| Morway Prepares For First Offseason As GM Authored by Andrew Perna - May 23, 2008 - 3:41 pm
| Current Featured Columns | | Merry Christmas, Raptors Fans The Raptors might not be playing good basketball right now, but there are plenty of things for Toronto fans to be thankful for this holiday season.
A Melo Behind The SuperstarsCarmelo Anthony has never been one of the league's most efficient offensive players.
 |
Maynor Using Utah’s Resources
Eric Maynor is an increasingly rare four-year, small college rookie. He sat down with RealGM to discuss how his first few weeks of NBA life has gone and what he has learned from Deron Williams and Jerry Sloan.
|
 |
Why LeBron To The Clippers Makes Sense
LeBron James already plays for a perennial underdog in Cleveland, but moving to the Clippers would allow him to do so in a huge market and with a core that will immediately compete for championships while also having an encouraging long term outlook.
|
 |
‘Home-Heavy Schedule’ Brings Question Marks
The Heat have been plagued by inconsistencies, making it difficult to determine how good they really are this season.
|
|
More from RealGM's Columnists
|
| |
He’s no stranger to the Pacers organization, having served in the front office for the last ten years – most recently as the senior vice president of basketball operations. No one can debate his experience, but his promotion will not make his job any easier in Indiana.
Unlike the Bulls, the Pacers weren’t lucky during Tuesday night’s Lottery and hold the eleventh pick in June’s Draft, as expected.
“We just want to get better. Every team other than the NBA champions will be looking to do the same thing as well,” Morway said before Tuesday’s Lottery.
Unfortunately for Indiana, getting better won’t be an easy task.
They don’t have the cap room to make a splash in the free agent market or the most tradable pieces, with a host of players carrying long-term, expensive contracts.
Point guard Jamaal Tinsley is one of the players that will not be easy to move this summer. His contract isn’t all that expensive when you look at the economy of today’s NBA, but his inability to stay healthy and off-court issues make him a tough sell. The Pacers are still confident in his talent, but changes have to be made and the much-maligned passer seems to be at the front of the line.
“Jamaal is an excellent point guard, when healthy. We saw that when he played 72 games for us last season (2006-07) and at the beginning of his career,” Morway said. “It’s just that health has been a huge issue.”
Tinsley appeared in just 39 games for Indiana this season, and missed a combined 82 games during the 2004-05 and 2005-06 seasons.
The Pacers cap issues aren’t expected to improve anytime soon as their only unrestricted free agents are Kareem Rush and Flip Murray. Both players appear to be candidates to return next season, but as we saw this past year, that’s not going to bring Indiana back into the playoff picture.
David Harrison and Andre Owens are both restricted free agents, and there is no reason to believe they will be retained past July 1st. Unfortunately, their contracts aren’t large enough to free up any significant cap room.
Jermaine O’Neal, who has had health issues of his own, has an early-termination option in his contract, but hasn’t given the team any reason to believe he will exercise it.
“Jermaine hasn’t given us any indication that he will opt out,” Morway said of the All-Star forward. “We don’t anticipate that he will, but we also feel as though he’d give us notice. It would have a huge impact on what we do in free agency, if only because of the amount of money that would be freed up.”
O’Neal is owed roughly $20 million next season, money that could be used to sign new blood. However, if he did leave the team the void left in the paint would be hard to fill through trades, free agency or the draft.
Elton Brand, Shawn Marion, Gilbert Arenas, Baron Davis and Corey Maggette all have the same early-termination option as O’Neal, and seemingly could be signed if J.O. decided to bolt, but at this point Indiana doesn’t appear to have the ability to attract such marquee names.
The thought of seeing any of those players in blue-and-gold is simply a pipe-dream, as it is more likely that pigs will fly than O’Neal will pass up the guaranteed money that he won’t get on the open market.
The Pacers will have to do their best to fortify their roster through the draft, where they hold the 11th and 41st selections.
Their needs are glaring in two areas, in the post and at the point. With the likes of Danny Granger, Mike Dunleavy and Shawne Williams they appear set at the wing positions, especially if they decide to bring either Rush or Murray back for another season.
Point guard is the more-pressing need, because of doubts about Tinsley’s health and whether or not he’ll even be in Indiana later this year. That leads many to believe that Morway and team president Larry Bird will opt to select a passer with the 11th pick, something most would agree with.
“We’re definitely looking towards a point guard or a big in this draft,” Morway confirmed.
A majority of expert Mock Drafts predict that the Pacers will grab D.J. Augustin next month, something they should do if he’s available when David Stern comes calling. His quickness is something this Indiana team needs, especially in Jim O’Brien’s up-tempo offense. He’s smaller than Tinsley, but he should still be effective enough to perform well alongside the team’s talented wings.
If someone ahead of Indiana grabs Augustin, there is a chance that a player like Russell Westbrook will be available.
Westbrook could fill the point void as well, and he brings a much larger frame to the position. He’s also a menace defensively, something the Pacers need more than they’d like to admit. His offense isn’t as polished, and he isn’t as creative with the ball as Augustin, but Indiana does have potent scorers in Granger and Dunleavy to relieve some of the pressure of the now-former Bruin.
O’Neal could also be a force again if he remains healthy.
If Morway and Bird decide to draft a big man, DeAndre Jordan seems like the most plausible option. Mock Drafts that don’t list Augustin going to Indiana often cite Jordan as the team’s selection.
He won’t be overly effective right away, but opting to take Jordan could be a signal that the Pacers are finally willing to concede that they need to rebuild without worrying about making the playoffs.
Unfortunately, drafting eleventh rarely yields the type of player that Indiana so desperately needs to help quicken the pace of their turnaround.
Of the 28 players drafted eleventh since the 1980, only a few jump off the page. The ones that do, however, were taken in the eighties while a handful of disappointments appear in recent drafts.
These are the players there were picked 11th from 1994-2000: Carlos Rogers, Gary Trent, Todd Fuller, Olivier Saint-Jean, Bonzi Wells, Trajan Langdon and Jerome Moiso.
Wells is the only name in that lot that has had any type of success in the league, something the Pacers are looking for out of their pick this year.
Someone like Andris Biedrins (’04), Allan Houston (’93), Terrell Brandon (’91) or even Kevin Willis (’84) would certainly help.
Historically, NBA teams may not have the best track record when it comes to using the eleventh pick, but Indiana has had moderate success with the selection in the past.
Who did they take the last time they held the eleventh pick?
Reggie Miller, a scrawny shooting guard out of UCLA.
Andrew Perna is a Senior Writer for RealGM. Please feel free to contact him via e-mail with comments or questions on this piece: Andrew.Perna@RealGM.com. |
