NBA Grapevine

With the Chicago Bulls undergoing an unfortunate waiting period with star guard Derrick Rose on the shelf, and the Boston Celtics seemingly rebuilding on the fly after watching Ray Allen take his senior act down to South Beach, the Indiana Pacers were everyone’s pick take the East’s mantle as The Second Greatest Thang Besides the Heat. After all, the Pacers gave Miami a good show in last May’s second round loss to the Heat, and internal development combined with a full year of workhorse coach Frank Vogel’s machinations seemed to line all the breadcrumbs toward a second seed season.
Just nine games in, the Pacers might still be well on their way to that spot come spring, but the start to the 2012-13 season has been an absolute miss. The squad has lost six out of nine games to begin the campaign, and even with 73 to play that record hardly seems to resemble how awful the team has looked. Yes, it is holding its own defensively, and we’re all mindful of the fact that scoring swingman Danny Granger will be out for a while due to some worrying knee issues, but the Pacers reek.
And with Granger away from the media’s glare, and Paul George too green to take on all the slings and arrows, max contract-outfitted Roy Hibbert is left to answer for his team’s slow start. True to form, and somewhat making up for the dodgy start, the All-Star big man is holding his own in terms of explanation. From NBA.com’s Steve Aschburner :
” […] 23 minutes he spent on the Pacers’ bench, compared to his 25 in the game, were just as bad. Hibbert rolled his eyes at calls and non-calls, slammed his towel to the floor when Bucks’ shooters got friendly bounces and covered his face time and again. At one point, his 7-foot-2 self was folded into the open chair next to him, face down, anguishing through a butt-kicking that got to 32 points at one juncture against Milwaukee.
Then, the Pacers center beat himself up pretty bad in the visitors’ dressing room, too.

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