There’s free agency awaiting Pacers forward Mike Dunleavy after the season. He prepared himself all summer, ready to prove the skeptics wrong and let his younger teammates know they will have a fight on their hands if they expect to take his minutes. “I’m ready,” Dunleavy said. “I had a good summer. I don’t have any predictions or anything like that, but I’m ready to play.” The reason Dunleavy is feeling good is he experienced a summer of basketball without any rehabilitation work required on his right knee for the first time since 2007. Dunleavy would rather erase the past two years from his memory. Knee problems, which eventually led to major surgery, limited him to 18 games two seasons ago, and he was never comfortable last season when he averaged 9.9 points, his lowest since his rookie season. Dunleavy wants to show enough that O’Brien will have a difficult decision on who will start at shooting guard when Rush returns. — Indy Star

Larry Bird asked the Pacers center if he wanted some help, and tossed out the names of three potential teachers: Bill Russell, Bill Walton or Kevin McHale. All three are Hall of Fame big men. “He said it would probably be one of those three guys. I just had to give him my summer schedule so he could set it up with one of them,” Roy Hibbert said. “Who wouldn’t want to work with those guys?” Bird lined up Walton, a former teammate with the Boston Celtics, and he has spent part of the summer working with Hibbert at Conseco Fieldhouse. “It’s an honor for me to work with such a fine young man, such an outstanding talent with such an outstanding package,” Walton said. “He has tremendous potential. We are working on his total game. Summertime is when the championships are won. Physical fitness and skill development.” — Indy Star

James Posey’s place in the rotation isn’t set because of the Pacers’ depth on the wing. There also is a possibility of another wing player being traded. Posey has a reputation of being a defensive player who can hit big shots. He has averaged 8.8 points and 4.8 rebounds in his career. “Anybody that has seen me play knows I’m intense and I compete,” Posey said. “I do what it takes to win basketball games. I’ll do whatever coach needs from me.” — Indy Star

New Pacers guard Darren Collison greeted the Indianapolis media Tuesday wearing a cast over part of his right hand. He fractured his right pinkie while playing in a pickup game on the day the trade was announced. He’ll wear the cast at least three more weeks. “It’s nothing serious,” Collison said. “I’ll be out three to four weeks, so I’ll be well before training camp.” — Indy Star

President Larry Bird said in a release the Pacers have worked hard to rebuild their image and their commitment is “too strong to permit the actions of one individual to reverse all of the positive strides that have been made as a franchise over the last couple of years or to hurt the image of the rest of the players on our team.” Bird said the Pacers will continue to gather facts before determining their next step, but he admonished Lance Stephenson for putting himself in this position. “Once all the facts are known, we will deal appropriately with Lance so that he, the team and the entire Pacers community understands that this message cannot be ignored,” Bird said. – Indianapolis Star

Darren Collison grew up in Southern California watching fellow UCLA alum Reggie Miller lead the Indiana Pacers to the playoffs on a regular basis. Collison wants to pick up where Miller left off. “People can look forward to a player that loves to win,” Collison said in a phone interview Thursday. “I just want to bring that excitement back to the city.” Collison will be given the opportunity to lead the Pacers back to the postseason for the first time since 2006. He’s expected to be the starting point guard when the Pacers open the season Oct. 27 at San Antonio. — Indy Star

The Pacers have a received a number of calls about Troy Murphy, but they’re reluctant to move the double-double player because of the uncertainty surrounding the health of Jeff
Foster and Tyler Hansbrough, according to a source. Murphy is more likely to be moved at the trade deadline if those two players are healthy. — Indy Star

The two players they’re trying to move are T.J. Ford and Mike Dunleavy, according to sources. Ford isn’t surprising because the Pacers have been trying to unload him for some time. Dunleavy is the surprising one because coach Jim O’Brien has always held him in high regard due to his ability to grasp the offense. The Pacers have a logjam at the wing spot with the addition of Paul George last month. The problem the Pacers are running into with Dunleavy is that he’ll make $10.5 million next season and there are concerns about whether he can regain his touch from the 2007-08 season when he averaged 19.1 points and shot nearly 48 percent from the field. — Indy Star