Kevin Durant of Texas had a monster game last night and Greg Oden hasn't disappointed anyone since entering the college ranks. Is that why the Indiana Pacers made a terrible trade today? They dealt Al Harrington, Stephen Jackson, Sarunas Jasikevicius and Josh Powell to Golden State for Mike Dunleavy, Troy Murphy, Ike Diogu and Keith McLeod. Dunleavy and Murphy have two of the worst contracts in the league. Golden State freed themselves of $80 million of obligation to the two players, reason enough to make the deal. Neither man was part of Don Nelson's rotation while Diogu did little to repay the team for refusing to include him in a trade for Ron Artest a year ago.
Harrington is the prize for the Warriors, they wanted him as a free agent this summer, while Jackson has shown flashes of talent and flashes of his Smith and Wesson intermittently throughout his NBA career. Harrington never put it all together through two tours of duty with the Pacers and a stint with Atlanta but he could thrive in the motion-oriented system that Nellie likes to play. Jasikevicius was a star with Lithuania in international competition but didn't do much in Indiana. Nelson was one of the earliest adopters of foreign players so if he can turn the point guard's game in the right direction we could be looking at a first rate steal.
So what's Indiana thinking? The talent dump would make more sense if they hadn't put themselves into a horrid salary situation but there could be more to come with the Pacers. With Dunleavy, Murphy, Diogu and the already in-house Jermaine O'Neal, Jeff Foster and David Harrison Indy has a glut of players up front. Could there be another deal in the works? Newsday reported this morning that Jason Kidd may be on the block and the Pacers were one of the teams listed as a potential suitor. That was before today's deal but with no Nenad Kristic wouldn't a couple of the Pacer forwards make a good fit at the Continental?
If that doesn't boil yer potatoes, Brian McCormick posits another potential deal involving the oft-rumored departure from L.A. of Corey Maggette while also touching on the chances for a Jason Kidd deal.
A subsequent Dunleavy for Maggette deal would be a steal for the Pacers, though they'd lose even more outside shooting. But, a Tinsley, Maggette, Granger, O'Neal, Murphy starting five would look good on paper...did the Pacers acquire some extra bigs to make a deal with the Nets? Could the Nets be interested in acquiring Jeff Foster, Keith McLeod/Jamal Tinsley and Ike Diogu for JKidd and his marital problems?
Stay tuned but for now call this one a win for Nellie and Chris Mullin.
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