[Thanks bleedinblueandgold! Now, who's playing for second? - TL]

Hey guys, I've been slacking in my posting game of late but thought I'd get back in the swing of things by starting up the annual Indy Cornrows pick' em league. This is always one of my favorite times of the year, nothing compares to March Madness! Bragging rights are on the line and of course we can all keep an eye out for potential Pacers. Make sure when you create your team name use your SB Nation username so we know who everyone is.

For those of you who played last year an email invitation was sent to the address you provided. If you did not get an email or are new the the league, signing up is easy. All you need to do is click here and then click on join group. Once the new page loads enter in the following information: ID: 64912 and Password: basketball

We can all communicate through this post as an open thread during the entire NCAA tournament. Feel free to rec this if you want so we can keep the conversation going. Let me know if you have any questions or need any help signing up. GO PACERS!

The original rosterbation Fanpost caught on quick and was much easier to use.  It was getting a little heavy with comments so I started this new one. You know the drill, just post your FA signings, trade ideas, and/or who you would like to see get drafted in the comments and people can reply accordingly. With a lot of cap space and nice core of young players it is an exciting and important offseason for the franchise.  Go Pacers!

Offseason Rosterbation Thread #1

I put this thread together as a way to clean up all the Fanposts and create a common discussion place for all ideas regarding roster changes. Just post your FA signings, trade ideas, and/or who you would like to see get drafted in the comments and people can reply accordingly.  If enough people rec the article, it will get saved at the top of the fanposts and stay there.  With a lot of cap space and nice core of young players it is an exciting and important offseason for the franchise.  Go Pacers!

FYI: Rosterbation Thread #2 is up.  Continue to comment on ideas here but If you have a new idea then post it in the new thread.

Hey everyone!  It's that time of the year again!  I just created the Cornrows Pick' Em League again through Yahoo!  All you have to do is go to the Yahoo! fantasy section, click on Tournament Pick' Em, click join group, and then enter the following information.

League ID: 32289

Password: basketball

We can all put our knowledge to the test and see who can most accurately predict the NCAA Tournament.  It's also a good time to start watching for potential Pacers.  If you have any questions leave a message in the comments and I will get back to you.  Lastly, try and use your SBNation username for the team name so we know who everyone is, good luck!

Hey guys I thought it would be fun if we had an Indy Cornrows bracket challenge.  It's a good way for everyone here to do something fun during a season which has been long and full of disappointment.  Just create your entry as your Sportsnation username so we can tell who people are.  The league ID is 90141 and the password is pacers.  Here is the link as well, Indy Cornrows Pick' Em.  Enjoy!

[Another great FanPost, as bleedingblueandgold takes in some of the top names in the upcoming draft. -TL] 

It's getting to be one of my favorite times of the year.  The conference tournaments are coming to an end and Selection Sunday is right around the corner.  This means a lot of couch time, a lot of delivery food, and a lot of channel surfing between games.  Tournament time for me begins the real talent evaluating process.  It is the first time you get to see the prime time players doing their thing under the big lights.  With a potential top five pick for the Blue and Gold, I used this time to really look hard at the players they could potentially draft.  These players were John Wall and DeMarcus Cousins from Kentucky, Derrick Favors from Georgia Tech, Evan Turner from Ohio State, Greg Monroe from Georgetown, and Wes Johnson from Syracuse (from earlier in the week).  I'm going to look at each player and write about them in the order in which they impressed me after the jump.

Continue reading this post »

A potential trade I was looking at would be to ship Murph (10.1 mil), TInsley (6.8 mil), and our Round 2 pick to Chicago for Hinrich (10 mil), Tim Thomas (6 Mil), and the 16 pick in the first round (approx 1.6 mil). The draft doesn't really show me a PF worth taking a shot on at 13 so I figured we could take the best available player at 13 and then draft a PF at 16. These two picks could look something like Terrance Williams at 13 and then Dejuan Blair, Earl Clark, or James Johnson at 16 depending on who is available. We would then need to sign a low salary big or two to plug into the roster. With these picks the roster would look something like this.

Guards- Ford, Hinrich, Diener

Wings- Granger, Rush, Williams, Thomas

Bigs- Hibbert, Blair, McRoberts, veteran signings 

I know Murph was our second best player last year, but I think this is prime time to trade him while he still has value.  Hinrich could fill the void of Jack leaving, Thomas is a respectable guy to throw out there for 10 minutes a night in a run and gun offense, and we would finally get rid of Tinsley eating cap space.  It would also save us a little cash.  The only downfall is that it would leave us a little shallow at PF and Center so we would have to sign some veterans that could eat up minutes.  It would also force us to play Granger at PF with Rush at the 3 along with one of the guards.  Let me know what you think.