Thursday, June 26, 2008

O RLY?!?!

A little trading action in the NBA.

The Indiana Pacers agreed to send F/C Jermaine O'Neal and the 41st overall pick in tonight's draft to the Toronto Raptors for PG TJ Ford, C Rasho "The Magical Gnome" Nesterovic, F Maceo "Ham Sandwich" Baston, and the number 17 overall pick in said draft.

This was a pretty good trade for both teams.

The Raptors do themselves a service by unloading Ford who had become a hassle because he's not Jose Calderon, the team's better, cheaper starter. In addition, O'Neal gives the team another big man other than Chris Bosh who can bang down low and takes the pressure off Bosh to be the man. The change of scenery should also help O'Neal.

As for the Pacers, they clearly go into full-on rebuilding mode. O'Neal was the only player resembling a star the Pacers have had since the retirement of Reggie Miller but he showed himself to be incapable of being a team's number 1 guy. Now he moves to a location where he can be the 3rd or 4th option and should thrive in that situation. The Pacers do pick up Ford, a decent point guard who should be an asset to the team and Nesterovic, a big body that can be traded later. Plus the number 17 pick the team could pick a player like Brandon Rush, Mario Chalmers, or, if they wanna go big, Roy Hibbert (I guess...) or Robin "The Worse" Lopez.

It's rare when two teams get together and decide to make a mutually beneficial trade, especially in the NBA. So this was nice. Huzzah.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Maceo Baston played for Michigan.