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Pacers Caught In Tough Place

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I agree with Bird, we don't need a complete rebuild, just a healthy JO, nice draft pick, and 1 or 2 minor deals. I love how he wants to keep Granger and Williams.

He would be an idiot not to want to keep Granger and Williams. With these garbage offers we are getting for JO, I wouldnt mind keeping him either, at least long enough for him to rebuild some trade value. The problem with that is, JO doesnt want to be here anymore. He has been hinting at his desire to be traded for about a year now.

At this point, the only players I want to keep for the foreseeable future are Granger, Williams, Dunleavy (but if we got a good offer for him I would bite), and Foster (same deal as Dunleavy, if a good trade came along and it gave Jeff a chance at a title id let him go). Everyone else can go.

Well that Star article is a good summary of the position that the Pacers are in. It's not pretty.

Unfortunately, we are stuck with a lot of bad contracts that other teams want no part of. Until those are cleared away, there's not a whole lot the front office can do, besides rearrange the deck chairs on the Titanic.

Oh, and make good draft picks.

Best plan for next year is probably to add a good young player (maybe even two!) via the draft, and try to get Jermaine O'Neal healthy. If JO is healthy again and we are lucky enough to get a good, NBA-ready guard in next summer's draft, then the Pacers are probably a much better team next year.

As i've said in another thread, seems to me we are one of the most active teams heading into deadline day. It means alot to me. I think Bird knows we're not too far away from being a good team but i also think he realizes we are on the verge of losing out on a solid pick and a playoff run. If theres a will, theres a way. If Bird keeps looking out for the best deals, and not be desperate and pull the trigger on the first deal he sees, we'll be in good hands. And like i said in the other thread, i love all the trade talk but i don't think we'll make a move. Too much teams are talking to us for us to pull the trigger on one of these deals. But this is just a preview of the summer. I think we'll be very active around draft day.

any article that features over 90% of its quoted material from bill walton is the greatest basketball trade deadline summary in the history of mankind. ever.