Acquiring Lou Amundson is not a reason to celebrate. But for the current Indiana Pacers, he is the exact type of better-than-serviceable big man off the bench the team needs. He is efficient, he plays on both ends, and he matured his game in a winning system in Phoenix (although he played last year in Golden State, which is where Brandon Rush is headed). He doesn’t add a ton to the table, but he takes nothing off. He may not be the transformational piece that turns an eight seed into a four seed, but you cannot dispute that he does have a pony tail.

Best of all, the guy Larry Bird gave up to get Lou was entirely expendable.

For a quick and dirty comparison, in Almundson’s only three seasons during which he got any playing time, he posted PERs of 14.4, 13.5 and 11.3. In Rush’s first three seasons, he had PERs of 9.0, 9.6 and 10.6. Naturally, the 6’9″ forward rebounds twice as much per minute as Rush. But he also scores about as well per minute as Brandon does with a significantly higher eFG% despite not shooting threes.

That will be the only thing Indy really loses: a good three-point shooter.

Brandon, in theory, plays good on-ball defense as well, but as Tim Donahue researched, that never actually led to much measurable success for the Pacers. He breaks it down statistically in the following three paragraphs.

In his three years in the NBA, Brandon Rush played 6,048 minutes for the Pacers. While he was on the floor, the Pacers posted an offensive rating of 103.6 points per 100 possessions. For reference, only 13 teams (of the 90 total teams that took the court during the past three years) posted worse efficiency ratings than that figure. During the 7,334 minutes Rush was off the floor, Indiana scored 107.5 points per 100. This isn’t great production either, but it’s right at or slightly below league average.

But Brandon’s a defensive specialist, right? So it’s at that end where he redeems himself? Not exactly.

With Rush on the floor, the Pacers allowed just above 108 points per 100 possessions, which is slightly worse than average for the NBA. But, the Pacers were a terrible defensive team, right? So even with this below average rating, Brandon had to be helping, right? Well … the problem is that Pacers have not been a terrible defensive team — they were statistically average over the past few years. And when Brandon was off the floor, they improved, allowing only 106.3 per 100 possessions.

Numbers aren’t everything though.

Lou is also a guy who:

• fits a need (rotation big man who can sorta play both forward spots)
• has experienced success in his career (he played for the Suns in the Western Conference Finals two years ago)
• was likely frustrated last year by playing for a bad team (the 36-46 Warriors) and being injured (only played in 47 games due in part to a broken finger)

In an ideal world, he would be a little bigger so he could play some center minutes behind Roy Hibbert and Jeff Foster. But Rush was just cluttering up the wing rotation anyway so there is no real downside. And if Tyler Hansbrough misses any games (a decided possibility) and/or Jeff Pendergraph turns out to be worthless (an even more decided possibility), Frank Vogel will likely consider it very convenient to have a willing and eager “I’ll-do-whatever-you-want-coach” guy backing up David West at power forward.

Lastly, hailing from UNLV, Amundson joins Danny Granger (New Mexico), David West (Xavier), Paul George (Fresno State), George Hill (IUPUI) and Jeff Foster (Southwest Texas State University) to give the Pacers six guys who played for mid-major programs in college. That has to help give this team an identity.

According to Ronald Tillery of the Memphis Commercial Appeal, the discussions regarding a deal centered on the Pacers acquiring Grizzlies guard OJ Mayo in a sign-and-trade for free agent forward Josh McRoberts have ceased. Memphis officials have told OJ to stop worrying about what he hears in the media; he isn’t going anywhere.

Proposed Mayo-McRoberts deal is officially dead, source tells the CA. Mayo told this morning that he won’t be traded anywhere.

Mike Wells of the Indianapolis Star has confirmed.

Memphis has decided not to trade guard OJ Mayo, according to sources.

We don’t know why the talks ended. Perhaps Larry Bird pulled out because he has found another deal he likes better that we have yet to hear about? (Jamal Crawford?) Perhaps Bird was playing too much hard ball, demanding that Memphis takes back Brandon Rush. Or, as Tillery mentions, perhaps it had to do with the Grizzlies now seeing Mayo as a little less expendable after some recent injuries have cut into their guard depth.

Mayo decision comes as X[avier] Henry sits out of practice today due to sprained right ankle. S[am] Young also hasnt practiced due to ankle injury

Stuff like that could matter more in a 66-game schedule, so it may indeed be a factor.

As for the former Carmel High School standout, Tillery thinks he is now headed to Los Angeles.

Griz looking at signing McRoberts as UFA but McRoberts likely to take more money, bigger role from Lakers

If this is the case, it begs the question of why McRoberts wasn’t just headed to Los Angeles this whole time. Seems like a better situation and, ya know, everyone wants to go there these days. Guess he thought Memphis — the team or the town — could have been a good fit. Either way, it would be nice to see how he can fit into the Lakers front court.

* Correction: Changed the title from “Seven Degrees” to “Six Degrees” after realizing I’m dumb.

Dave Navarro said it best when he released Trust No One. When it comes to NBA trade rumors, the trust old journalism axiom also applies: If your mother says she loves you, check it out.

Unfortunately, I have no sources to either confirm or deny the validity of the most recent Chris Paul-related rumor from Yahoo’s Adrian Wojnarowski. But if they come to fruition, good lord, the Pacers would be proving just how valuable having some cap space can be. Just by jumping in to help facilitate a Paul-to-Boston deal, Woj is saying that Larry Bird can get Rajon Rondo without giving up all that much.

We have heard about this rumored deal before, but never with some many of the moving parts so fully detailed.

Ainge and Rivers believe they can convince Paul to stay with the Celtics beyond this season. That’s why Ainge has been so relentless on the phones, trying to secure the players beyond Rondo and Green that New Orleans would want for Paul.

The Celtics had discussions with the Indiana Pacers about the framework of a deal that could’ve sent Paul to the Celtics, Rondo to Indiana and a package, including former Hornet Darren Collison, Tyler Hansbrough,Brandon Rush and draft picks, to New Orleans, sources said.

New Orleans would have keener interest in small forwardsDanny Granger or Paul George, but Pacers president Larry Bird has declared those players “untouchable” in trade talks, sources said.

Losing Collison is something but not really when you upgrade to Rajon. So all you’re really losing there is Hansbrough, a valuable piece but not irreplaceable, and a few picks, which are crap shoots anyway and unlikely to be of the lottery variety, and Brandon Rush, who isn’t good.

This doesn’t really pass the smell test though.

Really, New Orleans can’t get anything better for the league’s best point guard than Jeff Green, Darren Collison, Tyler Hansbrough, Brandon Rush and a bunch on non-lottery picks? I dunno. There are a few fringe starters there, sure, and I like DC and Bro Hands (and very much don’t like Jeff Green), but this sounds like the opposite of the Herschel Walker deal.

Then again, if Paul is only a four-month rental who won’t commit to an extension and no teams will give up a sizable asset on that type of gamble, perhaps this is the best offer? It’s a least good volume. They do need warm bodies just to field a team next season, particularly since it’s hard to believe David West will re-sign with a team that lacks both an owner and, soon, an all-world point guard.

The Hornets have only six players under contract, and had hoped they could find a trade for Paul – who has told them he will leave as a free agent after the season – before the start of Friday’s training camp. That scenario looks less likely, because, as one executive in the talks said Thursday, “They’re bringing in more teams, more scenarios, when we thought they wanted to narrow it down.”

More than anything, however, I’m just shocked that the Warriors and Clippers have put, repectively, Steph Curry and Eric Gordon “off limits” in a Paul deal. Really? Then again, who am I to judge. It’s decisions like these that have left the Clipps and Dubs mantle’s littered with Larry O’Brien trophies.

Oh wait …

In our last installment, we looked at the “core six” players in terms of how they played last season and how they project to fit in with this franchise long term. Now, it’s time to look at the other players — some of which may not even be on the roster the next time the Pacers pick up a ball for a league-sanctioned game. Whenever that may be.

We will look at the rest of the squad in descending order by minutes played.

(Stats courtesy of Basketball-Reference, 82games, BasketballValue, HoopData and ESPN.)

Brandon Rush

Rush will be 26 years old next year and is slated to become a restricted free agent at the end of the season. At best, he should be a fourth guard. Unfortunately for the Pacers he led the team in minutes in 2009-10 and was fourth in minutes last year. He shot an excellent 42% on threes, but was otherwise unspectacular with a PER around 10, which is basically replacement level. Seven of every ten shots he took were from outside 16 feet, resulting in him rarely getting to the foul line. This offsets his three point shooting and results in true shooting (54%) that is almost exactly average (surprise) at 54%.

On the strength of his long-distance accuracy, his eFG% shooting was a little better — but not much, only outpacing the league average SG by 1.5%. Worse still, he is a low-usage player who struggles to create his own shot, making only one unassisted field goal per game in 26 minutes.

He was average at rebounding and protecting the ball, but was 51^st of 55 shooting guards in assist rate and 53^rd in assists at the rim per 40 minutes (per Hoopdata). He’s not an elite defender and tends to lose focus, particularly off the ball and in rotation situations. While not completely indicative of his performance, the Pacers were 5 points per 100 possessions worse on defense last year when Rush was on the floor.

Mike Dunleavy

Since we’re going down the list in order of minutes played, it disconcerting to see Dunleavy behind Rush. Junior had struggles of his own last season, no doubt. But with Rush on the court last year, the Pacers were outscored by 5.98 points per 100 possessions. Meanwhile, during Dunleavy’s 779 minutes at shooting guard, the Pacers outscored opponents by 7.94 per 100.

There certainly isn’t a 14 points-per-100 difference between the two players, but these numbers do reflect how much better the Pacers operated with a starting caliber NBA shooting guard. Dunleavy and Rush had similar usage rates. However, Dunleavy’s TS% and eFG% were 5 points higher than Rush’s, and he was also a much better distributor, recording nearly twice as many assists per 40 minutes with fewer turnovers. Dunleavy grabbed 16.2% of available defensive rebounds, ranking 17th out of the 107 NBA swingmen who played 40 games.

In sum, he plays effectively within both the team offensive and defensive systems, and doesn’t take much off the table. Dunleavy will be 31 next year and is a free agent.

Josh McRoberts

McRoberts was very effective last year as a role player. He didn’t try to do too much and played solidly when opportunities presented themselves. His TS% and eFG% were 6% and 7% higher, respectively, than the average power forward. While only shooting 60 three pointers, he made an impressive 38% while also finishing second on the Pacers in FG% at the rim (among those with at least 50 attempts).

He was a capable defender last year as a league-average rebounder, while averaging 2.71 defensive plays (blocks plus steals) per 40 minutes (compared to a league average of 2.33 for power forwards) against only 4.1 fouls per 40 (average is 4.7). The Pacers were 1 point per 100 better on defense with him on the court, and the combination of these attributes resulted in McRoberts having the lowest defensive rating of all Pacers.

McRoberts’ best skill is probably his passing — something even more valuable on a team bereft of passers. Of 57 power forwards who played 40 games; McRoberts was 4th in assists per 40 minutes, and 8th in assist-to-turnover ratio (per Hoopdata). McRoberts will turn 24 years old next season and is a free agent.

Jeff Foster

Foster will turn 35 next year and, like the last two players, is a free agent. After missing almost the entire 2009-10 season, Foster played nearly 1,000 minutes last year. As Pacers fans know, he has never been a very good scorer, peaking at 7 ppg, but he’s becoming even less effective as he ages. Last year he scored only 7 points per 36 minutes and had shooting percentages well below average for a center.

Focusing on scoring, however, obscures the thing that Foster is great at: getting the ball off the glass. Foster’s offensive rebounding rate of 19.1% was the best in the NBA last year, and the closest center only grabbed 13.9% of available offensive rebounds. Of players that played over 600 minutes, the nearest player (Dejuan Blair) was at 14.8%. No one in the NBA was in Foster’s neighborhood as an offensive rebounder. If he had played enough minutes to qualify, this would have been the third time that he led the NBA in this category. (He is 5th all time for qualified leaders since 1971.) Foster also takes care of the ball well; his assist-to-turnover ratio was 5th among 58 centers. In short, Foster was a very effective anchor for the second team.

James Posey

Posey will be 35 next year and, unfortunately, is not a free agent. (He has one year left on his contract, which, at $7.6 million for the final year, was the price Larry Bird accepted to obtain Darren Collison in that trade with New Orleans.) Last year all he wanted to do offensively was shoot threes, taking 88% of his shots outside the arc. Unfortunately again, he was not very good at making them. No need to belabor that Posey is probably not part of the team’s short- or long-term plans.

AJ Price

Price will be 25 next year and is under contract for one more season. After giving the team solid minutes in 2009-10, Price was very poor offensively last year. He shot 8%-9% below average for guards in TS% and eFG%, which is a shame considering his 23% usage. He was an average passer and below average rebounder.

The Pacers were 3.49 points per 100 possessions better with him on the court, but his adjusted +/- was negative 12.7 points per 100. That metric gives Price no credit for the Pacers successes when he was on the court. (Most of the credit appears to go to Foster, which we will discuss more in part five of this series.). Given Price’s offensive “contributions,” this seems reasonable.

TJ Ford

Ford is 28 and a free agent. He was likely the worst offensive point guard in the NBA last year. He was benched the second half of the season. There is not much to say about T. J. Ford as it relates to the future of the Indiana Pacers.

Dahntay Jones

Jones will be 31 next year and has two years remaining on his contract. It’s hard to make much of last season’s 600 minutes, but efficiency-wise, Jones had a career offensive year. His career high TS% of 56% was paired with career high usage. His turnover rate was at a career low. This may be due to playing primarily against back ups; in 2009-10 (in 1,900 minutes) his shooting was below average and he had the 7th highest turnover rate of all shooting guards. Jones is a solid defender, but is a below average rebounder that fouls too much.

Solomon Jones

Jones will be 27 next year and is a free agent. There is not a lot positive to say about his play last season. His eFG% and TS% were approximately 10% below league average for a center. Of the top 58 centers in minutes, Jones ranked 53d in defensive rebounding and fouled the 5th most times per 40 minutes.

Lance Stephenson

Stephenson will be 21 next year and is under contract for one more year. He was the 8th ranked player in the high school class of 2009, but through his one year of college and one year in Indiana, there are concerns about conditioning, shot selection and behavior. Larry Bird has said that he is the most talented player on the roster. So far, we have yet to see this reflected in his numbers.

Jeff Rabjohns reported the following for the Indianapolis Star.

“I was on the phone with Memphis. We had a deal with five minutes to go. At two minutes, they (New Orleans) pulled the deal, and it didn’t happen,” Bird said, referring to the 3 p.m. deadline set by the NBA.

Larry elaborated further about the opportunity to get Mayo and “not give up a ton” — a characterization that must make Josh McRoberts, Brandon Rush and Solomon Jones (the three guys who would have been shipped out) feel all warm and fuzzy inside.

“We felt we had the opportunity to get a player who would help us and not give up a ton, even though I like Josh and Brandon,” Bird said. “It’s unfortunate it had to be a three-team deal because when you get more teams in it, anything that happen.

“It’s tough on me because we worked three days to get a deal done, and they (New Orleans) pull it off the table with two minutes to go. That’s pretty hard to take.”

Now the Pacers look ahead to the summer. Barring the new Collective Bargaining Agreement capping all salaries at “one peanut butter sandwich with a team option for jelly,” the Pacers should have plenty of money to target some free agents. We’ll see how that goes, but I’ve increasingly become enamored with the idea of Zach Randolph playing power forward for Indiana.

The only responses from Brandon and Josh on the matter were typical, “say the right thing” fodder, although Rush again dropped a similar line to the one he gave me last night regarding his thoughts on what the front office has in store for his future in Indiana.

“They tried twice. I’m thinking they’re going to try again. But it’s the NBA. Everybody gets traded.”

The only real surprise here is that neither Brandon or Josh used the phrase “it is what it is.”

Good call, Dime magazine. Also, I love how every other cover line is a person’s name aside from “Kenyon’s Ink,” which now that I think about it, should be something K-Mart can claim as a dependent on his tax return no matter what Ron Paul thinks. Also Part II, I bet reading this issue with posterity would be hilarious. Just look at those names.

That’s just really, really hard to do for a team not populated by a Joel Anthony clone army

And since there is almost nothing about this single game that is worth discussing nor remembering, I was curious as to whether or not the players thought it was just one of those nights or whether the trade talk was a factor.

I asked both Danny Granger and Brandon Rush, who was were reportedly minutes away from no longer playing professional basketball in Indiana, and each, as expected, said they just played badly. “We just got our ass kicked — didn’t rebound, didn’t shoot well,” said Granger. “That’s the recipe for a loss.”

Specifically, in terms of how a team can shoot below 28% for a whole half, Danny put the blame on the team not using an offense that had, before tonight’s 84-point outing, produced at least 100 points in all 12 games that Frank Vogel has coached. “We tried to go one-on-one too much and didn’t let our movement work for us,” said Granger. “We just didn’t execute our offense as we have in the past.”

More important than whether or not the team came out flat in one game after a crazy trade deadline Thursday — which, it should be noted, was insane leaguewide way more so than it was for Indiana — is whether or not the involved players will be affected.

For Rush, the worth-mentioning preface to all this is that it has been a hectic month.

First he sprained his ankle, which sidelined him for a while and allowed Paul George to get some extended shine. (George was already well-established in the rotation prior to the injury, but did get more time and, likely, leeway while the coach had fewer options available on the bench.) Then came yesterday’s report that would have had Brandon packing for New Orleans had Larry Bird been able to get everything in order a little more quickly. All that, and now he finds himself back in the Pacers starting lineup following Mike Dunleavy Jr. suffering a broken thumb that is expected to keep him out for the next six to eight weeks.

Still, he said he’s just ready to play ball. “I’m ready to help this team to win,” said Rush. “Being a part of this organization has been great. I’m just looking forward to [the rest of the season].”

As a third-year player who has had his name floated in deals before, he understands it is a business. “That’s the way I look at it: it’s a business,” said Rush. “You can’t take anything personal because everything is about business around here. You try not to get your feelings involved. I mean, everybody’s bound to get traded every once in a while.”

And despite the loss and the obvious frustration Rush showed about that, he has remained upbeat enough to even drop some jokes about his future in Indiana and what the front office has in store for him next. “What’s going to happen this summer?” he asked with a tongue-in-cheek grin. “Maybe they’re gonna try again.”

Josh McRoberts was quick to dismiss any impact that this week’s trade deadline may have had on him. “I’m frustrated we lost,” said a stoic McRoberts. After some prodding about him almost being sent to Memphis, he only offered that “it’s good to know that I’ll be here the rest of the year. That’s a good thing. That’s positive.”

Like Granger, he saw tonight’s garbage-scented performance as simply an on-court performance problem. “We got killed,” said McRoberts. “They killed us on the boards. We didn’t help each other on defense or rebounding. We got killed.”

You sure did, Indiana.

Yesterday’s failed Indiana-Memphis-New Orleans love triangle caused some hysterics amongst Pacers fans. I got the sense that many think O.J. Mayo is a knucklehead who is not worth the price of Josh McRoberts, Brandon Rush and a first round pick. That may be true, but Mayo represented a huge talent influx for the Pacers. There is no doubt that Larry Bird would have looked good in the eyes of NBA experts had this gone through.

Now, the Pacers have egg on their faces. So do the Grizzlies. Who is to blame? I’d say the Hornets.

A day after Mark Cuban blasted the NBA-owned Hornets for paying out big cash in a trade for Carl Landry, the team from the Bayou screwed up the best-laid plans of the Pacers and Grizzlies. I can think of at least three owners who are going to push the league to either sell the Hornets to a buyer in New Orleans as soon as possible or get on with relocating the team to a city where new ownership can be found. (UPDATE: Phil Jackson is publicly expressing a similar sentiment to that of Cuban, dropping this classic Zen saying: “If New Orleans happens to win the championship, does everybody get a trophy in the NBA?” h/t Pacers Digest)

When the league took over the Hornets it also took on the responsibility to run the franchise in a professional manner until a buyer comes along. It is not doing so right now. The NBA is simply incapable of running a team the way a normal owner/general manager duo would. If you are a conspiracy theorist, the NBA just gave you one more reason to think the league has it out for the Pacers or any other small market team. I don’t believe this to be true, but I do fault the NBA for being incompetent in its quest to keep a team in New Orleans.

The more important question for the Pacers becomes, what about the rest of the season for Josh McRoberts and Brandon Rush? After this attempted trade, neither player is likely vital to the long-term plans of the Pacers, but both are important for the rest of this season.

Given the questions about the Pacers’ collective fragile psyche throughout the season, you have to wonder how McRoberts and Rush will react to yesterday’s soap opera. It would be easy to say, “suck it up, ignore it, and be a professional.”

That conveniently ignores the fact that these guys are human.

McRoberts now knows for sure that Tyler Hansbrough is presently in the long-term plans of the Pacers and that he is likely not. McRoberts has played his role very well in the past dozen games, and now this happens. How does the starting power forward react?

Rush, one day removed from a game-winning dunk against Detroit, knows for sure that Paul George is really the shooting guard of the future. Rush was only put into the starting lineup when Mike Dunleavy went down to preserve the second unit dynamic that has worked so well under coach Frank Vogel. Given Rush’s struggles to be consistent, how does he respond to the knowledge that the Pacers tried to trade him away?

It will be interesting to see if McRoberts and Rush can be consistent, solid contributors on the heels of the aborted trade.

Rush did get into the game briefly in the first half. But when he came back for another cameo late in the third quarter (replacing Granger, not George), he sprained his ankle.

And now he will be out for two weeks.

Swingman Brandon Rush will be out about two weeks with a sprained right ankle. Rush, who is wearing a walking boot, injured his ankle in the third quarter against Orlando on Wednesday. Price will get some of Rush’s minutes at shooting guard.

Obviously, someone getting hurt is never a good thing.

But for George, this may provide some mental security. I imagine that in addition to being excited about getting his first real, extended chance to show he can play in this league, he is a little nervous. Learning the Xs and Os in practice is much different from executing them at game speed, and you can tell that George, like all rookies, gets lost out there at times.

With Rush on the shelf, however, George should be able to stop looking over his shoulder and worrying about every little mistake. Now, he can just play basketball without fear of getting yanked.

Hopefully that assurance will help him perform better.