Key players lost \u2013 Troy Murphy<\/strong><\/p>\nThe NBA rewards winners with trophies and huge contracts, and takes care of losers with high draft choices and the possibility of getting better. Teams that don\u2019t qualify for either, like the Pacers, seemed doomed forever to be the ones left for road kill. <\/p>\n
That\u2019s the conundrum facing Larry Bird and Indiana as it has too much talent to sink to the bottom and not even to compete with the elite teams.<\/p>\n
That said, the Pacers appear to be a bit better than the team that finished 32-50 and 9 games out of a playoff spots in the Eastern Conference last season. <\/p>\n
For one thing, they now have a legit point guard in Darren Collison, who opened a lot of eyes last season filling in for the injury Chris Paul in New Orleans. For another, the Pacers don\u2019t figure that top scorer Danny Granger will miss another 20 games this season. <\/p>\n
And finally, they have high hopes that in his third season 78-foot-2 center Roy Hibbert will continue to progress and figure things out on the defensive end.![\"Online](\"http:\/\/affiliates.commissionaccount.com\/processing\/impressions.asp?btag=a_3953b_41\")
<\/p>\n
Troy Murphy was a good citizen for several years in Indianapolis, but the Pacers figure they can replace his numbers, and Murphy was never healthy enough to play a full season \u2013 even one that didn\u2019t include playoffs. <\/p>\n
Tyler Hansbrough brings energy if not much upside to the front line, and coach Jim O\u2019Brien likes Josh McRoberts, who will inherit most of the minutes that Murphy consumed.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s clear that the Pacers will build around Granger offensively, but what isn\u2019t clear is if Granger has the talent or desire to become a better all-around player. Perhaps with Collison\u2019s hands on the ball on nearly every possession, Granger will have more energy to rebound and defend.<\/p>\n
If not, expect the Pacers to try to move him after the season.<\/p>\n
The rest of the roster is not Nets-bad, but there aren\u2019t a lot of players who could get quality time elsewhere. T.J. Ford is cooked and never had O\u2019Brien\u2019s confidence. <\/p>\n
Dahntay Jones is a decent defender, but he and James Posey are all the past and won\u2019t be around if\/when the Pacers break out of NBA purgatory.<\/p>\n
Surprising stat: <\/strong> For a team with decent offensive players, the Pacers ranked 28th in the league in field goal percentage last season.
\nStrengths: <\/strong> Granger\u2019s ability to score, Collison\u2019s ability to create.
\nWeaknesses:<\/strong> Concern that Hibbert has peaked. If true, huge problem along the front line.
\nPlayoffs?<\/strong> Unlikely, but if Collison is the goods and Granger can play 75-plus games, maybe.
\nWin total projection for 2010-11: <\/strong> 34-39<\/p>\nCLICK HERE TO JOIN SPORTSBOOK.COM – ONE OF OUR TOP RATED ONLINE SPORTSBOOKS – 50% SIGN UP BONUS FOR NBA BETTING ONLINE<\/h3>\n
<\/strong>
\nLawrence Paul is a regular contributor to the Cappers Picks Blog, and is a free-lance gambling and travel writer from Massachusetts.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Quick article by Lawrence Paul detailing the Indiana Pacers 2010 Season win total odds for over under nba betting futures and a season wins prediction\u2026<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":80,"featured_media":28058,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[12],"tags":[36131,36831,28378,8267,36834,36835,3936,6908,17906,3925,12419,36832,18256,18257,18258,18259,18260,36833,14495,36135],"class_list":["post-28057","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-nba","tag-2010-nba-basketball-future-lines","tag-2010-pacers-season-win-total-odds","tag-28378","tag-gambling-picks","tag-indiana-pacers-betting-odds","tag-indiana-pacers-predictions-2010","tag-nba-basketball-futures","tag-nba-future-odds","tag-nba-over-under-betting","tag-nba-predictions","tag-overunder-season-win-totals","tag-pacers-2010-prediction","tag-pacers-odds","tag-pacers-odds-to-win-nba-title","tag-pacers-picks","tag-pacers-predictions","tag-pacers-win-total-lines","tag-pacers-wins-2010","tag-season-win-total-odds","tag-win-total-projection"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/capperspicks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28057","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/capperspicks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/capperspicks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/capperspicks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/80"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/capperspicks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=28057"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/capperspicks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28057\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":107302,"href":"https:\/\/capperspicks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28057\/revisions\/107302"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/capperspicks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/28058"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/capperspicks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=28057"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/capperspicks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=28057"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/capperspicks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=28057"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}