Bird: Pacers are McGradys 2nd choice

That's not good.

 

Exactly.

 

Well, naturally they're his second choice. They're the only ones left.

 

I'm afraid that now Orlando was able to pick up Nelson, they might opt for a Artest/Harrington offer from Indy.

Nelson
Artest
Harrington
D. Howard
DeClerq

 

It sounds like he expects the Hou deal to be done and if it happens to fall through, then they will see what they can do. Coangelo (GM forthe Sun), it was posted somewhere on this baord, said on a radio show after the draft that he has always believed the Rockets deal done.

 

if tmac really was willing to sign with indy, orlando must have been asking for artest, harrington, Tinsley and more.

if this is true, weisbrod has just been prolonging this whole thing to see if Indy would give up all of that, which they won't. why the hell woudl bird kill a team that is near championship quality.

 

If Indiana gives up Harrington, Artest, and Bender, does the team really look that attractive with just O'Neal, an old Reggie, an average point in Tinsley, a fringe bench player in Croshere, and Foster. To me, that team would have faired even worse against Detroit.

 

Why would the magic trade for 2 small forwards? Ron Artest could be considered a shooting guard, except he's not much of a shooter. Besides, is that deal better than a stud point guard, a solid 2, and a solid big man?

 

Bird will most likely...

So he can...

He ain't no dummy.

 

http://www.indystar.com/articles/6/157700-9326-036.html

With the 29th pick, the Indiana Pacers select David Harrison, from the University of Colorado.

That's it?

C'mon, Larry. C'mon, Rick.

That's it?

No. That's not it.

That's not even close to being it for the Indiana Pacers.

There still are a lot of dramatic things the Pacers can do and will do before the new season begins. And one of those things could involve Tracy McGrady.

"I'm curious to see what July brings," Pacers coach Rick Carlisle said shortly after the finish of Thursday night's NBA draft. "By standing pat now, this simply strengthens our position later."

Exactly.

While they don't see any reason to break up a 61-victory team -- and they shouldn't feel any such compulsion -- they will shake things up in the next couple of weeks. There's no NBA rule that says that just because you don't make an earthshaking move on draft night, you can't or won't make a deal when league business opens back up on July 15.

"Everybody gets caught up in the draft," said team president Larry Bird, whose first draft will be best remembered for what didn't happen. "But when you have an opportunity to get to free agency and make some trades in July, you look at different situations, everybody calms down and they get a better feel for their team."

Here's the proper way to look at the Pacers' lack of activity Thursday night: By doing nothing, they gave themselves the chance to do something -- possibly a really big something -- later on.

Remember, McGrady still is on the market. The Houston deal was supposed to be done, but then Steve Francis began balking at the idea of playing for the Magic. Later, there was talk about the Magic making a deal with the Phoenix Suns. That, though, appeared to vanish when Chicago dealt with Phoenix to get the seventh pick in the draft.

Bird said late Thursday night, he has been told that Indiana is McGrady's second choice behind Houston, and he would be willing to sign a long-term deal to remain here.

That's no small thing.

"We're still in discussions, and obviously McGrady is high on our list," Bird said. "It's according to what happens with Houston. If something breaks down there, we won't wait all summer, but we'll listen."

Now, that's not to say a deal for McGrady is imminent, or even likely. But he's still in play. The Pacers didn't move any of their better pieces, namely Al Harrington, so they still have the freedom to move him in another deal.

"One thing we've learned the last two, three days, Al's got huge value," Carlisle said. "The phone's been ringing off the hook."

Take this to your local savings and loan:

At least one of the Pacers' small forwards will not be on this roster when the season begins. Odds are, that's going to be Harrington, who wants to start and needs a change of scenery. But it could involve Ron Artest, who is not considered untouchable. It could involve almost anybody not named Jermaine O'Neal.

As for draft night itself, well, it reminded me of my prom night: Filled with so much promise, delivering so lamentably little. And to think, I rented a tux.

What's that line from Macbeth? "Full of sound and fury, signifying nothing."

For weeks, there's been talk, big talk, occasionally crazy talk. Rumors were flying. The Pacers were trading. The Pacers were moving. The Pacers were going to bring the roof down on Draft Night 2004.

Then, when the Cleveland Cavaliers chose Bird wanna-be Luke Jackson at No. 10, it seemed a mere formality, that in a few moments, NBA commissioner David Stern would get up there on the stage in New York and giddily announce, "We have a trade to report."

Time passed. And passed. And passed some more. And then, around 9:14 Hoosier time, Stern made the big announcement:

With the 29th pick, the Indiana Pacers select David Harrison, from the University of Colorado.

Yippee.

They just replaced Primoz Brezec.

Maybe we should have taken Bird more seriously the other day when he said he was "scared to death" he would lose Brezec to Charlotte in the expansion draft.

Let's just say the parade plans have been put on hold.

Draft night was a snooze, a bore, a foreign film with subtitles.

But things will get interesting around here this summer.

Just not quite yet.

 

Francis with all of his faults was a top 10 performer in 2000-2003 with the exception of the migraine year. Last year his stock dropped. No doubt. But mostly wiith Rockets fans and maybe some knowlegdable people within the league but most fans think of steve as a star.

None of Indy players (except ONeil) are star players. Artest proved he is n't a franchise player when he played on the Bulls. Harrington is good but I would say that Mobley is better than him. By far Francis is the best player being offered to Orlando. Shawn Marion may be the next closest player.

Francis from day 1 has lead the Rockets. He is the MVP of 95% of our games. In the year 2002 he lead the Rockets in every major category. When he was hurt or would get ejected I would stop watching the game because I knew we would lose. The worst was when he was heart for a month and we lost 19 in a row.

 

The winner of any trade is the team that gets the best player. If we trade Francis and others for McGrady, that's us.

The same principle applies to the loser of any trade. At least get the best you can for your star player. The best trade you can get is the trade that gets you the best player any of the suitors are offering. In this case, the best player being offered is Steve Francis.

Therefore, in terms of talent, Orlando should take our offer.

If Orlando doesn't take our offer, the only sensible explanation is that they've decided it's better to take players from a third team who aren't as good as Francis in terms of talent, but at least are happy to play in Orlando. In other words, Francis will have vetoed the deal.

So here are today's requests.

To Steve Francis: Go smooth over every feather you ruffled in Orlando with the I-don't-want-to-play-for-them comments you put out through your agents earlier this week. If you do this well, the deal will go through, and your obstruction will be forgotten.

To Carroll Dawson: Leak word this morning that you have arranged a backup deal to ship Francis to the Clippers or some other destination that will scare the bejeezus out of him. Make clear to him that as far as his future is concerned, the alternatives to the Orlando deal will be worse.

To Ron Artest, Jamaal Tinsley, Al Harrington, and Jonathan Bender: Have sources close to you tell the media today that you don't want to play in Orlando, either. Steve Francis is trying to force you there by playing this game with the media. If you don't play it back, he'll win and you'll lose.

To Tracy McGrady: You're one of the best players in the NBA. Don't let Steve Francis determine where you go. Every "second choice" or "third choice" you name gives him control over your future by encouraging those teams to bid for your services. If you want your first choice, you need to tell the Pacers today that you are NOT promising to re-up with them after next season.

Thank you. This has been a self-service announcement.

 

I've been running my fantasy basketball teams for years based on that rule, and I have been winning four years in a row .

 

I think some of what you suggested is considered tampering.

 

Will, CF.net's resident evil genius...

"I WILL NOT TOLERATE FAILURE!"

 

The one concerning CD isn't. All it takes is a little blurb like "We respect and admire Steve's loyalty to Houston, but after it was known that Steve was no longer untouchable, we were truly surprised by some of the offers we received. Obviously, we can't name names and some of the deals would definitely not be of equal talent to Steve.....but we were quite surprised at the level of interest".

And it's not tampering if it's not in the press:

CD: "Steve, I realize my mistake in not keeping you in the loop on the possibility of a McGrady trade. Just an FYI....Donald Sterling called and likes you nearly as much as he likes Shaq and Kobe...he told me so".

 

Anyone realize that the only person who has said McGrady would sign with Indy is Larry Bird? Every other report includes the phrase "McGrady contines to insist he will only sign a long-term extension with Houston..."

 

Jeff,

The ironic thing is, back in the 80s, Larry Bird was maybe the most hated man in Houston sports circles.

If Indy gets TMac, Bird will resume that spot that he gave up to Malone in the 90s.