The Indiana Pacers haven’t been a contender for eight years and have made just one appearance in the NBA Finals. As they begin to finally succeed again with one of the best young cores in the NBA, there are few links remaining to their past. 

Jeff Foster, he of the achy back, is one and Austin Croshere is the other.

Drafted out of Providence with the 12th overall pick back in 1997, Croshere emerged as a key contributor for Indiana during their run to the Finals against the Lakers in 2000. He averaged 10.3 points and 6.4 rebounds during the regular season and was just as productive in the playoffs as the Pacers took two of six from the Lakers.

Rewarded with a seven-year, $51 million deal after his breakout season, Croshere didn’t develop into the star the Pacers hoped, but was a very productive player and bridged a gap in team history – from the peak of the Reggie Miller Era to the post-brawl mess – when a quality player and person was extremely valuable.

After bouncing around – playing for four teams in his final four seasons – Croshere kept himself in the game of basketball by joining local radio broadcasts in Indianapolis when his playing days were over.

“When you get towards the end of your career you start thinking about opportunities and what you want to get into and I knew I wanted to stay involved in basketball,” he recently told RealGM.

“I actually wanted to get into the front office and I approached Larry [Bird] about doing it. There was interest on their part, but there were no openings and I would have had to wait a couple of years. The media people then approached me and said, ‘Hey, would you want to do this?’ and I got my foot in the door and I’ve really enjoyed it.”

Just as he did as a player, Croshere has broken out in his third season as a professional analyst.

“I did about five games my first year and worked as the analyst on the pre- and post-game show, which was kind of the beginning,” Croshere said. “Then I did about 35 games last year and I’ve done about 20 or so this year. I’ve actually worked on television for 11 games this season, which has also been a learning process.”

Croshere has been around the Pacers for roughly 12 years when you take his playing and broadcasting career into account, so he’s seen at all. He is admittedly excited to see the team winning games and showing long-term progress this season.

“I definitely take a step back, but from time-to-time I’ll pull a guy aside and say something, but really I don’t do that often,” he said when asked if he gives the team any direct advice.

Croshere spent seven years alongside Foster and was actually a teammate of Danny Granger’s during the latter’s rookie season. He came to the Pacers as a young player on an older team and now he’s analyzing a team full of youth.

“The team that I was on that went to the Finals was a very old team, one of the oldest in the NBA at the time, and this is a very young team. They have so much more confidence than they did just a year ago and they are mentally a much stronger team than they were last season,” he said.

“For such a young team in terms of age, it is remarkable how mentally strong they are. I think coach [Frank] Vogel deserves a lot of credit. He’s got them really believing that they have no limits. You know, people label them as a four or five seed, but he doesn’t believe that. He says ‘We can beat anybody on any night.’ He has them believing that and while they’ve had a couple of bad losses, each time they have bounced back with really good wins. A majority of their games this year have been on the road and they’ve already had some big tests.”

It coincides with their place in the standings, but Croshere also saw the best and worst in terms of the public support surrounding the Pacers. He was a member of the team when Conseco Fieldhouse opened in 1999 and the team was universally embraced by the city. Following the brawl, which came during another a brush with title contention, he saw community support wane and the Indianapolis Colts take over.

“You are starting to see more people at the games, the fans are louder and the buzz on the radio talk shows certainly has picked up,” Croshere said of the support the city has received this season.

“It’s a basketball city that just didn’t have a whole lot to cheer for and when you combine that with the fact that the Colts were arguably the best team in the NFL over the last 10 years, and you see a shift in attention. Now, it’s coming back to the Pacers and deservedly so. This is a team that has the pieces, age and cap space to stay together for a very long time.”