2011 NBA Trade Deadline: Pacers Need To Move Danny Granger Out of Indiana

The word out of the Indiana Pacers front office these days is that team president Larry Bird doesn't plan on making any moves at the trade deadline. He is content on waiting until the offseason when the Pacers will have an estimated $24 million in cap space (this is based on the current season's $58 million salary cap, though the "new" CBA could change everything). 

At the same time, he continues to rebuff offers for his biggest asset, All-Star forward Danny Granger.  Both of these decisions may come back to haunt him.  Now is the time to strike, while the iron's hot.

Just like this previous summer, when half of the teams in the NBA cleared cap space for the free-agent bonanza, only one team will be happy at the end.  This team will not be the Pacers.  Bird's thinking is that he can sell free agents on the rich basketball tradition the Pacers have to offer, as well as the love the state of Indiana has for basketball.  Both of those things are a figment of his imagination. 

The Pacers have no tradition that matters to offer free agents.  They have never won a championship (the three banners hanging in the Conseco Fieldhouse rafters are from the ABA), their big claims to fame are going to the Eastern Conference Championship a few times, and losing in the NBA Finals to the Lakers. They are years from being able to accomplish those "feats" again. 

Basketball has nearly become irrelevant in the state of Indiana as neither Indiana nor Purdue have been championship contenders lately, and not many care about Butler as you would believe.  Even if basketball were relevant, the Pacers would fall way down the list.  Indiana backs winners, which is why the Colts own the state, and until Peyton Manning and Dallas Clark suit up for the Pacers, they will for the foreseeable future.

Furthermore, there is his adamant refusal to listen for offers for Danny Granger.  In Bird's NBA playing days, you had those guys that were just untradeable because they had so much value to your team and every team had one.  Danny Granger is not one of those guys.  He shoots too much, he takes too many bad shots, he is an uninterested defender, he gets lost too much without the ball on offense, and for his size and athleticism, he really should be a much better rebounder. 

None of those things says "franchise player". Yes, he is an elite scorer in this league, but that just makes him Ray Allen, who, at last count, was traded three times (though one was on draft night by Minnesota so maybe that doesn't count).

Not only does Granger have holes in his game, but he doesn't fit with the core that the Pacers are trying to build around.  He's 27-years-old, going on 28. While he is certainly not old by any stretch, if you say that the Pacers are at least three years away from being able to compete in the lower half of the Eastern Conference, that would make him 31 when the Pacers are able to compete.  Based on his injury history, I wouldn't give him much chance of playing into his late thirties. 

But Granger is an elite scorer in this league and there is always a place for elite scorers on contending teams.  Plus, his value is overinflated because of the years he was the only scorer on the Pacers (he averaged almost 30 points per game).  Bird needs to use that to his advantage and try to get into one of these rumored three team trades floating around involving Carmelo Anthony, or even better, take advantage of a team that misses out on Anthony. 

A team like the Rockets, who have said repeatedly that they will make a move at the deadline, and a team like Memphis, who is trying to cut cap for next season so they can re-sign both Zach Randolph and Marc Gasol. 

Why not try a trade with both of them?

Maybe the Pacers send Granger to Houston for Shane Battier, Courtney Lee and Terrence Williams, as well as a first round draft pick, then ship Battier and Lee to Memphis for Mayo and Tony Allen.  The Grizzlies get more cap relief to re-sign their inside duo, the Rockets get an elite scorer to team with Aaron Brooks and Luis Scola, and the Pacers get a pair of young shooting guards and a future draft pick for Granger. 

I've heard that Memphis is asking an arm and a leg for Mayo, but as we get closer to the deadline, that value will decrease drastically, especially with this suspension.  Houston would be receptive to making any deal that makes them important in Texas again. The Pacers would be able to field a starting five of Darren Collison, O.J. Mayo, Paul George, Tyler Hansbrough and Roy Hibbert, which can compete for a bottom tier playoff seed in the East easily. 

A future trade involving Courtney Lee could bring in a young power forward and the Pacers could actually be important again.

Bird is doing what so many GM's in the NBA do, he's overvaluing his own talent and undervaluing the rest of the league.  He needs to let go of the idea that a team built around Danny Granger because some guys just can't be built around.

Yes, LeBron James and Kevin Garnett, I am talking about you.  In today's NBA there are no untradeable players, but do you want to get maximum value for them or a $16 million trade exception and draft picks?