NBA Wagering Preview – Indiana Pacers
After watching his team miss the playoffs in each of the last two years, Indiana Pacers (36-46 SU, 39-42-1 ATS, 41-37-4 O/U) president of basketball operations, Larry Bird, is doing something about it in a big way!
While the Pacers may not enter the 2008-09 season as NBA title contenders, they certainly don’t plan on being left on the outside looking in come playoff time either.
After recording mediocre ATS wagering marks both at home (21-20 ATS) and on the road (18-22-1 ATS) last season, the Pacers made several roster-altering transactions that will give the team a new look – and attitude – going into the new season.
Indiana traded former perennial all-star center Jermaine O’Neal to the Toronto Raptors for point guard T.J. Ford and is currently looking to move former starting point guard Jamaal Tinsley to any team that will take the mercurial floor leader. The Pacers also added former 7-2 Georgetown center Roy Hibbert whom the Raptors drafted and traded in the O’Neal deal.
While the team is now led by terrific combo forward Danny Granger, (19.6 ppg), the Pacers also added athletic former Kansas swingman Brandon Rush in a trade for the draft rights to point guard Jerryd Bayless while also getting part-time Blazers starting point guard Jarrett Jack.
The Pacers will also count on big contributions from veterans Mike Dunleavy and Jeff Foster and improvement from younger players like Josh McRoberts and Shawne Williams.
Under veteran head coach Jim O’Brien’s three-point-oriented offensive system, the Pacers averaged a stellar 104.0 points per game, good for seventh overall. Indian shot the ball well from downtown, ranking eighth in three-point field goal percentage, (37.4)
O’Brien and Bird are hoping the addition of Hibbert will help the team at the defensive end of the floor as Indiana allowed a whopping 105.4 points per game, 26th overall. While the Pacers held their opponents to a respectable 45.4 percent shooting mark from two-point distance, the Pacers’ foes shot a blistering 38.6 percent from beyond the arc, (29th).
