Pacers may have interest in Carl Landry?

[Bucky O'Hare]

And remember folks, the MLE is the average NBA salary, thus it's what average NBA players should be paid. If you want talent, you're gonna have to spend. Stop signing junk like Travis Diener to multi-year, multi-million dollar deals and you wont be so strapped when it comes to going after actual talent, like Landry.

That may be true, but its a little deceiving. Average salaries are affected big time by outliers. In this case, there are so few guys in the league actually making the league minimum that the average isnt dipped too far down. On the flip side, you have this chunk of guys like Jermaine O'Neal making $20+ million a year. That really, really drives up the mean salary.

That's certainly true, but from the other perspective, we have some great players on rookie contracts that will help even it out. Guys like Granger, Gay, Roy, Iguodala, etc all making probably a 1/3rd or less of what they'll get once their rookie contracts expire.

[cdash]

Also there's a bunch of guys on their rookie contracts who will be out of the league once they are over.

[Bucky O'Hare]

http://blogs.indystar.com/pacersinsider ... e_new.html

Decent read, with a little more on Landry.

The one area the Pacers weren't able to address was power forward. With Jermaine O'Neal in Toronto, Troy Murphy is the likely starter with no proven backup.

There are strong indications the Pacers have interest in Carl Landry.

The 6-9 former Purdue player averaged 8.1 points and 4.9 rebounds this past season as a rookie with Houston and is currently a restricted free agent.

It seems logical the mid-level exception of $5.58 million would be more than enough to land Landry, if the Pacers chose to go that route.

Bird said power forward was an area the team would like to address, whether that's this year or down the road when the Pacers have significant cap space available and could pursue a big-name free agent, Bird wouldn't say.

"You always need post players that can score. That's an area we're concerned about, an area we're not as strong in as the others," Bird said. "But Troy's been working out all summer. He'll come back and do his thing."

The Rockets have asked for more testing on Landry's right knee, but Landry's agent, Buddy Baker, told the Houston Chronicle that's posturing on the part of Rockets general manager Daryl Morey.

"Obviously, I view it as a move in his part to undercut his value and dissuade the interest he has garnered," Baker told the Chronicle. "The reverse has happened. Teams have taken the position that he will not match offers. That has opened the floodgates. They are operating as if he (Landry) was an unrestricted free agent."

Landry tore the ACL in his right knee in college and missed seven games with the Rockets due to a sore left knee, but came back for the playoffs.

A stat worth tossing out? The Rockets were 30-6 when Landry played 11 minutes or more, 25-21 when he played 10 or less or was out of the lineup.

He never really says what the strong indicators are. I'm hoping he has an inside scoop and there's legitimacy to this. That win/loss record is no coincidence, Landry is an impact player.

[CableKC]

I agree with Scoot that it would be a mistake to offer that much for Landry. As I have continually pointed out.....I agree that having a Post Player at the PF position is a need that we have to address, I just don't think that it is as pressing a need as most think given the options that we have ( Foster/Shawne/Baston ) to temporarily fill that need.

IMHO.....patience and very smart Financial / SalaryCap management is what will bring us back to the Playoffs and ( eventually ) a Championship level team.

I realized this yesterday when I looked at the Blazers Salarycap situation next season. They have about $16 mil in guaranteed contracts that they owe in the 2009-2010 season. Although they have to get ready to resign many key players in the 2010-2011 season ( and therefore can't freely spend every bit of $$$ that they can ), because of some smart drafting, the resistance to overspend on players in the FA market and getting the right players for the system/coach....they are in a position to not only be a very good team in the near future...but they can still make a very solid run for any FA that they want ( most notably Granger ) and still resign their primary core of players in the coming years.

You can even go as far as to look at the Sixers....with some smart moves over the last 2 seasons, a coach that was able to get their players to buy into their system and Salarycap flexiblility...they positioned themselves to be a major player in this year's FA market ( nabbing precisely the player that they needed )...and will likely be a 2nd round Playoff team ( if not further ) for the coming years.

Although both the Blazers and the Sixers did take different routes to get to the position that they are in....IMHO...the common thread is that they were patient enough to build the team the right way while exercising smart Financial and SalaryCap Management that allowed them to be in a position to get the type of players that they need.

I really hope that Bird realizes this and does not go all "Mullin" on us and destroy any chance that we have at building the team the right way.

I think the goal for this season should be to simply return to the Playoffs ( just to build experience and team chemistry even if it turns out to be an easy 1st round exit ), evaluate what we have, then continue to build off of that for the next 2 to 3 seasons. There is no quick and easy solution to build a Championship team in a single season ( sorry, but what happened with the Celtics is a once in a lifetime opportunity ). Overpaying a backup PF like Landry and sacrificing our new found financial flexiblility that we have....won't win us a Championship. It takes time ( even if it's over the course of 2-3 seasons ), patience and smart roster/salarycap/financial management to put us in a position to truly compete.

[CableKC]

Anyone have an idea about how much it would likely cost to sign Landry?

I don't mind if we sign him to a $3-4 mil per year contract for 3 seasons ( 2 years guaranteed with 3rd year as a team option ).

I read a quick profile about him and appears to be a "Paul Milsap" type player who can rebound, has strength, decent finisher inside the paint but is undersized ( about 6'8" with shoes ). I wouldn't mind making a run for him...I just don't want to overpay for him.

[dwpacer]

Well here's what I'm getting after having a look at Houston's and the Pacers cap
situation over at shamsports.

One all draft picks are signed both the Pacers and the Rockets will be just over
69 million against the cap and both can spend as much as 2 million without going
over.

I personally wouldn't use the MLE, but rather the VLE or veterans level exception.
Which is a two year deal starting at 2 million and can only be used every other
year, and from what I've read, the Pacers still have it for this year.

At the end of that two years, the Pacers can choose to extend a 3rd year bird
right offer or simply let him go.

Given the 2010 rush, I can see a lot of teams using their Veterans exception this summer.