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PACERS: Dunleavy quietly making bold statement
I’ve been a Dunleavy fan (but I am glad I never bought his jersey) for a long time, perhaps only because he was a Warrior, but yet even now I hope he becomes something, probably because I am also a Pacer fan, and I want both teams to do well, even though, yes, the Warriors definitely won that trade. Maybe I just don’t want to see people I have rooted for become total busts. (Yes, last year when Nellie said MD would become the ultimate power forward, I believed, Warriors playoff style believed)
In this picture, is it me or does he look like he’s standing on a stool, like when you’re a kid and your dad lifts you up so you can dunk.
A snippet from the article:
“Let’s put it this way: he played in a game that we won by 11 and we keep a plus-minus on every player and he had a plus-34,” O’Brien said. “I donât think any of us have ever seen a plus-34 in an 11-point ballgame. That speaks to how valuable he is to every element of what we do. He leads our team in the preseason by a large margin in plus-minus.
“That’s exactly who I thought Mike Dunleavy was â exactly who I thought he was.”
Always a solid all-around player, Dunleavy has been deadly from the 3-point line in the preseason, hitting 61.9 percent (13 of 21). That’s a particularly encouraging sign. Dunleavy entered the league with the reputation of a deadly long-range shooter and backed it up with a .372 percentage from the arc in his first two seasons. He slipped markedly, however, to .298 over the past two seasons, including .283 in 43 games with the Pacers.
Holy cow. I can only say in response, it’s preseason. I think he’s always had confidence issues, but I don’t think it’s ridiculous to say that at his best, he could average 15pts/6 rebounds/3 assists on 45% shooting, 35% on 3pt’ers, 75% from the line.
Would that and his well-known no defense help the Pacers win? I hope so. As for Ike Diogu and Troy? Ike: sporadic offensive bursts, nothing else. Troy: the offensive Jeff Foster. Can rebound like Jeff Foster, he’s white like Jeff Foster, doesn’t look anything like Jeff Foster, cannot defend like Jeff Foster, but will score nothing like Jeff Foster (this part is actually a good thing). Simply put, Jeff Foster + Troy Murphy = 15pts per game, 12 rebounds, tough D, outside shooting, maybe All-Star center. Unfortunately, they’re two different people.
