2 Bigs that will be available this offseason:

[Diesel]

1. Chris Webber will be available this season. I think Philly will buy him out in the next 2 weeks.

2. Jermaine Oneal will be traded by this offseason. Unless the Pacers gets to the NBA championship game, look for them to trade Oneal for Capspace, picks, and ending contracts.

The Hawks may have a shot to get either..

I say get Webber this season!

[Guest Walter]

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The Hawks may have a shot to get either..

I say get Webber this season!

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That's awful generous of you Diesel. Of course, you have to convince O'Neal to sign for 4 years or less and to want to come here under these chaotic circumstances to join a team no better than his current Indy Pacers. I'm sure, if you are willing to foot the bill and all, you can get it done. Think, Diesel the great hawk philanthropist.

Webber wouldn't come here, nor would he help us if he did. He's cooked.

W

[Diesel]

Actually, JO won't be a free agent, but I believe Indy would be willing to trade him.

The question should be who would I give up:

Zaza, Marvin, Lue, and Capspace.

About Webber... He will be a free agent, but I think we may be able to get him on the cheap for the rest of this season once Philly buys him out!

[capstone21]

That is an awful lot to give up for a very injury prone player. Don't get me wrong, I think O'Neal is a great player. He might be a nice inside outside combo with JJ. Its just his injury woes scare me.

[DJlaysitup]

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Actually, JO won't be a free agent, but I believe Indy would be willing to trade him.

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Disagree...JO is a talent and the JO/Al duo is just starting to gel. They will keep him IMO.

As far as Webber goes - that is about as possible as me becoming an astronaut.

[gsuteke]

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That is an awful lot to give up for a very injury prone player. Don't get me wrong, I think O'Neal is a great player. He might be a nice inside outside combo with JJ. Its just his injury woes scare me.

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we're looking for someone to emerge as a #2 scorer behing Joe. well why not make Joe the #2 scorer?

i try to stay away from the trade of the day threads but this is interesting because it exposes our over-valueing of Marvin on the board.

giving up Zaza and Lue is no big deal. we need a young PG anyway.

this deal is essentially Marvin for O'Neal. there's no way Indy would do it IMO but who here doesn't think the Hawks walk away fleecing the Pacers if this goes down?

[vdunkndunk]

I think we could get Jermaine O'Neal if we wanted him bad enough in a trade this offseason...especially if we keep our pick this year. What about something like Marvin + we give them back their draft pick?

I think O'Neal would be just what we need. He's blocking 3 shots a game, he rebounds well, and he's got length and athleticism and is good for around 20 ppg. I think he'd go really well alongside Zaza and help hide Zaza's deficiencies a bit, and he'd be the second scorer we need to go with Joe Johnson.

Speedy Claxton

Joe Johnson

Josh Smith

Jermaine O'Neal

Zaza Pachulia

Bench: Lue, Chill, Durant, Shelden, Solomon

Or we could even go with O'neal at C and bring Zaza off the bench.

Either way, I think that would be a guaranteed playoff team in the East as long as we stayed reasonably healthy.

[DrReality]

If we trade for Webber we need to get a wheel chair in the deal because his knees are pretty much gone.

[SmooveTheFuture]

I would love to get Jermaine O'neal this guy is the truth. I dont care if we have to trade Marvin for him. It will take Marivn years before he impacts a game anything like Jermaine does. We would finally have a low post threat and another shot blocked. We would have 2 of the top 5 shot blockers in the NBA on this team. That would improve our interior defense by leaps and boounds. If we got a shot to get Jermaine for Marvin + sigh me up. Jermaine is an allstar and is still pretty young.

My feeling is Jermaine wants to go play with Isiah in NY because he said Isiah was the best coach he ever had and they remain best of friends. Knicks can give them Frye Balkman and others for him. Put Jermaine next to Curry and look out

[Diesel]

I was actually thinking about:

Shelden, JO, Smoove, JJ, Speedy as the Starting 5.

[Diesel]

Just take a good read..

IndyStar.com Sports Pacers

O'Neal's frustration boils over

He is tired of Pacers playing like 'a very average team,' ponders his future

By Mike Wells

mike.wells@indystar.com

DALLAS -- The Indiana Pacers' inconsistency has started to take its toll on their franchise player.

- CHARLIE NYE / The Star

Pacers at Hornets

8 p.m. today, FSN Indiana

Forward Jermaine O'Neal spent about 20 minutes inside an empty locker room at the American Airlines Center late Thursday night venting about their 17-16 record.

"We're a very average team right now," O'Neal said. "We're going to be average until we decide as players that we want to win and do the right things we're supposed to do to win. If we don't do it, we're going to mingle around .500, get in the playoffs and then be out."

O'Neal's frustrations boiled over after the Pacers squandered an opportunity to end the Dallas Mavericks' 11-game winning streak Thursday. The Pacers played solid for the first three-plus quarters only to "self destruct" in the final few minutes.

The constant inconsistency has O'Neal thinking about his future with the Pacers. O'Neal, who is averaging a team-high 19.3 points, 10.6 rebounds and 3.2 blocks per game, reiterated his comments made to The Star last summer about playing with the team beyond this season.

"If I can't take this team to another level, I truthfully believe we should go our separate ways at the end of the season," said O'Neal, who added his first choice is to remain with the Pacers. "I'm saying in general, the bottom line is you play to win. If we don't have a system set to win a championship, if we don't have the crew to win a championship, then what are we doing?

"I'm getting to the point, I'm in my 11th year, I don't want to play 82 games and then exit to watch somebody else pop champagne. . . . I'm tired of that. I want to compete for a championship. If we can't do it, that's a whole (different) story."

When asked if he has taken his displeasure to CEO Donnie Walsh and team president Larry Bird, O'Neal said, "It's in the best interest of my team and the city not to comment about that. The bottom line is we win and lose as a team and everybody is responsible for it. The coaching staff all the way down to the players."

Walsh, making one of his few road appearances, said he understands O'Neal's frustration.

"I think he's played really well and if the time comes for (talking about O'Neal's future), then that will be the time. We'll see," Walsh said. "I don't like to respond to comments after a tough loss like that. We're going through a difficult part of the season. I'm frustrated, the coaches are frustrated on occasion and the team is frustrated."

The Pacers, who overhauled their roster last summer, have beaten Detroit and Orlando, two of the top teams in the Eastern Conference, twice each this season. It's losses to Boston, Toronto, Seattle and Charlotte that have stopped any talk of them being an elite team in the East.

Tonight, they are at Oklahoma City.

The Pacers' longest losing streak is only three games. They have failed seven times to win three straight games.

"We've proven we can go out and beat the best teams in the East. We've also gone out and proven we can lose to the worst teams in the East," O'Neal said. "What's the solution? I don't know what the solution is. It's frustrating."

The Pacers' rotation has been just as inconsistent as their play on the court. Players are uncertain of their roles on the team. Talk about players having their own personal agenda has started to circulate around the locker room.

"Before the season started, we met with each one of our players and told them what is to be expected of each one of them," Pacers coach Rick Carlisle said. "We coach them and try to do better. We don't always play great. The thing I'm encouraged about is our effort has been really good. We just have to cut down on mistakes."

now let me add this. Bird wanted to get rid of Oneal this Summer. Bird won't have a guy making 100+ million dollars bitching.. I'm sure Oneal will be traded because Al/Granger can replace him!

[TheNorthCydeRises]

The next level . . .

Pacers are currently 17 - 16 . . but safe in the top 8.

I guess that means that O'Neal is gone then.

[exodus]

Why would they want Marvin when they have Al and Granger?

[Guest Walter]

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Why would they want Marvin when they have Al and Granger?

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For all our talk about having a forward to trade, it is the position seemingly best filled throughout the league and certainly in Indy. I questions MW's value period, but I also question a Sf's value in general.

W

[gsuteke]

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The next level . . .

Pacers are currently 17 - 16 . . but safe in the top 8.

I guess that means that O'Neal is gone then.

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you at the truck stop again?

[Gray Mule]

Re-read his somments. Sounds so much like the Hawks it's

scary. They have, like everyone else, their problems.

When you really look, seems the problems are eeriely

similar with every pro team - In all pro sports.

The same thing Atlanta fans have been saying about the

various teams here, they are echoed everywhere else.

Strange, to say the least.

[Johnnybravo4]

For some reason the prospect of trading MW makes me queasy. I can just see a J O Neal and Mcgrady scenerio all over again. Marvin will end up going to New Jersey and score 27/7 per game. But I'd still do it if it brought J'oneal.

[Dsinner]

My question is, if Oneal wants to leave because the Pacers have no shot at a championship, why the hell would he OK a trade to come here? And trust me he would have the final say with a trade. You guys are nuts sometimes.

An even bigger nut if you honest to god want Webber. Diesel do you post things to simply confuse people about your sanity?

[Diesel]

I would honestly sign Webber for the end of this year at the vet minimum once philly buys him out!!

WHY NOT??

I figure he would play hard for us.

We will give him the opportunity to play for his next contract.

Sure he could go to Dallas or Phoenix but how much exposure would he really get there. He'd be like the 5th guy off the bench. However, he could be our starting PF. We could use a big 6'10 guy with as much experience as he has. I'm sure he could show both Shelden, Jones, and Batista a think about playing offense from the PF position.

[Diesel]

I think O'Neal has other frustrations... that are not about championship contention. Hell, Indy can contend for a championship as is. I think O'Neal's frustration is how he is being used. With the return of Al and the emergence of Granger, what position does O'Neal play?

Seems like Center. However, O'Neal doesn't like playing Center. So he's crying about a trade. He could be traded to Dallas (they certainly have the capital for JO) however, I doubt Dallas would ruin it's chemistry to bring in a guy who doesn't stack up to the guy that they have in Dirk. He could be in Washington... however, come on... Arenas is a one man show.

The bottom line on Oneal is that he has to realize that where ever he's at, he should make that team a championship contender. That's why you get paid 120+ million. If you can't make that team a conender, then do like KG and just shut the ---- up.