"For three, four years, Indiana Pacers fans have been waiting. They've been waiting for the summer of 2011 -- now the fall of 2011 -- when their team's master plan would bear fruit. With all those onerous contracts gone, this would be the year the Pacers used their cap room and flexibility to build the team into a perennial playoff contender.

Good plan, smart plan.

Except all they've got to show for it, at least so far, is Jeff Pendergraph (who?) and Jeff Foster.

This is not to say the Pacers have dropped the ball just one day into the team's training camp at Conseco Fieldhouse. (Honestly, it didn't make sense to overpay for Nene.) This is to say: They better get something done.

Eventually.

Who's left?

On the free-agent front, it looks now like David West or Carl Landry. Either would help them immensely. Neither is a game-changer, but the Pacers will never be in a position to get game-changers like Chris Paul and Dwight Howard. They need help at power forward, and to his credit, the incumbent Tyler Hansbrough is completely in favor of adding talent at his spot.

"I'm good with bringing in anybody who can help us win,'' he said Friday. "That's all that matters to me.''

On the trade front, there are any number of ways the Pacers might go, and they're sitting in good position with all that cap flexibility. But flexibility is only good if you use it.

One week ago, Pacers President Larry Bird and General Manager David Morway told the media they would not spend all the team's money right away, and that's probably smart given the quality of the free agent market. But the Pacers know they've got to do something far more dramatic if they want Indy fans to spend their money right away."