Bird says Williams "on thin ice" and Tinsley "for sale"

[greenway84]

By Conrad Brunner | June 24, 2008

Eric Gordon could suddenly be factoring into the Pacers' plans. Jamaal Tinsley, on the other hand, no longer does – and the same might be true of Shawne Williams.

Addressing emerging speculation the Indianapolis native and Indiana University standout could slip to the Pacers' No. 11 pick in Thursday's NBA Draft, Bird said he'd "take a hard look" at Gordon if that scenario unfolded. Though the general consensus of draft experts has the Pacers focused on selecting a point guard to replace the troubled Tinsley, Bird said that wasn't necessarily the case.

"I'm not really worried about the point guard situation," he said, "because I know there are some things out there we can do to get a good point guard, maybe two of them."

He then added, "and we've got one for sale."

Please visit the link below for the rest of the article.
http://www.nba.com/pacers/news/draft_080624.html

[Da_James_Gang]

I dont see what they could get for jamal with that contract, i think bird should just suck it up and buy him out. What kind of injury did he have last season?

The only thing i can think of is jaric for tinsley if the wolves would go for it. Atleast jaric is solid defensively and can play pg,sg, and sf....... His contract is very similar to tinsley's and both have 3 years left. If the wolves take lopez instead of mayo or move up to get beasley i think the wolves would consider that because they would still be looking for a pg...

[greenway84]

Mike Wells wrote:

Bird also acknowledged Danny Granger and Mike Dunleavy are the closest players to being untouchable on the roster.

[PR07]

They should hold onto Shawne Williams. His value isn't going to be where it could be with the off the court incidents, and I think this will be the last we'll see of those although I could be wrong. He's like what 22? This isn't a 27 year old like Tinsley. If you get rid of Tinsley, I think you aren't in bad shape if Shawne is considered your most rotten apple although Daniels is close.

[IndieRuso420]

I heard this on ESPN1070, but I think Bird is holding onto Williams. I hope they trade Tinsley, but it's going to be tough because he basically has negative value.

[greenway84]

I think Tinsley, Daniels, Harrison, Williams, and even Rush need to be gone. Now I know Rush hasnt had any issues but he just strikes me as a potential issue. Harrison is already gone. Rush is already gone. Tinsley is on his way out. I think we should be able to trade away Williams to Portland. I also think maybe if we package Ike and Daniels with our #41 we could get some qaulity back.

[cdash]

You get the impression that in the next week, at least one trade will go down with us...and not one of the "Future second round pick for Stanko Barac" variety. I have to say, its kind of exciting.

[joew8302]

What would trading Williams do? Yes he has off the court problems, but he is what, 20? Bird felt so good about him two years ago he really reached for him. I am scared that Bird could be so confident about him, knowing he was very young, and two years later he is ready to give up on him. That doesn't sit well with me and seems foolish.

I also believe Tinsley has been available for a long time now. I just don't see many teams biting on him. I would be fine with Jaric for Tinsley deal too.

[cdash]

What would trading Williams do? Yes he has off the court problems, but he is what, 20? Bird felt so good about him two years ago he really reached for him. I am scared that Bird could be so confident about him, knowing he was very young, and two years later he is ready to give up on him. That doesn't sit well with me and seems foolish.

I also believe Tinsley has been available for a long time now. I just don't see many teams biting on him. I would be fine with Jaric for Tinsley deal too.

I had the exact same reaction when I first read it. After giving it a little more thought, I am hoping that he was just trying to send a message to Shawne.

[granger05]

I don't like the idea of dealing Williams either. He's young yet and has shown some talent. His knucklehead issues aren't of the egregious variety, just of the immature variety IMO. I was confused by the article's assertion that we had a glut of talent at the SG position. I thought maybe I had just woken up from a coma and was wondering what year it was.

I like Bird's news conferences. He should do this more often and just call everyone out in turn. This is OT, but I've wondered why we haven't tried to get some later picks to use on the Euros whose contract situations are affecting their draft stock. Every year there's some guy that may pull a Fran Vazquez and so he slips. What's the point of having a GM whose one of the most famous basketball players of all time if you can't send him to foreign countries to strike awe into young prospects who watched him on the dream team. "I think you should come and play for us next year." "OK, Mr. Bird...sir."

[pacershereiam]

I liked the interview. There is a video up on indystar.com . I think we should hold onto Williams. I really like him. I like the fact we are looking in the teens and low 20s for a draft pick. Foster? I also like that he has a way to get us a good point guard if not two. Should be a good offseason.

GO PACERS

[mizzoupacers]

Man, this makes me wonder just how much worse Tinsley is behind the scenes than we know. That's some pretty harsh stuff.

Williams too. I kinda figured he just needed to grow up...maybe not, maybe behind the scenes he's hopeless too.

Just another banner day in Pacerland! We don't want our players hanging around with murderers, and our point guard is for sale beneath thin ice.

[glasket]

I also hope that we keep Williams. I think it was more of a wake up call to Shawne.

I hope we can salvage something for Tinsley, even if it is a future second round pick and some expiring.

[Wizop]

wake up call. why would you publicly say a player was on thin ice if you really wanted to trade him? that would depress his value.

[joew8302]

There are a lot of questions that need to be answered about Bird as GM in my opinion. I don't see any reason to say Williams is on thin ice if it isn't true. There are a lot better ways to get his attention than having the GM go public IMO.

[cdash]

There are a lot of questions that need to be answered about Bird as GM in my opinion. I don't see any reason to say Williams is on thin ice if it isn't true. There are a lot better ways to get his attention than having the GM go public IMO.

Perhaps he has tried. I think it was a wake up call to a young guy who, my guess is, still hanging out with some of his loser friends that latched onto him from high school. If Bird wanted to trade him, he would have labeled him "for sale" or "below thin ice". Haha, I thought those comments were hilarious.

[basketballwacko2]

I dont see what they could get for jamal with that contract, i think bird should just suck it up and buy him out. What kind of injury did he have last season?

The only thing i can think of is jaric for tinsley if the wolves would go for it. Atleast jaric is solid defensively and can play pg,sg, and sf....... His contract is very similar to tinsley's and both have 3 years left. If the wolves take lopez instead of mayo or move up to get beasley i think the wolves would consider that because they would still be looking for a pg...

I say no to the buy out idea every time unless the guy just can't play. If you buy the guy out his contract still sits there on your cap. Teams are still handicapped by players that they bought out and once he's bought out you can never trade off the contract. Put him at the end of the bench or suspend him but I wouldn't buy him out, I don't see a point, he gets pay'd to play somewhere else? We could move JT for something but it won't be worth much and will be something like Jaric or Jeffries of NYK. If you look at JT as a 3yr contract, deal him for a 2 yr contract who doesn't have the baggage and next year he is expiriing that maybe the best you can hope for. Another Idea would be to combine JT with Shawne but you're still looking at a guy with 2 or 3 yrs left on his deal.

[xxSnEaKyPxx]

There are a lot of questions that need to be answered about Bird as GM in my opinion. I don't see any reason to say Williams is on thin ice if it isn't true. There are a lot better ways to get his attention than having the GM go public IMO.

I disagree with that. I'm assuming that Bird has already tried to get Shawne's attention numerous times. I can only imagine this is his last resort thinking. Sometimes when a guy has a huge ego, public humiliation is sadly the only thing that gets to them.

I'm not saying that Shawne has a huge ego or anything, I'm just talking about your quote and how I am sure they have tried to talk to Shawne privately before just randomly saying this.

[Grang33r]

There are a lot of questions that need to be answered about Bird as GM in my opinion. I don't see any reason to say Williams is on thin ice if it isn't true. There are a lot better ways to get his attention than having the GM go public IMO.

I disagree with that. I'm assuming that Bird has already tried to get Shawne's attention numerous times. I can only imagine this is his last resort thinking. Sometimes when a guy has a huge ego, public humiliation is sadly the only thing that gets to them.

I'm not saying that Shawne has a huge ego or anything, I'm just talking about your quote and how I am sure they have tried to talk to Shawne privately before just randomly saying this.

Couldn't agree more, when i read Joe's post i was going to write pretty much the same thing. I am pretty sure this means things are much worse with Tinsley AND Williams then fans even know. I think we've run into a dead end with both players and their futures in Indiana are very limited. Both are talented players but we are fixing our image and we can't hold onto them any longer, some team will give us a deal, will it be a good one it's yet to be seen but i think Williams and Tinsley are doomed in Indiana.

[Scoot McGroot]

I also hope that we keep Williams. I think it was more of a wake up call to Shawne.

I hope we can salvage something for Tinsley, even if it is a future second round pick and some expiring.

I don't see us getting an expiring back for Jamaal Tinsley at all. I see us possibly getting a deal like Tinsley straight up for Tim Thomas to the Clippers. We'd save a year in salary, and get a guy that clutters the SF/PF rotation, but if we deal JO for a deal like Ford/Rasho/#17, we'd be relatively ok as we could pick Chalmers at #17 and have Ford, Chalmers, and Diener at PG; Diogu, Murphy, and Thomas at PF, and Rasho and Foster at center.


We'd be relatively ok at that point and be able to add the best player available at #11 whether it be a Brook Lopez, Darrell Arthur, or possibly even an Eric Gordon type player.