5 Reasons to Make a Run at the 2009-2010 Free Agency

1. Free agency in the NBA does not help us. To get guys like Wade, Bosh, Amar’e…it’s impossible, because not only are we not a very good team, but we aren’t in New York City.

3. Regarding postseason with those teams…we never got a chance with those teams. In 2002-03, the team fell apart in the second half, see ya later, Isiah. Team in 2003-04 suffered some injuries in the Conference Finals, and in 04-05, we had everything going, until the brawl just blew everything up. We got one or two chances with that team. Not enough to say we were a crappy playoff team.

6. McGrady expires this year, so there’s absolutely no reason the Rockets would want to downgrade talent for longer contracts when they can get out from under McGrady at the end of the year.

I like the ideas, but unfortunately, none of them are likely to happen. Without moving for expiring deals, which is going to be impossible to do with the talent we have, we can’t do anything in free agency until 2011. We simply won’t have the money until then. We have to weather this storm for a while longer. There are a lot of great players available next summer, but we can’t sign them for what we have to pay. I’d love to save Chris Paul from his Kevin Garnett existence in New Orleans, but it simply won’t happen with our talent what it is.

when a poster offers a possible solution along with highlighting a problem. Also allows for poking holes in the solution. Have to agree with gls on the Rockets not wanting to part with TMac’s cap space, also it would be tough to move Dunleavy since he hasn’t played in so long. One other thing, TJ Ford has a $8.5 mil player option for next year which he would be nuts to not exercise in this market.

   I’m not a guru about how it would all work out, but I’d love to see Hansbrough, Solo, and McBob put us in a position to be able to move Murpy and/or Foster before the trade deadline.
   I would love to see picks out of them. Any way to pick up an early(ier) 1st round pick.
   The draft excites me more because I don’t have much faith in us signing any of these stars. Not to mention the likely possibility that fewer of these players will leave their teams than one might think.
   Finding another player who pans out as well as D.Jones has thus far would be nice, questionable contract aside.

but then you said “the great Chris Berman.” Then i threw up.

I only posted this cause im really just an all or nothing guy. and this would definetly be that route.

A) The Pacers have no money. In fact I believe they might be hemorrhaging it at this point.

B) No big time FA is ever going to sign in Indiana. Ever. (Well MAYBE if they were from Indy…but that’s about it). It’s not a market that young stars want to go to. Indy lacks the tax breaks of a state like Florida, the weather of a place like Phoenix, or the media attention of a place like LA, NY, or Chicago.

Bri-Guy, I gotta give you credit. It’s a good idea. But Sethgrandpa has a pretty good argument. It reminds me of a Bud commercial I saw where you have the agent telling this prospect where he could end up going. Dallas had the cattle ranch, Miami had the retirement home, and LA had all the money and women. There’s a reason why Indiana is in such an uphill battle for FA talent.

1. We are a small market.
How many unbiased players want to go to cities like Milwaukee, Sacramento, Memphis, Orlando, Cleveland, Minneannapolis, Portland, Oklahoma City, Charlotte, and Indianapolis? It’s not an attractive location. No one is going to come to Indianapolis looking for people to sell a product. No one is going to Indianapolis to find a party. No one is going to Indianapolis to strike a huge business deal. There just ain’t shit happening. LA has shit happening, even if they’re bad. New York has shit happening, even when they’re terrible. Big cities will always trump small ones when it comes to getting Free agents. Case in point: Wilt , Kareem, Shaq, and I’m sure theres others out there that just don’t come to mind immediately.

2. We are not a good team.
Good players want to win championships. Bottom line. When teams are doing bad, it’s almost an insult to a player if you send him there. Case in point: Richard Seymour to the Raiders, and AI to the Grizzlies. I’m not saying the Pacers have a crappy roster. Had the Pacers just closed out half the games where they lost the big lead last year, they would have been at most a 5 seed in the East. But two things in attracting a free agent are paramount: Money and/or winning. We’re running a little short on both of those right now.

3. We have very little money.
According to the news reports I watch on the Tv and read in the newspaper/website, the Pacers eyes were bigger than their wallet when they built Conseco Fieldhouse. It’s a worldclass facility and is probably in the top 3 when it comes to NBA buildings (except the food they serve to the employees before the game. That shit was awful). However, it’s very hard to bring in revenue to keep that facility running, AND pay so much money to the players. We are still reeling for making poor financial decisions with players that crapped out on us. It will be a little while before the Pacers can get financially steady and make another run at a Championship.

The most likely thing the Pacers will do is bite the shit sandwich that they have made themselves. We are still reeling from the financial fallout of Jermaine O’Neals contract as well as the other F!@#heads that screwed us over. The best thing to do is build around Danny and develop what you have in the long run. The Blazers are a prime example of what you can do to handle a nasty situation and come out smooth. They had all these punks and are now working with Brandon Roy, Lamarcus Aldridge, and Greg Oden. They are just missing a couple pieces to really crack some skulls. The Pacers are in a very similar situation. They have some pieces there. They just need to build on it and build around it with good players who aren’t going to break the bank.
Going for a big name like D-Wade sounds good. And it will cost you big money. But what if an injury permanently hinders his career? Jermaine was looking to be a great player until a bad knee and a tiny heart took away his impact on the floor. Of all the free agents that are out there, I think only D-Wade and LeBron are immune to tiny heart syndrome. And LeBron might be the only one who is immune to serious injury, because he’s a borderline freaking superhero.
Bottom line is the Pacers aren’t in a very good situation to make a block-buster free agent signing next year. Yeah it sounds good. But in reality, the best course of action is to work with what you got for now, and build for the future.
Stay off the ankle broski.

Ok, people are saying we’ll have no money… i dont think u guys understand so let me explain…. We trade troy murphy and dunleavy away for tracy mcgrady’s 20 mil contract. Now dont lose me here…. both murphys and dunleavys contracts are both scheduled to end in 2 years. mcgradys ends in 1 year. so the 40 mil over 2 years we were gonna pay dunleavy and murphy, now we’re just paying mcgrady 20 mil. for the 1 year. now that frees up 20 mil. for the 2009-2010 free agency. (Ford has an option with staying for an extra year after this one now i dont know if thats a player option or a team option, i’ll have to look into it) But the money that experts are saying we’re gonna have at the 2010-11 offseason, we would have a year earlier. a year that actually has free agents worth signing. Oh and we may not have the best team right now. but ok here are their other options….. the teams they are with now or new york, new jersey, possibly chicago, sacramento, and maybe another team im forgetting because their not any better. Ok if you think the kings, the knicks, or the nets are better then us, kill yourself cause ur usless. The bulls are really one of the only viable options and they would have to give up A LOT this offseason to make it possible. Oh and the small market argument…. have u heard these superstars talk nowadays? They want to win. Period. Sure some of them care that theres no beach here. But some of them will give up hot weather to make history.

P.S. Really? it shows that we have enough money to pay for an all star seeing that we’d have to stay under the cap salary to sign one and we’re already over it.. but what kind of an investment would it be to bring in an all-star hmm? maybe indy would start sellin out conseco if we moved past mediocrity… selled some jerseys…. no thats stupid… lets not take any risks…. good idea guys.. lets keep our current situation and doom this franchise….

Now I get that it might not look like the most likely of scenarios… but sometimes life is stranger than fiction.

Once again, it sounds like a good idea and something someone with the balls and the brains could pull off. Here’s the problem: you have to think like you’re Houston’s GM. You have lost your big man for this year, and reportedly it won’t be at least until halfway next season until he’s ready to come back. There’s talk he might not make it back to the court at all. You just lost one of it’s main guys to FA last year in Ron Artest. You are hurting even more than the Pacers. You are very well aware that they need to make a move. If the Rockets don’t pick up player options or re-sign any of the expiring contracted players this year, they are expect to knock of a whopping $37 million off their payroll with $22 million of that being Tracy “tiny-heart” McGrady’s. Also, Yao has this year and next year left of his contract. Here’s the real stinker: the Rockets have an early termination option on Yao’s hefty $17 million contract… DUDE! Now I don’t know if that’ll count towards the cap next year, but that’s $54 million dollars if it doesn’t. Think about that. If there’s a report Yao will never play in the NBA again, that changes an ass-ton of things. If I were that GM, I would laugh at any trade talks concerning Murph and Dunsy for McGrady, completely scuttle the vessel that is the Rockets 09-10 season, and get a decent draft pick to pair up with a both a nasty FA signing and a venerable/decent FA signing during the offseason. Houston is a warm city near the water. It has history. It has fans. It all the pieces of the puzzle were to fall together, then the Rockets could very well own the next decade. I doubt they would want to take on two contracts that don’t expire for two years and miss out on an opportunity like that. Especially when both of the players take on can’t play a lick of defense and break down often. If the Pacers can pull off the trade, then whoever does deserves the GM of the year award.

TheHawk5 is right I am being a little mean. But I just dont like it when people try and bash my ideas when they apparently dont know how things work. But ur right mike (hoosier3060) the Rockets might not like the idea…. maybe they would…. I’m just saying that its worth a shot. And if they were willing to give up on Yao (which I kinda doubt) then that would be an amazing plan. Its just that right now they are a mediocre team without Ming. Now if u add Yao Ming, Murphy (who could really stretch out the D for Yao), and Dunleavy who has only had one major injury in his career (His 1st five years with Golden State he only missed 11 games out of 410). Now say Dunleavy comes back and starts playing well before the trade deadline…. you say you still wouldnt take that deal if you were the rockets? A double-double machine and a smart player and reliable scorer for a washed-up injury-proned McGrady? Cause thats really the best deal they are gonna get for him. If anybody can find a better trade theyd get for him I’d honestly really love to hear it. I say if Houston wants to win in the near future this is the trade for them…. If they want to rebuild, go with hoosier3060.

I like to see Jim Harbaugh succeed as much as any blue blood Hoosier does (get it? no? :( ), I hope they aren’t cutting Pacers Pregame off for this Stanford/USC blowout…

Goodlucksaturday I love your insight. I know with your deep knowledge of the situation that you may be right. But I’m just sayin people have done a lot dumber trades. Take a look at the Memphis/ L.A. trade for Pau Gasol. I believe it was Pau Gasol for an apple core and three napkins. So there have been worse trades….. and there’s gonna be many worse ones for years to come.

Oh and I was thinking with how well Danny is doin’ at the 4 that maybe if we got Tayshaun Prince that offseason that would be really nice… if the Pistons let him go.
Oh and speaking of how stupid the Grizzlies front office seems to be wouldn’t it be so cool to get Rudy Gay at our SF? We’d be unstoppable lol

Any thoughts concerning Monta Ellis and his impending move away from Golden State?