I know that a Hibbert trade has been floated here a bunch of times but I was thinking about the recent David West quotes and wondered if maybe they'd consider moving their front court for assets. Expiring contracts, pick(s) and maybe a young guy or two. I'd move KO and all of our expiring deals for Hibbert/West and I'd even do 2 first round picks though I would insist on them being the late 1sts due to both Pacers having player options (essentially expirings if things don't go well).

Would the Pacers rather try to build around Hibbert/George (West will be 35 when George returns next season) or take KO, the pick and have cap room to add another star player to George? I'm not sure what I'd do if I were them but Hibbert looked like a 3rd (at best) or 4th option basically all of last season. Not sure I give that guy the max deal he'll be wanting at the end of the season if I'm the Pacers.

Our situation is different. We have a star in a contract year, a young core of players on manageable salaries and a ton of assets. The Pacers have an injured star on a long term deal, few to no promising young players and only their own picks for the future. Unless they can attract a star guard soon I am not optimistic about their future.

So here is my offer:

http://espn.go.com/nba/tradeMachine?tradeId=q348944

I know it says it failed but it's wrong, Thornton can be traded as of September 11th and the salaries work. Here is why it makes sense.

West is aging and wants to contend. The Pacers can't do that this season and he knows it. Indiana gets Olynyk for West and starts their rebuild with a promising young big who can shoot. Hibbert is very likely going to opt-out at the end of the year to get a longer and more lucrative contract. Indiana didn't get to the finals the last 2 seasons, got worse this year and watched the East get better around them. Unless a superstar has plans to set up shop in Indiana next season I suspect that trend will continue downward.

In exchange for Hibbert we give them $20M in expiring deals along with two (likely late) 1st round picks. It's more than Cleveland can offer and probably the most they'll get considering his faults and his inevitable decline of his player option next year. They get a good start on a rebuild (and probably a high lotto pick) and we get a core to contend this season and maybe next. We also increase the likelihood of resigning Rondo which is a plus in my book (opinions may differ).

Now this would put the kibosh on a tank effort for one of the centers in the draft next season but Hibbert is a really good center and he's Rondo's age. We also have a really good relationship with Hibbert's agent, David Falk. He represents Hibbert, Green, Sullinger and Turner.

This move would leave our 2014-15 roster looking like this:

Rondo/Smart
AB/Young
Green/Turner
West/Sully
Hibbert/Zeller

with Wallace probably seeing a lot of time on the bench (or more likely stretched to stay under the projected tax line of $81 million).

Call me crazy but I think that team is better than the Wizards and the Raptors. Defensively we'd likely to be one of the best teams in the league. Our 3pt shooting would need to be addressed but other than that I'd like our chances.

What do you guys think? Is this a reasonable offer for West/Hibbert?