| Welcome Back? Authored by Andrew Perna - July 31, 2006 - 11:22 pm
| Current Featured Columns | | Howard's Role In The Gold For the first time in eight years, there won't be any talk of failure, or the world catching up, only praises for the Olympic champions – that is unless your name is Dwight Howard.
Grading The Deal: Williams To Cleveland In Three-WayMo Williams just barely outperformed the first year of his new contract, but he gives Cleveland's offense a few more teeth.
 |
Auditing Cleveland's 2007-08 Season
The Cavaliers took the Celtics to a seventh game of the Eastern Conference semifinals, but couldn't score enough points to extend their run as they did a year ago. The Cavaliers were ranked 13th in team FIC per game and had a dip of 6.4 from the 06-07 season.
|
 |
Auditing Miami's 2007-08 Season
The Heat came out of the season in an immediately better situation to compete, turning Shaq into Shawn Marion and a 15-67 record into Michael Beasley and Mario Chalmers.
|
 |
The Lakers Need More Gas
Maybe it’s Pau’s blood. Whatever it is, something happens when he switches his NBA jersey for a national one. It somehow evokes an emotion and a confidence that an NBA paycheck doesn’t seem to be to able to ignite.
|
|
More from RealGM's Columnists
|
| |
I’m not trying to say I told you so, but well...I warned my fellow Hoosier faithful not to count their chickens before they hatch. It’s been a long couple of weeks, and Harrington is still in Atlanta. While other teams have conceded and pulled themselves out of the race for Harrington in response to league wide belief that Al will be a Pacer sooner or later, the deal is still far from official.
I’m not discounting the numerous reports from ESPN and sources out of both Indianapolis and Atlanta, I’m just waiting to celebrate our reunion with Baby Al until the details are ironed out and all the signatures are on each and every dotted line.
Maybe it’s because it seems like just yesterday that the Pacers and Kings had agreed to swap Ron Artest and Peja Stojakovic, and then they didn’t. Only to see them re-agree to the deal just hours later. Maybe it’s because I’m a little superstitious, or maybe it’s because the deal seems too good to be true.
We weren’t supposed to be a huge player in the offseason market, not with our inflated payroll. That was until we lost Peja to New Orleans for nothing, and then later got the Hornets to agree on a sign-and-trade that netted us a $7.5 million dollar trade exception. And why would an elite talent like Harrington take less money in order to return home to Indy and his good buddy Jermaine O’Neal?
Indiana hasn’t exactly been basketball paradise over the past few years. In fact, the last time things were normal for the Pacers Harrington was on the roster.
So what, you may ask, is holding up this deal?
Apparently after agreeing in principal to sign-and-trade Harrington to the Pacers, the Hawks have decided they want Indiana to agree on a few stipulations. Atlanta wants Indiana to send them a future first round pick, fork over $3 million in cold hard cash, and take on the contract of another former Pacer, John Edwards.
Taking on John Edwards isn’t a problem for Indiana, they acquired another trade exception in the deal that sent Anthony Johnson to the Mavericks, and it’s worth more than enough to cover Edwards’ salary. A draft pick isn’t a huge deal either, although it would be nice for Indiana to hold onto a valuable pick. Protection would be nice, or maybe even a pair of second rounders - if Atlanta would agree to it.
The real problem lies in the reported amount of cash that the Hawks want the Pacers to send their way in exchange for Harrington. $3 million is the most a team can offer another as part of a trade, and it’s obvious why Atlanta would like as much cap relief and cash out of the deal as possible. It’s no secret that the Hawks ownership group is engaged in a legal battle with former part-owner Steve Belkin, who wants to keep control of the team. That’s why they’d like to get as much cash as possible as opposed to taking some of Indiana’s players in return for Harrington.
If I was Donnie Walsh and Larry Bird I’d appease the Hawks and agree to their stipulations, but I’d attempt to either send them a second round pick, or at least get some protection on a future first round selection. Of course that means I’d send them a check worth around $3 million dollars...
Hey, I’m not signing it... |
