The Brightest Spot of Obie's Year In Indy
by Steve Weinman on Mar 28, 2008 11:00 PM EDT
in NBA
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At 30-43, it certainly hasn't been the smoothest first-year experience for former Celtics coach Jim O'Brien in Indianapolis this season.
Granted, in the Eastern Conference, that record puts Obie's Pacers right in the thick of the playoff picture. But for a guy who has made a career out of doing more with less, it's hard to imagine that it hasn't been frustrating.
Earlier this season, I wrote an ode to Obie, praising the man for his ability to provide something that goes far beyond X's and O's. His ability to get his players to bust their guts for him on a night-in and night-out basis is one of the most underrated coaching assets in this league. The freewheeling style he espouses might make observers crazy, but in both of his prior stops, he got his players to buy in, and that is far more than half the battle in the Association.
The results haven't been there in the won-loss column this season. But for one particular Pacer, Obie's first season in Indiana has brought a career resurrection with it.
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It has been a renaissance season for Mike Dunleavy. For the first time in six seasons in his professional career, Junior Dunleavy has begun to truly show signs of why he was a high lottery pick coming out of Duke in the 2002 draft.
Part of it has probably been the simple fact that Dunleavy needed to be liberated from Golden State, where he had fallen into the hole of not living up to the expectations that come with being the third selection in the NBA draft. Dunleavy has averaged just 12.2 points on sub-45 percent shooting for his career, with just 4.9 boards and 2.6 assists per game. Hard to get too excited about those figures.
But another part of it has undoubtedly the way in which Obie's tutelage has allowed Dunleavy to flourish. The 6-foot-9 shooting guard is having a blast doing exactly what Obie asks his players to do: Go hard, shoot the three, keep moving and perhaps most of all, relax.
For what seems like the first time in his career, Mike Dunleavy isn't pressing. He knows that his coach has full confidence in him and that he doesn't have to worry about his minutes getting jerked around. Instead, he is just doing what he the scouts always knew he could do. They knew Dunleavy could shoot the ball, and they knew he was a heady offensive player who moves off the ball and uses screens well. In Obie's high-octane, get-open-get-the-ball-throw-it-up system, Dunleavy has been able to do all that with the greatest efficacy of his career.
As one of the featured players in a fast-paced offense, Dunleavy is getting more opportunities than ever before, which is giving him more of a chance to get comfortable. He is also getting better opportunities than ever before, largely because of his movement. Dunleavy isn't the world's quickest player, but he is more than happy to run back-cuts and 'V'-cuts down the baseline and through the lane all day, which forces opponents to make a choice between letting him shoot from deep or go back-door. Too often, they have done both. Dunleavy is shooting 48 percent from the field and an absurd 41.5 percent from behind the arc (his previous career high was 38.8). Combine that with a career-high 84.4 percent from the foul line, and Dunleavy ends up with a true shooting percentage of 60.6, good for 23rd in basketball and sixth among two-guards.
More opportunities plus more efficiency equals lots more production. Dunleavy is going for 18.7 points per game -- five more than his previous career high -- and 3.5 assists (another career high) to go with 5.3 rebounds per game. And he has looked good doing it, too. Treys, pull-up jumpers, goofy, off-balance lay-ups, you name it: Dunleavy has done it all at times this season, and he has even put up nine 30-plus-point efforts along the way to boot.
This hasn't been the most enjoyable of seasons for the Indiana Pacers. But if nothing else, Mike Dunleavy has shown that he is ready to be a big part of a team for the long haul. For a man many had given up on in the six seasons prior -- and for the coach who helped his cause -- that's something to be proud of.
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Dunleavy has been the Pacers best player this season
Which has to scare the hell out of Indy because it’s another year where Danny Granger hasn’t been able to make that leap as a solid first scoring option.
Jermaine O Neal might be returning in the next week or so, if he can give them some interior defense and rebounding they could be able to give Atlanta and NJ a run for the 8th seed.
by Who on Mar 29, 2008 6:05 AM EDT reply actions 0 recs
boy. where do I start? first why do you care about Jim O’Brien" Second why would you give props to a guy who left us high and dry? Third do you seriously think his style of play ( shooting the 3) will win an NBA championship? It didn’t work with the Celts and it didn’t work with the Sixers. Throw on top of that the fact for every player he gets to play hard there is one that won’t play for him at all and you have a coach that will never lead you to a title. Him leaving the celts was the best thing that ever happened. Back to my number one point though, why would you ever waste ink and time on him with the act he pulled here in Boston????
by Red2 on Mar 29, 2008 9:11 AM EDT reply actions 0 recs
I agree. Why are you wasting space writing about a coach of a 26-41 team? You clearly have a huge man crush on O’Brien judging by your other writings. Fine. You might be the only person on earth with one. But why make it pubic and bother Celtic fans with it? We don’t care. We left the crap of O’Brien and his gimmick ball long ago and are now watching a real team with a great defense that can win a championship.
I think Pacer fans would have preferred if he turned around Troy Murphy and got Granger back to where he was at the beginning of the season. If Mike Dunleavy is your best player, then you are in HUGE trouble. That’s why they have stunk since their quick start.
by Spoon on Mar 29, 2008 3:23 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs
Lordy Lordy. Coach takes over a complete mess left by Pitino. Turns team around. New GM comes in and trades your players who you were able to take to the conference finals for the players who fit the absolute antithesis of your coaching philosophy. The only coach in years that didn’t embarass this proud franchise is left with players who might have trade value but don’t fit any winning system. His gimmick with marginal talent worked pretty good, Spoon. It’s not a mancrush, Spoon. It’s reality. You obviously didn’t live through the Carr/Pitino years.
by lobstermobster on Mar 29, 2008 3:58 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs
Red2 and Spoon,
Since you brought forth similar points, it seems wisest to address them together.
My reasoning for, as you put it, “caring about Jim O’Brien” is twofold: First and foremost, I am the resident general NBA columnist on this site. That means that by definition, it is my job to care about everyone[/i] involved with the Association. Dunleavy has had a resurrection of a season, and I wrote the column in the interest of giving him some well-deserved recognition. However, I have an additional interest in O’Brien because a) I’m a Celts fan, and he coached my favorite team for some time, and b) since I realize that I do write for a Celtics-centric audience, I look to highlight Celts-related connections in my general NBA columns when I can do so.
Spoon, you ask “why make it public and bother Celtics fans with it?” Simply put, this is my job here: to highlight and comment on stories and characters around the league. I also wrote about Lawrence Frank, Michael Beasley and Kwame Brown this week, all of whom likely have even [i]less[/i] relevance to the Celtics. If you aren’t interested, that’s certainly fair enough. Nobody mandates that you read my column; feel free to skip it if that’s your preference. If I’m [i]bothering[/i] the fans here, as you claim, those who are disgruntled need not read me. But my role here until otherwise articulated is to write on subjects pertinent to any or all of the 30 teams in this league, and — at the risk of immodesty — it remains my contention that I have been rather successful in that endeavor thus far in my tenure here at CB. I offer no apology for that. If you didn’t enjoy my work today, here’s hoping tomorrow’s column is of more interest to you.
I will say that judging from the reactions the two of you had, perhaps I did err in that I made the effort to be [i]too Celtic-centric in this piece. The primary focus was the solid year being had by Junior Dunleavy, featuring some commentary on Obie as a former C’s coach. Perhaps in retrospect I should have worked to make it clearer that this was about Dunleavy with Obie solely as the C’s-relevant lead-in. But that’s all a matter of subjectivity.
As far as my own personal affinity for O’Brien, I’m going to keep it brief, because the fact is that I never claimed that he was any sort of championship coach. However, as the guy who coached our beloved team to its best results over what has been a fairly miserable last two decades, I appreciated what O’Brien did when he was here, and I appreciated the fact that he always seemed to get more out of players than was expected from them. My understanding of him is that he has been and is a good guy and a well-liked player’s coach, and I like the chance to give him some recognition when I can. But, Red2, I have no idea where your question of “Do you seriously think his style of play will win an NBA championship?” came from. I’ve never made that claim, and personally, I find it hard to see that working out on a championship level. But again, at no point have I assessed him as some world-beating coach, simply one for whom I have some respect.
Thanks to both of you for taking the time to write in, and I hope that adds some clarity from my end.
-sw
by Steve Weinman on Mar 29, 2008 4:27 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs
lobstermobster,
Amen. Couldn’t have summed up Obie’s tenure any better myself. Thanks or taking the time to write in. Looking forward to hearing more from you.
-sw
by Steve Weinman on Mar 29, 2008 4:28 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs
Obie has done a great job this season. If his team’s record wasn’t so poor he’d deserve consideration for coach of the year.
His best defender is Kareem Rush. That says a lot.
It’s been tough on the defensive end with Jermaine O Neal out. He’s the only player on their roster who protects the rim and is their best interior defender. They’ve struggled defensively ever since he went down.
Bad defensive teams have to make it up on the other end and Indy simply haven’t had the firepower. Granger is a third option at this point in his career, he isn’t a reliable enough scorer or playmaker to lift an offense by himself and perhaps most importantly he doesn’t have the mentality. Dunleavy, the career 12ppg scorer, has been their next best scorer. It’s been tough, very tough. They’ve been forced to score by committee and they’ve likely done as well as they can do.
Teams that are bad defensively and bad offensively don’t win. No amount of coaching is going to change that.
………..
I love what Obie has done with that ball club. Opening up the offense and quickening the pace was a coaching master-class. He got Jamaal Tinsley back on board and playing at a near all-star level before his injury by handing him the keys to the offense and running a system that was perfect for Tinsley.
Indiana are currently playing at the 3rd quickest pace and it’s been a huge reason for Indiana’s rise offensively … last season Indiana ranked last in the league in offensive efficiency under Rick Carlisle who is an excellent coach and was one of the league’s finest offensive assistant coaches in the league before becoming a head coach (little ironic considering his rep as a head coach)[/i]. There have been no major roster changes this season yet, the Pacers have ran up the ladder to 17th in offensive efficiency despite only having Jermaine O Neal for 33 games [i](most of which were below par because he was recovering from injury during those games) and only 39 games from Tinsley. It’s been about gameplan and prepartion.
The usual stuff has still been there from Obie too, the great effort and never so die attitude, the team pulling together and playing as one.
A very impressive coaching job from O Brien. The signing of Obie was Larry Bird’s best move and Indiana should do everything to hold onto him.
by Who on Mar 29, 2008 5:51 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs
Steve,
…as a daily reader of this blog…
…just wanted to give you credit for your fantastic articles…your effort…great job!!!
…keep on rolling…
…respect for Obie, he gave us a lot in those dark days years ago…
…greetings from Spain…
Amem
by Amem on Mar 29, 2008 8:04 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs
Hey Amem,
Much thanks for the kind words. I’m just thrilled to have the privilege to do my small part to contribute to a great site and community here. Glad to hear you are enjoying my work.
Hope all is well overseas and that you’re enjoying the Green Revival from afar! Any thought to making a trip to the Garden in May or…dare I say it…June? ;D
-sw
by Steve Weinman on Mar 29, 2008 8:14 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs
…I´m rooting for the Celts decades…that´s why I appreciate this blogsite so much…
…Jeff, you and all the contributors and people who write any kind of respectfull comments…than you again for your time and effort…
…someday I will cheer with you there in the Garden…meanwhile I spread the Green wordwide…
…in June, who knows…but what a wonderful feeling this days for all of us…we can…we can…WE CAN!!!…
Amem
by Amem on Mar 29, 2008 8:35 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs
You know Steve, at first when I saw the title, I was going to write similar disgruntled words as the above posters. I then realized it was much more about Dunleavey than Obie. My honest opinion is that, despite bringing us to the ECF, I couldn’t stand Obie and his “style” of play. Shoot the 3, Get back on D. We used to spend many frustrated days in the old Boston.com Celts chat room (pre-CBlog, in fact, how many of us know Ranter…errr, Jeff Clark) griping about how that team played. It really wasn;t until Delk and Rodney came on board that season when the style of play was more watchable. Anyhow, I digress.
Thanks for continuing to write. I enjoy your pieces quite a bit. Ignore the naysayers. As you point out, they could simply ignore the article.
by Bleedgreen on Mar 29, 2008 9:56 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs
Hey Bleedgreen,
Thanks for the kind words. It’s always a pleasure to hear from you, and your voice is more than welcome whenever you’re looking to join the conversation in this space.
I certainly understand the gripes with Obie. While it seems that I like him more than most, here’s hoping I’ve made it clear that I certainly felt the pain of the problems many fans had with him. I don’t think the guy is a championship coach, and in the column, I reference that “his style could drive observers crazy.” But I would hasten to point out that he took a team that had no business being in the ECFs much farther than many thought it could go. And he got a lot out of those high-chemistry, low-ceiling clubhouse guys he loved so much.
-sw
by Steve Weinman on Mar 29, 2008 10:24 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs
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