| Will A Wild Season Lead to A Wilder Summer? Authored by Andrew Perna - May 7, 2006 - 1:44 pm
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Anyone outside of Indiana might consider making the playoffs this season to be an achievement, but a second-straight season of turmoil and unfulfilled potential has worn many Hoosier’s patience thin.
On more than one occasion several Pacers have been the subject of boos from the home crowd at Conseco Fieldhouse. President Larry Bird and CEO Donnie Walsh’s comments in recent months have led many to believe that change is on the horizon in Indianapolis.
How dramatic will the change be?
It’ll likely take the entire summer to find out.
The most dramatic of trade rumors have involved new franchise cornerstone Jermaine O’Neal. Last summer with Reggie Miller leaving for retirement, Bird declared O’Neal the Pacer’s new leader. He expressed his confidence in O’Neal’s ability to lead the team. If he faltered, Bird said, the Pacers would reconsider their plans to build around him.
That has led Jermaine to become involved in several trade rumors, all of which the Pacers have fluffed off as media-created drama. Rumors have him headed anywhere from Chicago to New York, while O’Neal himself has expressed confidence that he’ll remain a Pacer for years to come.
Dealing Jermaine might be a little too drastic for a team that already lacks perimeter scoring and defense. And that’s with O’Neal, one of the league’s most talented two-way players. It’s much more likely that the Pacers will trade away either injury-prone Jamaal Tinsley or short-tempered Stephen Jackson.
The Pacers are too talented to clean house and begin at square one, but they do have three major decisions to make this offseason:
(1) What should they look for in June’s draft?
The Pacers will have a big decision to make as to what they want to do with their 17th draft pick this June. Will they use it to draft a much needed big body, or maybe to fulfill a possible vacancy at the point guard? If I was Bird I would try to package Tinsley with the pick in order to move up in the draft and take a player that could make an immediate impact (Brandon Roy, Rudy Gay, or Marcus Williams).
(2) Do they re-sign Peja Stojakovic and/or Freddie Jones?
In recent weeks people have become skeptical of Peja and his sore knee, which conveniently flared up around playoff time, where he has famously struggled throughout his career. I don’t buy that theory, but I do think that not playing in four of Indiana’s six playoff games hurt his value in a free agent market.
You’d be hard-pressed to find a more pure shooter in the league, and he’s an underrated rebounder for someone who spends most of his time on the perimeter. If he’ll keep his Pacer jersey on for six to eight million dollars, great, if not then let him walk.
Fred Jones is a more interesting case. He was the team’s sixth man before Danny Granger arrived, and played the last half of the season with a pretty serious thumb sprain – not something a scorer wants to do in a contract year. He has made a career out of creating a spark off of the bench, but when he’s not shooting well he can’t throw a rock in the ocean.
It’s unfortunate that he’ll likely command more than he’s truly worth in a pretty average free agent market, because I’d like to see him grow more as a player. However, it’s not in the Pacers best interest to invest in Jones if it’ll cost them more than four or five million dollars. I wouldn’t be surprised if a team with a little extra cash paid him six or seven million to throw down a few dunks in their arena.
(3) Who should be sent packing?
Stephen Jackson has already acknowledged the fact that he could have played his last game as a Pacer, but will Walsh and Bird cut ties with the up-and-down guard?
It’s a very tough call. When Jackson is hitting shots, he makes people forget the nights when he struggles through 3-for-17 performances. He’s a very underrated defender and a furiously loyal teammate, but a lot of the time he doesn’t know when to give up and defer to one of his teammates on offense.
Another problem with Jackson is that often times he’ll worry more about jabbing with referees than getting back on defense or following his own shot. You can’t question his heart though, he loves the game of basketball and has played through injures several times.
As far as trading him goes, I think the Pacers should field some offers and see what they could get. If teams take the bait, I won’t object trading Jackson for an inside presence or another shooter. If teams lowball his talent, I don’t think he’d have a problem returning to Indiana next season.
Jamaal Tinsley, is a different story. During his rookie season it seemed as though he would join the elite class of point guards in the NBA. He won Rookie of the Month honors in his first month in the league, and enjoyed a promising opening campaign.
Since then it seems as though I have seen more of his designer fashion than his flashy passes. Injury-prone beyond definition, Tinsley has allowed journeyman Anthony Johnson to flourish as Indiana’s playmaker. Johnson’s play in big games, especially in their recent playoff series with New Jersey, has led me to believe he’s ready to finally become a full-time starter.
That’s why I believe the Pacers should hand Johnson the starting job, and try their best to find a suitor for Tinsley this summer. The Knicks would be a likely destination, as Isiah Thomas was always keen on the Brooklyn native’s skills. When Tinsley is healthy he can play with the best in the league, but it seems as though for every great performance he’s had, it’s followed by a few weeks on the trainer’s table.
There will be changes in Indiana this summer, there’s no doubt about that. There seems to only be one player who will undoubtedly remain a Pacer for years to come – Danny Granger.
Whether the team decides to scrap their current plans and rebuild around him remains to be seen. The wild 2005-2006 season is over, but the craziness might have just begun. |
