Image via WikipediaThe Indiana Pacers didn’t get the point guard they so desperately need on Thursday night, despite rumors linking them to a number of passers in the days leading up to the NBA Draft.Pacers president Larry Bird admitted earlier in the week that he was considering trading the No. 10 pick in exchange for a point guard, but he and general manager David Morway never pulled the trigger.
Instead, they drafted Fresno State’s Paul George and added him to their stable of wing players.
George has been compared to Danny Granger and even worked out with the former All-Star in Los Angeles recently.
The decision to take George, who Bird insists they will keep, sure seems like a precursor to a trade in the coming weeks.
“We could've made some deals with guys that we felt were backups and we had a couple offers (but) it was just too much so we decided to wait till the summer and see what we could do,” said Bird. “We'll get something resolved this summer, I'm sure of that. There's no guarantees of anything but we've got ourselves in position to do some things this summer.
Ed Davis could have been groomed as a replacement at power forward for Troy Murphy, who will either be traded over the next eight months or leave as a free agent next summer. The Pacers have Roy Hibbert at center, but Jeff Foster is aging and has an expiring contract as well.
George joins Granger, Mike Dunleavy, Brandon Rush and Dahntay Jones on the wing, a pretty strong top-five for a team that hasn’t made the playoffs in four consecutive seasons.
By comparison, they have just T.J. Ford and A.J. Price at the point and Murphy, Hibbert, Foster, Tyler Hansbrough, Solomon Jones and Josh McRoberts in the paint.
If they opt to move Murphy this summer to get a point guard, without getting a big man in return, they’ll be left with only Hibbert as a certainty. Foster and Hansbrough are coming off injury-plagued seasons and the latter hasn’t had to play any kind of significant minutes at the professional level.
That could mean the Pacers will swing a pair of deals.
Obviously, Murphy is a top contender to be dealt. Dunleavy has an attractive expiring contract, but Brandon Rush has higher value as a younger, healthier and cheaper option.
http://pacers.realgm.com/articles/195/20100627/pacers_delay_an_inevitable_trade_on_draft_night/
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