Trade idea to acquire Brandon Rush

[Who]

Indiana expected a lot of Rush during his rookie season but he was disappointment for those expecting to see a star ... until the end of the season when he had what appeared to be a very impressive stretch run ... after that run of form, Indiana's (Bird and many of the fans) faith in Rush's ability to become a star was restored.

During the final 12 games of the season, Brandon Rush was given 36 minutes a night and dropped 17.4ppg while pulling down 5.2 rebounds and playing solid defense. A rookie in that type of form and All-Star potential comes to mind.

Unfortunately, it wasn't that impressive a run. Rush just got hot and hit more shots than usual. He was knocking down 57% of his field goal attempts + 43% of his three point attempts while only getting to the foul line 11 times in 12 games (huge warning sign for a scorer) despite taking over 150 shot attempts. You bring his shooting percentages back to earth (45% FG% and 37% 3FG%) and suddenly his 17.4ppg becomes 14ppg.

Anyway, a timely hot streak shooting wise ramped up the talk of Rush having star potential and it carried over for the entire summer. He has been disappointing again so far this season and his reputation amongst Pacers fans seems to be dropping very quickly.

PS -- 14 points per game is roundabout where I think Brandon Rush could produce if given 36 minutes once his offensive game improves some more, which I expect to happen. A fourth scorer type of threat (fourth option). So, I'm looking for him to become a very good defender + very good rebounder + very good shooter and complementary scorer. An elite role player. That's what I expect Rush to develop into.

[scoop]

Rush reminds me of guys like Derrick McKey, to name a former Pacers.

He's a willing passer who makes good decisions but lacks the creativity, vision and risk-taking mentality to make big plays. Poor ball-handler. Low shot-creation skills. Struggles to finish plays. He's as his best as a catch'n'shooter from the perimeter, has great form coming off screens. Still streaky as a shooter though. Good defender on the ball, so-so off-the-ball.

As Who says, a decent role-player that can become a very good one in the future, but certainly not a star.

There's no way the Pacers do this trade though. Taking Ford off their hands may make them consider, but they'd still turn down the trade.

[scoop]

Indiana doesn't have luxury tax problems. They are at around $66.7 million in payroll. They're under the LTT by a couple of million ($69.9mil, so $2.2mil). Even if they were over the tax threshold, they wouldn't sacrifice a young talented prospect who is on a cheap contract to get under it. They'd move one of their higher paid veterans like a Troy Murphy (Cavs interested in him).

As an aside, they don't have luxury tax problems this season, but they may have them for the next season, assuming the current projections are right and the threshold decreases to $65 millions or so.

I'm not sure if they're willing to run the risk of entering the next season with a payroll above the threshold with hopes of unloading salary down the road (they'll have tons of expirings), so they'll probably try to trade Murphy before the trade deadline this season (although, to be honest, I can't see which teams besides the Cavs - if they don't get Jamison - will trade for him).

[byennie]

CLEARLY, I have been misinterpreted and misunderstood. The original post was asking, if the pacers would do a deal somewhere along the lines of TJ Ford and Rush for Tony and JR.

Just for starters, I will admit that this is purely academic because I agree that those trades aren't happening.

Me Living in Indiana, I gave my input, based on what I see in the Pacers games, and what I hear from Larry and the organization, what i read in the paper, and what is said by Coach o'brien.

What you read in the paper and hear from Larry probably sounds just like what we heard about Marcus Banks and Gerald Green in their first two years. Teams ALWAYS say this stuff about lottery picks with few exceptions. That's my point, no team is going to say anything different if the player is a good kid and still has room for improvement.

Take with it a grain (or two) of salt.

In reference to the KG analogy, I used the numbers 15/7/2 because thats what he has avg. since Rush has been in the League. And if you read thoroughly, I said, "If I didnt know anything about the Celtics. and only looked at the numbers". I was only making a point about, only looking at numbers and nothing else. I was not comparing KG's numbers to Rush's.

No, you used the numbers to say that they didn't justify his $24M salary and so there must be some huge intangibles in there. To which I pointed out that the Celtics didn't pay $24M for 15/7/2. They paid it for their championship run when he was much better and putting up well over 20/10 per 40 minutes.

I know you weren't comparing them straight up. You were using KG as an example of another player who's value greatly exceeds his numbers.

It's a bad analogy not because KG > Rush (obviously), but because you overstate how much of KG's value is intangible. KG's value is VERY tangible. Rush's apparently is not.

I was making a point or an example of only looking at the numbers and nothing else, and then making an argument or decision based soley on those numbers, without investigating further into what those numbers mean. And the investigating in this case means, watching multiple Pacers games. and then forming a conclusion.

Again, numbers aren't everything. But horrible numbers don't lie, and it sounds like you aren't seeing the forest from the trees. I've done the same thing. Watched Gerald's smooth jumper, watched Marcus Banks rip 7 steals. If anything, watching a few games as a fan makes almost everyone overrate young players.

THe Analogy, was more about how a team values its players
Not, KG and Rush are the same caliber of players. That doesn't even make sense for anyone to write that.

Agree.

I was responding and letting someone know, that  here in Indiana, The Pacers organization is high on Brandon Rush, and really believe in him. But when you look at his stats, they are similar to Tony Allen's. However Larry Bird would not do that trade, because Rush's value to the Pacers is more than what he provides stat-wise. Which is why they wouldn't do the deal that was proposed at the beginning of this thread topic.

See my previous comments. You don't know that they "really believe in him". You know what they say in public.

I agree they wouldn't trade for Tony Allen because Allen has no upside left (not to mention injuries and age). It doesn't make sense to trade young players for older ones that aren't any better. Agree.

I feel sorry for you, if you took the time to respond to a post you thought was about Brandon Rush being better or more valuable than Kevin Garnett. I would not have even responded to something crazy like that if it were me.

You're feeling sorry for the straw man, because I never thought that.

And most of all, I certainly wouldn't post anything like that, because Kevin Garnett is my favorite player, and always has been. Ever since He, Steph, and Googs were up in Minny. runnin' things.

Well to that we can agree. Gotta love KG no matter how you measure him.