So I've Been Thinking Again, is it Possible to Land a Star?

chatard5 · Post #1 » by **chatard5** » Mon Jul 20, 2009 10:03 am

So it seems to me that the Pacers are getting a lot of role players that would be great on very good teams. Someone tough like Tyler Hansbrough. A guy who can play crucial D like Dayntay Jones. Foster of course, who we have had for a while, though. And even Rush would be on a very good team. Anyways, I am hoping that we are building a team kind of backwards. You need good role players, defenders, and guys who do all the stuff that doesn't show up on the stat sheet. It seems like we have most of these players.

Anyways, we have Granger who is becoming a star before our eyes, but we need another great star player to go alongside him, in my opinion. As of right now I don't think it is anyone on our current squad (Rush could be very good, but I personally don't see him being good enough to be a great team over the years. Hibbert could be a good player, but I just don't think he will have the offensive skills to do that, unless something severe changes. We've got Hansbrough, but he seems to be a possible very good role player in the future).

So is it possible for us to even sign a current star. In a couple of my posts I have been saying I want Wade. I am actually not huge on Wade like others, but I think he'd be perfect. I don't think we really have a chance of him at all, but with the salary cap going to $52 millionish next year, things could get crazy. The cap should go up a lot in 2011 when we have a TON of expirings. It may not be impossible for us to land a star. Or even a guy like Amare? If we can get him signed to an extension, I wonder if he could turn us. I think the Suns would trade Amare, but doubt we have enough to land him. Highly, highly doubt, especially b/c so many other teams can offer more.

So I think the most important position is PG. Is it possible for us to dump TJ (possibly to a team that has a large trade exception)??? Would we then have enough to get a guy like Ramon Sessions, or do a S&T with the Bucks?

Sessions could turn into something special, and I just don't see us having the pieces to trade for a guy like Amare and don't know why Wade would sign with us, unless everything goes to **** in the NBA next year and teams just can't afford or spend and we get lucky and Wade wants to play with Granger or something. I see that as about a .1% chance, though.

Any other ideas? I am trying to think of players we can trade for a young PG that could turn out to be very good, but can't think of anyone, really (unless the Wolves part with Rubio or something). Anyways, I really do think we have a lot of players that are winners and role players (we do have quite a few players to win a National Championship). I think we just need a new PG and All-Star Player (a very good one who COULD be a PG). I am liking our team a lot though, really. I just think we may have to get lucky in the draft of something, or something crazy happens next Summer.

Welp, this is my first long/really random post in a while! I will summarize here b/c most of you probably don't want to read all of that: We have a bunch of potential great role players that have lead their teams to the National Championship. They are winners. It just seems we are kind of doing things backwards, getting the role players and then hopefully getting a star land in our hands or do something. How could we get a great player (like Granger's skill level and then maybe even a little more)? Also, I don't think TJ is the PG we need to be a championship contender.

jrandis04 · Post #2 » by **jrandis04** » Mon Jul 20, 2009 1:23 pm

Only way I think we can get a star to compliment Danny would be to draft one or did like what we did to get JO. We traded Dale Davis(whose numbers are a lot like Troy Murphys but with less scoring) for a bench warmer in JO.

But the question is what player out there has star talent that is riding a bench? Because no matter if salaries match up or not, the chances of trading Murphy, Ford and Foster for DWade or T-Mac or any other star probably wont happen

Post #3 » by **PR07** » Mon Jul 20, 2009 6:15 pm

Maybe in free agency if we throw enough money out there. I'm hoping for Chris Paul. If New Orleans is in financial difficulty, there could be a small chance down the road.

basketballwacko2 · Post #4 » by **basketballwacko2** » Mon Jul 20, 2009 6:18 pm

The Hornets got themselves in to a box by giving that huge contract to Peja, and then signing West. With them and Paul and Chandler they are really top heavy.

fienX420 · Post #5 » by **fienX420** » Mon Jul 20, 2009 6:25 pm

Two years from now, we should have a significant amount of cap space. At that point, we have a good chance of bringing in an additional star-like player.

slickrickstyles · Post #6 » by **slickrickstyles** » Mon Jul 20, 2009 7:28 pm

The smart market and cap situation also makes it extremely difficult for us to sign a star player...realistically the only time this team has ever been able to have legit stars on it is when they either developed into one or we drafted them...Reggie, Granger, JO, Artest, and Rose all "became" stars here...Mullins was a star previously but was severely declining by the time we added him to our roster...Hell even Brad Miller made the All Star team as a Pacer so I do have hopes regarding our young core of potential development but I see no way we would land a legit young stud via Free Agency...Our best bet is aging stars or "glimpses of hope" players...The one guy years ago that I was SURE was going to be our star once reggie left? Bender...still upsets me to this day

Indydave · Post #7 » by **Indydave** » Mon Jul 20, 2009 8:10 pm

I think the Pacers will have trouble signing one of the "Superstars" of the league thru FA (ex: Kobe, Lebron, etc.) However, I can see them signing an All-Star caliber of a player without any issues in 2 years.....

Post #8 » by **PR07** » Mon Jul 20, 2009 9:45 pm

^Agreed. I can see us signing Joe Johnson types (all-stars), just not Dwyane Wade types (superstars). I think there could be a small chance to sign Chris Paul as was said earlier though.

Wizop · Post #9 » by **Wizop** » Mon Jul 20, 2009 11:23 pm

I don't even want us to sign someone else's star. lets grow our own.

dawn_wan · Post #10 » by **dawn_wan** » Tue Jul 21, 2009 12:09 am

i think larry is ready to hit the floor again!

freeman · Post #11 » by **freeman** » Tue Jul 21, 2009 3:27 am

Danny is a star. Do we really need someone to take over Danny's role and be the franchise player?
We're re-building with Granger as the keystone and i really do think the front office's been doing really good in finding all the pieces to make this arch stand stable.
The long wait might be agonizing, but i am optimistic, everything will someday pay off very nicely.

chatard5 · Post #12 » by **chatard5** » Tue Jul 21, 2009 3:48 am

Granger isn't like Lebron where he is good enough to lead the team by himself, we need someone to go with him. CP3 would be AMAZING. Hmmm, when does Tyson Chandler expire? We'd have to get expirings for Murphy or a trade exception or something, but that would be perfect.

I know it is highly unlikely, but if the Hornets don't have the money they have to do something. I will take on Chandler and whoever else they want. I actually want Chandler. We can give them Hibbert and expirings or whatever. It's a dream that is nearly impossible, but I like to dream.

CP3/Rush/Granger/Murphy/Chandler and then have a nice bench with Dahntay, Hansbrough, Dunleavy, and Foster. There is some good defense there and toughnes and rebounding. That is a pretty awesome and well-rounded team.

chatard5 · Post #13 » by **chatard5** » Tue Jul 21, 2009 3:51 am

Yeah, it is so hard to sign one, but also so hard to draft one. We aren't bad enough to get a top pick. I don't know, with all these financial issues it isn't impossible to land a star like it normally would be.

Papa Irish31 · Post #14 » by **Papa Irish31** » Tue Jul 21, 2009 4:50 am

you mean dunleavy is not a star???? lol

i was looking at high potential guys that could be had through a trade, and some guys that are on the brink of becoming stars whos team is in financial trouble

and from all acounts CP3 is not going to be traded or you can basically say good bye to basketball in new orleans

but i would look at the most likely scenario as acquiring a young high risk high reward player and letting him grow with granger, here are the best type of candidates i see out there to fit in with granger

kevin martin sacramento, marco belinelli warriors can he become a star though? i think he can become a manu like player if he reaches full potential, raymond felton charlotte really underrated and has loads of potential, you could try to steal conley from the grizzlies, you could try to blow philly away and get speights he has amare potential without the injuries, martell webster or jerryd bayliss have somewhat fallen out of favor in portland you could try and land one of them or maybe fernandez although i dont think he quite has star potential, if you could get randy foye or nick young away from the wizards they would be excellent, and maybe if you could pry stuckey away from the pistons he would fit good with the pacers

that or hope to get lucky in the draft, a lot of people have john wall as being a cant miss prospect, you could always have granger get "injured" and go for the top pick

MUpacersSIC · Post #15 » by **MUpacersSIC** » Tue Jul 21, 2009 5:00 am

Question: Papa Irish31, aren't you a Celtics fan? Because you spend an awful lot of time on the Pacers board. Just wondering if you have a connection with both teams, or do you just really like us that much?

twinthunder3 · Post #16 » by **twinthunder3** » Tue Jul 21, 2009 5:36 am

Considering how strong the EAST is this year, I'm sure you guys can tank the season and draft a potential star.

Post #17 » by **Miller4ever** » Tue Jul 21, 2009 6:29 am

The Pacers will tank when they're not in Indiana.

freeman · Post #18 » by **freeman** » Tue Jul 21, 2009 7:29 am

twinthunder3 wrote:Considering how strong the EAST is this year, I'm sure you guys can tank the season and draft a potential star.

highly unlikely. That would bring everything back to zero. Larry and Obie would try to see how far the team could go with the team's recent losses (Jack, Daniels, Rasho, Baston, Graham) and additions (Jones, Watson, Hansbrough, Price).
This is year 2 of "The 3-Year Plan".

chatard5 · Post #19 » by **chatard5** » Tue Jul 21, 2009 7:56 am

I think we are headed in the right direction, for sure. We haven't buried ourself with any long-term deals, except Granger--which is definitely okay. We have great role players and as guys like Rush, Hibbert (hopefully), and Hansbrough (hopefully) improve our team could be very good. I still think we need a star to pair with Granger to take it to the next step, which would be the NBA Finals.

I realize we had very good teams in the 90s and did make it to the ECF quite a few times and the finals once. Those teams had Reggie as the only "star". But we also had Mark Jackson (I would love a guy like him on our team now), Smits, Dale Davis, and then players like Chris Mullin (later in his career, but still productive), Sam Perkins (see Mullin), and Jalen Rose, and then many others like McKey and Antonio Davis who fit with our team very well.

Papa Irish31 · Post #20 » by **Papa Irish31** » Tue Jul 21, 2009 2:13 pm

MUpacersSIC wrote:Question: Papa Irish31, aren't you a Celtics fan? Because you spend an awful lot of time on the Pacers board. Just wondering if you have a connection with both teams, or do you just really like us that much?

the celtics are my favorite team, but im a fan of the nba, i like to look around the forums to get a true feeling of how other teams fans feel, and when i see something that interests me ill give my 2 cents

you have to have at least two star players to win a championship, thats how the nba works, there isn't a team in the nba that has ever won without two legit stars, and most of them have three

I think your best bet to get a star is to draft someone in the mid teens that turns out to be really good, but that is extremely hard to do, it can be done, yall know that you've got granger who is a legit star

i think that your best bet is just keep building through the draft, larry has done a nice job of putting pieces around danny and i think you pretty much have to continue going through the process and not try to rush into being a contender

trust me at least you have the right star to build around, good things usually happen when you find your lead guy; as long as you keep drafting solid young players the future will be bright

your team does seriously remind me of the celtics teams earlier this decade, the ones that O'Brian coached to the ECF, with pierce carrying the team, i think granger could definitely play that part

the only problem is the eastern conference is a lot tougher than it was back then