By Sean Connolly
The Indiana Pacers have traded their most talented player, Jermaine O’Neal for Toronto Raptors T.J. Ford, Rasho Nesterovic, and the 17th overall pick in tomorrow’s draft. This is the first of possibly many trades that should take place until the end of tomorrow’s draft. This ends Jermaine O’Neal’s tumultuous era in Indiana and begins a new one for T.J. Ford.
The winner in this trade isn’t the Raptors or the Pacers, it is Jermaine O’Neal. O’Neal is easily one of the most talented players in the league and has yet to truly show it on the Pacers. He will now head over to a stronger Raptors team who made it into the playoffs last season as a 5th seed. The Raptors lack athletic size and will certainly appreciate what O’Neal can do, but the loss of a star like Ford will be difficult.
T.J. Ford has to be considered the loser in this trade. Ford will head to the Pacers where he will certainly dissapear. His talent was beginning to shine during his short time with a talented Raptors team. Indiana has no upside and Ford will find it difficult to perform as well as he did on the sharp-shooting Raptors. With Ford comes Rasho Nesterovic who cannot be enamored with the move either. His shooting improved drastically over the 07-08 season since he was surrounded by other pure shooters.
In what looks like a trade heavy draft, this may just be the first of many in the next 24 hours. The Knicks, Heat, and Mavericks all may trade their picks and move players around. Only time will tell, but this looks to be one of the biggest no matter what happens tomorrow night.
I guess when you look at this trade you can consider the Pacers to have gotten the better deal. They pick up another first round draft pick which will certainly improve their building process, and they dump a significant amount of salary in Jermaine O’Neal. They also pick up a fan friendly T.J. Ford, who with his talent can fill the stadium. If they can do well in the draft, they might have a chance to return to the form they had when Reggie Miller was around.
