IND-Min

[shrink]

Three things for posters to consider about IND:

1. Hibbert is one of the few bright spots for IND fans, that won't be legitimate contenders until 2011-12, after they can shed some over-priced contracts on above-average players. Pulling away their hopes would be a tough sell, and disengage fans.

2. Finances. IND is getting killed financially. They were #27 in tickets sold, and #26 in revenues/game. Next season they are going over the lux, unless they can move a guy like Troy Murphy or TJ Ford.

3. Larry Bird. I've watched this guy for years, and he's just really hard to trade with. It seems to me that he demands not just to win deals, but that the other team lose. I think this is why his team has collected so many over-priced contracts, and spent so very long before finally cutting Tinsley.

[Devilzsidewalk]

to me Bird seems like he goes by feel a lot - he did the draftday trade Bayless/Rush and before that the Harrington for Dunleavy/Murphy and at the time those were considered horrible trades for Indy

[shrink]

to me Bird seems like he goes by feel a lot - he did the draftday trade Bayless/Rush and before that the Harrington for Dunleavy/Murphy and at the time those were considered horrible trades for Indy

Hmmm ... I think that's pretty accurate. I suppose if you're Larry Bird .. THE Larry Bird .. nobody's going to tell you you're making a bad basketball decision. But your theory makes a lot of sense from what I see. I've tried to identify what he looks for in a trade and what are his parameters, but he is one of the hardest GM's for me to pin down. His results have not been stellar, and he's got IND stuck in the middle. I think playing by feel might be exactly what's going on, and why I rarely understand his moves.

[dunkonu21]

T.J. Ford is on the list of top 10 players I would hate to have on the wolves.

[Foye]

T.J. Ford is on the list of top 10 players I would hate to have on the wolves.

It is only a 1 1/2 seasons rental come on

Maybe you are lucky and Jason Hart outplays him so he'll get some DNP's
Ford is a solid backup but gets paid like a starter

[shrink]

T.J. Ford is on the list of top 10 players I would hate to have on the wolves.

That would be an interesting thread topic

[Biff Cooper]

in a nutshell our frontcourt defense sucks because of how slow we play and guys can't seem to react in time to cut off lanes and block shots, whatever Hibbert gains in height is negated by his even worse foot speed. Watching him have absolutely no idea what to do when Monta Ellis was abusing him for a million layups in a row a couple weeks back I see he still doesn't have it down yet defensively.

Any contrarian viewpoints? I've been impressed with Hibbert's all around game when I've seen him play the Wolves. Haven't watched him play enough against teams to see his weaknesses against "real" NBA teams. If I'm trading Jefferson for a better two-way player that's a better fit to our style of play, I don't want that player to have a massive weakness that is going to penalize us for having him on the court.

[Iommi]

Huh? That trade clearly isn't done to improve offense in the front court. It's done to balance the offense, improve ball movement, improve defense, and to get us running more. It's to prevent blackhole situations of a post player just pounding the rock.

Who told you Roy Hibbert could run? Or play defense?

I've also got a problem with any guy well over seven feet who couldn't average ten boards a game in college. His positioning in Thompson's offense took him out of position for a lot of offensive boards, but all the same, nine times out of ten weak rebounding numbers mean dude's a pussy.

[Krapinsky]

in a nutshell our frontcourt defense sucks because of how slow we play and guys can't seem to react in time to cut off lanes and block shots, whatever Hibbert gains in height is negated by his even worse foot speed. Watching him have absolutely no idea what to do when Monta Ellis was abusing him for a million layups in a row a couple weeks back I see he still doesn't have it down yet defensively.

Any contrarian viewpoints? I've been impressed with Hibbert's all around game when I've seen him play the Wolves. Haven't watched him play enough against teams to see his weaknesses against "real" NBA teams. If I'm trading Jefferson for a better two-way player that's a better fit to our style of play, I don't want that player to have a massive weakness that is going to penalize us for having him on the court.

Bogut abused him the other day. Hibbert really only matches up well with players that Jefferson matches up with well, so he doesn't really add a new dimension to our team.