Let the overpaying begin…

Some general news around the league:

ESPN is reporting that both the Wizards and the Warriors have offered a max contract to Gilbert Arenas. 6 years, 120 million dollars for those weak knees and somewhat questionable attitude? Such is the culture of current GM summer spending habits. To Gil’s credit, while there are questions about those aforementioned knees, he has played 80, 80, and 74 regular season games in the last three years. Let’s just see if he can sustain that into the postseason next year.

Even Donald Sterling has dove into spending so far this offseason. Donald Sterling, in typical fashion, was outbid by the Kings for none other than the highly coveted Beno Udrih. So what does he do? Take it up quite a few notches and enter the much more expensive bidding war for Baron Davis. Oy vey, Donald. Real GM says that a deal could be reached as early as tomorrow.

So, if the Clips pick up Baron tomorrow, I wonder how this affect their commitment toward the recently opted-out Elton Brand?

Even beyond these big name guys who likely are going to get you more wins but never a title, there are plenty of guys in line to be overpaid this offseason. You know it’s inevitable when ESPN has Desagana Diop as the #5 unrestricted FA. I know it seems unlikely that guys like Diop, Kwame Brown, and James Posey (please look beyond his playoff performance) deserve a huge payday, but in the era in which Adonal Foyle gets locked up for about 46 million, anything is possible. Should be an interesting offseason.

Tinsley to be bought out?

Real GM: Pacers will “reportedly” buy out Tinsley if he can’t be traded.

Chances are this will happen. Our PG rotation is now set with Ford/Jack/Deiner and Tinsley’s injury concerns, combined with the fact the fans hate him and we’re trying to garner positive PR, make it pretty obvious that he’ll be gone. He’s untradeable because he’s apparently gained 25 pounds since April. That’s not going to compel any GM’s that he’s committed to revitalizing his career.

It’s a damn shame, too. Bill Simmons once wrote an article during Tinsley’s rookie season alluding to the fact that he could be one of the great future point guards on the NBA. He had the talent, too, but he never had the desire.

Insane Draft…questions still abound

So Jerryd Bayless slipped to the Pacers. Although some mocks reflected this, I in no way saw this happening. It seemed like the best break the Pacers had ever gotten in the draft this side of Danny Granger. It seemed like the best break in the draft any team had gotten in quite a long time.

Then we traded Bayless. To Portland for Brandon Rush (#13 pick), Jarrett Jack, and Josh McRoberts. Or did we? Either way, it has Pacers Digestfuming. I went a bit crazy after the “trade” myself but now I am settling down to it.

Now the way things are going it may have never happened. Other trades in the draft have already been announced by Stern’s lackey that does the second round of the draft, but he hasn’t mentioned the Pacers-Blazers deal. So really no one has any idea about what is going on.

But for at least one measure of certainty, Jermaine O’Neal has confirmed that the Toronto trade is legit, even though the NBA can’t really confirm it until July.

Jermaine O’Neal to Toronto?

That’s a possible trade that’s been all over the NBA today. The trade is as follows: Jermaine O’Neal to Toronto for Rasho Nesterovic and T.J. Ford. Nesterovic is an overpaid C who played a reserve role for Toronto last year, and is really only intriguing to the Pacers because of his expiring contract rather than his play. T.J. Ford is an undersized but exciting PG who has been in the league for five years, and was a really fun player to watch for Texas.

Now, if that was all of the information relevant for this trade, I’d be very intrigued. In fact, many Pacer fans and pundits all over the internet seem excited about this deal. Everyone is forgetting about one very important, even crucial, red flag: T.J. Ford has a degenerative spine condition and probably won’t every be able to sustain a full season in the NBA ever again, or even sustain two or three seasons playing 70+ games. Ford missed the entire 04-05 season due to the injury and has missed significant time in other seasons as well.

By all accounts T.J. Ford seems to be a nice guy and a fighter. However, all Pacer fans are aware of what kind of chaos can strike a team when your starting PG is out for long periods of time. I don’t see T.J. Ford as being a long term, healthy option for the Pacers right now. Nesterovic’s expiring contract is far from enough to justify this deal. Some say the Raptor’s 17th pick in the draft might be included, but there’s still no way I even consider this deal unless #17 and another talented player are added in there.