Yeah 4 years is a bit long for a guy who’s basically had one good year in the league. But it’s low enough that it can’t hurt us too much. All he has to do is be solid and it’s worth it.

And again, about the lack of offensive skills, who cares? We scored the 5th most points in the league, we don’t need more. We need to be more worried about not being 5th in most points allowed and this will help

Hollinger’s like that nerdy fantasy football guy who only pays attention to aggregate season total lists and ignores matchups, weather and other outside factors. I respect his body of work, but he knows nothing about basketball situations, and with this comment he’s leading me to believe that he doesn’t know much about the players he analyzes for a living.

Comparing Eduardo Najera, a tweener with limited athleticism to Jones, a clear 2-guard with outlandish athleticism is a huge reach. Maybe Jones can be compared to other defensive-minded athletic 2s like Quintin Ross or Matt Barnes, but not Najera. Najera is the Mexican Brian Cardinal.

As for his “stopper-in-training” comment, as much as I like Rush, he’s not really a playoff caliber stopper, and there’s nothing I’ve seen to suggest that he will be in the next two years while the Pacers are building a playoff team. Jones, on the other hand, is already a playoff caliber stopper. I mean, he just is. He started 71 games for a team that went deep into the playoffs last year and was their designated stopper. This move provides depth because he’ll likely play behind Rush and as of now, he makes just a little more money. The tax team comment is silly too. The Pacers are only in danger of paying the luxury tax because the league surprised everyone with a drastic salary cap decrease (I mean everyone saw a decrease coming, but not such a big one). They only have 9 guys signed who will be active participants by the start of the regular season. What kind of money did Hollinger want them to spend? If it were up to him, the Pacers would have signed all undrafted rookie free agents to minimum contracts.

Finally, as I said, he’s a nerd who doesn’t really know basketball…just stats. As fun as it is to talk about PER, he’s sanctimonious to think his little made up measurement is actually an incredibly accurate gauge of game-impact. There are plenty of things players like Jones do outside of the box scores that make them worthwhile. Look at the conference finals teams from last year. L.A. had Shannon Brown in their regular playoff rotation and he had an ugly 12.9 PER…um…they won the damn title with him playing as much as Jones will play for the Pacers! Other rotation guys from LA (PER in parentheses): Luke Walton (11.9), Derek Fisher (12.1) and Jordan Farmar (9.9). Boobie Gibson got plenty of burn in Cleveland with his atrocious 10.1 PER. Mikeal Pietrus was an 11.7, Courtney Lee a 10.8.

In no way does a tough, athletic, young guy known for defense and who started 71 games on a conference finals team last year (in the more competitive Western Conference) being signed at under $3 mil a year for a team without any quality perimeter defenders qualify as “ridiculous.” He’s just looking at his PER lists and talking out of his ass.