"Now there's a steal by Bird!"

First appeared on August 25th, 2010
in The Lebanon Reporter

If uncertain economic times have taught us anything it’s that good deals are hard to come by. And before you lose interest, this isn’t one of those tired “gas was only 95 cents when I was a senior” columns (although it really was). No, I’m afraid this is a tired column of a different sort.


For proof times are hard, and to see how far the mighty have fallen, one need look no further than high society’s long-time standard bearer. Of course we’re talking about Denny’s, home of the Grand Slam breakfast and godsend for heart surgeons everywhere.

Born from their obvious love of the Colts and a less obvious, but more understandable, desire to increase the number of hands on their menus, Denny’s is offering fans free coke or coffee anytime Indianapolis beats an opponent at the Luke by more than 24 points. Really? 24 points? The only deal more generous would be McDonalds giving away free ketchup packets if Peyton throws for 6,000 yards and 18 touchdowns in the third quarter of a Thursday night game.

But just when it seemed the days of cheap coffee and free television were gone, the Pacers may have stumbled upon the deal of the century in trading for point guard Darren Collison. OK, so maybe it’s not the deal of the century but it is a trade that doesn’t involve money or the all too popular “player to be named later”. It’s not uncommon for trades to force the part-time sports columnist to report the facts and do what we as Americans do best; point out all the shortcomings while predicting the ultimate doom of professional sports itself.

In a four team trade the Pacers sent Troy Murphy to New Jersey and received point guard Darren Collison and small forward James Posey from New Orleans. Other players involved were Indianapolis native Courtney Lee who left the Nets to join the Rockets as former Laker Trevor Ariza who went from Houston to the Hornets.

Pacers President Larry Bird made it clear earlier in the summer that the Pacers needed talent at the point guard position. After targeting Collison in college the Pacers were forced to wait until last week before finally landing him. In Collison, a former Bruin and Rancho Cucamunga native, the Pacers get a second year player who showed promise while covering for an injured Chris Paul. He is also a player who, as his former college coach Ben Howland put it, ‘only cares about winning’.

The unfortunate thing for the Pacers is, when you’re a franchise with more issues than British Petroleum, this trade likely becomes a mere Band-Aid. In dealing Murphy a team that was already one of the leagues worst at rebounding loses its top rebounder. In getting veteran James Posey, the Pacers gain the last thing they really needed- another talented wing.

Posey’s acquisition is intriguing however, considering he has two championship rings and is a proven winner (playoffs 6 of the last 8 years). But the Pacers depth at wing likely relegates him to being the X factor who may never get the chance to be an X factor for he would have to take time from either the Pacers best scorer (Granger), their best defender (Dahntay Jones) or their top draft choice (Paul George).

These issues admittedly appear more manageable now that Bird has secured a talent who might be able to fill some seats. For now the Pacers should keep Collison around, if for no other reason than fans will get to hear Mark Boyle wrestle with “Rancho Cucamunga” on a nightly basis.