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Okay, we've discussed this before, and the common opinion is that he is too much of a risk considering his health and his contract. But if Indiana wants to get some cap space before they have to extend Granger (which would push them into lux tax territory) they might want to make a move. Here is how it could happen.

O'Neal has an Early Termination Option (ETO) on his contract this year. He does have 21.4 and 23.0 mil coming the next two years, so it would be hard to pass up that much cash, but if he could get agreements from Indiana and Detroit, he could opt out, Pacers do a sign/trade for an amount starting for less than that 21.4 mil, and make it easier to make a trade. We would make up for it by giving him a 5 year deal.

We would still need to give up some players, but maybe Rip (10.8), Dice (6.9) and a draft choice? Or maybe Stuckey (1.4) instead of a draft choice? 19.1 mil, maybe that's too much. But if the starting salary has to be within 25%, then we could start O'Neal around 16 mil and have a killer front line. Of course, we'd still have some holes to fill.

Billups/?
Affalo/?
Prince/?Herrmann?
Sheed/Maxiell/
O'Neal/Johnson

I don't see the Pacers taking on RIP.....he's already in his late 20's and they aren't ready to compete. A young guy like Kevin Martin, sure.

Stuckey and Maxiell? Still need a lot of filler to get the salaries to match. Rip at 10.8 and 11.6 is not too much of a contract to handle, and he's only 30.

Stuckey/Hamilton/Dunleavy/Granger/Foster would be a fantastic running lineup.

Rasheeed!!! wrote:I don't see the Pacers taking on RIP.....he's already in his late 20's and they aren't ready to compete. A young guy like Kevin Martin, sure.

There is nothing wrong with taking on a guy like Rip just because a team is rebuilding. You very rarely want to completely load up with kids if you expect to have any success at all. You still need vets and Rip is young enough he could be part of both a rebuilding a process and take that next step with the team. And he's got a fairly reasonable contract.

You think the team Reggie played for wouldn't love to have Rip? (which btw reminds me - Reggie was the elder statesmen on what was at one point the youngest team in the NBA the first year Isiah took the Pacers to the playoffs).

I want no part of Jermaine, the guy can not stay healthy enough to even get on the court.

here is the list of players who have opted out of contracts with $40M remaining:

1.
2.
3.

here is the list of players who have opted out of contracts with $30M remaining:

1.
2.
3.

here is the list of players who have opted out of contracts with $20M remaining

1. Shaq (who then signed a $100M deal)
2.
3.

Players don't leave $40M+ on the table.
Jermaine's skills, health, guts, professionalism, ect would translate to only the mid-level exception, about a 75% pay cut.

He's not opting out.

Artest, and JO's names have been brought up numerous times, why isn't anyone clamoring for Stephen Jackson? Maybe we can get all 3 and have a special beatdown night at the Palace,

Just say NO!

Damn you Nancy Reagan!

No, just no. Let O'neal become a Knick or whatever team would still be willing to take him on. Its not a smart move for the Pistons.

RatkoVarda wrote:here is the list of players who have opted out of contracts with $40M remaining:

1.
2.
3.

here is the list of players who have opted out of contracts with $30M remaining:

1.
2.
3.

here is the list of players who have opted out of contracts with $20M remaining

1. Shaq (who then signed a $100M deal)
2.
3.

Players don't leave $40M+ on the table.
Jermaine's skills, health, guts, professionalism, ect would translate to only the mid-level exception, about a 75% pay cut.

He's not opting out.

This is not leaving 40mil on the table. This would be more like the Shaq deal where you restructure. This is also exactly what Vince Carter did this offseason - he opted out, got a longer term deal, but that first year of the deal was less than he was scheduled to make, lower (at least in the short term) the Nets cap number.

So if JO gets a deal starting at 16mil, he would be leaving only 5mil on the table for each of the two years remaining, but he would have leveraged a way to get 20mil a year for the following 3 years. So, lose 10 up front, get 60 mil on the back end.

theBigLip wrote:-= original quote snipped =-



This is not leaving 40mil on the table. This would be more like the Shaq deal where you restructure. This is also exactly what Vince Carter did this offseason - he opted out, got a longer term deal, but that first year of the deal was less than he was scheduled to make, lower (at least in the short term) the Nets cap number.

So if JO gets a deal starting at 16mil, he would be leaving only 5mil on the table for each of the two years remaining, but he would have leveraged a way to get 20mil a year for the following 3 years. So, lose 10 up front, get 60 mil on the back end.

The question is, is who in their right mind is going to give Jermain O'neal a 92 million dollar contract as you suggest.

Jermaine O'neal, quite frankly, at this point in his career, is terrible (relative to the money he his making). If he were an unrestricted free agent this summer, the most he could get on the open market would probably be 11 million per season over three to four years (if that much).

And besides, NO WAY does his agent let him walk away from making 21 and 23 million dollars over the next two season when guy is averaging 15 pts, 7 board, 2 blks, 44 FG%, and has only played in 33 games. NO WAY does his agent let him walk away from that because no GM in their right mind is giving O'neal 90 million bucks.

So how much is the five year contract going to cost us for the gimp?

I just don't think it's worth the risk (health). I'm excited to have Amir starting next to Sheed next year and Dice being our third big. From there we can keep Maxx and he'll be our 4th big our Harden or whoever we draft will be, so we're already set at the position. Plus, investing so much into a injury riddled player isn't wise, even with a witch doctor like Arnie Kander.

the math goes like this:

he's getting $44M for the next 2 years.
If he plays another 4 years after that, at the mid-level, let's say $5.5 per,
he will make $66M over the next 6 years (with $44M guaranteed)

if he opts out, can he get a 6 year $66M deal?

i say no

I want nothing to do with him. I don't even think Arnie Kander can save him. He's done.

Jermaine O'Neal is trash.

I wouldn't say he's trash, he's actually a pretty good player when healthy. Not much better than Sheed, but pretty good. Problem is he can't EVER stay healthy. I just have no confidence that he could stay on the floor, therefore I pass.

No one thought Dice could stay healthy either, and Dice had much worse issues with his knees than JO.

Anyway, just thought I'd start the thread and propose a way to get him for under his 20mil per year.

theBigLip wrote:No one thought Dice could stay healthy either, and Dice had much worse issues with his knees than JO.

Dice's healty issues were localized.
JO's health issues seem to be everywhere.

if we get another good big man it has to be someone who can defend the interior and not be a softie who's going to be taking turnaround jump shots. We've got enough of those kthxbye