The Pacers have picked 20-year old small forward Paul George with the 10th overall pick of the NBA Draft. George played in 29 games (28 starts) for Fresno State last season and he averaged 16.8 points, 7.2 rebounds, 3.0 assists and 2.2 steals per game. He finished up at Fresno having played in 63 games (53 starts) in which he averaged 15.5 points, 6.7 rebounds, 2.4 assists and 2.0 steals per game. Picking George likely bumps Danny Granger to shooting guard full time. I like this pick as George should give the Pacers a nice offensive boost starting this season.

The Indiana Pacers have acquired the 57th overall pick (2nd round) of the NBA Draft later this month from the Mavs to complete the Eddie Jones and Shawne Williams trade. Players can be found in the 2nd round so the Pacers need to do their homework on this one. The Pacers need all of the help that they can get.

The Indiana Pacers will have almost the whole roster back in 2010-11 unless they make some trades. This was just flat out bad planning as the best free agent summer in the history of the NBA is available and the Pacers will likely be on the sideline. They only have two free agents of their own this summer in Earl Watson and Luther Head. The Pacers might need Watson back due to A.J. Price’s injury but that’s only if he doesn’t get a good offer this summer. Luther Head isn’t someone that the Pacers will go out of the way to bring back but they could do worse.

23-year old point guard A.J. Price will miss the next 4-6 months after he needed surgery to repair a fractured kneecap which he injured in a charity game. He does not have a fully guaranteed contract for the 2010-11 season but I don’t expect them to consider letting him go. He played in 56 games (2 starts) as a rookie last season for the Pacers and he averaged 15.4 minutes, 7.3 points, 1.6 rebounds and 1.9 assists per game. The Pacers are hoping that he will be ready to start the 2010-11 season.

The Indiana Pacers’ playoff hopes may be long gone, but they are still playing hard as the 2009-’10 NBA season nears its end.  The Pacers scored a season-high 133 points in their win Sunday over the Houston Rockets.  That was their seventh win in the past 10 games, moving them out of the basement of the Eastern Conference and into 10th place with a 29-48 record.  A lot of the Pacers’ young talent has been stepping up lately, and they have beat some tough competition recently, including the Utah Jazz, Oklahoma City Thunder, and Charlotte Bobcats.  They took the Miami Heat into overtime on Friday, and only lost by 5 points to the Cleveland Cavaliers in March, who are the top team in the NBA.  This season may not have been very pretty for the Pacers, but the future is bright with guys like Danny Granger, Roy Hibbert, and Troy Murphy.  Even Josh McRoberts has shown some signs of good play lately, as he dropped 18 points, 12 rebounds, 1 assist, 1 block, and 2 steals in the Pacers blowout win over the Rockets last game.  So if you are a Pacers fan, you have some positive things to take away from this losing season and expect some improvement next season.