| The Tin Man Authored by Andrew Perna - June 1, 2006 - 7:24 pm
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After playing relatively injury-free for the first two years of his career, Tinsley has played in roughly half of Indiana’s games over the past three seasons. Meanwhile, in Jamaal’s absence back-up Anthony Johnson has shown what he’s capable of when given the opportunity to start and play consistent minutes.
Johnson doubled his career averages this season. Appearing in seventy-five games, and starting fifty-three of them, he averaged 9.2 points and 4.3 assists per game in just twenty-six minutes of play. That production, along with his heroics in the playoffs, have lead many, including myself, to believe at the age of thirty-one Johnson has finally earned the job of starting point guard.
The problem for the Pacers is that Tinsley is signed long-term. He has five years left on his contract, which is also quite expensive. Jamaal will be paid nearly $6 million dollars in 2007, and will earn $7.5 million in 2011, the last year of his contract. If the Pacers are willing to hand over the reigns to Johnson, they’d be smart to try and parts ways with Tinsley. But who would his history of injuries and inflated contract?
Finding someone who covets Tinsley is one thing. While it’s true that when healthy Tinsley is probably one of the league’s ten best point guards, he hasn’t shown he can remain on the floor long enough to help a team win.
Assume there’s a team that would consider dealing for Tinsley. In order for the deal to work financially the Pacers would have to trade for a player within his salary range. That might work out fine for Indiana, but their trading partner might not want to give up a player getting paid six million a year, because his market value could be higher than Tinsley’s.
If that doesn’t work out there are other ways Indiana could try to deal Tinsley. They could package him with other players in an attempt to make a deal. However, another problem arises. Assuming Indiana doesn’t want to part with young talent like Sarunas Jasikevicius, Danny Granger, David Harrison, and Jeff Foster – they don’t have very many tradable players.
Austin Croshere will be famously overpaid at nine million dollars next season. The only other Pacers under contract for next season are Jonathan Bender (retired), Stephen Jackson, and Jermaine O’Neal. Jackson becomes the most likely option, at six million per year, but again you’d have to find someone willing to take a contract that runs through 2010.
The Pacers can’t advertise Jackson or Tinsley as future cap relief, unless teams are planning to rebuild for half of a decade. Therefore the Pacers best option would involve being part of a three-way trade where they send Tinsley in one direction and Jackson in another.
I used RealGM’s own Trade Checker to work through two deals that work on paper, but still would need to pass the ‘real world’ test.
In a three-way deal Indiana sends Jackson to Denver for Reggie Evans and sends Tinsley to New York for Jamal Crawford. (To make things work Denver gets Quentin Richardson and New York gets Kenyon Martin).
This trade works well for both Indiana and Denver on the court, but it’s an uncertain move for New York. It’s a great move for the Knicks if they can unload either Steve Francis or Stephon Marbury, but if they don’t this deal would give them three point guards worthy of starting. The Pacers earn cap relief as they can choose to either re-sign Evans, or let him go into the free agent pool this summer.
Jamal Crawford becomes a long-term investment with his contract running though 2011 like Tinsley’s, and he’ll be owed ten million in the last year of his deal, almost three million more than The Tin Man.
The next trade is another three-way deal, but this time it involves Chicago and Minnesota. The Timberwolves need help at the point guard position so Indiana sends Tinsley to Minnesota for Mark Blount. Indiana then sends Jackson to Chicago for Ben Gordon. (To make things work Chicago gets Trenton Hassell and Minnesota gets Michael Sweetney).
This deal works out tremendously for both Indiana and Chicago. The Pacers get an explosive guard in Gordon, which would than ease the possible loss of Fred Jones to free agency. They also get a big man in Blount who can fill in when regulars like O’Neal and Foster get banged up. If the continuous rumor that Coach Scott Skiles and Gordon clash is true, the Bulls get rid of Gordon and get a slightly less-talented, but similar player in Jackson.
Jackson isn’t the passer Gordon is, but Jackson can help on the glass more than Ben because of his height advantage over most two-guards. The Bulls then get Hassell, a heralded defender who can help them against tougher Eastern Conference opponents like Detroit and Miami.
Minnesota gets help at point guard, and gets a young body in Sweetney that can bang inside with KG for years to come. As in the first possibility, Minnesota would probably have to be coaxed into this deal as New York would need to be.
Maybe both of these trades are just wishful thinking, but if the Pacers truly want to trade either Tinsley, or Jackson for that matter, a lot of thinking will have to be done.
Break out the Tylenol Donnie and pass some to Larry. You may plan to make only a few small moves this summer, but they’re likely to cause some pretty big headaches.
Andrew.Perna@RealGM.com |
