The Indiana Pacers released the 2008-09 schedule today which instantly creates some dates of interest to add to the calendar. The Pacers do play the Celtics for their home opener, but they start the season on the road at Detroit. Yeesh, talk about hitting the ground running. Not the best way to start the season with a 1-2 punch against the top contenders in the Eastern Conference.

Here are some other items of interest from the schedule:

• Actually, the first month and a half of the season is quite brutal. If the Pacers can scratch out an 8-12 record after the first 20 games, life will be grand.
• Three of those first 20 games are against the Celtics.
• Eric Gordon and the L.A. Clippers make their one visit to the Fieldhouse on December 19th.
• Jermaine O'Neal returns to the Fieldhouse with the Raptors on January 16th. Marc Stein makes a good point that the TJ Ford/Jose Calderon matchup should be more intriguing, especially when the two go at it for the first time on December 10th in Toronto.
• Guaranteed sell out on January 28th as the Milwaukee Bucks along with disgraced, former IU coach and current Bucks' assistant, Kelvin Sampson, make their first appearance at the Fieldhouse. IU fans should be plenty riled up as the Hoosiers will be through the heart of the Big Ten schedule, likely with few wins to show for it. This of course is due to the complete rebuild necessitated after Sampson used a cell phone to torch the program to the ground. He may want to use that phone to call for extra security. I wish I was joking.
• Greg Oden and trading partners, the Portland Trail Blazers, make their annual visit on March 18th.
• The season closes in a friendly manner with seven of the final nine games at home, including the season finale on April 15th against the Bucks (Hello, Kelvin). Hopefully, those games are all meaningful.

Mike Wells posted some interesting nuggets he picked up at the Fieldhouse yesterday on his Pacers Insider blog.

Marquis Daniels has been working on his shot this summer with noted sharp-shooter, Mark Price. Quisy figures to be in the mix with Brandon Rush for playing time behind Mike Dunleavy and Danny Granger. Add Shawne Williams and my man, Stephen Graham to the equation and there won't be any minutes by default offered this year. Playing time must be earned.

Even more exiciting is the item on TJ Ford working out at the Fieldhouse and reaching out to his new teammates to join him. Sounds like most of the new and/or young guys are doing just that as 7-8 players have been working out downtown this summer.

Shortly after the Toronto trade was announced but before it could be officially announced by the Pacers, TJ Ford was asked in an interview about his plans for the summer and if he'd be in town. At that time he said he preferred to work out back home in Houston and that he'd probably be in town a few times prior to camp starting.

In reality, it isn't a big deal. Whether someone in the organization pushed him to stay in town or he realized the team would be better served if he worked out locally, the act itself symbolizes a change in attitude and culture in the organization and specifically on the roster. Ideally every player on the roster would be working together, spending every minute of the day focused on turning things around. That's not exactly realistic not to mention the squad would burn out by New Year's Day. But, having the guy the organization hoped could lead  the team actually step up and show he wants to lead, is very exciting.

Another in an increasingly long list of little positive changes that are starting to mount to indicate that the direction of the franchise is taking a positive turn.

Guess what? The Indiana Pacers are trying to deal Jamaal Tinsley but they will not buyout his contract. I know, Larry Bird already said as much, but team leaders, including the lead dog, Herb Simon, continue to hammer home the point.

GM Daivd Morway told RealGM that the Pacers weren't even considering the buyout option for Tinsley and appear to be in some negotiations.

"Right now we are in conversations with a few teams, and we'll see where that takes us," he added. "But our intent is to trade Jamaal and try to find the right situation for both him and the franchise."

Then this afternoon, Mike Wells revealed comments from Pacers owner and CEO, Herb Simon.

“Tinsley, he’s probably outlived his welcome here,” Simon said. “He’s a very talented player. Teams will give us a hard time because they know it’s better for him and for us to have him play somewhere else. We’re confident that we’ll find a good place.”

Both of these comments affirm the Pacers' stance that teams interested in Tinsley shouldn't wait for the Pacers to buyout Tins. They also raise a point sometimes lost in the disparaging comments about JT and that is the fact that he (Tinsley) wants out of town as badly as the Pacers want him off the roster.

Point guard remains a need position in various outpost around the League and with a layer of NBA depth starting to head to Europe, Tinsley will surely appeal to a few teams, especially considering the price won't be too steep.

Actually, the real news here revolves around the comments Mike Wells procured from Herb Simon. Not the comments themselves, but the fact that Herb Simon is publicly commenting on a player's status on the team. After Donnie Walsh left, Simon named himself CEO and proclaimed he would take a more hands-on role with the team. I wasn't sure what that would mean at the time, but now I do. Prior to Walsh leaving, I can't ever remember Simon offering such direct comments on the day-to-day issues surrounding the team. I'm sure he has at some point in the past but if so, those comments were quite rare.

Mr. Simon is fully engaged and that's the best news I've read all summer. I've given Jim Morris all of the credit for the noticeable change in approach coming out of the Fieldhouse. I guess I need to re-assess and pass some of that credit to Mr. Simon, as well.

[UPDATE:] Here's an updated story (also updated above) with more comments from Herb Simon, including some discouragement about the sagging ticket sales despite the positive buzz around the team this summer. Sorry, but Pacer fans are in full "show me" mode at this point. All the positive talk is nice but until that talk is backed up with a equally positive effort on the court, fans won't return.

When HoopsAddict.com announced their Floor Burn Tournament, I quickly nominated Jeff Foster to represent the Pacers. What's the Floor Burn Tournament? I'll let Ryan McNeill explain.

Each night ESPN, NBA.com and YouTube are flooded with clips of players soaring through the air for rim rocking dunks, buzzer beating three-pointers and blocked shots that make your jaw drop in amazement. While those are all entertaining plays, teams who win championships need players who are willing to get a little dirty and do the little things needed to help their team win. As valuable and crucial as these players are to their respective teams success, these players rarely get the credit or respect that they deserve. With that in mind, the First Annual Hoops Addict Floor Burn Tournament will kick off this week.

Go to this HoopsAddict post to vote for Foster in his first round matchup against Joel Anthony from Miami. Despite some unfortunate campaigning from Skeets, Foster is off to a good start. Help him keep the lead by voting early and often.

Former Indiana Hoosier Earl Calloway, who stood out for the Pacers Summer League squad, has reportedly signed with Euroleague team, Cibona Zagreb.

I was hoping Calloway would be in camp with the Pacers to have a shot at playing in the League. Instead he decided to take the guaranteed cash while it was on the table. Good for him.

If he continues to develop, no doubt Earl will be in the NBA in the coming years, and now he'll arrive with some cash in his pockets.

Twice in the past week I've been thumbing through a magazine only to be surprised by what appeared to be a short feature on Danny Granger. Instead it was a print ad using a portion of this Q & A with a big picture of Danny in his Rock Star pose.

The first ad took up a full two pages in the August edition of Indianapolis Monthly. Great idea, targeting a local audience with money to spend on tickets. The second ad really caught me be by surprise since it was in Sports Illustrated. Now I know SI targets local areas for covers so I'm sure they're doing the same with advertising, but it was still a cool print ad to see in SI.

Of course, my favorite part of the Q&A didn't make either ad. Bummer. There was a mention to see more interviews and info at Pacers.com. As part of their "Ignite the Passion. Restore the Pride" campaign, the Pacers have put together several player interviews as well as several columns from prominent voices within the organizations. The current collection can be accessed here.

I wonder where Danny will pop up next?

Ron Artest's smooth transition to Houston didn't quite last a day as Ronnie and Yao Ming swapped comments in the media before hugging it out on the phone. Ronnie's initial response to Yao was classic Ronnie, taking us round and round with words caught somewhere between sincerity and nonsense. Of course, his verbal self-defense included downplaying the Palace Brawl.

ESPN's Chris Broussard was on 1070 The Fan on Thursday with Eddie White and Bob Kravitz and naturally the conversation turned to Ronnie at one point. Broussard killed me with one of his comments. Here's the exchange which started with Eddie reading part of Ronnie's comments.

Eddie (quoting Artest): ... If you go back to the brawl, that's a culture issue right there. Somebody was disrespecting me, so he's gotta understand where I'm coming from.

Kravitz: That was a stupid issue, not a Black issue.

Broussard: Yeah, I thought Ben Wallace was disrespecting him too and he didn't decide  to go after Ben. Now, don't tell Ron I said that, you know.

Hilarious. Life is so much better when Ronnie is in the mix shaking things up, isn't it? I still love the guy but it's far more enjoyable following his exploits without his name on the Pacers' roster. Also, I have to say, the talk of the brawl and the excuse for ESPN to play clips of the melee haven't bothered me a bit. Maybe it's all the new guys or the offseason tone being set by the folks at the Fieldhouse, but it hasn't come close to raising my blood pressure as in the past. Maybe I'm finally over it.

The Indiana Pacers will open the 2008-09 season at Conseco Fieldhouse on November 1st against the Boston Celtics. Starting the season against the star-studded defending champs might not be great for the won-loss column, but the joint will be jumping with the C's reaching rock star status not to mention all the interest in the new faces playing for the Pacers.

This hasn't been officially announced but a little birdie dropped the info in my email box this morning. Jim Morris and Larry Bird (not the aforementioned little birdie, BTW) hosted a cocktail party for some high-end season ticket holders last night and they divulged the exciting home opener during the event.

As Brent posted in the FanPosts, Ron Artest is reportedly headed to the Houston Rockets to join Yao Ming and Tracy McGrady. Nice.

The Rockets were great fun to watch last year, but now they're must see TV. Ronnie enjoyed playing for Rick Adelman the first time around, but they only spent a short time together. I have a feeling Adelman will have a few sleepless nights in his future because he now has a dynamic, defensive-minded roster to go along with a superstar scoring threat in McGrady. But there remain questions.

I'm assuming the Rockets will extend Ronnie's contract, if not, we have problems. Ronnie might raise the issue once or twice ... a week. If the contract is extended, for how much? There will be nights when Ronnie outperforms his salary. How does he handle it?

Can Shane Battier's defensive-minded work ethic, which marinades in sanity, impress Ronnie and allow that sanity to coat Ronnie's day-to-day dealings with his teammates?

With McGrady and Yao remaining a focus, can Ronnie adjust to being a third scoring option on the floor?

T-Mac doesn't have the strongest personality. Ronnie considers his game in a class with the T-Mac's of the league. How will the two players get along? This is vital and keep in mind, 95 percent of the time things will be jolly. But what about those rough spots during the year? Can T-Mac assert his role as leader of the team when adversity strikes and Ronnie looks to stray from the reservation?

How will Adelman handle the little Ronnie "issues" as they arise? History proves that little issues fester into big ones with Ronnie if things aren't handled swiftly.

Hopefully all of these questions are answered in a postive manner and Ronnie finds the perfect situation to finish out his career with great success. Either way it should be interesting and I can't wait to watch.