Category Archives: George Hill

2018 NBA Trade Deadline Recap

The 2018 NBA Trade Deadline really kicked off when the Los Angeles Clippers traded superstar power forward Blake Griffin to the Detroit Pistons late in the night. The Clippers got a king’s random in return. Many thought DeAndre Jordan would be next to leave the Clippers, but he stayed put.

Other big trades that happened in-between the Griffin deal and today were Nikola Mirotic going to New Orleans for a mess of veteran and picks. I also think Charlotte’s acquisition of center Willy Hernangomez could be huge. He’s a talented guy, but was stuck behind some talented bigs on the Knicks.

Today’s trades didn’t disappoint as much as previous years’ trade deadlines. There were a couple really nice trades and a ton of depth trades.

Continue reading

Pacers Acquire Jeff Teague in Three-Team Deal

Jeff Teague Atlanta Hawks Indiana Pacers George HillWith the NBA Draft taking place on Thursday, NBA teams are trying to fill holes right before the draft.

The Indiana Pacers, Atlanta Hawks and Utah Jazz got together on a deal on Wednesday that sent Atlanta point guard Jeff Teague to the Pacers, Indiana point guard George Hill to the Jazz and the Hawks would receive Utah’s #12 overall pick in the 2016 NBA Draft.

The Pacers have been rumored to be interested in Teague for quite some time. They needed a third team’s involvement since a straight point guard for point guard swap wouldn’t work due to Atlanta’s possible salary cap issues and the fact that Atlanta point guard Dennis Schroder has played well enough to now start at point guard for the Hawks.

Continue reading

2014-15 NBA Team Preview: Indiana Pacers

Larry Bird Frank Vogel Indian pacers sad funny nbaThe Pacers had a hell of a year last season. I’m not talking about their record or their effort in the Eastern Conference Finals…I’m talking about the off-the-court issues.

Paul George went from a ‘clean-cut NBA future star’ to a guy impregnating strippers and dressing like Eddie Murphy circa 1983.

Roy Hibbert went from Defensive Player of the Year shoo-in to a guy who put up the same NBA numbers I do.

Lance Stephenson went from someone who was trying his hardest to earn respect to doing anything possible to remove the respect he earned.

How will the Pacers do without George and Stephenson?

We will be posting a team preview for every team up until the start of the regular season.

Here is the 2014-15 NBA season preview for the Indiana Pacers.

Continue reading

End Of An Era: Pacers Trade Danny Granger to 76ers

danny-granger-philadelphia-76ers-indiana-pacersToday, NBA teams were scrambling up until the final minutes to make something happen before the 3pm trade deadline. The day is always filled with hype and hopes their team can make a blockbuster trade to either stockpile draft picks or build for a playoff run…but only minor deals were made today.

The biggest trade of the day was made between the Indiana Pacers and the Philadelphia 76ers. Indiana sent former All-Star Danny Granger and a future second-round pick to Philly for former Ohio State standout Evan Turner and backup power forward Lavoy Allen.

This marks an end of an era for the Indiana Pacers. Granger has been with Indiana since he was drafted in 2005. He was the face of the franchise after Reggie Miller retired that same year. I think his biggest accomplishment is that he survived the Jim O’Brien head coaching era (that was brutal).

How will Evan Turner be used in the Pacers rotation? What does this mean for Lance Stephenson’s impending free agency?

Continue reading

Indiana Pacers Trade Collison/Jones to Dallas for Ian Mahinmi

The Indiana Pacers and Dallas Mavericks agreed on a trade this afternoon. Point guard Darren Collison and swingman Dahntay Jones were sent to the Dallas Mavericks for French center Ian Mahinmi.

Dallas had to finish a sign and trade with Mahinmi to complete the deal. Iahinmi will receive $16 million over the next for seasons. Collison and Jones are both in the last year of their deals.

Dallas signed Chris Kaman today and made Mahinmi expendable.

Lance Stephenson and Orlando Johnson will be taking Jones’ role. Have they impressed enough in Summer League to commit that much to the pair?

We breakdown which team will benefit the most from this trade.

The Indiana Pacers just signed Roy Hibbert to a max deal and needed a backup center. Longtime member of the Pacers, Jeff Foster retired mid-season and left a hole at center. They signed Kyrylo Fesenko as a stopgap, but he never produced at the position. That meant more minutes for Lou Amundson, who was streay and currently an unrestricted free agent.

Ian Mahinmi has had limited success in the NBA with the San Antonio Spurs and Dallas Mavericks. He hasn’t logged many minutes and averaged a career-best 18.7 minutes per game in 2011-12. He has the potential to be an upgrade over Amundson. The Pacers will know what they have by second season of this deal.

Collison and Jones both lost playing time last season. George Hill overtook the Collison’s spot as starting point guard. Jones lost playing time to Lance Stephenson and Leandro Barbosa. They lost playing time because of the emergence of younger talent and from the Barbosa trading deadline deal. They are still very talented and Dallas need their skill-sets.

Dallas will reap the benefits of this trade right away. They lost Jason Kidd and Jason Terry via free agency and Collison and Jones will help immediately. The Mavericks tried to hit a home run by shedding payroll in hopes of signing Deron Williams or Dwight Howard, but those deals never materialized. They must go on without them and surround Dirk Nowitzski with enough talent to make the playoffs.

This deal is a win/win for both teams. The Pacers needed a backup center and Mahinmi’s upside and size made him attractive. Dallas needed to fill their roster this season and only had to commit one year to both of these players. They are setting themselves up with enough cap space to go after big names next off-season. Both teams got what they wanted and rid themselves of unneeded talent.

By: TwitterButtons.com

A Sports & Entertainment blog that focuses on absurdity in sports, snarky banter, updates on Tim Tebow’s virginity, and decent sports gambling advice.

2012-13 NBA Off-season: Free Agent Tracker

If you’re looking for NBA free agent information, you want everything, we have everything!

The Miami Heat didn’t win the championship with only three guys, they needed to fill out their roster with competent players. The players who sign and appear on the last page of the sports section are just as important.

Players can officially sign with a team starting on July 11th. The listings below are the confirmed contract agreements so far. Bookmark this page, since I will be updating this post daily as the official free agent signings start rolling in.

Check out who your team has signed and other available free agents for the 2012-13 NBA season.
Continue reading

2012-13 NBA: Top 10 Most Overpaid Free Agents

There is one theme that stands out early in the 2012-13 off-season…NBA GMs are spending a lot of money on guys who may end up as deadweight. Free agents are not able to sign with teams until July 11th, but the confirmed agreements have been rolling in already.

Middle-of-the-road teams are offering inflated contracts to restricted free agents who are tied to teams that lack salary cap space. Due to the new collective-bargaining agreement, the luxury tax raises to a point where it will cost owners a lot of money to go over. Players will still need to sign those offer sheets, but talent could find the money too difficult to resist.

Which players have already been overpaid this off-season? Here are the top ten most overpaid free agents so far this off-season.

Jeremy Lin: Knicks/Rockets – 4 years / $29 million
The Houston Rockets offered Lin this contract and the New York Knicks can match it. ESPN’s Marc Stein tweeted that the Knicks will match any deal he is offered. Darren Rovell would say that this contract is a bargain. The sheer merchandise sales should exceed $29 million dollars. I agree that the Asian market will support Lin, should the Rockets or Knicks be worried about giving this much money to a guy who had a nice three week run last season? If he doesn’t play well or gets injured, he won’t earn the team anything. Yao Ming was injured for most of the last three seasons he played and I doubt Houston got their money’s worth.

Omer Asik: Bulls/Rockets – 3 years / $25.1 million
The Rockets are really trying to piss off teams near the luxury tax. The Chicago Bulls aren’t in a position to match Houston’s offer of three years for $25.1 and shouldn’t. He played some key minutes for the Eastern Conference champions, but paying Asik $8 million a year for 3.1 points and 5.8 rebounds per game is very steep. Rockets GM Daryl Morey is a smart guy, but he is making some questionable offers early this off-season.

Jeff Green: Boston Celtics – 4 years / $36 million
Green is coming back from major heart surgery. His health is a major concern, but he never meshed with the team when he came over in the Kendrick Perkins trade. He doesn’t have a set position, plays defense poorly, and doesn’t rebound well at any position. Boston is taking a huge gamble by giving him a four-year deal. I worry that this will be a regrettable contract by this time next year.

Michael Beasley: Phoenix Suns – 3 years / $18 million
At first glance, $18 million dollars isn’t much money for three years in the NBA. Beasley has had limited success in the league, but he has yet to live up to his college hype. He is undersized for his position with off the court issues. The Suns aren’t going anywhere as an organization and Beasley is known to disappear in games. I don’t see this signing working out for either party.

Nicolas Batum: Trail Blazers/Timberwolves – 4 years / $45 million
Before I go on a rant on how this contract is bad, I just want to add that this deal could be worth as much as $50 with bonuses. Batum has as much potential as any young free agent available this off-season. Minnesota is offering him ridiculous money knowing that there is a small chance that Portland will/can match it. Portland is currently in the hunt for Indiana Pacers center Roy Hibbert and can’t overspend to keep Batum. Minnesota’s offer for Batum assures they have little faith in former #2 overall Derrick Williams. They are currently trying to trade him, but has yet found a suitor. I hope Batum lives up to the deal, but he may never live up to this big deal.

Steve Nash: Los Angeles Lakers – 3 years / $27 million
The Lakers had to trade two first-round picks and two second-round picks for the opportunity to overpay the 38-year old Steve Nash. The lauded Suns training staff has resurrected the careers of Shaquille O’Neal, Great Hill and has kept Nash looking fresh. Unless the Lakers have another move in line, say a trade for Dwight Howard, I don’t get this contract. They played well with Ramon Sessions and they could have re-signed him for half of Nash’s contract and wouldn’t have needed to trade draft picks. It will be interesting to see how Kobe and Nash will handle the last five minutes of a close game. Both players need the ball in their hands to be effective.

Landry Fields: Toronto Raptors – 3 years / $20 million
The Raptors couldn’t sign Nash, so they made a hasty decision and offered Fields an inflated contract. If Nash broke up with them, Fields is their rebound. Fields was a second-round pick and exceeded expectations. $20 million is a lot of money to offer a guy who has yet to score more than 9.7 points per game and saw a drop in every major offensive category in 2011-12.

George Hill: Indiana Pacers – 5 years / $40 million
As a Pacers fan, writing Hill’s name in this column stings a little. I think Hill is a good player and believe that he deserves to be the starting point guard over Darren Collison, but this deal feels bad. He is a local Indianapolis product and even went to college at IUPUI (Indiana-Purdue Indianapolis), but he doesn’t put butts in the seats. The Pacers had the second-worst attendance in the NBA for a team who had the #3 seed in the Eastern Conference. If they lose Roy Hibbert to Portland, this money can’t be used to sign a marquee player to fill the hole in the frontcourt.

Gerald Wallace: Brooklyn Nets – 4 years / $40 million
The (then) New Jersey Nets got themselves in trouble by shipping a lottery pick to Portland for 20+ games with Gerald Wallace. If they didn’t re-sign him, the trade would have went down as one of the most lopsided deals this decade. He had all of the cards and the Nets had to overpay him in order to not look like fools. Money will be tight for Brooklyn since they also re-signed Deron Williams and acquired Joe Johnson from the Atlanta Hawks in a trade.

O.J. Mayo: Unknown – Too Much Money
Mayo has yet to sign with a team and he has plenty of suitors. The Pacers, Bulls, Suns, and Celtics are among the favorites to land him. They will have to pay a premium price for a player who hasn’t lived up to his potential (see: Michael Beasley). NBA GMs believe that he has yet to be pushed and would respond positively. Mayo did improve his numbers last season, but if he were to go to, let’s say the Pacers, he would be coming off the bench. Paul George should be entrenched as the starting shooting guard. Mayo will be receiving starter’s money this off-season.

Others candidates rumored to be overpaid
Courtney Lee
Chris Kaman
J.J. Hickson
Shannon Brown
Marcus Camby
Boris Diaw
Raymond Felton
Randy Foye
Lou Williams
Gerald Green
Jordan Hill
Josh Howard
Kris Humphries
Carl Landry
JaVale McGee
Anthony Randolph
DeShawn Stevenson

I’m sure there will be other free agents signing outrageous contracts during the 2012-13 off-season. The GMs will slowly bankrupt teams with dumb contracts on teams whose amnesty clause has already been used. There is nothing the fans can do to stop them from spending the salary cap money so freely even though we’re the ones who pay for it in the end with higher ticket prices.

Yay!

By: TwitterButtons.com

A Sports & Entertainment blog that focuses on absurdity in sports, snarky banter, updates on Tim Tebow’s virginity, and decent sports gambling advice.