RealGM

By Josh Dhan

With the recent hype going on of T.J. Ford being rumored to the Boston Celtics, the Pacers have been targeting Andre Miller. They actually have been targeting him for a while now.

Now even with Earl Watson, Travis Diener, and A.J. Price on the roster, Andre Miller with the Pacers talks still aren't over. I have found over ten sources about Miller in talks with Indy since July 17th. It's truly going to be interesting here.

Even if Ford doesn't come to Boston, the Pacers still may take a chance at him. Some sources believed to say that due to the lack of now five point guards, they may have to release one or put one other point guard, probably like Miller maybe, at a different position.

Many Pacer fans somewhat call this interesting as well. And man, this is crazy. Well, Larry Bird did say there is going to be a busy week ahead of him.

You know what, he probably just meant a crazy week. Andre, I hope to see you bleed blue and gold.

http://mvn.com/pacerspulse/2009/07/pacers-really-targeting-andre-miller-now.html

Sounds like BS to me. I mean how could we, and why would he.

Because the Pacers need a Miller in the lineup to be good (see: Reggie, Brad).

i think we would have a better shot at getting mike. lol. not that i want him.

Well, we don't have the MLE, or salary cap space, so it would have to be a S&T, and we'd probably have to move Ford for him.


Basically, that means at least 3 years of Andre Miller at about $7-8 million per year. I would've loved Andre Miller about 5 years ago, but I'm not sure we can invest in him at that price, especially if it goes past 2011.

I've always liked Andre Miller, and I'd be happy with this move. He's a good veteran player to surround some of your guys with. Reminds me a lot of Mark Jackson at this point in his career. Exceptional playmaker, extremely durable, and just seems like a good overall floor general.

The author of the link is not to be believed.

He has no source, he is simply speculating.

see:

This Josh Dhani is very irresponsible and sloppy in his blogs. He headlines this as if it's a done deal, and earlier he had posted that the Pacers were trying to trade Tinsley for a 1st rounder...then his source was a linked Mike Wells article that said that the Pacers were trying to get another 1st rounder, but it was unlikely that Tinsley would be traded this week.

He is proving to be completely unreliable.

I'd do Ford for Miller Dre is durable and a very solid player let's say we sign him for about $6.5 for 3 yrs. Or start him off at $7 mill and decline the deal, that would save us some money next season when we're pushing the Luxury tax. Then we'd have Miller, Watson, Diener and Price at PG, Watson and Deiner are gone next yr, next yrs draft we get a PG to groom behind Dre who retires at the end of his deal.

Scoot McGroot wrote:Well, we don't have the MLE, or salary cap space, so it would have to be a S&T, and we'd probably have to move Ford for him.

Correct me if I am wrong Scoot but couldn't we have cleared some money back out by agreeing to favorable terms with JT?

I agree a sign and trade makes the most sense, not that I think Andre Miller is a huge upgrade over TJ by any means but a guy that can play 1-2 would add some to our platoon at point guard. Also aren't the 76ers trying to slow it down and kill their run and gun game? why would they want TJ? Can TJ reliably dump off to Brand?

I'm interested to see what we do but I don't think it will be Andre, if it is we won't be signing Price.

A 2-year deal would be great. Trade TJ for him straight-up. I don't know what the minimum is (what, like Miller's contract at 125% + $100,000 would have to be equal to or more than TJs? Something like that). Anyways, that way he comes off the books in 2 years, along with mostly the rest of our money. Plus I still think he is a good PG and would be worth having for 2 years. I have liked him for a while. I like those guys who can pass and get a good amount of assists. He is an upgrade over TJ in my opinion (although TJ is younger). Philly might do it to get the younger PG in Ford and then they don't lose Miller for nothing and still have a PG.

Donerik wrote:

Scoot McGroot wrote:Well, we don't have the MLE, or salary cap space, so it would have to be a S&T, and we'd probably have to move Ford for him.

Correct me if I am wrong Scoot but couldn't we have cleared some money back out by agreeing to favorable terms with JT?

I agree a sign and trade makes the most sense, not that I think Andre Miller is a huge upgrade over TJ by any means but a guy that can play 1-2 would add some to our platoon at point guard. Also aren't the 76ers trying to slow it down and kill their run and gun game? why would they want TJ? Can TJ reliably dump off to Brand?

I'm interested to see what we do but I don't think it will be Andre, if it is we won't be signing Price.

We could lower a little bit of our cap hit on Tinsley, but even if he agreed to a buyout for $0, which he never would, we would not be under the salary cap, and if we were, we would not be enough under the salary cap to sign Andre Miller.

We've already used up our MLE on Jones and Watson though.

Andre would be an interesting addition. He makes fewer mistakes and is more durable than Ford. There would be no improvement defensively and I don't think he shoots the three as effectively as Ford. If the Pacers hope to be a team whose whole is greater than the sum of its parts the chances are better I think with Miller than Ford.

It sounds like he aspires to a three year deal and since Ford's deal is only two maybe that works for Philly. I would hope the Miller contract the Pacers take back decreases in value.

Dre' is obviously going to want one last decent contract with atleast a four year duration. Say he excepts less annually for each year we add. Something like 4yrs/ 26 mill as opposed to either 3yrs/ 21 mill or 2 yrs 16 mill. In this case, if you could add Dre' past 2011 on a declining deal in that range you should probably do it. I would actually prefer any significant transaction to expire when Roy and Brandon do, 2011 is nice but it'll be imperative to have flexibility past 2012.

Plus Andre would be the type of guy we could groom our future point under.

While I like Miller's game I would prefer to keep TJ.

Ford is offensively a better pg than Miller. It is not very evident this year because TJ is playing in JOB's system that minimizes the value of the pg. However, despite TJ playing under JOB's system their numbers over 36 min. are very similar. TJ averaged 17 and 6 and Miller averaged 16 and 6. But if you look at TJ's pre-JOB #'s then it is obvious that tj is the better offensive pg--both scoring and passing. While Miller averages 16 pts and 6 assists, TJ averages 18 pts and 9.

Also, Miller is not a great fit in JOB's system either. Like TJ he can not hit the outside shot consistently.

Also Miller is 33 and TJ is 26.

Defensively it is a trade off, quickness for size

I think TJ will play better this year after a year under his belt with O'brein. I think we could expect the TJ we saw in the last month or so of the season where he was coming off the bench at the begging of the season next year.

Boneman2 wrote:Dre' is obviously going to want one last decent contract with atleast a four year duration. Say he excepts less annually for each year we add. Something like 4yrs/ 26 mill as opposed to either 3yrs/ 21 mill or 2 yrs 16 mill. In this case, if you could add Dre' past 2011 on a declining deal in that range you should probably do it. I would actually prefer any significant transaction to expire when Roy and Brandon do, 2011 is nice but it'll be imperative to have flexibility past 2012.

Plus Andre would be the type of guy we could groom our future point under.

3 yrs 21 mill. I should be a GM.

I'm happy with TJ as our starting PG.