INDIANAPOLIS -- Indiana Pacers President Larry Bird spent most of his offseason trying to stitch together a championship contender.He made two trades to create versatility. He added bulk by signing free agent Al Jefferson. He watched the Pacers biggest star, Paul George, return from the Olympics with a gold medal around his neck and a new perspective about making the Pacers a better team. And Bird hired a coach who shares his vision of what it takes to win in todays NBA.Now Indiana is about to find out if this bold, new look will produce better results than last years awkward attempt to use a smaller lineup with more 3-point shooters and putting some players, such as George, out of position.George became a star at small forward but started the season playing power forward, an experiment that didnt last long.Last year, we tried to play that spread-four and we tried to turn Paul and C.J. Miles into that spread four. Now he (Bird) has brought those guys in, new coach Nate McMillan said Monday during the teams annual media day. Look, youre going to have to be able to play half-court basketball because you cant run for 48 minutes. I think the better teams will be able to slow you down, but I think we can play both ways now.How much and how quickly things change remains unclear.Unlike last season, when it seemed Bird and George werent always on the same page and former coach Frank Vogel often wound up playing middle man between his best player and his boss, the second year of this transition already is off to a smoother start. George acknowledged Monday hes willing to do whatever it takes to win this season -- even if that requires playing some minutes as a stretch-four. McMillan even called the three-time All-Star and all-league defender a versatile three.But the biggest difference will be Georges supporting cast.Bird began the latest overhaul by acquiring All-Star point guard Jeff Teague in a three-team deal that sent George Hill to Utah. The trade left the 26-year-old George, now entering his seventh year with the team, as the longest-tenured Pacers player and the only remaining starter left from the 2013 and 2014 Eastern Conference runner-ups.Then Bird sent Indianas first-round draft pick to Brooklyn for the nimble Thaddeus Young, who will play that stretch-four role, and plugged in second-year pro Myles Turner at center. He brought in the 60foot-10, 289-pound Jefferson to give the Pacers a bigger inside presence off the bench.Its completely different. Last year, you had true bigs in the paint and scorers who would post up, Young said. Now youve got guys who can step out, make plays, make moves. Were definitely going to try to push the tempo, push the pace.Everyone in this locker room seems to embrace the small-ball concept.When Teague was asked about the prospect of teaming up with George and bringing the trendy new style to his hometown team, he responded with a beaming style. Turner and Young had similar reactions Monday, and George sounds as eager as anybody to see how everything will work.Hopefully, well get a little faster, George said. I know that Jeff is a coast-to-coast guy, and I havent really played with a coast-to-coast guy before, so hopefully I can make it easier for him.Clearly, Bird believes he has the players to operate his preferred style, even if doesnt look quite right when the Pacers open the season Oct. 26 against Dallas.So McMillan will spend most of the next month trying to get all these new guys and the new lineups working together, in sync. And McMillan believes that if given time, the Pacers new style will be a good look.The game has changed, McMillan said. Youre seeing more pace teams that are trying to get between 90 and 100 possessions per game. How do you create that? You put together a roster that you can do that with, and I think the Pacers have done that. I think those (new) guys put us in position to pretty much paly any style we want to play.Note: George was asked whether he had any desire to re-do his contract, which can now be extended, and said: Right now, its all about the season. Im not even thinking about contract stuff. Everything is about going into the season. Last week, Bird said he was willing to give George a new max contract whenever hes ready. Georges current max deal runs through the 2018-19 season. Juventus Fan Gear . -- About a third of the way through the regular season, the Washington Wizards are at . Juventus Douglas Costa Jersey . Kuznetsov, who was selected by the Capitals in the first round of the 2010 NHL Entry Draft, has been playing for his hometown team Chelyabinsk Traktor of the KHL. http://www.cheapjuventusjersey.com/?tag=juventus-rodrigo-bentancur-jersey .C. United of Major League Soccer. United chose the defender in the second round of the 2013 MLS re-entry draft. Authentic Juventus Jerseys . -- Al Jefferson found a groove just in time for the Charlotte Bobcats. Juventus Mario Mandzukic Jersey . It was Kerbers third final of the year after losing to Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova of Russia in Monterrey in April and to Petra Kvitova of Czech Republic in Tokyo two weeks ago. The 10th-ranked German improved her record in finals to 3-5. PARIS -- The Englishman appointed to referee the European Championship final on Sunday has enjoyed a rollercoaster career that saw him appointed as the youngest elite referee in England and then survive a series of setbacks before rising to the top.Mark Clattenburgs season comes to an end at the final between France and Portugal at the Stade de France on the edge of Paris with his 50th game since last August, having already refereed Englands FA Cup final and the Champions League final.Clattenburg, 41, is a controversial figure reportedly unpopular among Englands conservative refereeing elite, but supported by ex-referee and UEFA refereeing chief Pierluigi Collina.The former head of Englands elite referees organization, Keith Hackett, said Clattenburg had beaten the system, and had been rightly rewarded with Sundays final. He deserves it thoroughly, Hackett told the You are the Ref website, not least for having the mental fortitude to keep going in the face of what appears to have been a lack of faith among his bosses.Hackett said Englands refereeing bosses had pushed referee Martin Atkinson as their candidate to represent England at the European Championship, but Collina had pressed Clattenburgs cause. In the end, England was allowed to be the only country that sent two teams of match officials to the tournament.Clattenburg has officiated at three games in France, none of which has proved controversial. He was praised for his handling of incidents in the game between Croatia and the Czech Republic when he had to suspend play after flares were thrown onto the pitch.Quietly spoken and with a strong accent from his home in northeastern England, Clattenburg is known for his fitness and calm authority on the pitch, although most referees under Collina have shown unprecedented ffitness levels in France.dddddddddddd.His relations with his bosses in England are often under the spotlight and are still reported to be strained.In 2014 he was dropped from refereeing for a week when he broke protocol to get to a concert by singer Ed Sheeran in time.Referees are supposed to travel to games together, meeting at a hotel, to avoid security problems. But Clattenburg parked his car at West Bromwich Albions stadium so that he could leave quickly and drive to Newcastle to see Sheeran.In August 2000, Clattenburg made history as the youngest post-war referee in the Football League, at 25, and was on FIFAs elite list of officials at the age of 30.Like most referees, he has been insulted many times by teams who feel a sense of injustice at his decisions, but his worst period came in 2009, when he was sacked as an elite referee after being accused of threatening a business associate in an email.Clattenburg denied all the accusations and his appeal was successful. He was nonetheless banned for eight months by Englands Professional Game Match Officials Limited and reminded of his responsibilities and contractual obligations as a select group official.Since then, he has flourished.In the last season, over 50 games, he has shown 183 yellow cards and seven red cards, including eight yellow cards in the Champions League final between Real Madrid and Atletico Madrid.He was accused in that match of going easy on Real defender Pepe, who many agreed should have been shown a second yellow card. Pepe, if he is fit, will be playing for Portugal in Sundays final. Both teams have a number of English Premier League players who Clattenburg will know well. Wholesale Jerseys Wholesale Jerseys cheap jerseys Cheap Jersyes Cheap Basketball Jerseys Cheap NHL Jerseys cheap jerseys Cheap Jerseys Cheap Jerseys Cheap Jerseys From China Cheap NFL Jerseys ' ' '