Talking About Pacers: July 29, 2009

In the Indianapolis Star, Mike Wells is saying that the Earl Watson deal is for one-year/$3 million.

"Watson signed a one-year deal for almost $3 million with the Pacers on Tuesday."

Yesterday, however, Bruno said that it was a “multi-year deal.”

"Though the Pacers are otherwise a relatively young team, their pursuit of Watson, who signed a multi-year deal, sends a message."

Pacers.com also announced a multi-year deal, even titling the link to the story as “Watson signs multi-year deal.” (See screen shot below.)

"The Indiana Pacers announced Tuesday they have signed veteran point guard Earl Watson to a multi-year contract. Per club policy, terms of the contract were not released."

Yet, Marc Stein of ESPN was also tweeting that it was a one-year deal as recently as this afternoon.

"More bookkeeping to pass along: Indy’s deal with Earl Watson, official as of yesterday, is a one-year arrangement worth $2.8 million."

Generally, you would think the Pacers would be the most accurate here. Who knows though? Maybe there is an extra year(s), but it (they) is (are) nonguaranteed? Hopefully, this will all be sorted out soon enough.

And spsteveneson at Indy Cornrows is hoping Stein and Wells have it correct.

"I know one of the things that let me really embrace bringing Watson to this team was the opportunity to also get him off the books next summer with just a one-year deal. That would at least allow the contracts Travis Diener, Watson and possibly T.J. Ford (player option) to vanish into thin air during the big summer of 2010. But a multi-year deal obviously changes that. Maybe he’s a guy who comes back from a bad situation last year and makes us want to keep him, but I’m really hoping that Wells is correct and the Pacers just screwed up their story here."

Meanwhile, Larry Bird thinks that Iverson might be better than Earl, but that Earl is the best free agent point guard for Indy. (Me and Ramon Sessions would probably disagree.)

"“I feel he’s the best (free agent point guard) out there,” Pacers president Larry Bird said. “(Allen) Iverson’s out there, but for what we need, he’s the best for us.”"

In non-Watson-related news, Frank Dell’apa the Boston Globe is saying that Gabe Pruitt is unlikely to be the player the Pacers would get back for Marquis in a sign-and-trade deal that feels, to me, more unlikely to occur by the day.

"Pruitt is unlikely to be used as part of a sign-and-trade deal involving Indiana guard Marquis Daniels, since the Pacers have three point guards. A three-team trade involving Pruitt also is unlikely, a league source said."

NESN also broaches the idea that this whole thing might never happen.

"What the Pacers want is promising young basketball players. They want to build a winning team by doing the little things right — they want to find those 24-year-old youngsters with potential and build.The Pacers have Danny Granger, who gave them 25.8 points and 5.1 rebounds a night last year, under contract through 2014. Yes, that’s right, 2014 — they have a star swingman under their control while in his prime at 26, and they can keep him locked in until he’s 31. Now they just need to find the right complementary pieces to fit around him.Larry Legend is smart. He knows that the Celtics aren’t offering him those pieces — not for Marquis Daniels, and not for anyone else. The Celtics aren’t giving up young talent.Which is why finding a third team to complete the Daniels sign-and-trade deal makes sense. The Pacers need young talent and have a good bench player; the Celtics want a good bench player and have expiring contracts. Connect the dots — what Larry and his old budd Danny Ainge need to do is find a GM willing to give up a good young player for the expiring deals of Brian Scalabrine and/or Tony Allen.That GM might not exist. And if he doesn’t, this whole sign-and-trade idea surrounding Marquis Daniels might just be a pipe dream."

Frank Isola of the New York Daily News is reporting that Jamaal Tinsley wants to play in his hometown even at a discount rate, mainly because Donnie Walsh is the Knicks GM.

"Jamaal Tinsley is prepared to sign with the Knicks … assuming Donnie Walsh is willing to make him an offer. A source close to the free agent point guard said that Tinsley will commit to the Knicks, even it means accepting less money than other teams may offer, because he wants to be reunited with Walsh and play in New York. The Brooklyn-born Tinsley, banished all of last season by the Indiana Pacers due to disciplinary reasons, is scheduled to meet with Walsh and coach Mike D’Antoni Wednesday in New York."

Anthony Schoettle of the Indianapolis Business Journal reports on the predictable news that the Colts are a lot more popular than the Pacers.

"Local sports marketers said the data has been trending in the Colts’ favor for more than five years.”Because Indiana has deep, deep roots as a basketball state, the numbers might take you back. But they’re consistent with my own surveys and data,” said Mark Rosentraub, sports business author and former dean at IUPUI. “This is certainly a reversal from the Reggie Miller era.”"

Josh Dhani of Pacers Pulse talks about Jermaine O’Neal’s days as a Pacer.

"On September 1, 2000, the Indiana Pacers made a trade that changed their whole team’s franchise for the next eight years to come. They traded big man Antonio [sic] Davis to the Portland Trailblazers for young, four-year pro Jermaine O’Neal. This was one of the smartest moves in Indiana Pacers history. He wasn’t that all impressive with Portland, as his career-high year with that team was in his second year, 1997, averaging about five points and three rebounds per game. The Pacers were going to have a great power forward/center for years to come."

The Pacers are saying Watson signed a “multi-year deal.” Wells and Stein are saying Watson signed a one-year deal. It would be nice to get this figured out.