Post by ahebrewtoo on Aug 1, 2018 13:42:00 GMT
Indianapolis, Indiana
Herb Simon, owner, general manager, president, CEO, COO, CIO, and CFO or the Indiana Pacers, gambled big this offseason and it should pay dividends for the Pacers.
With only four players under contract, and all star guard Daniel Taurasi testing free agency, the Pacers sent five first round picks, including three of their own future firsts, to Toronto in exchange for the third pick in this year's draft. And there was no doubt who the Pacers would select with that pick: Hoosier hero Victor Oladipo.
We have to go back to the 2003 season to understand how this story started. It was widely reported that Simon was dangling Taurasi to get younger. Simon insists those rumors were false.
"We never had any intention of trading Terror. That is all bullshit. If I had to guess, Fason was probably stirring shit up because my completely independent news empire and data analytics firm, Simon Says, is suing his ass to Sunday. And it almost worked, too. Terror was upset at first. Then I assured him we were keeping him, we'd offer him the full Ian max, and we'd be getting him help. We delivered and he signed on the dotted line. Look, and if I'm being honest, which I always am, the only reason I'd have - but I didn't - put Dan out there is to get Pete's hopes up. I wouldn't do that though because that is immature and petty. Ask anyone around and they'll tell you that I'm a very stable mature genius."
But the 2004 offseason did not go as planned. Simon, notoriously tight with the purse strings, let rookie of the year De'Anthony Melton as well as budding players Alex Antetokoumnpo and Michael Porter, Jr. get away in free agency. Fortune favors thebold lucky, though, as that lack of wing depth prompted the Pacers to take former Michigan State star Morris Peterson toward the end of the first round in the 2004 draft. Immediately, the Pacers organization was excited about Peterson. While Peterson looks to have the tools to be an all league player, he's still got work to do and Taurasi's window was closing.
So Taurasi declined to resign after his contract expired and tested free agency. But Simon insists he wasn't nervous at all.
"Was I nervous Terror would leave? Hell no. I had no doubt he was coming back. Look, I can't say for sure what the plan was, but suffice to say not resigning before free agency gave us the soft cap space to chase other big time free agents. I don't know that Terror knew that was the plan, because we'd never collude like that, but he's a smart guy. He gets it."
Opposing GMs aren't so sure.
"Of course he was shitting bricks. They overpaid massively for an unproven combo guard that has skills similar to Dan's. You don't draft a player nearly identical to the player you're potentially losing if you know you aren't losing that player. And you definitely don't pay five fucking firsts for the player. He's lying - plain and simple," said a GM who wanted to remain nameless.
The facts are not in Simon's favor. As rumors swirled on day 1 that Taurasi had opted to sign with the Clippers, Simon made an immediate press release stating that the Pacers had declined to offer "Terrible Taurasi" a new contract, stating that Oladipo was "basically the same player but a hell of a lot cheaper." That statement was immediately retracted by his PR team.
As we all know, Taurasi did in fact sign with the Pacers. And while it remains to be seen how the log jam at wing will work out, the future looks bright in Indiana.
Herb Simon, owner, general manager, president, CEO, COO, CIO, and CFO or the Indiana Pacers, gambled big this offseason and it should pay dividends for the Pacers.
With only four players under contract, and all star guard Daniel Taurasi testing free agency, the Pacers sent five first round picks, including three of their own future firsts, to Toronto in exchange for the third pick in this year's draft. And there was no doubt who the Pacers would select with that pick: Hoosier hero Victor Oladipo.
We have to go back to the 2003 season to understand how this story started. It was widely reported that Simon was dangling Taurasi to get younger. Simon insists those rumors were false.
"We never had any intention of trading Terror. That is all bullshit. If I had to guess, Fason was probably stirring shit up because my completely independent news empire and data analytics firm, Simon Says, is suing his ass to Sunday. And it almost worked, too. Terror was upset at first. Then I assured him we were keeping him, we'd offer him the full Ian max, and we'd be getting him help. We delivered and he signed on the dotted line. Look, and if I'm being honest, which I always am, the only reason I'd have - but I didn't - put Dan out there is to get Pete's hopes up. I wouldn't do that though because that is immature and petty. Ask anyone around and they'll tell you that I'm a very stable mature genius."
But the 2004 offseason did not go as planned. Simon, notoriously tight with the purse strings, let rookie of the year De'Anthony Melton as well as budding players Alex Antetokoumnpo and Michael Porter, Jr. get away in free agency. Fortune favors the
So Taurasi declined to resign after his contract expired and tested free agency. But Simon insists he wasn't nervous at all.
"Was I nervous Terror would leave? Hell no. I had no doubt he was coming back. Look, I can't say for sure what the plan was, but suffice to say not resigning before free agency gave us the soft cap space to chase other big time free agents. I don't know that Terror knew that was the plan, because we'd never collude like that, but he's a smart guy. He gets it."
Opposing GMs aren't so sure.
"Of course he was shitting bricks. They overpaid massively for an unproven combo guard that has skills similar to Dan's. You don't draft a player nearly identical to the player you're potentially losing if you know you aren't losing that player. And you definitely don't pay five fucking firsts for the player. He's lying - plain and simple," said a GM who wanted to remain nameless.
The facts are not in Simon's favor. As rumors swirled on day 1 that Taurasi had opted to sign with the Clippers, Simon made an immediate press release stating that the Pacers had declined to offer "Terrible Taurasi" a new contract, stating that Oladipo was "basically the same player but a hell of a lot cheaper." That statement was immediately retracted by his PR team.
As we all know, Taurasi did in fact sign with the Pacers. And while it remains to be seen how the log jam at wing will work out, the future looks bright in Indiana.
