Hooped Up

Larry Bird really doesn’t want Jamaal Tinsley in Indiana!

If the Pacers can’t trade Jamaal Tinsley, they’re buying him out. They reached that decision even before they stocked up on point guards by dealing for T.J. Ford and Jarrett Jack. Tinsley has three years left on his deal, in excess of $21 milllion.

New York Daily News

The Indiana Pacers have a tentative agreement to send forward Ike Diogu and the rights to guard Jerryd Bayless to Portland for point guard Jarrett Jack, forward Josh McRoberts and the rights to shooting guard Brandon Rush.

The Pacers drafted Bayless, a 6-3 Arizona freshman, at No. 11, and Portland drafted Rush, a 6-6 junior from Kansas, at No. 13 in tonight’s draft.

The Pacers also are getting point guard T.J. Ford from Toronto in the multi-player deal involving Jermaine O’Neal.

Indy Star

Derrick Rose is going home, and a record crowd of freshmen are following him to the NBA. The Chicago Bulls selected Rose, who grew up on the city’s South Side, with the No. 1 pick in the NBA draft Thursday night, choosing the Memphis guard over Kansas State forward Michael Beasley.  Below are the rest of the NBA draft results.

Round 1 NBA Draft Results

Second round results after the jump Read the rest of this entry »

After a lot of back and forth, Larry Bird has started the revamping of the Indiana Pacers and has agreed to a deal in principal to send forward Jermaine O’Neal to Toronto For T.J. Ford, Rasho Nesterovic and the 17th pick in tomorrows draft.

This is a risky move for both sides as O’Neal and Ford have been hampered by injuries over the last few years. O’Neal’s injured left knee and Ford’s neck has sidelined each of them for much of the 07 - 08 season.

Hooped Up

Larry Legend is seriously not joking around about revamping the Pacers with the quickness! 

While talking about Thursday’s NBA draft, Bird told reporters he has some players that he’s not happy with.

He said the team needs to draft a point guard and added he has a point guard for sale. That seems to imply, Bird is willing to get rid of Jamaal Tinsley.

AP

Ford who is one repair away from Grant Hillism, might get moved in a draft night move for Jermain O’Neal.

The Indiana Pacers and Jermaine O’Neal could be parting ways in the near future.

The Pacers and Toronto Raptors have discussed a possible deal with O’Neal going north of the border with point guard T.J. Ford and center Rasho Nesterovic coming to Indiana, according to two people with knowledge of the situation. The deal may also include Toronto’s first-round pick (No. 17) in Thursday’s draft.

Indy Star

Yesterday, Sam Perkins was named Vice President of Player Relations. Hopefully the former Pacer can keep the Pacer players out of court for one season.

Sam Perkins knows all about the numerous off-court incidents involving Indiana Pacers players the past few years. Perkins, who played on the Pacers’ 2000 NBA Finals team, now plans to mentor players to make sure incidents don’t happen again as part of his new role as the team’s vice president of player relations. “I’m aware of the things that went on,” Perkins said Monday in a phone interview. “True, it’s not all their faults. There’s a lot reasons for some of the stuff, but there’s no excuse for it. . . . You just have to hopefully put it in the past and use that stuff as an example. “I want to face the challenges in front of me and help the players mature in life.”

Indianapolis Star

A murder suspect was arrested after leaving the home of Indiana Pacers forward Shawne Williams on Wednesday night, according to the Associated Press.

Gary Bohannon, 22, of Tennessee was being held without bond in Marion County Jail. Police arrested home around 6 p.m. after he left the house in a truck registered to Williams.

Pacers spokesman David Benner listed Bohannon as a friend of Williams’ cousin and said that Shawne wasn’t aware of the warrant for Bohannon’s arrest.

“The authorities told us he wasn’t staying at Shawne’s house,” Benner said.

Police say Bohannon was arrested in September on a drug charge while in a car with Williams.

Williams left the team’s game against the Chicago Bulls on Wednesday during halftime.

Multiple sources told ESPN.com that talks with the Indiana Pacers regarding a Carter-for-Jermaine O’Neal swap were dormant, but not dead, after the Nets spent nearly a week devoting their attention to the Kidd deal with Dallas. Another source said there had been preliminary discussions on a three-way trade that would include, among other things, Carter going to the New York Knicks, Eddy Curry to Miami and the expiring contracts of Jason Williams and Ricky Davis to New Jersey. Speaking with writers at the team’s headquarters Tuesday, Thorn was asked if the continued delays in the Kidd trade — first agreed to last Wednesday but not completed until Tuesday — had impacted him on other trade fronts.

ESPN.com

According to Sports Illustrated columnist Ian Thomsen, Mike Miller’s name has been linked to the Indiana Pacers .

According to Thomsen, the Pacers and Grizzlies have had discussions in which Indiana would send Ike Diogu and Marquis Daniels to Memphis for Miller.

SI