Shawne Williams News

Gary Bohannon gained his 15 minutes of fame - or infamy - not by shooting a man to death in 2007 at a Lamar auto body shop, but by being captured several months later leaving the Indianapolis home of pro basketball player Shawne Williams.

Right now, Brandon Rush is a bust. Not a Shawne Williams-esque bust; that kid was the patron saint of blown first-rounders, spending most of his time here driving around Cheech-and-Chong style with unsavory characters.

Shawne Williams has gone from being a celebrated first-round NBA draft pick to someone who may as well adopt the nickname Casper.

Jim O'Brien says he's in a position he hasn't been in since he became coach of the Indiana Pacers more than two years ago.

Finally, five years and a day after The Brawl in Auburn Hills, Mich., the Indiana Pacers are no longer shackled by one of the ugliest moments in professional sports history.

The Pacers are on a three-game winning streak and in two of those games, Tyler Hansbrough has been very productive in limited minutes.

After a cursory perusal of about a dozen preseason NBA magazines and Web sites, I can tell you that nine of 10 experts -- not to mention podiatrists, Wall Street stock traders, plumbers and entomologists -- believe the Indiana Pacers will miss the playoffs for a fourth consecutive year.

In these parts, that's hard to believe. This is Larry Legend, the guy who took Indiana State to the NCAA finals, who won three titles and three MVP awards with the Boston Celtics as a player, took the Indiana Pacers to the finals as a coach and even helped the WNBA's Indiana Fever reach the finals as team president this past season.

Opening Night rosters in the NBA have to be finalized Oct. 26. The Mavericks thus have a shade under two weeks to make the two decisions they've been weighing since the start of training camp.

The Indiana Pacers aren't making any moves in free agency right now, but they are in the media spotlight.

THE `BURBS - The decision not to pick up Marquis Daniels' $7.5 million team option was not an easy one for the Pacers.