Pacers fire Daniels

BLOOMINGTON, Ind. - The Pacers have upset many people with their decision to fire longtime player/employee Mel Daniels. The Pacers didn't give an explanation other than sending out a brief, bizarre statement from team president Larry Bird that said: "Mel was a great basketball player who helped make the Pacers a well-known franchise and we wish him well." That's all Daniels, who has his number hanging up in the rafters at Conseco Fieldhouse, gets? It doesn't help the cause that Pacers Sports and Entertainment president Jim Morris was the one that informed Daniels of his termination. There's a lot of head scratching over Morris, who normally doesn't do much on the basketball operations side of things, being the one to fire Daniels. There's two sides to every story, but Pacers officials and Daniels are not talking. Columnist Bob Kravitz drops some tidbits on things he's heard surrounding Daniels' departure in his column.