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Start your engines Pacers prepare to defend Eastern Conference crown
Miami and Orlando may have garnered a lot of publicity for their offseason maneuvers, but the Indiana Pacers have been quietly remaking themselves as they prepare to defend their Eastern Conference crown. ATLANTA -- The Pacers may have finished just two wins shy of an NBA championship last season, but with Orlando and Miami retooling in the Eastern Conference, Indiana isn't standing pat. All-Star power forward Dale Davis, who averaged 10 points and 10 rebounds a game last year, is now a Portland Trail Blazer. In return, the Pacers got Jermaine O'Neal, who averaged just four points and three rebounds in roughly 12 minutes a game last year. But he's considered a star in the making. "I have a hunger and anger inside of me," O'Neal said. "People bypassed me the last four years. Now it's my time to show people what I can do." Team president Donnie Walsh thinks he has a real gem in O'Neal. "We feel we have a diamond in rough. Not many people realize how talented this young man is, and when he gets a chance to play, he's going to show that," Walsh said. With the 21-year-old O'Neal, 20-year-old Al Harrington and 19-year-old Jonathan Bender, the Pacers are the first team to have three players who entered the NBA directly from high school. "We are going to be very good. We're going to be very, very good," O'Neal said. "We're all about same age, so we can get old together and win lot of ballgames together." New head coach Isiah Thomas likes what he sees in his new team. "When you look at the nucleus of what this team is going to be two to three years from now, you're looking at O'Neal, [Austin] Croshere, Bender, Harrington, [Travis] Best and [Jalen] Rose. I don't think it gets any better than that in the East." The Pacers aren't merely looking to the future, though. They've also been constructed with the present in mind. Free-agent veterans Reggie Miller and Sam Perkins were re-signed, as were Croshere, who had a breakout performance in the playoffs, and Rose, Indiana's leading scorer last season. "There's still a bitter taste in my mouth from losing to the L.A. Lakers in the NBA Finals," Rose said. "Our city is craving a championship, and we're re-signing our guys in the offseason to try to make that happen. And I was one of the big guys to make that happen." The Pacers still have major questions to answer if they're to get another title shot, however. Will center Rik Smits bring his aching feet back for a 13th season? Will Rose be able to take over the point from Mark Jackson, who left to sign with Toronto? And will first time head coach Isiah Thomas know what buttons to push to keep the Pacers among the NBA's elite? Rose thinks the answer to that last question is yes. "We're a team that's been to the NBA Finals, and we're a team that understands how to win. Now he [Thomas] just has to harness our talent and try to get us right back there, and we believe he can." Thomas is inclined to think so, too, if the team gets some help from a veteran. "I think if Smits comes back, we're the best team in East. I still believe that. And we'll win a championship." With their moves this offseason, that's a position Indiana could be in for years to come.
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