The Indiana Pacers talks with the Cleveland Cavaliers about Troy Murphy are not done despite talk of a the Cavs closing in on a deal for Amar'e Stoudemire. The Pacers appear to be Cleveland's Plan B or C which may just work to their advantage.
In discussing Cleveland's deadline dealings, Chad Ford raises some interesting scenarios since the market for Stoudemire appears strong and the Cavs will have to go strong to secure the dynamic forward. Ford points out that even with Stoudemire, the Cavs could still use a forward like Murphy or Antawn Jamison to spread the floor and knock down threes. If the Cavs use Zydrunas Ilgauskas to secure Stoudemire, they may use Shaq's expiring deal to add more pieces. Then he lays out this dream scenario.
Given that the Cavs have concerns about well Stoudemire and Shaquille O’Neal would fit together, the team would consider moving Shaq if it acquired Amare. For instance, the Cavs could swap O’Neal and their first-round pick to Washington for Jamison and Mike Miller. They could send the same package to Indiana in a deal for Murphy and Mike Dunleavy.
Talk about speeding up the rebuilding process. That would do it. I just don't know how Cleveland could keep adding players and then expecting to bring back the traded players (Z and Shaq) since you can only have 15 players on the roster.
So while the Pacers are waiting on Cleveland to decide what to do, Cleveland is waiting on Phoenix. Fortunately, at least with regard to the trade deadline, the waiting is almost over.