X-Tra Rant

Oh lordy the Pacers are going to be an absolute disaster this coming season. I do not hold high hopes for the team. They’ve decided to move some players in the offseason, but they are moving and letting go of the wrong players. What’s the starting lineup going to look like next year?
(I’m assuming the rumored trade for Al Harrington is going to go through using David Harrison and the $7.5 million trade exception as said possible in that article. Another assumption will be they resign Scot Pollard for cheap)

Starters:
Center: Jeff Foster
Power Forward: Jermaine O’Neal
Small Forward: Al Harrington
Shooting Guard: Stephen Jackson
Point Guard: Marquis Daniels

Backups:
Center: Scot Pollard
Power Forward: Pollard, Danny Granger, rookie Shawne Williams
Small Forward: Granger, Williams, rookie James White
Shooting Guard: Sarunas Jasikevicius, White, Darrell Armstrong
Point Guard: Jamal Tinsley, Jasikevicius, Armstrong

Position by Position:
Center: At center we have in Jeff Foster a guy who hustles and gives the most effort on the team, and a hell of a rebounder. He’s not a scorer but we don’t need a scorer. The problem? He’s one more hip/leg/foot infury away from a home in the Dopey White Centers With Bum Limbs Retirement Home. Backing him up we have Scot Pollard. Ditto. Of course they can go small/quick and move O’Neal to center and put someone like Harrington at PF, but O’Neal isn’t exactly immune to injuries either.

Power Forward:Down at the Broadripple Streetfest yesterday, much joking was made that we should go into the club Seven (owned by Jermaine O’Neal) and start chanting “J.O. Must Go!”. Dude’s good for 50 games a season max. He’s also good for the exact same baseline move every time he gets the ball on the block. Granger can play PF if needed but he’s better suited at SF. DOn’t know enough about Williams yet, but he’s a rookie so don’t look for a huge impact yet.

Small Forward: So getting Al Harrington. Great. He’s a solid defender and a good scorer. But I’d
rather see them move second year man Danny Granger into the starting role. he has, to quote Hubie Brown, tremendous upside. I’d rather build up a future star now than try and patch together a mishmash of crap with Harrington. With Harrington though, it’s our most solid position.

Shooting Guard: Oh Jesus H. Christ On A Cracker, we’re screwed at this position. let’s see, Stephen “Never Saw A Bad Shot I Didn’t Like” Jackson being a nutcase, jacking up (and missing) threes when others are wide open inside, being a disruption. It’s Ron Artest 2: Electric Boogaloo! And backups? A second round rookie in James White and a couple point guards. SWEET.

Point Guard: Way to trade the only guy who deserved to start next season. I wanted Anthony Johnson to start ‘06-’07. But the trade for Marquis Daniels wasn’t so horrible and I hope he starts. Certainly better than Jamal “Mrs. Glass” Tinsley (because Jermaine is already “Mr. Glass”) and Darrell Armstrong.

The Offseason “Moves”:
Speaking of Darrell Armstrong, let me get this straight. We traded the only guy who really worked his ass off in the playoffs last year and tried to single handedly carry the Pacers to the second round (Anthony Johnson) and who had earned a starting spot for a guy who helped invent the game with James Naismith and averages 2.1 points and 1.4 assists last year? ARE YOU KIDDING ME?! (the other two no-names that came in the trade probably won’t even stay on the roster)
You’ve also got the Croshere for Marquis Daniels trade (the only move I’ve liked). A young point for an older overpaid bit contributor. Okay. Not bad.

The Al Harrington trade will be..eh….okay. He’ll get overpaid, struggle at first, end up being mediocre and not quite worth the contract. If we do give up David Harrison, we’ll lose our only PF or C who isn’t injury prone, old, or both. True, he’s foul prone but you can teach that out of him. You can’t teach the glass out of O’Neal. If they can swing the trade as just draft picks and the $7.5 mil exception, I won’t be so upset about it.

Letting Fred Jones go will go down as probably the dumbest move of the offseason. Let your fast athlectic guard who can back up both SG and SF, get up and down the floor and muscle in on players bigger than him just get away for nothing. SWEET.

The loss of Peja will hurt too. A leader, a guy with good character and a good locker room presence. At least they got the trade exception by instead of just letting him go as a FA swinging a sign and trade with NO/OKC for a guy they’ll later waive.

Now there are rumors of more trades, trades involving Foster (we BETTER get a big rebounder in return) or Jasikeviciusisusikevichusius (I’d like to get a true SG in return) but nothing those two can bring back will salvage what has become a total disaster.

So everyone, welcome your 2006-2007 Indiana Paacerrrrrsssssss. It’s going to be a looooooong season. (stay tuned for a possible Indiana Pacers contest I’ll run. It will be smartass filled and maybe even have a prize!)