http://www.indystar.com/apps/pbcs.dl.../1034/SPORTS15
If nothing else, it's a housecleaning
The Indiana Pacers didn't do much on draft night. Except . . .
Get much quicker, adding T.J. Ford, a speedy, explosive point guard, in the soon-to-be-consummated trade with the Toronto Raptors.
The Pacers haven't had this much quickness at the point since Travis Best -- and even mentioning Best here is a bit of a stretch to make the point.
Add lots of future salary cap flexibility, ridding themselves of Jermaine O'Neal's contract. Then, by acquiring useful center Rasho Nesterovic, they got the all-important expiring contract, one more year at $8.4 million.
Make Jamaal Tinsley, the Guard Who No Longer Exists, completely expendable. If the Pacers have to buy him out and eat the salary, they'll do it. Suddenly, there's a logjam at point guard. Forty-eight hours ago, could you have imagined?
Get deeper and more durable at the point, adding fourth-year player Jarrett Jack in a trade with Portland. At 6-3, Jack is much bigger than the 5-11 Ford and gives Indiana a stronger defensive presence on the perimeter. In three years, he has averaged 27 minutes, 9.5 points and 4.0 assists per game. Plus, he's cheap, making $2 million this year before becoming a restricted free agent.
Get bigger, much bigger, getting a true center by drafting Roy Hibbert out of Georgetown with the 17th pick.
Yeah, he's slow, real slow, and you wonder how he'll fit offensively into coach Jim O'Brien's system. But he's 7-2, and with O'Neal gone, the Pacers desperately needed size.
And finally, add Brandon Rush, the scoring guard/small forward whose development will be closely monitored next to Portland's Jerryd Bayless, the player originally chosen by the Pacers and then dealt to Portland. (Unofficially, of course.)
Other than that, it was a quiet night.
The craziest thing, though, was that team president Larry Bird couldn't even talk about his moves because both the Toronto and Portland trades involved "base year compensation'' players, which means the deals can't be completed until July 9. The Pacers lobbied the league to tell its fans about the new players, but the NBA shot them down, threatening any mention of players in proposed deals with a fine.
Dumb, really dumb.
After telling the local media he couldn't talk about the moves, Bird shrugged and said, "I don't know what the hell you're gonna ask me.''
Bird would start to talk about how he felt the Pacers improved, then catch himself, laugh and say, "Well, I know Toronto got themselves a lot more size tonight."
I don't know if Rush and Hibbert are going to be the right choices -- Bayless still holds more initial appeal for me -- but at the very least, the Pacers have answered the call for change.
As things stand now, Indiana should have at least seven new faces in camp -- Jack, Rush, Ford, Nesterovic, Hibbert, Maceo Baston (for the second time) and Josh McRoberts. And there's every reason to believe that Bird, who is on his own for the first time as an executive, is not done dealing. (Did he say Shawne Williams?)
The cleansing is virtually complete. By now, almost every Pacer who has been in trouble either on the court or off has been dispatched. Ron Artest, Stephen Jackson and O'Neal are gone. David Harrison almost certainly is. Tinsley is as good as gone. Williams is close to extinction as a Pacer. That leaves only Marquis Daniels, and the ultimate resolution there was he accepted a diversion agreement for his alleged role in a bar fight. Seems pretty insignificant in the grand scheme of things.
It should be noted that in college, Rush had issues with traffic violations and a failure to make timely child support payments, but nothing that sent up a huge red flag for a franchise that has promised to clean up its act.
Earlier in the night, a huge crowd at the fieldhouse saw their first pipedream go up in smoke: Homeboy Eric Gordon got chosen seventh by the Los Angeles Clippers. No falling to No. 11.
Later, the Charlotte Bobcats, selecting ninth, took D.J. Augustin, the guard everybody had going to the Pacers. That sent a shudder through the stands. What would they do now? Who might fall all the way to 11, the way Danny Granger fell to No. 17 in the 2005 draft?
In the Pacers' draft room, though, this was no surprise. A few weeks ago, Bird told me that neither Westbrook nor Augustin would be available when the Pacers chose 11th. So he went out and got himself a point guard from Toronto. Actually, two point guards. And two centers. And cap flexibility.
And the offseason has just begun.
You wanted new Pacers. You got new Pacers. Lots of them.
If nothing else, it's a housecleaning
The Indiana Pacers didn't do much on draft night. Except . . .
Get much quicker, adding T.J. Ford, a speedy, explosive point guard, in the soon-to-be-consummated trade with the Toronto Raptors.
The Pacers haven't had this much quickness at the point since Travis Best -- and even mentioning Best here is a bit of a stretch to make the point.
Add lots of future salary cap flexibility, ridding themselves of Jermaine O'Neal's contract. Then, by acquiring useful center Rasho Nesterovic, they got the all-important expiring contract, one more year at $8.4 million.
Make Jamaal Tinsley, the Guard Who No Longer Exists, completely expendable. If the Pacers have to buy him out and eat the salary, they'll do it. Suddenly, there's a logjam at point guard. Forty-eight hours ago, could you have imagined?
Get deeper and more durable at the point, adding fourth-year player Jarrett Jack in a trade with Portland. At 6-3, Jack is much bigger than the 5-11 Ford and gives Indiana a stronger defensive presence on the perimeter. In three years, he has averaged 27 minutes, 9.5 points and 4.0 assists per game. Plus, he's cheap, making $2 million this year before becoming a restricted free agent.
Get bigger, much bigger, getting a true center by drafting Roy Hibbert out of Georgetown with the 17th pick.
Yeah, he's slow, real slow, and you wonder how he'll fit offensively into coach Jim O'Brien's system. But he's 7-2, and with O'Neal gone, the Pacers desperately needed size.
And finally, add Brandon Rush, the scoring guard/small forward whose development will be closely monitored next to Portland's Jerryd Bayless, the player originally chosen by the Pacers and then dealt to Portland. (Unofficially, of course.)
Other than that, it was a quiet night.
The craziest thing, though, was that team president Larry Bird couldn't even talk about his moves because both the Toronto and Portland trades involved "base year compensation'' players, which means the deals can't be completed until July 9. The Pacers lobbied the league to tell its fans about the new players, but the NBA shot them down, threatening any mention of players in proposed deals with a fine.
Dumb, really dumb.
After telling the local media he couldn't talk about the moves, Bird shrugged and said, "I don't know what the hell you're gonna ask me.''
Bird would start to talk about how he felt the Pacers improved, then catch himself, laugh and say, "Well, I know Toronto got themselves a lot more size tonight."
I don't know if Rush and Hibbert are going to be the right choices -- Bayless still holds more initial appeal for me -- but at the very least, the Pacers have answered the call for change.
As things stand now, Indiana should have at least seven new faces in camp -- Jack, Rush, Ford, Nesterovic, Hibbert, Maceo Baston (for the second time) and Josh McRoberts. And there's every reason to believe that Bird, who is on his own for the first time as an executive, is not done dealing. (Did he say Shawne Williams?)
The cleansing is virtually complete. By now, almost every Pacer who has been in trouble either on the court or off has been dispatched. Ron Artest, Stephen Jackson and O'Neal are gone. David Harrison almost certainly is. Tinsley is as good as gone. Williams is close to extinction as a Pacer. That leaves only Marquis Daniels, and the ultimate resolution there was he accepted a diversion agreement for his alleged role in a bar fight. Seems pretty insignificant in the grand scheme of things.
It should be noted that in college, Rush had issues with traffic violations and a failure to make timely child support payments, but nothing that sent up a huge red flag for a franchise that has promised to clean up its act.
Earlier in the night, a huge crowd at the fieldhouse saw their first pipedream go up in smoke: Homeboy Eric Gordon got chosen seventh by the Los Angeles Clippers. No falling to No. 11.
Later, the Charlotte Bobcats, selecting ninth, took D.J. Augustin, the guard everybody had going to the Pacers. That sent a shudder through the stands. What would they do now? Who might fall all the way to 11, the way Danny Granger fell to No. 17 in the 2005 draft?
In the Pacers' draft room, though, this was no surprise. A few weeks ago, Bird told me that neither Westbrook nor Augustin would be available when the Pacers chose 11th. So he went out and got himself a point guard from Toronto. Actually, two point guards. And two centers. And cap flexibility.
And the offseason has just begun.
You wanted new Pacers. You got new Pacers. Lots of them.
Comment