With Reggie gone where will the Pacers go.

[santini88]

I'm not a big Reggie fan, and while O'Neal and Artest are good building blocks for a team, what will they do when Reggie is gone. Without a doubt Reggie is the second biggest heart-breaker in NBA history. Reggie and Jordan could kill a lot of teams with the long dagger to the heart. Without Reggie the Pacers are a lackluster team with decent defense, good offense but unable to finish, or more important...get into the head of an opponent. The days of the 85 point win are over, Dallas, Washington, Seattle, Boston, Denver can put up points on anyone but every great team needs a heart-breaker, a will-destroyer....Dallas doesn't have one, Washington doesn't either, nor does Denver. Pierce for Boston trys and Ray Allen could be but so far no one has taken on the mantle of team-killer. Dwayne Wade also has the potential...we'll see. Who will take Reggie's place?

[Andrew]

We've actually got a section for discussions about the real NBA, NBA Talk, so I'll move this one from NBA Live 2005 General. Please keep all general discussion (anything that isn't about one of the NBA Lives) in the appropriate section of our general forums. Thanks.

[Drex]

Who'll take Reggie's spot as a team killer?? Wade, Kobe, Gordon are just 3 that comes to mind. Who'll take Reggie's spot on the Pacers? Stephen Jackson. He'll start at SG, with Artest coming at SF. The Pacers are a really good team...when they're not suspended. Also, Artest can get in anybody's head, with his defense and game

[Indy]

Of course losing Reggie will be a huge blow to our team, but Donnie Walsh has been working for years to find guys to replace him. We have Stephen Jackson, Fred Jones, James Jones and Ron Artest. Fred Jones is improving ahead of where people thought he would be at this point. Stephen Jackson is playing fantastic right now and he is proving his critics that he is not a winner wrong. James Jones is also improving far beyond schedule.

Obviously losing Reggie will hurt emotionaly, but it wont hurt too much as far as our number of wins.

[maes]

Overall, finding scoring guards that like to shoot from the outside isn't very hard, either through the draft or free agency. Phoenix acquired Quentin & Jax this season, they are shooting lights out. Miami acquired Damon Jones, he's the most productive long ranger sniper in the L. And one of the purest shooters of all time is going Free Agent, Ray Allen. Shooters, are arguably the easiest thing to add to a team.

What's difficult to find are big men & defensive players, of any position, Indiana has a damn good head start w/ O'Neal and Artest.

[Indy]

I just hope so hard that we don't trade Artest. That would be an awful move unless we got Lebron.

[Andrew]

The Pacers have done a great job of avoiding a painful rebuilding period by gradually making the transition from Reggie Miller to Jermaine O'Neal as the leading scorer, at the same time replacing the other key players with capable younger counterparts. You have to give a lot of credit to Reggie for stepping back and accepting a lesser role when his game hasn't really suffered the ravages of time, as that sacrifice has put the franchise in great position to continue to being a playoff team.

I don't think the Pacers should try to replace Reggie Miller with a "Reggie Miller". Great players possess qualities that make them unique, and even if you can find a young player that somehow resembles them, it's not often they'll live up to such lofty expectations. Moves have been made for the team to move forward without Reggie. Someone will have to fill his spot (most likely Stephen Jackson), but they don't need to be Reggie Miller.