Center Rik Smits played his entire 12 years in the NBA with the Pacers. He played in 867 games (792 starts) in his 12 years with the Pacers and he averaged 26.6 minutes, 14.8 points, 6.1 rebounds, 1.4 assists and 1.3 blocked shots per game. Smits is still currently #2 in Pacers’ history in games played with 867. He is also #3 in rebounds (5,277), #2 in blocked shots (1,111) and #2 in points scored (12,871) in Pacers’ history. While never the first option offensively, Smits was still a solid player for the Pacers.

The Pacers expected much more out of 23-year old point guard Darren Collison than when he produced last year. Collison played in 79 games (all starts) for the Pacers last year and he averaged 29.9 minutes, 13.2 points, 2.8 rebounds, 5.1 assists and 1.1 steals per game. He has now played in 155 games (116 starts) in his first two years with the Pacers and he has averaged 28.8 minutes, 12.8 points, 2.7 rebounds, 5.4 assists and 1.1 steals per game. The Pacers need Collison to be either a pass first point guard or they need him to start jacking up more shots. I’m thinking that he will start shooting more in 2011-12.

The Pacers decided to fire head coach Jim O’Brien after the team started the season with a 17-27 record. 37-year old Frank Vogel was the choice to replace O’Brien as the Pacers’ head coach and he did a good job. Under Vogel, the Pacers were 20-18 (52.6%) during the regular season and they were 1-4 in the playoffs against the Bulls. The Pacers did give the Bulls a hard time despite getting beat in only five games. The Rockets have already interviewed Vogel, so the Pacers must not feel the same way I do about him or they would have locked him up by now. I think it will be a mistake not to bring Vogel back as he got the most out of the Pacers’ roster.

24-year old center Roy Hibbert finally got to show what he could do in 2010-11. He played in 81 games (80 starts) last year with the Pacers and he averaged 27.7 minutes, 12.7 points, 7.5 rebounds, 2.0 assists and 1.8 blocked shots per game. Hibbert has now played in 232 games (191 starts) in his first three years with the Pacers and he is averaging 22.8 minutes, 10.6 points, 5.7 rebounds, 1.6 assists and 1.5 blocked shots per game. The Pacers want Hibbert to play more around the basket and to utilize his size more on defense and the boards, which is something he really started to do when Frank Vogel took over as the head coach.