Herb Simon Says Team Will Hold Meetings, Make Changes

Pacers Co-Owner To Take Greater Role In Screening Players For Team

Pacers co-Owner Herb Simon said that he has "plans to conduct a series of meetings with team officials about changes the club needs to make to get back on track," according to Mike Wells of the INDIANAPOLIS STAR. Simon: "We're talking about restructuring, re-thinking, all the things you do when your team is in crisis. We're going to be having a series of meetings and we're going to make changes, yes." When asked what areas he plans to address, Simon said, "Everything but the owner right now." Simon added, "The last three years have been one incident after another. It's not that all these players are bad people, they just make bad judgements and they're in the wrong place. We don't have a community that can tolerate this kind of behavior." Simon said that the franchise has to do a "better job 'screening' its players to avoid further incidents." Simon: "Now it is my responsibility, and believe me, I'm going to get on it, to restore that kind of image of our team so we can all be proud of them and concentrate on winning and losing and not so much on outside incidents." Wells noted Pacers President of Basketball Operations Larry Bird has been "heavily scrutinized" due to the team's constant struggles both on and off the court, but Simon said that Bird "can't be blamed for everything that has happened" (INDIANAPOLIS STAR, 3/8).