@MikeWellsNBA: There’s a good chance that the Pacers will offer T.J. Ford a buyout if they don’t trade him by the deadline next week.

@MikeWellsNBA: Ford likely won’t accept buyout unless he can get his money back by signing with another team. He rejected Pacers buyout offer last summer

So there you have it Mike Wells is reporting that the Pacers will likely offer and Ford will likely decline. Makes total sense to me.

Ford is most likely not going to find a lot of money on the open market, so he’s going to want to make sure that buyout covers most of his remaining salary. This means the Pacers are going to have to offer a sizable amount of money to get Ford to void his contract and that’s something I don’t think they’ll do.

Personally, I think he’ll be sitting on the Pacers bench for the rest of the season. If the Pacers are struggling to find trade partners with an expiring contract the size of his, then they won’t find one in the next week. At the same time, I doubt he’ll find any team that will be willing to pay him the money he wants.

@Chris_Broussard: NYK will trade Anthony Randolph for 1st round pick within next 2 weeks, sources say. Minny, Indy, Portland among likeliest destinations

A few minutes later, Broussard follows that up by adding the possibility of the Houston Rockets as they just received an injury exception for center Yao Ming.

@Chris_Broussard: Yes, maybe ARandolphRT @YeLLa_Boi: @Chris_Broussard with HOU getting trade exception for Yao can they get in mix for any of these trades?

I’d be ecstatic ff the Knicks could get a first rounder for Randolph. The reason being head coach Mike D’Antoni’s insistence on not playing the kid. In 2010-11, his third professional season, Randolph is averaging career lows across the board. A direct result of only playing seven minutes a game, his only action over the past two months have been in three blowouts.

The 6’11 forward/center was just coming into his own last year with the Golden State Warriors before his injury. He was averaging 22 minutes, 11 points and 6.5 rebounds per game. For a second year player those were fairly impressive numbers. For any team that needs help on their front court remember that and that’s why they’re willing to give up a first rounder.

For the Knicks to get a pick like that from a team would be huge in their pursuit of the Denver Nuggets Carmelo Anthony. Donnie Walsh said a while ago that he’ll get himself another first rounder to make the Melo deal happen, it looks like he may back that comment up. Now will the Nuggets pull the trigger?

Of course any Randolph trade would be contingent on the Knicks landing Anthony in a deal with the Nuggets. The New York Post reports that the Knicks have such a deal in place with the T-Wolves.

Nevertheless, the Knicks, according to a league source, have a contingent deal in place with Minnesota to trade Randolph for a Timberwolves 2011 first-round pick.

First off, J.R. Smith of the Denver Nuggets had a beauty of a steal turned into a reverse dunk on the other end against the Minnesota Timberwolves. Don’t ya love it when a guy turns a steal into an amazing breakaway finish, none of those weak ass layups here.

During his collegiate days Emeka Okafor was known for his defense and shot blocking abilities, not many players would challenge him in the post. In the NBA, well Philadelphia 76ers center Samuel Dalembert had no problem challenging him last night dunking on Emeka the Rejecta.

Speaking of getting dunked on. Udonis Haslem of the Miami Heat was absolutely embarrassed last night by the Utah Jazz’s Carlos Boozer. This one might have to go into the dictionary next to the word posterized (once it officially makes it in to one). Not only did he get dunked on but Carlos hit him with a beautiful ball fake before running him over.

In my opinion one of the most exciting plays in the NBA is the alley-oop. I don’t mean the little weak ones where the ball is tossed up for an easy slam. I’m talking about the high flying above the rim kind. The slam on this next video from DeMar DeRozan wasn’t the greatest but what makes this my NBA play of the day is the dish from Hedo Turkoglu. The pass itself makes this a great alley-oop.

The dunk of the day thou didn’t even come from the ranks of the NBA. It came from the collegiate ranks and a small school down in Arkansas. Tavaris Washington of Arkansas Pine-Bluff completely jumped over an Alabama State player. A lot like Vince Carter over Frederic Weis, although this defender wasn’t nearly as tall.

Unfortunately for Price he’s way down on the depth chart. He’ll be competing with Travis Diener for a reserve point guard spot. He won’t see much playing time if he does make the team but hopefully his abilities speak for themselves and that changes.

I mean really who can forget when Price used his killer crossover he used against Marquette last season. Would he break NBA ankles the same way?

Good luck Price, can never have enough Huskies playing in the NBA.

2008-09 was easily the best season of Daniels career, averaging 13.6 points and 4.6 assists in 31:30 minutes over 54 games. One would assume free agency would mean a raise for him, especially with those numbers. But in this economy that’s not the case, he’ll probably be lucky to get someone’s mid-level exception.

So what are Daniels’ options? His best option might be to resign with the Pacers once free agency begins. With only Brandon Rush and Danny Granger as outside threats, you’d have to assume the team wants Marquis back. They just want him at a more team friendly rate.

First lets look at the Toronto Raptors. Coming into this off-season the Raptors were eager to add another big body to their front court, while clearing up room for Jose Calderon to be the full-time point guard. This trade solves both of those needs.

Ford was Calderon’s competition at the point, and when healthy could easily steal quite a few minutes from Calderon. The problem was of course, when Ford could stay healthy. Calderon is currently a restricted free agent, and General Manager Bryan Colangelo decided he wants Calderon to the future of the franchise. To make that happen money and playing time wise, Ford was very expendable. Ford has approximately $25 million and 2 years left on his contract, and for someone so oft injured the team felt he’s not worth the money no matter what he produces when on the court.

Bringing in O’Neal brings another very athletic big man into the mix, pending he stays healthy. Isn’t it kind of funny that one guy gets moved after injuries, and then the team brings in someone even more injury prone? Well back to the topic. O’Neal now joins Chris Bosh and Jamario Moon in making a very solid starting front court. O’Neal should take the role of starting center as long as he stays healthy.

Now the Pacers, the team who I feel is the winner in all of this. The Pacers have been trying for a while now to move Jermaine O’Neal and to move him for so much is a pretty good deal. T.J. Ford and the 17th pick highlight this deal. We’ll discuss the pick later, but first Ford.

Like I said before, when on the court TJ Ford has been a very productive player at the point position. The point is a position that the Pacers have sorely needed help at for a while now. Bringing in Ford who averages just under 7 assists a game in his career should be a big plus for this team. They’ll now have an efficient ball handler who can run their offense. Yes I know, they did have Jamaal Tinsley who actually had a career best 8.4 assists a game , but he is on the way out as Larry Bird looks to clean up the teams image.

Nesterovic is basically a salary guy that was thrown in to help even contracts out, and also minimize the Pacers loss of O’Neal. Truthfully, in the what have you done for me lately NBA, Nesterovic isn’t to much of a downgrade. Yes, I know O’Neal is the better center but based off injury and recent performances the numbers aren’t to far off. Nesterovic averaged about 8 points and 5 boards a game in 21 minutes, while O’Neal averaged 14 points and 7 boards in 28 minutes. Career wise different story thou.

The kicker in the deal the #17 pick in the draft. The Pacers all along have been trying to land a second pick in this years draft. This now gives them the 11th and 17th picks, which could be used to add some considerable depth to this team. I’d still look for the Pacers to take a guard with one of those picks, and then more of a project big man with the other. Another possibility would be to trade up in the draft now with those two picks, that would be way to tricky and a pretty big long shot. The reason being is this deal can not become official till July 9th because of provisions in Ford’s contract.

So why do I call the Pacers such big winners when both teams gained a lot from this deal? The main reason once again is they found a taker for Jermaine O’Neal. They’ve been trying to move him forever now! He’s one guy I truly did not expect them to be able to move and still get something of value in return. I guess I was wrong, not the first time, definitely won’t be the last.

This deal is a pretty big way to start of the 2008 NBA Draft Day. This is just one of what I’m sure will be many deals as this is usually the most exciting draft out of all the major sports. The deals are plenty and they come fast and furious. It’s going to be a fun day for NBA fans.

Live in the Indianapolis area? Looking for something to do, here’s some things you can look at.

It’s no secret that O’Neal actually has no interest of being in Indiana. Jermaine’s stated plenty of times before that he has no interest in being part of a rebuilding project, and thats exactly what the Pacers are.

It’s also no secret that Larry Bird does not want O’Neal to be part of this team. And who can blame him? Two seasons worth of knee injuries, not performing anywhere close to All-Star caliber, who’d want him on their team? Jermaine played in just 42 games last season, scoring about 13 points and a tad under 7 rebounds a game. Bird has expected O’Neal to stay with the team, as there was no chance O’Neal could make similar money in free agency.

If you notice, I just said who’d want him on their team? And, I’m serious!!! Who wants a guy with a bum knee and can’t play an entire season, and makes $20+ million a year. He’s played only 206 games over the past 4 seasons. That’s an average of about 51 games over an 82 game season, thats numbers you expect from a 8th or 9th guy on the bench. With two years left on his deal, you aren’t going to find many teams who want cap relief trying to get him as they’ll have to wait themselves.

I’m not sure who the Pacers could get for him in a deal. My guess is that he’s a Pacer all season and pretty unhappy about it. What do you guys think?