Author Archives: Kent Sterling

The Kent Sterling Show on CBS Sports 1430 – Why sports and nothing but sports? Because it is what we do best!

by Kent Sterling

Sportstalk radio has evolved on many stations into guy talk. Some hosts are more adept at talking about their favorite song than their favorite athlete. That’s fine. Every host should execute the show he is best at.

For me, I like sports. The games and those who compete in them are fascinating. Those who build the rosters, develop the strategies, evaluate the players, and even those fans who revel in their accomplishments – or lack thereof – are the people I enjoy talking to most.

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During this time of year, sports media types – especially sportstalk radio hosts in cities without major league baseball – complain about a lack of things to talk about. That has always baffled me. Sportstalk has never simply been about the results and game analysis, but the people.

I spoke with Indianapolis Star columnist Gregg Doyel yesterday about the “sports, nothing but sports” edict I indulge for my own show that airs every weekday on CBS Sports 1430 from 3p-6p. He said “it’s the people in sports” that rivet his attention.

A former co-worker, Cliff Saunders, posted on Facebook about the intellectual laziness of hosts who believe nothing is going on simply because games are not being played in three of the four major leagues. A torrent of comments followed about the value of guests, callers, and list type topics that are employed to fill segments.

My show is positioned in Indianapolis as being about “sports, nothing but sports” for two reasons – because the other two sportstalk shows spend more time on distant off-ramps where other topics are discussed, and more importantly to service my own love of sports and the stories of those who compete.

Every show, regardless of the format, should cater to the unique interests of the host. Sitting alone in a room talking about sports is not hard work in the sense digging ditches or building homes is, but it’s certainly an intellectual and psychological test to emotionally rage and indulge curiosity about those who compete in front of an audience that can only be imagined.

That’s what makes hosting fun for me. I am engaged by a variety of issues that I feel reflect a unjust marketplace – particularly in college football and men’s basketball. I’m also intensely curious about those who choose to spend time alone diligently working to perfect a craft – shooting a basketball, moving feet and hands precisely to keep a defensive end from getting to a quarterback, putt with exceptional accuracy, and hit a cutoff man every single time.

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The success and failures of the Colts, Pacers, Hoosiers, Boilers, and Bulldogs are a big deal for me too. Were Phillip Dorsett and Myles Turner the right choices? Did David West screw up by leaving $11 million on the table? How about Lance Stephenson passing on a guaranteed $26 million? Is Tom Crean building Indiana into a perennial winner, or succeeding just enough to keep his job. How does Butler keep cycling through coaches with similar results year after year. Are Indiana and Purdue football doomed to lose forever? Will Purdue be better than IU this season in hoops? Why did Jack Mewhort pose nude? Great questions worth trying to answer in different ways every day.

Those who have chosen a career where traveling to evaluate athletes, motivate them, and implement a culture where they might succeed and learn also motivate intense curiosity.

Sports are a microcosm of life, and as such can be used to relate and affirm philosophies that can be employed to better understand why we wake up with an enthusiastic drive.

That’s what fuels our fire for every single segment of the show – talking about why things happen and what unique stories every person involved in sports might be able to tell. What have they learned on their road to success? What gets them up in the morning? Why did they make a decision on the field/court/rink or off?

Sports float my boat morning, noon, and night. Others have curiosities in other areas, and so they make different choices. Some hosts love talking to strangers, so they take a bunch of calls. For each host, there is a different perfect mix of attributes. The only certainty is that failure comes to those who don’t indulge their own set of unique talents and interest.

Indianapolis sportstalk in the afternoons is a diverse marketplace. For those who want to hear about sports, here we are on CBS Sports 1430 every weekday from 3p-6p.

Indiana Pacers – David West would rather earn $1.5 million with Spurs than $12.6M with Pacers

by Kent Sterling

Even if David West’s game took a step back last season, his scowl will be intact as a poorly paid reserve for the San Antonio Spurs.

I liked David West, but it’s hard not to see his decision to leave $11.1 million in Indiana to play for the San Antonio Spurs as a smack to the jaw of the Pacers organization, his former teammates, and Indiana in general.

His desire to win a championship is laudable. Putting potential wealth beneath winning as priorities are set is usually viewed as a positive, but this cash dump is not just a statement about West’s desire to win, but his thirst to do it in a lesser role for a city other than Indianapolis.

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The Pacers for which West played last season were on win away from earning an unlikely spot on the playoffs despite injuries that robbed them of any semblance of continuity. Paul George’s fractured leg was especially difficult to overcome, but if they had beaten Memphis in the season finale, they would have played an Atlanta Hawks team they had vanquished during the previous two postseasons.

So close, but not close enough for West to see the Pacers situation as hopeful enough to return to the team for the $12.6 million his player option would have activated. Instead, he opts out, and signs with the Spurs for barely more than 10% of that amount.

Sure, the Spurs have a better chance of winning an NBA Championship than the Pacers, but in the Western Conference with Houston, the LA Clippers, Oklahoma City with a healthy Kevin Durant, and the reigning champion Golden State Warriors, the road through the playoffs will be arduous.

The Pacers might be in a period of transition toward a faster style of play, but with George returning, George Hill back for what he hopes is a full season, rookie Myles Turner replacing struggling center Roy Hibbert, and the explosive Monta Ellis coming over from Dallas, the Pacers look to be significantly better than last season.

As Indiana fans look for reasons to hope the Pacers will be successful in moving toward the kind of small and fast basketball toward which the NBA is enacting and enforcing rules, West leaving eight figures worth of money on the table to serve as a back up behind Tim Duncan and newly acquired LaMarcus Aldridge does not qualify.

In fact, West leaving appears to be a resounding repudiation of the Pacers culture and future hopes for the franchise’s first championship.

Sure, West seemed unhappy with the vibe of the team last season, but turning your back on over $11 million is a hell of a demonstrative way to show it. He could have opted in, pocketed the cash, and become a free agent next offseason.

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Maybe this will be the last chance for West to be a part of a team with Duncan, Manu Ginobli, and Tony Parker, but when season tickets to watch one of the greatest threesomes in NBA History cost less than $50K, is it really worth over $11 million to play with them?

West has always marched to the beat of his own drummer, but when that rhythm is so far out of cadence with the Pacers expectations for 2015-2016 and with the appreciation of Pacers fans for his effort – whether well-earned or not – questions need to be asked and judgments need to be made.

David West abandoned ship – turned his back on teammates and fans. He has shown himself to be worse than a money grubber; West is a win grubber – eager to play a limited role on the Spurs rather than a prominent role on a Pacers team trying to rebound from a disappointing season.

As a result, West has shown himself to be unworthy of the respect once granted to him by Pacers fans. What a disappointment.

Indiana Pacers – Roy Hibbert to the Lakers because it was his time to go

by Kent Sterling

Roy Hibbert is a good guy who might have been happier in a cubicle than hooping in front of millions.

If Roy Hibbert was a foot shorter, he might never have picked up a basketball, and might be a CPA or IT professional who amused and frustrated co-workers in equal measure with his mood swings.

Because he is 7’2″ and athletic enough, Hibbert is a professional basketball player who will continue to command more money for playing 82 games each season in the NBA than he would have earned in five lifetimes writing computer code.

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Hibbert will play for the Los Angeles Lakers next year instead of his previous employer, the Indiana Pacers, because a change of scenery was required – for Hibbert, for the Pacers, for Pacers fans, and for anyone in Indiana who wanted to watch professional basketball unencumbered by rumination of why that tall fellow with a propensity for falling down always seemed so unhappy.

The arc of Hibbert’s ascent and descent lasted exactly seven seasons. The Pacers traded for his draft rights in 2008 at the very end of Jermaine O’Neal’s run of uneven play, and fans wondered just what the hell the Pacers were thinking in acquiring the awkward center. Hibbert was a very enthusiastic cheerleader/part-time player his rookie year, and that was enough for fans tired of O’Neal’s petulant act.

Hibbert blossomed into a two-time all-star before regressing least season amid moments of bliss and revulsion. Hibbert can be equally engaging and off-putting, and in 2015, fans and media got a lot more of the latter. An elite rim protector, Hibbert retained some value as a defensive specialist, but scored in double figures in only 40 of the Pacers 82 games. Without Paul George available for the majority of the season, off nights on the offensive end for Hibbert made life difficult for the Pacers and their fans.

The unraveling seemed to start with Hibbert’s infamous “No homo” comment during the 2013 Eastern Conference Finals against the Miami Heat. The Pacers were the darlings of the NBA – a bunch of team-first non-stars battling tooth and nail with a Heat team built around the game’s best player, LeBron James.

His comment, which followed an explanation of how LeBron “stretched me out so much,” amused him, but caught the attention of everyone else for all the wrong reasons. From that point forward, a schism between Hibbert and the media was created. The formerly agreeable and funny center withdrew, and even among those who were employed by the Pacers, he became a distant participant with the media.

Being famous requires a calloused psyche that the sensitive Hibbert never developed.

He was compared by fans and media to a baby giraffe because of the difficulty with which he struggled to his feet, and after Pacers president Larry Bird said his team would be faster next year, it was assumed to be a condemnation of the style of basketball Hibbert is best suited to play and a decisive shove toward the door.

Hibbert opted to exercise his player option for next season worth $15.5 million, but it was still assumed that he would be aggressively shopped and moved if the right deal materialized – meaning someone would be willing to accept the burden of signing his paychecks.

And so Hibbert will move on to Los Angeles and a harsher media spotlight. The fresh start with require Hibbert to mature, developing that thick skin that would give the media and fans a sense that he is participating and engaged even when he isn’t.

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For the Pacers, they will invest that $15.5M in talent that will help them play the kind of basketball the NBA clearly wants to reward – fast, fun, high scoring (three terms as ill-fitting of Hibbert as a size seven ladies pump). For the Lakers, they will wait for Hibbert’s money to come off the books so they can pursue the high-end free agents they crave next offseason.

The deal is a win-win for the Pacers and Lakers regardless of what Bird gets in return, but whether it suits Hibbert will depend on his ability to embrace fame in the city where it’s the only currency that matters.

Illini women’s basketball players take final step – a civil rights lawsuit – in seeking relief from “abusive” coach

by Kent Sterling

Illini women’s basketball coach Matt Bollant is among several being sued by seven former players for civil rights violations.

The athletic director was made aware, the president was made aware, and the chancellor was made aware. According to families of those involved, no one from the University of Illinois responded meaningfully to complaints about women’s basketball coaches until Illinois Speaker of the House Mike Madigan started making calls on behalf of players whose families reached out to the political legend.

By then, the student-athletes had already decided enough was enough and it was time to enjoy playing basketball and studying elsewhere.

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Seven former players have filed a civil rights lawsuit against coach Matt Bollant, Athletic Director Mike Thomas, former assistant coach Mike Divilbiss and the University Board of Trustees seeking $10 million in compensatory and actual damages.

You think they are ready to listen and respond to complaints now?

The four counts cited in the lawsuit are:

1. Racially hostile environment in education — a violation of Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964

2. Race discrimination against rights to contract — a violation of the Civil Rights Act of 1991

3. Equal protection violation — a violation of the Civil Rights Act of 1871

4. Violations of the Illinois Civil Rights Act

The moral of this story is that coaches are not running their own little monarchies where they can behave or misbehave as they and their ADs see fit. Athletes have the same basic rights as other students, and cannot be humiliated, demeaned, bullied, and ridiculed simply because a coach feels they might respond with more grit on the floor, field, or rink.

An Illinois women’s soccer player filed a suit in early against the university for the treatment of head injuries she has suffered, and the treatment – or lack thereof – she received. Add to that the allegations by football players that they were forced to play while injured, and a picture is painted of an athletic department operating outside – far outside – the best interests of those it promises to nurture.

Illinois chancellor Phyllis Wise released a statement in response to reports of the suit being filed by the Illini Seven, “Athletic Director Mike Thomas has already added staff to closely monitor team activities and has implemented additional ways for student-athletes to report any concerns they have. We will continue to explore ways for students to connect with a university staff member to address them promptly and constructively. ”

Sadly, most of this could have been avoided if relentless calls and emails to all levels of Illini athletic and university staff had prompted concern and corrective measures.

There are many lessons to be learned from this sad series of episodes, and the first is that it’s a lot easier to proactively prevent a fire than to put one out once it starts raging. Returning a phone call or two from concerned parents is a lot simpler and cheaper than fighting a $10 civil rights lawsuit in U.S. District Court.

Another is that hiring good people to help educate student-athletes as coaches – especially in non-revenue sports – rather than relentless taskmasters concerned only with winning is a smart strategy for an athletic director like Thomas. There are high school ADs every bit as narrow-mindedly motivated by winning as Thomas, and that’s a disgrace, but a disgrace that will need to wait for another post to be addressed.

Students deserve a rigorous yet demanding curriculum in academics and athletics that leads to their growth from adolescents to adults. Infusing that environment with racist attitudes (as alleged by Illini basketball players), unreasonable and/or dangerous physical demands, and health related public judgment of their effort has no place in amateur athletics, and the University of Illinois is about to learn that the hard way.

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Good for the parents, students, and attorneys for holding accountable those whom they trusted to behave like caring adults.

Idiotic and myopic leadership requires corrective measures. It’s sad that a lawsuit was needed to get Illinois’ attention, but it will hopefully force the university to make the changes that will guarantee a positive experience for future generations of student athletes.

Let’s hope other athletic departments are paying attention, so they don’t wind up being sued for treating students like underachieving cattle rather than young adults in need of guidance.

Indiana Pacers – Five reasons the Pacers should sign Monta Ellis, and five reasons they shouldn’t

by Kent Sterling

Monta Ellis would make the Pacers better, but exactly how much is the question.

Ten-year NBA veteran Monta Ellis is reportedly talking to the Indiana Pacers today about coming to Indy as a free agent. There are reasons for the Pacers to be interested in signing Ellis, and a few for fans not to see him as a magical elixir that might allow the Pacers to earn their way back to the Eastern Conference Finals for the third time in four years.

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Here are five reasons to be excited about Ellis as a free agent:

1 – Very aggressive offensively; lightning quick first step. You can’t teach quickness, and Ellis’s calling card over his decade in the NBA has been a first step quick enough to keep good defenders on their heels or behind him.

2 – Great finisher around the basket. Ellis is an attacking combo guard who can create his own shot – a definite weakness for the Pacers over the last three seasons.

3 – At 29, he is right in the middle of his prime. Despite being in the NBA for 10 seasons, he is still yet to turn 30, but will just prior to opening night (October 26).

4 – If Rodney Stuckey leaves, Ellis is an upgrade. As much as Stuckey was a feel good story for the Pacers last season, his productivity – especially shooting threes – was out of whack with his previous self. During a season when Stuckey was determined to rehab his reputation, he might have been the best possible version of himself.

5 – Has missed a total of two starts in three seasons for the Bucks and Mavericks. Predictability would be a nice change for Frank Vogel, whose expected starting lineup of George Hill, C.J. Miles, Paul George, David West, and Roy Hibbert missed 45.4% of their possible starts. Given that West is gone and Hibbert is unlikely to start, according to Pacers president Larry Bird’s remarks in his postseason press conference, and those two missed only 22 of 164 starts, someone who can be counted on to suit up every night is a good thing.

Here are five reasons to view Ellis as a flawed and expensive band-aid for a team in transition:

1 – Not a great defender – Ellis’s defensive rating has averaged 107 over last four seasons; George Hill’s has been 103 (lower is better). There are factors outside Ellis’s control that can affect that number, but over four seasons, it provides a solid snapshot. He will cost more than Hill, but not yield the same results. While Ellis is seen as a very productive offensive player, he pales again in comparison to Hill. Ellis’s offensive rating has been 100 in three of the last four years while Hill’s has been 117 three of the last four years.

2 – Best historic comp, according to basketball-reference.com, is Kyle Macy. Kind of speaks for itself. Paying eight figures for all-star level players is fine, but Ellis being statistically closest to Macy is not a result’ builder. Now, a lot of what makes those two similar occurred early in Ellis’s career, but still.

3 – He’s a poor man’s George Hill who will cost more than Hill. Both are roughly the same size, but on both ends of the floor Hill is the better player, and his cost is $8 million per year. Despite playing three fewer seasons, Hill’s career value over replacement is 41.8 while Ellis’s is 36.6. His career offensive (24.4 to 20.1) and defensive (17.4 to 16.5) win shares outstrip Ellis’s as well. Players know who makes what, and Ellis outlearning Hill might cause issues.

4 – Has been on a team that won a playoff series exactly one time in ten seasons. And that was in 2007. The Dallas Mavericks lost to the Houston Rockets for several reasons a couple of months ago, but none of them had much to do with Ellis, who was outstanding.

5 – Is likely to cost more than his value. While Stuckey is not a better player, he is certainly a better value. Stuckey was paid just over $1-million last season, while Ellis is likely to cost the Pacers more the $30-million over three years, according to multiple reports.

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Ellis fits well the slot left by Lance Stephenson, who would have been paid $9-million a year for five years had he made the sensible decision and excepted Bird’s offer a year ago. Bird plugged the hole short term with Stuckey and Miles, but injuries never allowed the planned rotation to congeal.

The Pacers would certainly be a better team with Ellis’s addition, but whether he can be a meaningful piece of a championship puzzle is the cogent question that Bird needs to answer as he evaluates Ellis.

Breakfast with Kent – US women beat impatient Germans; Pacers start practice; we’re selling magic table!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f8WGjqZDUGY

Are Andy Benoit’s tweets about women’s sports being unwatchable really worth all this chaos?

by Kent Sterling

Little did Sports Illustrated’s Andy Benoit know he could tweet himself into journalistic exile by voicing disdain for women’s sports.

Poor Andy Benoit. He tweeted his silly thoughts on how women’s sports aren’t worth watching, and his world exploded.

The Sports Illustrated editor isn’t a fan of watching women, said so, and has been excoriated in the media ever since. Sure, his position was dopey – watching anything where score is kept can be either scintillating or tedious – but the resulting barrage of invective being hurled at him has been even more absurd.

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What doesn’t offend us these days? A guy with 12,500 twitter followers writes that women’s sports aren’t worth watching, and all of a sudden Amy Poehler and Seth Meyers bully this guy into submission. Deadpan and Awful Announcing joined the piling on, and every self-righteous boob in America has been eager to show how enlightened he or she is by yammering about the majesty of Serena Williams, the WNBA, and the Women’s World Cup.

Not too long ago, America would have shrugged at the rantings of a person who uttered silliness, but somehow our society has turned into a giant club of bullies who can’t wait to wallop anyone who argues a point that brushes against the grain.

Benoit is a young guy who has written well about the NFL for SI and Peter King’s MMQB website. He tweeted that women’s sports is not worth watching, and now he is a societal pariah. ESPN’s Keith Olbermann anointed him the world’s worst person in sports, although he was good humored in his bashing of the journalistic piñata Benoit has become.

I don’t agree with Benoit about women’s sports, but I’m not going to bloody him with yet more hurtful denunciation. What outrages me is that a significant portion of our culture has decided that bullying is wrong unless it’s against people with whom they disagree.

The joy that is derived by the “enlightened” who feel empowered to belittle and demean those who espouse a poorly articulated and sloppily researched opinion like Benoit’s is no less embarrassing than the initial tweet that led to this unending cascade of unpleasantness aimed at a guy who committed the unpardonable sin of not enjoying women’s sports.

Polite discourse is dying in America, and Twitter is more about exerting effort to not offend than to share honest opinions. The thin-skinned responses to anything vaguely anti-anything is evidence revealing our own weakness and inability to engage in reasonable debate.

Just because a position, like Benoit’s, is unreasonable, doesn’t mean the sky is falling – or that piling on should be encouraged.

Bullying is terrible – all bullying. Targeting those who post the occasional idiotic tweet is no more excusable than bullying people for any other reason.

Benoit’s rant was worthy of a shrug as we watched the Women’s World Cup or another WNBA game. A virtuous tweet about how women’s fast pitch softball is often a more exciting option than watching the slow-pace of Major League Baseball would have been a better response than the insults that have filled Twitter since Benoit ignited anger among those who enjoy women’s sports in the opposite proportion as Benoit.

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The glee of those who have rallied to shout down Benoit, forcing him to hide under his desk for the past five days is the most embarrassing aspect of the whole sordid affair.

There is nothing so awful about being wrong, and I hope the volume of the hate hurled at Benoit doesn’t keep him from participating in an exchange of ideas – even if some of them are ridiculous.

For people who purport to be evolved and tolerant, the opponents of Benoit’s perspective have represented themselves very poorly.

Fixing IndyCar not so tough – increase drama by hiring polarizing drivers

by Kent Sterling

Scott Dixon looks like a nice guy and he IS a nice guy. Multiply him by 24 drivers and you learn why no one watches IndyCar.

Without emotional investment in the men and women operating the machines, IndyCar is just fast and pretty cars driving in circles.

Speed is relative and does not create drama. Pretty cars are not dramatic. Wrecks are not necessarily dramatic. Competition among rivals is dramatic.

IndyCar drivers are incredibly well-mannered and nice. They are mostly pleasant men and women who run the personality gamut from inoffensive to eager to be liked.

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Tony Kanaan, Josef Newgarden, Graham Rahal, Pippa Mann, Ed Carpenter, Scott Dixon, Will Power, Marco Andretti, Ryan Hunter-Reay, Stefano Coletti, and Helio Castroneves are all very nice guys who arouse neither disdain or affection. They are an A-OK lot who would be good equally company in a bar or bible study.

And Saturday, somewhere between 3,000-5,000 people showed up in Fontana, California, to watch them drive in circles for 500 miles.

The race wasn’t without thrills. Ryan Briscoe went airborne at over 200 miles per hour and crashed nose first into the infield dirt, but still no one cared, listened, or watched. IndyCar is so far from the national consciousness that on DirecTV when you search for “racing”, it doesn’t appear as a subcategory with Formula 1, NASCAR, and Motorcycle.

It’s so irrelevant that it’s idiotic for me to invest my time writing about it. If 100 people read this, it would be shocking. Apathy for IndyCar is so deeply entrenched that expressing an opinion about it is like preaching in an empty church. It feels good to get something off your chest, but without ears, even passionate thoughts well performed carry no meaning.

American open wheel racing – whether under the IndyCar banner or some other league that may be formed – can be fixed. It can prosper if the powers that be understand an irrefutable set of rules governing drama.

People need someone to root for, and someone to root against. Heroes and villains. Cowboys and Indians. Good and evil. Conflict.

IndyCars issues aren’t in technology or venues. They are in casting.

American tennis was never more popular than when John McEnroe and Jimmy Connors built passionate fan bases. Half loved Johnny Mac, and half hated him. Same with Connors. Neither was afraid to be loathed, and as a result, people watched.

IndyCar needs a brash lunatic who generates equal parts love and hate with both his words and driving. Building a brand of tepid affection seems to be the goal of race teams and drivers, and the result for the league is overwhelming disinterest.

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Technology and precision are great, but they are not enough to galvanize an audience. For that, disparate personalities are needed.

A.J. Foyt, Bobby Unser, and Tom Sneva were capable of both going fast and irritating/engaging race fans. They were countered by superb and quiet nice guy drivers like Al Unser, Rick Mears, and Johnny Rutherford. Is it any wonder they were the stars of open wheel racing’s golden era?

The problems with IndyCar can be fixed with a better cast. Otherwise, IndyCar bosses will long for the days when they drew 5,000 fans to Fontana and the Indianapolis Motor Speedway might be best used as a concert venue like this Saturday when the Rolling Stones visit.

Indiana Pacers add 6’11” Texas freshman Myles Turner in effort to find “special kid”

by Kent Sterling

Myles Turner won’t be the answer to any short term prayers for Pacers fans, but give him time.

Don’t go looking at the stats Myles Turner put up last year and expect to find the answer to why the Indiana Pacers selected him 11th overall in last night’s NBA Draft. His modest 10.1 points per game average is not eye-popping. The 6.5 rebounds per game would be the least you might expect for a 6’11” guy with a 9’4″ reach. The 27.4% from beyond the arc shows work is needed if he is going to stretch the floor.

Don’t go looking at the tape of the Butler first round game against Texas to figure out what made Turner the guy the Pacers coveted ahead of hometown hero Trey Lyles, Devin Booker, Cameron Payne, and the almost forgotten Bobby Portis who languished until the Chicago Bulls rescued him with the 22nd pick. Turner played only 16 minutes in that game, scoring a single field goal, grabbing 10 rebounds, and committing four turnovers and fouls apiece.

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Turner was taken by the Pacers not for who he was at Texas, but who he can be for them in a year, two, or five down the road.

Pacers coach Frank Vogel expressed admiration for Turner’s touch, ability to protect the rim, and of course his intellect and outstanding character. A cynic would wretch at yet another assessment of outstanding character when no coach or GM in the history of the NBA has ever shaken his head after a selection and said, “Well, we really drafted a moron who can’t make a good decision.” At least it hasn’t been said publicly.

Vogel seemed genuinely pleased with the pick though. Turner drew raves for his behavior with the media during the workout featuring both he and Frank Kaminsky, he was well spoken, enthusiastic, and a fan of both the team and the city. Again, a cynic would question the veracity of any potential draftee’s positive assessment of a franchise that might choose to pay him millions to throw a leather ball through a hoop, or keep opponents from doing it.

Fans need to remember that five years ago, the Pacers took a chance on a skinny kid from Fresno State that everyone in Indy had to google to figure out who in the hell he was. Paul George turned out to be pretty damn good – eventually. George’s rookie year with the Pacers barely registered a blip on the radar – even locally. He averaged 7.8 ppg and 3.7 rebounds.

Will Turner develop as George has? Who knows, but Larry Bird and the Pacers brain trust was convinced Turner presented the best opportunity to grab someone with the potential to be special, and special doesn’t come to Indy via free agency. For some reason NBA players look at Indy as an cultural vacant outpost that pales in comparison to New York, Los Angeles, Miami, or Chicago. I get it, but for sheer pragmatic value and livability, who wouldn’t love Indianapolis?

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Evidently, practicality isn’t a concern for adolescent millionaires. Again, go figure.

The Pacers got better tonight, but how much exactly we will have to wait to see.

That’s life in the small market cities home to NBA franchises. Draft them young and develop them here. Get them dug in so they don’t want to leave. Get them hooked on Indianapolis so that leaving becomes unthinkable – or at least financially idiotic.

With the second round pick, the Pacers took 6’2″ shooting guard Joseph Young. Young is 6’2″ and can run and shoot – both solid qualities in an NBA player.

Why the Indiana Pacers should reach and take Bobby Portis

by Kent Sterling

Bobby Portis will show up ready to work because he already learned why it’s important.

Some guys just reek of success. They have usually faced adversity, received an honest appraisal, and responded with diligence on their way to success. Hello, Bobby Portis.

Just over three years ago, according an interview I did with Portis, he played three minutes in his high school’s state championship game. Upset, he asked his mom why he didn’t play more. Mom came with the truth, and it changed Portis forever. She said that the hardest working and most confident (funny how those two so often go together) players play the most.

Ports decided after that conversation that he would be both of those things.

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Now, he is projected to be selected at the back end of the lottery during tonight’s NBA Draft. He averaged over 17 points and nearly nine rebounds per game as the Southeastern Conference’s player of the year for Arkansas. You thought maybe a member of the almost undefeated Kentucky Wildcats was the SEC player of the year? No, it was Portis.

And how did that happen? Mom told the truth, and instead of moping around, Portis started a regimen of work that led him to this rarified air.

So here is a 6’11” basketball player with great measurables who has already learned through experience that hard work yields a positive result. Most people never learn that lesson, but Portis has it banked like a midrange jumper off the glass.

Given the unknowns and guesswork that are such a huge part of making the decision to pull the trigger during the draft on a near-child in whom you are going to stake your career and millions of your owner’s money, I bet on the kid who has learned the toughest lesson – that hard work is its own reward.

I want Bobby Portis to be a Pacer.