<div class="quote_poster">Quote:</div><div class="quote_post"> Rewind, momentarily, to October 2005. While every team has visions of winning a championship, the Indiana Pacers walked into training camp publicly talking about a title. "Anything outside of a championship is a failure," All-Star forward Jermaine O'Neal said last year. Fast-forward to Tuesday's first practice, and there was barely a peep. No national magazine covers. No brash predictions. No longer mentioned with Miami, Dallas or Phoenix. Some analysts think the Pacers will finish fourth or worse in their five-team division. "I see a lot of people are disrespecting us, thinking we're going to finish fifth in our own conference," forward Al Harrington said. "We have to go out there and prove everybody wrong. I think it's good. We're going to have a chip on our shoulder and we're going to go out and handle it." It's easy to understand why the Pacers aren't receiving the attention to which they've grown accustomed. Poor chemistry and injury problems led to a disappointing 41-41 record and first-round playoff exit last season. As other teams kept their rosters intact or added a few pieces, the Pacers overhauled their roster. Eight of their 11 new players are expected to make the team. Holdover Jeff Foster, for one, is glad the media circus has left town. "After the last couple of years with the circus and hype, people saying last year if we just make it to the Finals it's a bad year, I think just having all the new guys here, guys that haven't been a part of the circus the last couple of years, it's a good thing," Foster said. "I think a lot of guys know that we have the talent to get to the Finals and do something, but it's not being talked about. That's less pressure, and it may play to our benefit." The Pacers are confident they can surpass the modest expectations, particularly in what figures to be a wide-open Eastern Conference. "We've had a lot of talent over the last six, seven years, but this is a different type of talent," O'Neal said. "Sometimes we kind of over-evaluate our talent, but this is by far, this is me speaking, the most talented team that we've had here. That's because we have guys that can play multiple positions."</div> Source
