Should Jim O'Brien Be Fired?

[The Lone Granger]

He doesn't do a good job at all of managing his roster. His rotations are sporadic & he puts very little faith in his most talented players. Darren Collison has been very inconsistent so far as a Pacer, but it doesn't help when O'Brien shows no faith in him. Instead of letting Collison adapt to his new team and learn as the season progresses, O'Brien brings in T.J. Ford at any sign of Collison slowing down. T.J. Ford is for no better phrase, "The Bobby Hill of the Indiana Pacers". No one likes T.J. Ford. If Pacers want to jump up to that next level and be an upper echelon team in the east, then they need a new coach and to cut Ford. Granger needs to learn not to settle for as many jump shots if he wants to be the self proclaimed superstar of that team. They have a lot of good working pieces, they just aren't using them as accurately as they should be. My opinion for them is to keep Collison/Granger/Hibbert in their starting lineup. Move Hansbrough and Rush in there too. Keep McRoberts and Dunleavy too. Also, with a new coach, maybe Paul George can show his sparks of brilliance that he had at Fresno State. He was the best pure shooter in last year's draft, but isn't given an opportunity under O'Brien. Anyone agree with this?

 

Source: Another Forum

 

He's been good and bad, but now I'm sold that we should fire him. No offense, I'm very thankful to JOB for signing with us, and sticking it out even through the absolute low times, but he's just not doing anything good for us right now. His rotation has gotten so awful, with Hibbert being on the bench in favor of Jeff Foster? The reason he's benched is because of poor shooting percentage, but again, why is he shooting so bad? Because the plays you want him to run are just not his game. When he let's that starting five play,

 

PG: Darren Collison

SG: Brandon Rush

SF: Danny Granger

PF: Tyler Hansbrough

C: Roy Hibbert

 

then I think they'll be fine. No offense to McRoberts, but he's not a starter. Psycho T should be the starting four, and then you have a much deeper bench anyway. Price deserves to be playing I agree, and finally he's let George start playing again. We need to have faith in our young talent, and quit trying to make guys like James Posey guard Amare Stoudemire late in games. At least put the young, powerful, and energetic Tyler Hansbrough on him and have a chance.

 

I'm sad to say this, but yes, it's time for Jim O'Brien to leave Indiana.

 

Thoughts?

[Real Deal]

I don't know. I'm not sure if he's ever coached a 50-win team (he probably got close to it in Boston when he first started coaching), but that's mainly because he really hasn't had the talent.

 

Not a knock on the Pacers, but I'm not sure if any coach could lead them to 50 wins, so you can't set the bar too high right now.

 

Plus, with the topic I just posted (about Granger possibly being shopped), there's just too much going on, both in rotations (which has something to do with inconsistent players) and locker room talk, I doubt the Pacers could even reach .500 for the season.

 

It would take a Phil Jackson to put it all together and get them 41-42 wins, but even then, that's a reach.

 

I'd let him finish out the season, see what seed the Pacers can snag, evaluate how the players perform in the playoffs, and make your biggest decisions in June/July.