Im sick of hearing about him.. Now this will end it! http://realgm.com/src_wiretap_archives/41994/20060822/the_deal_is_finally_done/
For real. I'm sure they could've found someone in the Rockets front office who could create $7.5m trade exceptions in his rectal cavity. I've seen people do it all the time.
1 The Pacers were in the position of strength in this negotiation because they were the only team that could avoid giving the Hawks a big salary in exchange for a SnT. Atlanta didn't want Troy Murphy or anybody else for Harrington. They wanted draft picks and money. That's it. They got the draft pick only. 2 Because of the salary cap, Harrington was dependent on the Hawks doing a SnT so he could get serious money. Donnie Walsh shows what negotiation is all about. There were other teams who would have given $60MM/6yrs to Harrington in a SnT but the Hawks would refuse to deal with them. The alternative to the Pacers deal was the Hawks get zero for Harrington and he goes out and maybe gets an MLE from someone if he's lucky. This deal fell into Indy's lap and they were smart enough to know it. Unlike last year when the Hawks were ripped off by the Suns when they could have gotten Joe Johnson for nothing. Everybody in the NBA, besides Billy Knight, knew the Suns wouldn't match his contract.
Good deal for Hawks, they dump salary, get a big TE, and a valuable 2007 1st round pick. As for Joe Johnson, how about they offered what they needed to give, for JJ to even consider going to such a lame duck franchise.
http://insider.espn.go.com/nba/insi...&source=NBAHeadlines&univLogin02=stateChanged Pacers show brains in Harrington deal By Chad Ford ESPN Insider It's not shocking to hear the words "great trade" when the team attached to the other end of the deal is the Atlanta Hawks. The Pistons heard it when they stole Rasheed Wallace from the Hawks at the trade deadline in 2004 -- a move that gave them the NBA title. The Suns heard it (albeit belatedly) when they got two first-round draft picks and Boris Diaw for Joe Johnson last summer. But in the case of the recently consummated Al Harrington trade, I'm letting Hawks GM Billy Knight off the hook. It wasn't Knight's incompetence that made this a great deal for the Pacers. It was the brilliant maneuvering of the Pacers' front office that made this deal, in my book, the best move of the summer. While the Bulls and Hornets made splashier signings in July with the acquisition of Ben Wallace and Peja Stojakovic respectively, both transactions had their share of thorns. For the Pacers, this one came up all aces. Here's why: 1. Harrington pushes the Pacers to next level. There were a lot of interesting signings and trades this summer, but how many of them clearly pushed a team into a different level of playoff contention? Wallace's addition to Chicago may have that effect. However, the Bulls still have enough question marks that it's unclear exactly how big of a push they'll get. To make Wallace's contract worth the expenditure, the Bulls are going to have to be competing in the Eastern Conference Finals. He might get them there (and beyond) but I'm not sold. Stojakovic will add a few W's to the Hornets' win column, but how many? Best case scenario is that they are a seventh or eighth seed in the West. Not sure that's worth $62 million. But Harrington puts the Pacers back in contention in the East, in part, because the Pacers didn't have to give up much to get him. You can argue that they ended up giving up Stojakovic (or, by extension, Ron Artest) to acquire the trade exception that landed Harrington, but given Artest's bad behavior and Stojakovic's injury history, I'd take Harrington (and his cheaper deal) any day. The thing that makes Harrington work in Indiana is two fold. One is his familiarity with the team. He'll be able to step right in and fit with his teammates and head coach Rick Carlisle's schemes. Two, his versatility gives the Pacers a number of options on the front line. They can play Jermaine O'Neal at the five, Harrington at the four and a combo of Danny Granger and Marquis Daniels at the three. Or they can play Jeff Foster in the middle, move O'Neal to the four and put Harrington at the three depending on matchups. He also gives the Pacers something else that they desperately needed, a reliable second scoring option that doesn't need the spotlight. Harrington will be cast perfectly in a supporting role in Indiana alongside O'Neal. When you factor in the Pacers other additions this summer -- Marquis Daniels, Darrell Armstrong, Maceo Baston, Shawne Williams and James White -- the Pacers are more athletic, more versatile and deeper than they've been the past few years. In my mind, the Pacers not only made the best move of the summer, they had the best summer, overall, of any team in the NBA. 2. They didn't overpay. The Pacers got a relative steal nailing down Harrington on a 4 year, $35 million dollar deal. By the market's ridiculous standards, that's a huge bargain. Coming into the off-season Harrington was ranked as the third or fourth best free agent out there. Wallace got $60 million over four years. Stojakovic got $62 million over five. Nene, coming off a year on the DL, got $60 million over six years. Jason Terry walked away with a six year, $50 million dollar deal. Even guys like Mike James, Nazr Mohammed and Vladimir Radmanovic pulled down $30 million. To get Harrington at roughly $25 million less than everyone thought he'd get goes down of the coup of the summer. Given owners increasing unwillingness to pay the luxury tax, cap flexibility is king. Landing a talent like Harrington on the cheap (as opposed to overpaying like almost every other team in the league did with free agents this summer) is a rarity these days. As it stands, even after signing Harrington, the Pacers are still millions under the luxury tax threshold and will be for the next three years. After that, they'll get significant cap flexibility again. A three year run -- that's what every team dreams for and the Pacers will have it without having to make a significant signing to their team. 3. They outsmarted the competition. Every step along the way, the Pacers front office of Larry Bird, Donnie Walsh and David Morway were a little smarter than everyone else they were negotiating against. It started this summer by wisely declining to go overboard to re-sign Stojakovic. They knew that criticism would be harsh. "They lost Ron Artest for nothing!" was the cry throughout much of the national and local media. But the Pacers had a plan. They just didn't clue us in until the deal finally happened. Stojakovic was 29 years old. The Hornets were willing to pay him for five years to the tune of $62 million. That would've been a millstone around the Pacers neck that they would've never recovered from. So, the team went back to the Hornets and asked for a sign-and-trade to get a whopping $7.5 million exception. To my knowledge it's the largest trade exception in the history of the NBA. The cost to the Pacers? Roughly two hundred grand. The result, the Pacers, who were way over the cap, suddenly had the equivalent of $7.5 million cap room. The Bulls and Hornets, two teams that had significant room, had already spent theirs. The Bobcats and Hawks, the other two teams that had lots of cap space, weren't going to spend theirs. That left the Pacers as the only team in the league that could facilitate one more big signing. By then, they already knew who their target would be -- Harrington. Atlanta didn't want to pay him and Harrington was loyal to Indiana after they had granted his trade demand two summers ago. Harrington learned that being the "go to guy" on a bad team was overrated and wanted to win again. His relationship with everyone in Indiana was strong, in part, because they treated him so well the first time. It was a deal that was going to happen, one way or the other. We wrung our hands over the on-again, off-again deal for the past month but the truth was always the same. As long as the Hawks were refusing to take back players in a trade and Harrington wanted more than a mid-level exception, there was only one team in the league that could make a deal happen -- the Pacers. While the Hawks demanded an extra three million in cash, the Pacers stuck to their guns. When Harrington demanded a six year, $57 million dollar deal, the Pacers held firm at four years, $35 million. All along they knew something that no one else in the league seemed to understand -- no one was going to come close to giving the Hawks or Harrington a better deal. This type of smart management and negotiation may be common place in the business world, but in the NBA it's rare to find a front office who understands the intricacies of the system and the market the way Walsh, Bird and Morway did. So when I see the Pacers' front office called "class clowns" in the Indianapolis Star I have to vehemently disagree. It's the exact opposite. The Pacers' front office was the proverbial smartest guys in the room. For a team everyone was writing off at the start of the summer, they are now in the same class as the Pistons, Bulls and Nets -- scratching at the door of the Heat for the Eastern Conference title. There are still questions, certainly. But there are a lot fewer than there were six weeks ago. If the old Jermaine O'Neal shows up ... if Jamaal Tinsley can stay healthy ... if Rick Carlisle will submerge his worst instincts and let this very athletic team run ... the Pacers have as good a shot as any team to play in the Eastern Conference Finals. Chad Ford covers the NBA for ESPN Insider.
you know i never really liked chad ford, but his analysis was right on. The pacers got tremendous value out of the harrington deal. Gawd, i wish our front office had that kind of foresight.
I disagree. I don't see why Harrington will be a very good player. He might be worth $7 million because guys who can play PF get paid that much, but he isn't cheap. He's certainly a lesser player than Artest or Stojakovic.
If Harrington is who the Pacers wanted, then they got him at a better price than I'd have expected. However, Chad Ford is insane to think this move puts the Pacers back in the same echelon as the Pistons, Cavs and Heat. Absolutely insane. Jermaine O'neal played 51 games last season and 44 games the season before that (yes, I know some of those were because of the suspension, but not all). I know Al Harrington is more durable than Peja and he's more mentally stable than Ron Artest, but he's not quite as good as Peja and he's nowhere near as good as Ron Artest. Chad Ford is talking about their depth, and it's better than the Rockets, certainly, but I'm not impressed by it at all. For them to be good, their depth better be their strength because if Jermaine O'neal and Al Harrington are their stars.... Well, who here would take that duo over Tracy McGrady and Yao Ming? Incidentally, O'neal only played 6 more games than McGrady last season and we all know he is nowhere near as good as McGrady, but he's their best player. So yeah, basically, I agree that they picked up Al Harrington at a nice price but I think Chad Ford is completely nuts to talk like they've had the strongest offseason of any team this year. I actually expect the Bulls to hand them their asses if they meet in the playoffs. The Bulls have depth.
Their backcourt is a mess and their outside shooting is suspect. Because of that they are not a serious challenger to represent the EC. The most improved/best offseason IMO belongs to: Minny (James was the value/contract FA steal of the season, I think Foye will be an impact rookie, they now have an explosive, athletic, backcourt) Chicago (don't like the cost of Ben W, but they have added excellent vets with him and Brown and they had a good draft with Thomas/Sefolosha) New Orleans (Chandler and Peja give them D and shooting around Paul, Butler and BJ are decent all around players who can shoot too, and OK with draft) Three teams deserve credit IMO for lemons (poor draft position and little given up) to lemonaid (something from it)--Dallas (Buckner, Johnson, Ager and George), Memphis (Gay, Swift), the Lakers (VR, Evans, Farmar), and NJ (Marcus Williams, Josh Boone, Hassan Adams, Eddie House). Toronto (Ford, Jones, Barg, Rasha, Parker) and Portland (Roy, Aldrige, Rodriguez) did well in drafts and/or acquisitions as well.
Atlanta does not "get a big trade exception". They get no trade exception, since they are under the cap. A trade exception is created when you are over the cap and complete a legal trade where you take back less salary then you send out. It's like a one-year coupon, allowing the team owning the exception to do the opposite within one year: make a legal trade where they take MORE less salary then they send out. Exceptions are not "traded" rather they are used by one team in a trade to allow bigger differences in salary than would normally be allowed. Atlanta does keep salary low and does get a top-10-protected #1 pick. jmwilliamson: Many who follow the Pacers expect Danny Granger to be nearly the equal of Harrington right now and likely surpassing him within a year or two. An O'Neal/Harrington/Granger frontcourt is pretty formidable. Defending the 2 or 3 good big centers in the league (Yao, Shaq, maybe Ilgauskas; though he is so slow that JO should run him ragged) is the only issue with Jermaine at C.
Yeah, I like Granger, and if O'neal stays healthy, I agree it's a formidable front court - but I don't think it's even as formidable as a front court of Yao/Battier/McGrady - and with a lousy backcourt, nobody is calling the Rockets contenders. The Pacers have a lot of the same problems the Rockets have - durability, weak shooting, weak backcourt. So yeah, my problem isn't with the move. I think the Pacers did as well as they could have considering their options - and I also agree letting Peja go was the smart thing for them to do. I just don't agree that they're anywhere near contender status right now.
I tend to agree that the backcourt situation of the Pacers and Rockets are similarly suspect, yet I think either has enough in the frontcourt to be a top 5 team in the East. But I'd say not at Detroit & Miami's level. Tinsley was once decent. He could be again, if healthy, and THEN I'd have more hopes. But I have no confidence that he will be healthy. With him for three years it's been a neverending string of minor injuries, none so great to require surgery. The backup strategy for PG to Tinsley being healthy seems to be to amass many backups and hope that one among Sarunas Jesi-whatever-acious, Orion Greene, and/or perhaps Marquis Daniels (Nellie used him at PG) steps up when Tinsley gets hurt. We in Pacerland hope for another trade landing someone like Andre Miller, but that seems unlikely given the low trade value of Jackson, Tinsley, and Jeff Foster and the loss of the 2007 #1 pick in the Al trade.
Good move by the Pacers, 4yrs. is seemingly an ideal contract length. Before its all said and done I think they'll find a deal for Jackson to give them some shooting in the backcourt. I'll be interested if they do something with Foster as well.
What I meant was the Hawks didn't need to trade for JJ. They gave up Diaw and two draft picks unnecessarily. JJ was a RFA but the Suns weren't going to match.
I just don't know why you didn't just stick with Tinsley and SJack with Jones and Johnson backing them up. Sarunas would then be the 5th guard and get PT if there were injuries (or they could dump him for salary, I'd maybe taken him for our TE). Now S Jack is the most reliable/well rounded guard you got, and he isn't that reliable. That team with the Oneal-Al-Granger frontline and Indy's front line depth could have been #2 in the East. But Daniels doesn't shoot as well as Johnson or Jones, and the backcourt moves were a step backwards in developing a late playoff team.
