Why The Ford - O’Neal Swap Makes Sense For Both Teams

So it’s a done deal. TJ Ford has been shipped to Indiana along with Rasho Nesterovic, the 17th overall pick in the draft and a spare part. In return Jermaine O’Neal heads eastward to Toronto.

It’s obvious how the deal benefits the Pacers as they get rid of Jermaine’s huge contract, acquire a starting PG, an expiring contract and another first round selection.

So if you are Larry Bird you’re sitting there with two decent first round picks (11 & 17), a decent PG and surely an improvement over Jamaal Tinsley, as well as additional cap relief in the terms of Rasho Nesterovic’s expiring contract. Honestly, the Pacers aren’t going to do any damage in the next two seasons with or without O’Neal on their roster. So why not blow it up and start over with a core of Ford, Mike Dunleavy, their two first round picks and their cap room. Worse comes to worse, Ford’s contract expires in a few years anyway. In addition his contract is 80% covered by insurance she he have a career ending injury. If I’m Indiana there is zero reason that I don’t pull the trigger here.

Now moving onto Bryan Colangelo’s perspective.
BC is not going to receive 100 cents on the dollar for Ford as it’s widely known that he won’t be back in Toronto this fall. So moving him to the Pacers wouldn’t be a terrible move.
Taking on Jermaine’s contract and the remaining $44 million also isn’t as bad as it would appear to be. The Raptors would be paying Ford, Rasho, The Scrub and their draft pick $20 million this season regardless, so the first season of O’Neal’s deal is moot. Thus, the Raptors would essentially only be on the hook for one season at $23 million. If O’Neal isn’t a good fit, so what. It will only be a two year experiment. Worst case scenario is that the Raptors have over $20 million in cap relief in two years.

But if Jermaine O’Neal returns to form (doubtful) he’ll be a beast. He will instantly improve Toronto’s front court scoring, defense and rebounding by leaps and bounds. It’s not inconceivable to think that a healthy O’Neal makes Toronto the second best team in the east behind Boston. And barring a Boston playoff collapse (almost happened twice this season) the Raptors could sneak into the finals where they could watch Kobe put up 81 again.

A Raptors line-up of Calderon and Parker in the backcourt would be above average. Calderon (without having to look over his shoulder for TJ) will be an Eastern Conference All-Star in 2009. A front court of Bosh, O’Neal and Bargnani / Moon would also look quite good. The addition of O’Neal would obviously also take a ton of pressure of Bargnani and hopefully allow him to find his groove.

So, if I’m Toronto I think this deal makes a lot of sense as well.

Granted, Jermaine O’Neal might be the oldest 29 year old in league history ( I feel like he’s been in the league since 1989 and his 46 years old) but if he’s healthy this deal could seriously work wonders for the Dinos. If he bombs, big deal. Toronto will see a ton of cap relief in a few years and rid themselves of Ford which needs to be done anyway.

T.J., Jermaine And The Draft

What to make of the latest trade news coming out of Bay Street this week involving Raptors guard TJ Ford.

With the 2008 NBA Draft coming up Thursday evening, trade rumors are being heard around the Air Canada Centre much more frequently. The latest news this week has TJ Ford and the Raptors pick (17th overall) either being sent to Phoenix for forward Boris Diaw or to Indiana for C/F Jermaine O’Neal. The Indiana deal would also include Rasho Nesterovic and a spare part (Joey Graham or Baston).

So let’s start with my thoughts on both trade possibilities, beginning with O’Neal.

As I mentioned above, this proposed deal would send Ford, Nesterovic, the 17th overall pick and a bench scrub to the Pacers for Jermaine O’Neal. It’s obvious how the deal benefits the Pacers as they get rid of Jermaine’s huge contract, acquire a starting PG, an expiring contract and a second first round pick.

So if you are Larry Bird you’re sitting there with two decent first round picks (11 & 17), a decent PG and surely an improvement over Jamaal Tinsley as well as additional cap relief in the terms of Rasho Nesterovic’s expiring contract. Honestly, the Pacers aren’t going to do any damage in the next two seasons with or without O’Neal on their roster. So why not blow it up and start over with a core of Ford, Mike Dunleavy, their two first round picks and their cap room. Worse comes to worse, Ford’s contract expires in a few years anyway. In addition his contract is 80% covered by insurance she he have a career ending injury. If I’m Indiana there is zero reason that I don’t pull the trigger here.

Now moving onto Bryan Colangelo’s perspective.
BC is not going to receive 100 cents on the dollar for Ford as it’s widely known that he won’t be back in Toronto this fall. So moving him to the Pacers wouldn’t be a terrible move.
Taking on Jermaine’s contract and the remaining $44 million also isn’t as bad as it would appear to be. The Raptors would be paying Ford, Rasho, The Scrub and their draft pick $20 million this season regardless, so the first season of O’Neal’s deal is moot. Thus, the Raptors would essentially only be on the hook for one season at $23 million. If O’Neal isn’t a good fit, so what. It will only be a two year experiment. Worst case scenario is that the Raptors have over $20 million in cap relief in two years.

But if Jermaine O’Neal returns to form (doubtful) he’ll be a beast. He will instantly improve Toronto’s front court scoring, defense and rebounding by leaps and bounds. It’s not inconceivable to think that a healthy O’Neal makes Toronto the second best team in the east behind Boston. And barring a Boston playoff collapse (almost happened twice this season) the Raptors could sneak into the finals where they could watch Kobe put up 81 again.

A Raptors line-up of Calderon and Parker in the backcourt would be above average. Calderon (without having to look over his shoulder for TJ) will be an Eastern Conference All-Star in 2009. A front court of Bosh, O’Neal and Bargnani / Moon would also look quite good. The addition of O’Neal would obviously also take a ton of pressure of Bargnani and hopefully allow him to find his groove.

So, if I’m Toronto I make this deal.

Granted, Jermaine O’Neal might be the oldest 29 year old in league history ( I feel like he’s been in the league since 1989 and his 46 years old) but if he’s healthy this deal could seriously work wonders for the Dinos. If he bombs, big deal. Toronto will see a ton of cap relief in a few years and rid themselves of Ford which needs to be done anyway.

But what about Ford to Phoenix for Diaw?

I think this deal is much less realistic. I’m not even sure how this rumor got started.
TJ Ford IS NOT going to Phoenix to be Steve Nash’s back up. He wasn’t backing up Calderon and he won’t back up Nash. As much as I’m sure Colangelo would love to send him to the West, I can’t see this happening. The 17th pick also shouldn’t push Phoenix over the edge as you’re likely not going to get a star there.
While I wouldn’t mind seeing Diaw in Toronto, I don’t think he could make the Raptors a contender like O’Neal could. Diaw would move them from a 6 seed to maybe a 4 seed. Who knows, he might even get them a first round win, but nothing more.
Diaw is definitely a “safer” option than O’Neal. But the potential benefit of O’Neal greatly outweighs that of Diaw’s.

So I say, take O’Neal over Diaw. Even though, I can’t see Phoenix accepting the offer anyway.

Now, let’s look at the draft should the Raptors keep the pick.

Below are the players that the Raptors could be looking at if they are still on the board when pick # 17 comes around.

Hibbert has been moving up the draft boards lately for some reason. Sure he has size, but I think he’s a marginal rotation player at best. I think Hibbert could be a solid contributor on a team that is already in title contention, but that’s about it. He’s not going to make a poor or mediocre team that much better. I’m hoping he doesn’t end up in Toronto.

I would welcome a player such as Arthur into the fold. He’s a player in the Antonio McDyess / Antawn Jamison mould. He’s a bit suspect on the defensive end as he picks up a ton of fouls. But he does have great potential and the athletic ability to be a solid contributor.

Robin Lopez is a popular name tossed about. Lately some boards have even moved him into the actual lottery. I think the Lopez twins might be the two most overrated players in the entire draft. Aside from being an obvious pretty boy, Robin is offensively challenged. He will not be any help offensively in the NBA and he doesn’t have the athletic ability to be a great defender. He’ll probably be one of those “hustle and energy” guys. But he’s not a player I want to see in Toronto.

Douglas Roberts is hugely popular with a large number of Raptors fans. He could easily step in and contribute right away for the Raptors. I think he’ll be a solid NBA player and I wouldn’t be disappointed if Toronto selected him, but I wouldn’t be over-joyed either. Robers is not that impressive physically (not many NBA players wore T-shirts under their jerseys in college) and he did have the benefit of playing next to Derrick Rose all season. Overall, this wouldn’t make me happy or disappoint me that much.

Donte Green is one of those “upside” guys that the scouts love. Word is that he’s very “raw” and could be a few years away from being a great player. He has the potential to be a great slasher, but apparently jacks up too many 3’s (Jamario Moon clone?). Regardless, don’t expect him to help Toronto right away.

Thompson has the size that Toronto likes, but he doesn’t excel at anything in particular. He was also a four year college player of which “stars” are rarely born. I think he’s a decent rotation player, but that’s about it. I would prefer if Toronto avoided this kid.

Randolph was one of those players who the scouts loved weeks ago, but now seem to hate him….
I’ve seen him as high as #9 and as low as #30, so who knows. The consensus is that he’s very, very raw and athletic with lots of “upside”. Apparently he could be a cross between Tayshaun Prince and Lamar Odom.
I think if he’s still available at 17 the Raptors should take him. The odds of Toronto playing it “safe” and getting a star with Hibbert, Lopez, etc is very low. Why not try and hit a home run with this kid.

Brandon Rush isn’t a great pick in my eyes. I think he could easily step in and contribute right away, but I don’t see him making a great impact on a team like Toronto. He has a history of injury and apparently isn’t always interested in the game. It also appears that Phoenix will take him before Toronto if he’s still on the board.

Koufos has been rocketing up the boards as of late, with many boards saying he would easily be a top 5 selection next season if he had stayed in college. Apparently this kid is soft and shy on the defensive end which Toronto does not need more of. If he does end up in Toronto, it wouldn’t be terrible, but I wouldn’t be overjoyed either.

In the end, I hope the Raptors end up with Anthony Randolph, Donte Green or to a lesser extent Koufos.

Of course this could all be moot if Toronto deals the pick with Ford this week.

So what do you think about the potential Ford deal? What should Toronto do if they keep the pick?

Stars Wars meets Dancing with the Stars? WTF!?!

Maybe They Should Increase The Font Size On The Teleprompter?

Flash Back Friday! Jays Fire Gibbons, Bringing Back Cito!

It was announced this afternoon that the Toronto Blue Jays, already looking ahead to the 2009 season, have finally relieved manager John Gibbons of his duties and have replaced him with Blue Jays fan favorite Cito Gaston.

Gaston as all Jays fans know, was the Blue Jays manager for four division titles and two World Series championships from 1989-97.

Firing Gibbons was a move that had to be made as the Blue Jays have clearly given up on John Gibbons and any hopes the club had of making the playoffs have all but vanished since the start of June as the Blue Jays have a record of 4-12 in the month of June to plummet to last place in the AL East. This month’s shittacular record comes on the heels of a MLB best 20-10 record in the month of May which was just enough to excite Blue Jays fans, before the inevitable plunge back into sub-mediocrity.

So what to make of Cito returning to the Skydome? Can he help this team?
Likely not. This Blue Jays team just does not have the offensive tools to compete in the American League. It is this writer’s opinion that with respect to offense the Blue Jays are below league average when it comes to every single position on the field.

Sure some people will argue with me and tell me that Alex Rios and Vernon Wells are ‘above average’ outfielders, and they may very well be correct in terms of potential or ability. But this season they are not. At least when you look at the numbers.
Like I said above, 1 thru 9 everyone on this team is below average on the offensive side of the ball.

No manager in baseball could get this team to the post-season.

Which leads me to the next obvious move. Canning the men responsible for creating this mess. Sure getting rid of Gibby was the right move. He’s a career 305-305 manager with no less than 80 wins in a season and no more than 87. He wasn’t a “winner”. He wasn’t getting this particular ball club over the edge.

But then again, who could?

JP Riccardi has created a disaster of a ball club in Toronto. Especially with offense. The contract extension to Vernon Wells, while appearing necessary at the time, appears to be blowing up in his face.
Same goes for Alex Rios. He’s gotten his cash and has decided to “relax” a little bit. Then we have AJ Burnett, which might be one of the worst signings in Blue Jays history. It’s also nice to see how well Reed Johnson is doing in Chicago and how happy Frank Thomas is to have the Jays paying him to play in Oakland.

Of course there will be JP defenders out there (apparently) who will defend his moves of getting Marcum, McGowan and Litsch in the rotation. Of course that came on the heels of his Victor Zambrano, Toma Okha and John Thompson signings all turning sour….so basically he lucked out there.

End result is that you can’t expect a chef to make a quality meal with shitty ingredients. In this case Riccardi handed chef Gibbons shitty ingredients to work with. And what we got was a shit-tastic shit pie.

So yeah, let’s get rid of J.P. and Godfrey while we’re at it. Ted Rogers is bringing the iPhone to Canada next month, and he’s the only Canadian carrier. Talk about a cash windfall. Who knows, maybe with all that Rogers iPhone cash we could even top the Yanks and Sox in payroll! We can get whoever we want….well except Adam Dunn.

But as for the present. Cito will be a welcome change and he’ll pimp out more of that retro gear at the Jays shop at Skydome. So at the very least he’ll increase merchandise sales.
But unless he’s bringing Devon White, Ricky Henderson, Joe Carter, John Olerud, Roberto Alomar, Pat Borders, Tony Fernandez, Ed Sprague, Duane Ward, Tom Henke, Jimmy Key, Juan Guzman, Pat Hengten, Jack Morris, Dave Stewart and a time machine with him…..we’ll be taking on the O’s for fourth in the east.

Here’s to 2009 and the Blue Jays iPhone funded MLB leading payroll!