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Aldridge: Pacers can relate to Iverson situation (Walsh on Artest trade step-by-step)

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  • #1

    Aldridge: Pacers can relate to Iverson situation (Walsh on Artest trade step-by-step)

    http://www.philly.com/mld/inquirer/sports/16256062.htm

    Pacers can relate to Iverson situation
    By David Aldridge

    Inquirer Columnist



    The first few days last winter were exhilarating for Indiana Pacers CEO Donnie Walsh. He was getting calls left and right for Ron Artest, and he thought he'd broker a trade for him in a few days. Then, a few days became a week. A week became two weeks. December became January, and January became late January.

    "That's what panicked me so much," Walsh said by telephone last week. "I knew if I got to the trading deadline [in mid-February] and I hadn't moved him, I really had backed myself in a corner. That's when you start getting these phony offers and you start panicking."

    Like Walsh, 76ers president Billy King has in front of him a task that will shape the face of his franchise for the next several years.

    In King's case, it's finding a home for Allen Iverson, after Sixers chairman Ed Snider announced last week that the team would grant Iverson's trade request.

    There is one big difference: Iverson is an icon in Philadelphia, while Artest was a good but not beloved player. Still, there are many similarities between the Sixers' circumstances this season and the Pacers' last season.

    Both teams went public with their intentions to trade.

    Both had to move a uniquely talented but extremely high-maintenance player who could shift the balance of power in a division, if not a conference.

    Walsh ultimately succeeded in trading Artest to Sacramento for Peja Stojakovic (who has subsequently been replaced, more or less, by free agent Al Harrington). But it took almost six weeks, while Artest was deactivated by the Pacers, for the deal to come together.

    "If you hold, what happens is you develop a kind of a picture out there of where you could use leverage," Walsh said. "In my case, it was the West Coast, teams that were all bunched up, and a lot of them had shown interest [in Artest]. What I kept saying [to them] was, 'There's three or four teams out there, and you're all in the same division, and you all have the same record. And the team that gets him is going to the top.'

    "And I think they thought that was true. And then you look and see who's losing."

    First, the Pacers had to gauge the market for Artest.

    "You've got to get out there and get the whole league talking about it," Walsh said. "Because then they stop trying to give you phony deals. Or they won't start giving you phony deals. Because people start thinking, 'Maybe I can get in this.' And they start thinking about the player rather than the negative."

    Within a few days, Walsh knew who was serious and who was trying to get a bargain at his expense. Still, even after identifying the teams with real interest, the brokering takes time. Team officials put players in deals then take them out. And they have to do their homework.

    Indiana had to wait, for example, while the Warriors checked out Artest. GM Chris Mullin wanted him but was concerned about whether Artest would overpower his young team. He heard reports from St. John's - where he and Artest had gone to school - about Artest that concerned him. Ultimately, Golden State backed out. A deal for Clippers forward Corey Maggette fell through when Maggette suffered a foot injury.

    In the interim, the rumor mill created its own tensions. Teams Walsh hadn't even talked with were supposedly major players for Artest.

    "Names just get out there," Walsh said. "And a lot of them are untrue. That's affecting the teams. The players start saying, 'What the heck is going on? Are they trying to get Iverson?' I'm sure I had players on my team wondering if they're going to be out of here... . I felt bad about it. I know that puts pressure on the franchise."

    Walsh began to feel the heat as the last week of January began. The Pacers had been adamant that Artest would never play for them again. Now, Walsh only had a little more than three weeks to make something happen or face the prospect of having to bring Artest back to Indiana for the rest of the season.

    "That was my horror show, because I wouldn't have done it," Walsh said. "I wouldn't have put him back on the team. And that may have cost me major problems within the organization, with my owners. They would be saying 'What do you mean? We're paying this guy all this money and he's not playing?' You start looking stupid to the press and everybody else."

    Still, Walsh thinks King is right not to take the first offer. Even if it causes him stress until the deal is done.

    "Think of it - if Iverson is sitting in Philly somewhere, and they're losing," Walsh said. "That's the thing about the way I did and the way Billy did it. There is a deadline."
    Come to the Dark Side -- There's cookies!
    Tags: None
  • #2
    Re: Aldridge: Pacers can relate to Iverson situation (Walsh on Artest trade step-by-s

    DA's so damn good, I still can't believe ESPN let him go.
    Come to the Dark Side -- There's cookies!

    Comment

    • #3
      Re: Aldridge: Pacers can relate to Iverson situation (Walsh on Artest trade step-by-s

      Where is "Boomer for the adults" in the above story?
      ...Still "flying casual"
      @roaminggnome74

      Comment

      • #4
        Re: Aldridge: Pacers can relate to Iverson situation (Walsh on Artest trade step-by-s

        Originally posted by Roaming Gnome View Post
        Where is "Boomer for the adults" in the above story?
        He was too busy scouting AJ Graves.
        Come to the Dark Side -- There's cookies!

        Comment

        • #5
          Re: Aldridge: Pacers can relate to Iverson situation (Walsh on Artest trade step-by-s

          Here is another very similar article

          http://www.boston.com/sports/basketb..._is_it?mode=PF


          Great to be King -- or is it?
          Walsh knows the job Sixers president faces
          By Peter May, Globe Staff | December 17, 2006

          If there's one person who can relate to what Philadelphia 76ers president Billy King is going through these days, it's Indiana boss Donnie Walsh. Last year, right around this time, Ron Artest decided he wanted to be traded, and went public. Soon thereafter, Artest was told to go home and the Pacers would try to accommodate him. Five weeks later they did, dealing Artest to the Kings for Peja Stojakovic.

          King has the same issue with Allen Iverson, albeit you're talking vastly different sums of money and the unique ability to put fannies in the stands. It's been nearly two weeks since Iverson made his demand to be traded. He hasn't played a game for the Sixers since Dec. 6. In the meantime, King is trying to sift through offers to make the best deal he can. It isn't easy.

          "No, it isn't," Walsh said. "Ideally, what you'd like is for the guy to come in and ask to be traded. You tell him you'll try to do it, but also tell him to keep playing and keep his mouth shut. When it gets out, you deny it, he denies it, and you try to do it."

          So, what might King be seeing in these first 10 days or so since Iverson's trade demand was revealed by Peter Vecsey of the New York Post?

          "You first try to get his name out there in front of as many teams as possible. You want to create as much interest as possible," Walsh said. "Then you quickly get a period where reality sets in and things start to tail off. What you want to avoid is to take the bad deal just to get the guy out of town. I always felt that it was important to keep that bad deal in my back pocket, but you never hope to use it."

          Walsh said he waited and waited on Artest, although he started to worry about the approaching trade deadline before he finally pulled the trigger Jan. 25. Walsh would not be surprised if King played the same waiting game. (Walsh said King even called him and wondered what all this would be like. "I told him it was very similar to what I went through, and he is approaching this in the same way," Walsh said.) With Artest, a group of teams with similar records converged and Walsh managed to convince them that the one who landed Artest would go on a run and make the playoffs. The Kings did just that.

          "It would be easier if the guy was playing, but he's not," Walsh said. "That makes it harder because it's so public."

          Walsh says King's wish list is pretty clear. He wants players with expiring contracts. He wants draft picks. He wants young players still on rookie contracts. The Celtics have young players, plenty of them. They have their own pick in the supposedly loaded 2007 draft (although they traded away one for Rajon Rondo). They have no one of substance with an expiring contract; the name often mentioned, Theo Ratliff, has this year and next on his deal at $11,666,666 per year.

          The unanswerable question is whether Danny Ainge will surrender one of his so-called untouchables to make the deal, for the Celtics appear to have the best chance to do a straight swap if no third team is involved. (Would King accept Ratliff's contract if Al Jefferson or Gerald Green were included?) And as much as it might be hard to see Philly trading Iverson to a division rival -- let alone, Boston! -- King will (or at least, should) take the best deal, regardless. But if he follows Walsh's advice, and King used to work for Walsh in Indiana, he's going to wait and see. Sometimes, he who hesitates is not lost.


          League has lost true Warrior
          With Iversonpalooza occupying everyone's attention, especially (and understandably) in Philadelphia, it unfortunately meant that the passing of Warriors legend Paul Arizin Tuesday night got overshadowed in many locales.

          When the NBA picked its top 50 players of all time in 1996, Arizin was among them. He was a gifted scorer and one of the pioneers of the jump shot. He's a Hall of Famer, a 10-time All-Star selection (he missed one game because of injury and was MVP of the 1952 All-Star Game), and was the leading scorer on the 1956 NBA champion Philadelphia Warriors, otherwise known as the last team to win a title B.R. (Before Russell).

          "He was a devastating player," recalled Tom Heinsohn. "He had asthma and he'd be coughing and sneezing up and down the court and you never thought he could finish a game. But he'd go on and on and on. He was one of their prime weapons."

          But Arizin's story also highlights the enormous difference between the stars of today and the stars of the 1950s and '60s. In 1962, the owner of the Warriors, Eddie Gottlieb, sold the team to West Coast businessmen who moved it to San Francisco. Arizin was 34. He had just come off a season averaging 21.9 points a game. But he elected not to make the trip west, in part because it would have meant leaving a lucrative (for the time) job with IBM.

          In other words, it wasn't financially worthwhile for him to go. That would be unimaginable today. It would be like Ray Allen deciding to remain in Seattle because of business interests instead of going to Oklahoma City. Arizin still had plenty left. He stayed in the Philadelphia area and kept playing basketball, joining the Camden Bullets in the old Eastern Basketball League. With only nine teams in the NBA, the EBL was the next best thing. All Arizin did for Camden was win the league's MVP award in his first season and make the All-Star team in each of the three years he played there. He stayed in the EBL even though the Syracuse Nats moved to Philadelphia for the 1963-64 season. There was one season, 1962-63, when there was no NBA team in the City of Brotherly Love.


          PETA offers to lend a hand to injured players
          The folks at PETA, who championed the soon-to-be-shelved composite basketball because no cows needed to be killed to make it, jumped back into the fray last week following the news that the league would go back to the old leather ball Jan. 1. (Why switch in the middle of the year? Even Steve Nash, who hated the new ball, questioned the wisdom of the change.)

          With tongue firmly planted in cheek, PETA's Dan Shannon wrote an open letter to NBA players, offering them a lifetime supply of cruelty-free hand cream. Regarding the scrapes the new ball caused some players (but strangely, no one in college or the Development League has complained), Shannon wrote, "As excruciating as these 'injuries' must be for a world-class athlete, thousands of cows stand to suffer far worse if the NBA goes back to a leather basketball." Shannon went on, "PETA would like to offer a lifetime supply of cruelty-free hand cream to any NBA siss . . . excuse me, superstar who'd be willing to give the composite ball another shot. Recreational players and NCAA athletes have been using composite balls for years without experiencing scratches or scrapes, but we understand that the delicate hands of pampered NBA superstars are far more sensitive than those of your average Joe who actually has to work for a living. The hand cream comes in a variety of scents, including 'Filthy Rich Organic' (perfect for any overpaid millionaire) and 'Peaceful Patchouli.' Nash, we have a whole case of that set aside for you. Maybe by taking care of your own skin a bit better, you can allow cows who would otherwise meet their end in the slaughterhouse to keep theirs."


          Back on the sidelines
          With Tracy McGrady again sidelined by back woes, it is worth examining the Houston Rockets, who dropped a last-second heartbreaker to the Warriors Thursday night, then fell in double overtime to the Lakers Friday night. With the additions of Shane Battier and Bonzi Wells, and with Yao Ming playing like an MVP candidate, the Rockets feel they improved enough to handle a short-term McGrady loss. (We don't know how short term this loss is going to be.) But in Houston's first three games without T-Mac, it lost to the Lakers (at home), and to the Warriors and Lakers (on the road). This is McGrady's third season in Houston and he has missed 42 games because of injuries, most of them (34) last season, when he also had back woes. (He missed one game last season because of a family situation.) With their loss to the Lakers Friday, the Rockets are now 9-33 in games without McGrady. When McGrady is healthy and plays, it's a different story. Houston is 90-55 with T-Mac in the last two-plus seasons for a winning percentage of .621.


          Launch sequence
          How did Antoine Walker not manage to make this list? The man Paul Pierce jokingly (we think) called "the biggest jacker in league history" holds the Boston record for most 3-pointers attempted in a game. But he never did what Vince Carter did last Monday, when Carter became only the fourth player in NBA history to hoist 20 3-pointers in a game. Walker's Celtics record: 17, attempted against the Knicks Dec. 11, 2001. Carter joined Damon Stoudamire, old friend Michael Adams, and George McCloud as the only players to have taken 20 or more 3-pointers in a game. (Stoudamire's 21 on April 15, 2005, stands as the league record.) Two others, Dennis Scott and Donyell Marshall, have launched 19 threes in a game.


          They've made name for themselves
          The Development League still is heavily populated by the Kevin Burlesons, Jamar Smiths, and Dijon Thompsons of the hoop world. But there's also a few marquee names there, ranging from former Boston College Eagle (and NBA first-round pick) Troy Bell to former Duke star (and NBA first-round pick) Jay Williams to the recently signed (Bakersfield) Gerry McNamara, the former Syracuse sharpshooter. Bell is with the Albuquerque Thunderbirds, hoping for another shot in the big time but understanding the daunting task that lies ahead. "Just to be getting back playing again and feeling healthy is the big thing," Bell said last week. "My game is there. Now I've got to put the time in and hope it will all work out." It didn't work out too well for Bell in Memphis. It worked out marginally better in a short stint in Spain. He spent last year rehabbing his knee. "I'm not disappointed. There are people in way tougher situations than the one I'm in," he said. "I know there are a lot of guys out there who couldn't handle what I've been through. I think I'd have a different taste in my mouth if I had been healthy and had all these things. It's tough to be yourself when you're injured." So far with Albuquerque, Bell has been up (23 points Dec. 7) and down (4 points the next night). "Once I get into my groove, I'll be fine," he said. "When you've been away from it for a while, I think it gives you a new appreciation for the game. There are a lot of situations where you have to swallow your pride and get on with the task." Bell earned slightly more than $4 million thanks to his selection as the 16th overall pick in the 2003 draft. But as an NBDLer, it's a little bit of a different pay scale; the average wage is between $20,000 and $25,000 for the 20-week season, plus housing and benefits (medical, dental). "You just keep taking it one day at a time," Bell said. "Try to keep working and try to keep learning." As for the other two players noted above, Williams, the second overall selection in the 2002 draft, has surfaced with Austin (winless in its first seven and coached by Dennis Johnson) and had 14 points in his debut. McNamara joined the Bakersfield Jam last Tuesday and was expected to make his debut last night.

          Peter May can be reached at P_May@globe.com; material from personal interviews, wire services, other beat writers, and league and team sources was used in this report.

          Comment

          • #6
            Re: Aldridge: Pacers can relate to Iverson situation (Walsh on Artest trade step-by-s

            Wait, you mean trades take time?

            You mean fans (and the media to a point) are impatient about these types of things?

            I figured Donnie and "Adult Boomer" (I learned something new last night, that line cracked me up everytime I heard it) don't sit around playing NBA Live and making up all possible trades at all hours of the night?


            I do think it will be very interesting to see who the 76ers end up getting for him. Like Donnie I don't see the 76ers letting him back on the team, so the trade deadline really teuely is his deadline, in my opinion at least

            Comment

            • #7
              Re: Aldridge: Pacers can relate to Iverson situation (Walsh on Artest trade step-by-s

              Originally posted by Unclebuck View Post
              PETA offers to lend a hand to injured players
              The folks at PETA, who championed the soon-to-be-shelved composite basketball because no cows needed to be killed to make it, jumped back into the fray last week following the news that the league would go back to the old leather ball Jan. 1. (Why switch in the middle of the year? Even Steve Nash, who hated the new ball, questioned the wisdom of the change.)

              With tongue firmly planted in cheek, PETA's Dan Shannon wrote an open letter to NBA players, offering them a lifetime supply of cruelty-free hand cream. Regarding the scrapes the new ball caused some players (but strangely, no one in college or the Development League has complained), Shannon wrote, "As excruciating as these 'injuries' must be for a world-class athlete, thousands of cows stand to suffer far worse if the NBA goes back to a leather basketball." Shannon went on, "PETA would like to offer a lifetime supply of cruelty-free hand cream to any NBA siss . . . excuse me, superstar who'd be willing to give the composite ball another shot. Recreational players and NCAA athletes have been using composite balls for years without experiencing scratches or scrapes, but we understand that the delicate hands of pampered NBA superstars are far more sensitive than those of your average Joe who actually has to work for a living. The hand cream comes in a variety of scents, including 'Filthy Rich Organic' (perfect for any overpaid millionaire) and 'Peaceful Patchouli.' Nash, we have a whole case of that set aside for you. Maybe by taking care of your own skin a bit better, you can allow cows who would otherwise meet their end in the slaughterhouse to keep theirs."


              Peter May can be reached at P_May@globe.com; material from personal interviews, wire services, other beat writers, and league and team sources was used in this report.

              Comment

              • #8
                Re: Aldridge: Pacers can relate to Iverson situation (Walsh on Artest trade step-by-s

                Originally posted by Kegboy
                DA's so damn good, I still can't believe ESPN let him go.
                \

                Donnie's pretty damn good too. Hating when he's out of the picture and it's all Larry.

                Comment

                • #9
                  Re: Aldridge: Pacers can relate to Iverson situation (Walsh on Artest trade step-by-s

                  "Indiana had to wait, for example, while the Warriors checked out Artest. GM Chris Mullin wanted him but was concerned about whether Artest would overpower his young team. He heard reports from St. John's - where he and Artest had gone to school - about Artest that concerned him. Ultimately, Golden State backed out. A deal for Clippers forward Corey Maggette fell through when Maggette suffered a foot injury."

                  I'd like to know what he pulled in college!
                  Just more proof that TPTB know SOOOOOOOOOOOO much more than us fans.

                  Comment

                  • #10
                    Re: Aldridge: Pacers can relate to Iverson situation (Walsh on Artest trade step-by-s

                    Originally posted by PacerMan View Post
                    "Indiana had to wait, for example, while the Warriors checked out Artest. GM Chris Mullin wanted him but was concerned about whether Artest would overpower his young team. He heard reports from St. John's - where he and Artest had gone to school - about Artest that concerned him. Ultimately, Golden State backed out. A deal for Clippers forward Corey Maggette fell through when Maggette suffered a foot injury."

                    I'd like to know what he pulled in college!
                    Just more proof that TPTB know SOOOOOOOOOOOO much more than us fans.
                    I went to St. John's, but Artest left the year before I got there. I'm not sure exactly what this is referring to, but there certainly are a few stories. Although, considering all the other stuff that has happened to our bball program of late and all the other things Ron Ron has gone on to do since, I've never heard of him doing anything that I'd consider especially bad behavior.

                    The best story I've heard was actually from shortly after he got drafted. He was on campus visiting friends and had parked his Hummer outside the gym. About 15 minutes later he had to come running out to stop some girl who was smashing all his windows in with a bat. Not sure exactly what made her go ballistic, but the word on the streets is that is was something ungentlemanly.

                    TRRRRUUUuuuuu Warier
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                    8points9seconds.com

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                    Comment

                    • #11
                      Re: Aldridge: Pacers can relate to Iverson situation (Walsh on Artest trade step-by-s

                      Originally posted by Kegboy
                      DA's so damn good, I still can't believe ESPN let him go.
                      That conflicted with their normal journalistic ethics.


                      Great article, lots of strong details rather than just BS and conjecture. Interesting to hear DW verify that many of the names mentioned were fake rumors. And who started those rumors if it wasn't DW? PV comes to mind.



                      Where is "Boomer for the adults" in the above story?
                      Good point.

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