Producer A: Well, let’s have Hibbert become really good by 2011 and then also give them a Jimmy Chitwood hometown hero in 2012. 
Producer B: Eric Gordon’s from Indiana. How about him?
Producer A: I was thinking of someone more unknown than Gordon. Have you heard of a kid named George Hill from IUPUI. It’s a really small school in the state. I think he’d fit the bill.
Producer B: I’ve never heard of him. You really think a kid from IUPUI can become a good NBA player?
Producer A: Well. Let’s not have Indiana draft him. That’s too suspicious. Let’s have Hill go to San Antonio and play well. Then, we’ll have the Pacers draft a kid from California with a cool name and like Kawhi Leonard. San Antonio won’t be able to resist the name. They’ll offer Hill for Leonard and both teams will be very happy because they will both get exactly what they need.
Producer B: A win-win trade? Does that ever happen in the NBA?
Producer A: You’re right. I love the sound of that. Let’s do the same thing in Memphis. They’ll trade the flashy Vasquez to the Hornets and he’ll go on to play well as their starting point guard. New Orleans will realize that they love obscure names like Greivis so much that decide to change their name to the Pelicans!
Producer B: The New Orleans Pelicans??? I can see it!
Producer A: But then we’ll have the Grizzlies get a guy with a cool name back in the trade: Quincy Pondexter from University of Washington. The Grizzlies fans will love him. They’ll call him Q-Pon! He’ll quickly become a super-sub off the bench. He’ll defend well and hit corner threes with the best of them.
Producer B: If you’re sure…
Producer A: We’ll also have the Grizzles agree to sign Marc to max contract despite him looking like a borderline all star at best. Then, a year later, without money to spend, the Grizzlies will be forced to give up on O.J. Mayo and let him walk as a free agent. Soon after, we’ll have them realize that they can get a guy of equal production to Mayo, like Jerryd Bayless, for a lot less money.
Producer B: O.J. Mayo and Jerryd Bayless are equal producers? Are you sure?
Producer A: I’m positive. Bayless just takes a lot less shots so it looks like he can’t score as much. However, when he gets the touches, he can really light it up. Meanwhile, in Indiana, let’s have the Pacers luck out and get one last great player in the second round.
Producer B: A great player in the second round? That seems pretty unlikely. 
Producer A: Well how about this. You know Lance Stephenson?
Producer B: That New York City prodigy?
Producer A: Yeah! Let’s have him scare teams off in the draft because of his attitude. Then, we’ll have him fall to Indiana at like 40th overall and, at that point, the risk over taking him is negligible.
Producer B: What if we have him start off slowly but then form an unlikely bond with Larry Bird? Bird can become his mentor of sorts.
Producer A: I love that! Stephenson will be really immature and ride the bench. Then, when the Pacers hit their stride in 2012 and actually take a 2-1 lead on LeBron James and the Miami Heat in the second round of the playoffs, we can have Lance taunt LeBron from the Pacers’ bench. Then, when LeBron goes on to dominate the Pacers, fans will blame it all on Stephenson!
Producer B: LeBron and the Miami Heat? You mean LeBron and the Cavs?
Producer A: No. LeBron James and Chris Bosh will go to Miami in the summer of 2010 and team up with Dwyane Wade. But that’s a story for another time…
Producer B: I love your creativity but I really think we have to think we have to keep things believable.
Producer A: We can discuss the Heat thing later. In any case, after the Stephenson taunt, LeBron and Wade will go into beast mode and dispatch Indiana in six.
Producer B: So the Pacers get bounced?
Producer A: Yeah, but they will have realized that they can actually compete with any team in the league. They’ll be forced to give Hibbert a max contract as a restricted free agent because Portland will overbid to scare the Pacers from matching the offer.
Producer B: That sounds plausible. But won’t they have Greg Oden already?
Producer A: No. Don’t ask about Oden. He’ll have been forced into retirement at this point. But anyway, back to Indiana. They’ll get adventurous in the summer of 2012 and trade some role players like Darren Collison and Dahntay Jones to Dallas for a reserve big man like Ian Mahinmi. Everyone will blast them for overspending to get Mahinmi but he will prove to be a very effective backup center.
Producer B: Ian Mahinmi? I’ve never heard of him. I guess I’ll have to take your word for it.
Producer A: Now, don’t hate me but I think we can be even more daring with the Memphis storyline. How about this? We have them bring in a statistician like John Hollinger from ESPN to be their VP of basketball operations in 2012-2013. Then, the team will immediately go into a minor overhaul midway through the season.
