Larry Bird Planning For Future Wins

I respectfully submit we should all just take a deep breath on this one. Bird
and Morway have done a great job with the roster and have kept themselves
in a position of strength here. There’s no big hurry!

1) The roster has been pared down to 15 players, so the matter of a deadline
is irrelevant.

2) JT is no longer in a position to further damage the image of the Pacers.
Neither can he sour the mood in the locker room.

3) This deal is no different than what one would find in any line of work where
millions and millions of dollars and important franchise decisions are at stake:
such deals tend to drag on for a while and many complexities must be worked
out.

4) In my view, there are at least half a dozen NBA teams who are “whistling
past the graveyard” as far as their own point guard situations are concerned.
Their fans, and perhaps even some of their executives, have temporarily
convinced themselves that they are okay at that position—when most outsiders
beg to differ. These point guard deficiencies will become abundantly clear
a month into the regular season. Maybe interest in Tinsley will pick up as a
result.

5) Tinsley is not in a position of strength here, either. He is old enough to
know how precious time is and how fleeting careers can be. It is entirely
possible that a really good situation could open for him, perhaps on a team
with a real title shot—this might persuade him to knock a big chunk off the
buyout. If things happened to work out this way, this would help the Pacers,
too. If a player is bought out for a reduced amount, only the reduced
amount counts against the cap (it is apportioned among the remaining
three years on the same percentage basis as the original contract).

6) The fact that Bird has publicly criticised JT has not hurt his market value
in the slightest. NBA GMs make it their business to know everything there
is to know about all the players in the league (as well as college, D-league,
and foreign players insofar as possible). The other GMs all know how good
JT can play when he is “on,” and they are only too familiar with his on and
off-court incidents in the past. Trying to hide anything here or trying to “sell”
anything would be a laughable sham.

7) No doubt the fact that JT has been unable to work out with a team and
thus be in game shape is unfortunate. It definitely hurts the situation a bit,
but there’s no help for it. this is just an unfortunate by-product of the situation.

8) Bird and Morway simply have to be careful here—if not “picky.” Taking
back other players/contracts we don’t like any better than JT’s doesn’t do
anyone any good. This task is very tricky indeed. But given the brilliant
work the Pacers braintrust has done so far this year, I, for one, am willing
to relax a bit and trust these guys and simply remain interested in seeing
how it all plays out.