Picking Up the Pacers
The Pacers co-owner said changes are going to be made this season but I hope he realizes that the only real changes available to the team are long term. With a roster full of players who are overpaid or injury-prone or headcases (or all three), there isn't much hope that they're going to be able to turn this thing around and get back into the playoffs in one season.
However, while the Pacers team is a mess, one trade could set the team's rebuilding process into place.
Jermaine O'Neal and Jamaal Tinsley for Stephon Marbury, Malik Rose, David Lee
Ideally, the Pacers would go after the Knicks' #1 pick or even a swap of 2008 picks but if this is the best they can get, they should go for it. Both Marbury and Rose are expiring deals next season and Lee is a great young prospect for Larry Bird's Hickory High look-alikes. The key to the deal is dumping Tinsley, who has either been in trouble or on the injured list for much of the last couple of years. This one move puts the Pacers under the cap in 2009/10.
Plan B
If the Pacers can't make that deal, they might have to take the Ray Allen special: Jermaine O'Neal for Nazr Mohammed, Adam Morrison, Bobcats #1 pick. Mohammed's contract is worse (i.e, longer) than Wally's. Yes, Morrison went much earlier than Delonte West but I'd rather have Delonte. I think Morrison is a bust. The key would be a chance to rebuild with Granger and two lotto picks (perhaps Eric Gordon and Anthony Randolph). Michael Jordan is dying to win now so I think he jumps at the chance to grab O'Neal.
This, of course, leaves Tinsley and odds are that they'll have to make a deal for an bad contract. Again, a deal with the Knicks for someone like Jerome James could work. The best move might be to deal with the Nuggets who might be willing to trade Kenyon Martin for Jamaal Tinsley and Troy Murphy. Tinsley would give the team a playmaking PG and Murphy would be the second best 3-point shooter on the team and could be a decent complement to between Camby and 'Melo. The contracts are all the same length but the Pacers add defense and dump a malcontent.
In the end, Mohammed and Martin would just have to hold down the fort until a draft pick like Randolph develops. In two years, if the pick is a bust, K-Mart is an expiring deal and could be used in a trade. Meanwhile, Dunleavy serves as the cog of the offense, distributing between Danny Granger and Eric Gordon (or whomever they land in this year's lotto).
It's far from a perfect plan but the Pacers need to wake up and embrace the fact that the next couple of years will remain the property of the Celtics and Pistons. Building for the next couple of years is a waste of time. The goal should be to prepare for the day when those two elite squads start to decline.
