"Our medical people are very pleased with his progression," O'Brien said. "I've changed my viewpoint from a pessimistic one from a standpoint of him being ready in the middle of the season to one that I'm hoping he'll be ready to go for game one."

Dunleavy, who only appeared in 18 games last season, had surgery to remove a bone spur from his right patellar tendon and then had the tendon repaired in March.

Nobody knew how long the recovery would take, but Dunleavy's determination in the gym has Pacers' officials feeling optimistic he'll be ready to play early in the season.

"Things are going well, but we still have 10 weeks to go and a lot can happen between now and then," Dunleavy said. "But my goal is to get back as soon as possible."

Dunleavy, who averaged a career-high 19.1 points in 2007-08, will likely come off the bench when he returns to the lineup. He'll team with All-Star Danny Granger, Dahntay Jones and Brandon Rush, who had a strong ending to his rookie season, to give the Pacers a very strong four-man rotation at the shooting guard/small forward position.