Full article here: <div class='quotetop'>QUOTE </div><div class='quotemain'>An interesting week for all three Pacers fans left in Indianapolis. First, Pacers owner Herb Simon intimated big changes were coming. He probably had a pretty good idea already what we learned today: nobody's going to see these guys. They're last in the league in attendance. Having attended a couple games, I can say it's not just the product on the court that's the problem, although the product on the court certainly isn't very good. A real killer is that the service I've gotten is the worst I've had at an NBA arena. Sitting in the Club section, I once ordered a beer and never got it. I got a couple excuses and "it'll be right outs" before I just said never mind to the waitress. When you can't even serve up a beer you've got problems.</div>
So...should they just pull a Memphis, and trade away Jermaine for expiring contracts? They have a whole mess of players with long, ugly contracts. Blowing up the Pacers really seems easier said than done.
Nope, what I wrote is I'd like to see a lottery pick coming back for him. For example, something on the order of O'Neal and Tinsley for Marbury (expiring and likely to be bought ought), Jerome James (or Q Richardson or Jared Jefferies or whomever) and the Knicks #1 pick (likely to be top 5) would do the trick. You break even, at worst, on Tinsley, financially, but try for a shorter and cheaper contract coming back. You save $25M or so by swapping O'Neal for Marbury. And you get a guy like OJ Mayo or Jerryd Bayless to go along with your own lottery pick. I'd say the best case scenario is you pull off a trade like that and your draft picks really hit. Suppose just for argument's sake that you hit on your draft picks, then i think you've got a pretty fair chance of getting somewhere good. Or at least better than they are now. I spose what it comes down to is how much you're on the hype train of guys like Mayo or Bayless, and whether you take one of them. Personally I do at least think Mayo has superstar talents. Whether he's got a superstar head remains to be seen.
I'd love that deal. Get rid of the team cancer (Tinsley) and you can just waive Marbury, but the pick has to be the best part. Draft Brook Lopez, and with the 11th get DJ Augustin and if those two guys develop, you have a good point guard and a good center to build around. This would be our roster without re signing anybody and after the deal is done. DJ Augustin/Travis Diener Mike Dunleavy/Marquis Daniels Danny Granger/Shawne Williams Troy Murphy/Ike Diogu Brook Lopez/Jeff Foster You gotta love that roster, think about it. Two young capable point guards, two good wingmen and good backups, and 4 decent big men (although not the best defensively). Offensively, we'd be set. We might have problems defensively, if not inevitably, but its a start.
