The Greatest Indiana Pacers Ever -- by the Numbers

As the Indiana Pacers slip and slide through another winter and off of the playoff contention cliff, Hoosier fans of pro basketball are left to look back and remember the glory days of the past. With little chance of wooing Reggie Miller out of retirement, let us entertain ourselves with a bit of numerical nostalgia. Here, then, is the greatest Pacers player for each uniform number that the franchise has ever trotted out on the floor.
1. Stephen Jackson
2. Ralph Jackson
3. Al Harrington
4. Byron Scott
5. Jalen Rose
6. Marquis Daniels
7. Jermaine O'Neal
8. Eddie Johnson
9. Derrick McKey
10. Vern Fleming (With apologies to Jeff Foster and Don Buse.)
11. Bill Keller (Local boy!)
12. Travis Diener
13. Mark Jackson
14. Jerry Sichting
15. Jerry Harkness
16. Johnny Davis
17. Chris Mullin
20. Darnell Hillman
21. Malik Sealy
22. Alex English
23. Waymon Tisdale (Can't believe he's gone!)
24. Rik Smits
25. Billy Knight
26. Tom Owens
27. Duane Ferrell
30. George McGinnis
31. Granville Waiters (What, you were expecting Reggie Miller?)
32. Dale Davis (A key part of the glory days.)
33. Antonio Davis (Sorry, Danny, but we can't separate the Davis brothers.)
34. Mel Daniels
35. Roger Brown
40. Steve Stipanovich
41. LaSalle Thompson
42. Ed Manning (No Indy list is complete without a Manning.)
43. George Peeples
44. Austin Croshere
45. Chuck Person (Quite an interesting, um, person.)
50. Tyler Hansbrough
52. Brad Miller
53. Rick Robey
54. Greg Dreiling
55. Roy Hibbert (Area 55, baby!)
62. Scott Pollard
91 . Ron Artest (Now, with extra style points.)

This list surely leaves a lot of room for debate, but that's part of the fun, right? Besides, these guys were chosen by a set of strict rules:

• A player can't "win" more than one uniform number, in order to ensure maximum Pacer coverage.
• When there is a seeming tie, old-timers are heavily favored.
• Personal remembrances and biases trump all else.

Enjoy the rest of the season and refer back to these names when you need to re-live some of the better days gone-by for Pacers basketball.