INDIANAPOLIS -- I've been sitting around here the last week watching the USA Basketball team, but I've been thinking about the real home team, the Indiana Pacers.

And that they could be a heck of a team this season.

And that they'd better be.

	Gary Payton would make the Pacers a Finals favorite in the East.

One reason is what I've seen in Conseco Fieldhouse for the World Championships. It's pretty good basketball, viewed mostly by empty seats. It's doubtful any of the U.S. players have played before so few fans since high school. There's this notion that Indiana is a basketball state. Sure, in driveways, bandbox high school gyms and when Bobby Knight is coaching. But it's not really an NBA state. It's a pro basketball place when its teams win.

Like most NBA cities outside the East Coast.

So if the Pacers want to draw, they had better win. And they have the chance. Right now. What they have to do is make the Seattle SuperSonics an offer they cannot refuse to land Gary Payton and put on the floor the best starting lineup in the Eastern Conference: Payton, Reggie Miller, Ron Artest, Jermaine O'Neal and Brad Miller.

Payton, going into his final contract season in Seattle, might not be offered a new deal. The SuperSonics appear intent on rebuilding, or making a run at Jason Kidd, a favorite of ownership. But Payton, with a wiry body, clearly has a few good years left. As does Reggie Miller. Though just a few. It would be the best chance for both to return to the NBA Finals.

And for Isiah Thomas to keep his job.

It hasn't been all Thomas' fault, but he's going into his third season now with a pretty talented team and not that much to show for it. O'Neal is at an all-star level after playing with the U.S. team. There's a future Hall of Famer in Miller, a tough defender in Artest and nice pieces like Al Harrington and Jonathan Bender. That's too much talent to finish eighth in the East and go out in the first round, though they gave the Nets their best series until the Finals.

The Pacers were the league's youngest team last season, but management has told Thomas that excuse is over. It's time to win, and what Thomas needs is a leader and a point guard like himself.

Team president Donnie Walsh has done a classic job of rebuilding on the fly. The Pacers, aware their market could not sustain a crash like that in Chicago or Boston, lost virtually their entire team from the 2000 Finals but stayed in playoff contention. Walsh let go Mark Jackson, Rik Smits retired and Dale Davis and Jalen Rose were traded. That came after trading Antonio Davis. The tough, veteran Pacers became young and Reggie. But they stayed in the playoffs. And the kids developed. Harrington was impressive before being injured last season, and Bender showed flashes. Yet, they finished eighth even after adding Artest, a tough center in Brad Miller and veteran scorer Ron Mercer.

That's arguably more talent than any team in the Eastern Conference. But there's a gaping hole at point guard, where rookie Jamaal Tinsley wasn't ready. And may never be. He's a poor shooter who shoots too much, which is a bad combination for a point guard. And Payton was brilliant last season, getting into the MVP running as he led Seattle, surprisingly, back to the playoffs.

But he doesn't seem to be in Seattle's plans at 34. He'd fit wonderfully in Indiana's and in the East. Yet, the Sonics aren't about to give him up easily after all he has meant to the franchise.

	The Pacers offer Seattle any two of three among Artest, Harrington and Bender; Tinsley; their No. 1 pick this season, Fred Jones; and their No. 1 pick next season. That's a five-for-one deal that gives the SuperSonics all young players.

What teams don't realize often enough is that a player is sometimes worth far more to one team than another. And it's OK to look like you "lost" a trade if it gets you to that "next level." The addition of a player like Payton could get the Pacers back to the Finals and perhaps to a first title if the Sacramento Kings come out of the West. Payton isn't going to have the same impact on a Seattle team which needs to rebuild.

And the Pacers, like few other teams, have the pieces and depth to enable the Sonics to begin that process.

So here's a deal that sounds like it's too much to give up by the Pacers. But if it gets them back to the Finals, what's too much?

The Pacers offer Seattle any two of three among Artest, Harrington and Bender; Tinsley; their No. 1 pick this season, Fred Jones; and their No. 1 pick next season. That's a five-for-one deal that gives the SuperSonics all young players. The salaries match with some minor additions.

And yet the Pacers still have that powerful starting five with reserves like Austin Croshere, Mercer and Jeff Foster, and they probably could sign Charles Oakley cheaply.

Too many NBA executives like to build, because it wards off the pressure to actually win. Building projects give you three or four years. But the Pacers stand only to be stuck in the middle, getting mid-range draft picks and having no room to sign free agents, if they keep their current team. It's time to make a run while Reggie MIller is still good enough to help. Reggie deserves another chance to be with a great team, and Indiana doesn't necessarily want basketball. It wants to win.

Sam Smith, who covers the NBA for the Chicago Tribune, writes a weekly column for ESPN.com.