. You'd like to have players that can play multiple positions. I think at the small forward-two guard, we're pretty well set with Danny (Granger), Shawne (Williams) and Mike (Dunleavy). Any time you go into the draft you look for point guards and you look for big guys. It's according to what's going to be there. If there's a point guard we really like we have to look at him. But if there's a big man there, you always like bigs. At the four position we could use another guy. We've got a lot of holes to fill.
Q. What is the future of the point guard position, specifically Jamaal Tinsley?
A. Obviously, it's unfortunate he had a knee injury this year, a pretty significant knee injury, and he was having a very good year up to that point. You always look to get better at every position and we'll do that.
HERB SIMON
Q. How involved will you be with basketball decisions?
A. Larry and I will be talking about all the major basketball decisions and Jim and I will be talking about all the business and community decisions. What I really want to stress is the teamwork. It's one organization and each part can help the other part to do a better job, to become more receptive to the community. So that's what we're trying.
LARRY BIRD
Q. Does Danny Granger have the capability to become an All-Star caliber player and what does he have to do to get there?
A. He has the capability. There's some things Danny's got to get better at. One of them's putting the ball on the floor and going to the hole, finishing around the basket. Danny works very hard in the summer. He's been working hard on his shot the last couple of years and he's really improved. Now it's the minor things. Once he gets them to come around for him he'll definitely be considered for the All-Star team.
Q. Would you encourage him to work as hard as you did as a player to take his game to the next level?
A. Not only Danny but you like to see all your players do that. Danny's a hard worker for us. I know Mike Dunleavy does a lot of work in the summer, along with the other guys. Danny has improved every year he's been in the league. If he continues to work hard, he's going to get better. There's no secret to this. If you put the time in, the effort in and you do the things necessary to get better, you're going to get better. It's just like after practice, it's always the guy who can shoot the ball that stick around. The guys that can't shoot go into the locker room. It's very simple. If you put the time and effort in, you're going to continue to get better.
HERB SIMON
Q. What do you feel needs to be done to improve the basketball team?
A. I'm not the basketball man but talking to Larry, he has some great ideas on how to add the elements to make us more competitive. A lot depends on what's available and what happens. But I'm convinced we have a good core of players here, really good players. I'm excited to see them play, and to build around that core.
LARRY BIRD
Q. How much change do you expect to make?
A. We have a group of guys that we want to try to build around. To blow it completely up and go rock-bottom, I don't think so because we've got four or five guys I think we can build around to make this team stronger and better. Obviously, we've got to do some things in the offseason and hopefully we can get it done but the four or five guys we have, I think we can build around them. Our wings are pretty well set. You look at the point guard situation and the bigs at any time. It's something we have to do in the summer.
HERB SIMON
Q. Now that you're taking a more active role in the management of Pacers Sports & Entertainment, can you talk about your plans and Mel plans about ownership of the team and whether these changes affect those plans?
A. I don't think this is the forum to be talking about my estate planning. It's been in the family for 25 years and I expect it to be in the family for a long time to come.
LARRY BIRD
Q. The team struggled quite a bit to close games out. Was it a matter of lacking a go-to guy? Was it mental toughness? What did you see?
A. It's a little of both. We didn't have a guy we could go to down low to keep the pressure off our shooters and at times we didn't have the mental toughness we needed. Jimmy works these guys very hard every day and through hard work, sometimes toughness comes. But we lost a lot of games down the stretch just because we did not have the inside scorer we needed to take pressure off our shooters.
Q. How difficult would it be to move not only Jermaine O'Neal but Jamaal Tinsley?
A. You have to look at everything. Obviously, there's some guys on our team we're going to look maybe to move and maybe not. It's just what's out there. You have to have a partner to make these deals happen. As we look at our team and we look through the summer and talk to other teams, there's a lot of teams out there that have needs for point guards, big guys, small forwards and I think we have some players that might whet their appetite. Obviously, you have to look at everything you can possibly do. If we can do anything out there to make our team better, we will do it.
Q. Can Danny assume a leadership role and become as close to the face of the franchise as possible?
A. The one thing I've always seen throughout my 28 years in basketball is if you have a guy here, like a Jermaine O'Neal, that's been a leader, another guy won't step up until he's either retired or traded or whatever. That don't just happen. So as long as Jermaine's here, he will be our leader and Danny, once he gets better and hopefully gets in the All-Star Game sooner than later, he will step up and do that. It could be Mike, it could be anybody. Jermaine's our leader and when he's here he'll continue to be our leader.
