Bender and I'm not talking about Judd Nelson in the Breakfast Club, as you all have heard there are some rumours swirling about Damp for Bender, does anyone know his contract? Plus I think this would be a coup for the W's to get a 23 year old, with five years experience on a playoff team, who is 6'11 and a good slasher and great 3 pt. shooter.
Bender's contract goes to 2007-2008, and is about $6.4 million with $800,000 raises each year. Thus they'll probably have to throw in another player/team to make it work under the cap.
Okay guys, time for a mostly unfounded trade rumor. The Indianapolis Star had a nice article today detailing the Pacer's desire for Damp. They didn't speculate about any potential trades, so I took the liberty of coming up with my own. http://www.indystar.com/articles/5/162221-5295-036.html While some people are thinking a trade might involve Bender going to the Warriors, the fact that he's got 3 years and 22+ mil left on his deal would probably keep Mullin from biting on the deal. My guess would be that if Mullin is seriously considering any Indiana trade, it's likely that he's going to demand that Ron Artest be involved. I was thinking of something like Artest and Pollard (who has 2 years and about 12 mil left on his deal) for Damp and either Richardson or Pietrus. By today's standards, Artest is underpaid. He'll be making roughly the same as Foyle the next 4 years (5.8 mil this year and 7.8 mil in '07/'08). It's likely that Richardson will be demanding a contract worth at least that much next year, and probably much more. Here's the logic behind why Indiana would do it: they got pushed around A LOT last year in the playoffs. Foster is a nice back up center, and O'neal is a power forward. What they need is a big starting center. If Damp were in the east, he'd instantly become the second best center there. Last year, during the playoff series with Detroit, Indiana was out rebounded in 6 of their 7 games and gave up as many as 19 offensive rebounds to Detroit in one game. Damp would definately put a stop to that. Besides, he's got a great track record against Shaq, and has said he likes Indiana. Indiana has Stephon Jackson coming to them from the Harrington deal, and he should be able to replace any scoring they lose by trading Artest. If Pietrus is involved in the trade, he'd replace Artest as the team's best on the ball defender. As for the Warriors, they get a potential all star who is signed to a very reasonable deal and a back up big man who's contract expires in two years. If Pietrus is traded for Artest, Artest would probably start and sf and Dunleavy would go to the bench. If Richardson is traded for Artest, Artest would start at sg, and the Warriors would have one of the best defensive tandems in the league whenever Pietrus and Aretest were on the floor together. The more I think about this deal, the more I like it, whether it includes Pietrus or Richardson. Of course the big question is whether Mullin and Montgomery want to deal with a head case like Artest. If they think they can handle him, his deal really makes him one of the best "value players" in the league.
Whoops, sorry for the multiple threads, I guess I was writing mine while you were posting yours. We (and by we I mean Rudeezy or any mod that happens by... :mrgreen: ) should probably combine these threads. I'm on record as being against the deal if Bender is the best guy coming over here. He makes way too much money for my tastes and has yet to produce.
He's 23 though it's like when Indy stole Jermaine from the Blazers, I went to school at UofO so I watched a ton of Blazer games from 96-2000, and you could tell that O'Neal was going to be a stud. I would love him.
<div class="quote_poster">Quoting wtwalker77:</div><div class="quote_post">Whoops, sorry for the multiple threads, I guess I was writing mine while you were posting yours. We (and by we I mean Rudeezy or any mod that happens by... :mrgreen: ) should probably combine these threads. I'm on record as being against the deal if Bender is the best guy coming over here. He makes way too much money for my tastes and has yet to produce.</div>I dunno Walker, the guy was behind two other forwards (Al Harrington/Ron Artest) on the Pacers and he only got 13 minutes a game on average after coming back from being injured for most of the year. Plus, if you look at his field goal percentage, 3 point fg percentage, and his free throw percentage, they all were up in those limited minutes he played (he managed to score double digits on us twice and other teams in those limited minutes). Also I remember he was just killing the Warriors playing the 2 or 3 spots (5 of 6 shooting the first game and 6/11 the second). Now normally, I don't like players that are defensive wussies (Bender kinda is sometimes), but this guy is athletic enough and has a long enough step to stay in front of his man once he develops a better defensive smarts and attitude. Plus he's a decent shotblocker which I love. I think he'll break out sooner no doubt about it, it's just that he couldn't get into the rotation with so many power forwards and small forwards in the lineup. Plus, I don't know if he fits in with the current chemistry of Pacers. I mean you got Harrington and Foster who will hustle and do the dirty work and you got scoring with Jermaine O'neil (PF)Artest(G/F)/Miller(G) and also Harrington at both forward positions.
Artest kind of scares me but I respect his defensive game. Yo Rudeezy can we move this article and combine it with the thread titled "Bender" This would be some interesting scenarios involving Bender/Artest or somebody if the Pacers are that eager to move one or the other.
<div class="quote_poster">Quoting custodianrules2:</div><div class="quote_post">Artest kind of scares me but I respect his defensive game. Yo Rudeezy can we move this article and combine it with the thread titled "Bender"</div>Done. <div class="quote_poster">Quote:</div><div class="quote_post"> This would be some interesting scenarios involving Bender/Artest or somebody if the Pacers are that eager to move one or the other.</div>I would welcome Artest with open arms. The question is, who would be included in the deal: J-Rich or Pietrus? Could you imagine Artest and Pietrus on the floor at the same time? Talk about causing havoc on defense.
<div class="quote_poster">Quoting Rudeezy:</div><div class="quote_post">Done. I would welcome Artest with open arms. The question is, who would be included in the deal: J-Rich or Pietrus? Could you imagine Artest and Pietrus on the floor at the same time? Talk about causing havoc on defense.</div>Yeah that would be pretty crazy. I think I would enjoy watching a game where the other team was just dying to try and score. Thanks Rudeezy.
<div class="quote_poster">Quoting custodianrules2:</div><div class="quote_post">Yeah that would be pretty crazy. I think I would enjoy watching a game where the other team was just dying to try and score. Thanks Rudeezy.</div> Especially since in the past few years, sometimes we were that team! I liked that trade proposal Walker, and I gave it my thoughts in the rumor thread. In my opinion, defense and turnovers do create a lot of offense, and that's why trading Artest for J-Rich, who is our best finisher in transition, still would work out beneficially on the offensive side.
<div class="quote_poster">Quoting Zhone:</div><div class="quote_post">Especially since in the past few years, sometimes we were that team! </div> I'm having flashbacks of the 4th quarter of the Warriors collapse against the Magic.
The idea of having Pietrus and Artest on the floor together is really what got me thinking about the trade. They would be one of the best defensive tandems (mind you I'm saying DEFENSE ONLY) since Pippen and Jordan. I went around to Pacer boards on a few other sites and here's the way most Pacer fanse see Bender: He's got a ton of potential, and there are times when he does things with a basketball that only one or two other guys in the league can (like Odom and Nowitzki). But at the same time he's frustrating the heck out of Indiana fans because he just can't quite seem to put it together on a consistent basis (sort of like what Warrior fans have gone through with Richardson, but WAY worse). They're very scared that he'll wind up blossoming for another team, so they're really afraid to give him up and would jump at the chance to sign him to an extension of his huge deal. I don't know though, I haven't been seduced by his potential yet, so his price tag is enough to scare me off. The thing I like about Artest is that even though he's a head case, at that contract price, he's always going to be movable. And he was much better behaved this year than he was last year, so it looks like things are improving. By the way, have you guys read any of the in depth articles on him, he's a really interesting guy. Apparently, off the court he's one of the nicest guys in the world. He just has had this out of control temper since he was a young kid. But at least he acknowledges that it's a problem and he's been seeking help for it.
<div class="quote_poster">Quoting Rudeezy:</div><div class="quote_post">I'm having flashbacks of the 4th quarter of the Warriors collapse against the Magic.</div>The Toronto one was worse. 2 points??? Man Walk I like the sound of having Artest already if it can be done.
<div class="quote_poster">Quoting custodianrules2:</div><div class="quote_post">The Toronto one was worse. 2 points???</div>Oh yea, that is the one I was thinking about. The Magic one was pretty bad as well though.
Artest supposedly had a meltdown after a Detroit game where he wouldn't get on the plane to go play the next game. He had to be persuaded to get on. The man has tons of talent but not getting on that plane really made him the focus of trade talks. Huge red flag.
<div class="quote_poster">Quote:</div><div class="quote_post"> Dampier was stalling on accepting lucrative offers from Atlanta and Denver in the hope that the New York Knicks would be able to acquire him from the Warriors in a sign-and-trade deal, according to the Associated Press. One factor working in the Knicks' favor was their willingness to take on Evan Eschmeyer's bloated contract, and there were several multi-team trade possibilities being discussed, an NBA source told the Associated Press.</div> http://www.mercurynews.com/mld/mercurynews...ors/9159029.htm
Man think about the defensive team we could have if everything would pan out. Speedy Petrius Artest Biedrens/Murphy/Cisse Foyle Man if everyone played up to their potential on defense, we could have the Western Confernce All Defensive First team all being Warriors.
<div class="quote_poster">Quoting Warriorfansnc93:</div><div class="quote_post"> Speedy Petrius Artest Biedrens/Murphy/Cisse Foyle </div>We would need Murphy ahead of Biedrens or we wouldn't score any points.
Rudeezy, that's funny how they describe "Eschmeyer's bloated contract" in that article. Don't the knicks have tons of bloated contracts as well? Shanden Andersen? Tim Thomas? Mutombo? Who else am I missing? Moochie? Afernee Hardaway? If we do a 3 team trade we better not get any of the Knicks players. Man... I'm dying here.
