The Warriors & Pacers swap players

By David
Kaye

Jermaine O'Neal spoke and Pacer management listened. The Pacers star has been fed up with the direction of his team for a while now as he recently said ''we're a very average team right now.''

O'Neal's Pacers won't be average for long because they completed an eight-player trade today with the Golden State Warriors that will greatly improve their roster. Stephen Jackson, Al Harrington, Sarunas Jasikevicius and Josh Powell were sent to the Bay Area in exchange for Troy Murphy, Mike Dunleavy, Ike Diogu and Keith McLeod.

Both Mike Dunleavy and Troy Murphy have struggled under the system of head coach Don Nelson. Even though Nellie is a Hall of Fame coach, both youngsters were not able to mesh under his style of play. A change of venue will be great for the former number three pick in the 2002 draft and the former Notre Dame star.

Murphy will automatically became a solid big man in the Eastern Conference because of his outside shooting ability and rebounding skills. Murphy's skills have been overshadowed out West because of the plethora of skilled big man, but as he returns to the state of Indiana he will have the opportunity to display his talent. In only 28.2 MPG in his career, Murphy has averaged 11.2 PPG and 8.2 RPB. His numbers are sure to be on the rise.

Mike Dunleavy will be a great beneficiary of the trade. He is player who has an abundant of talent and great shooting ability. I feel that in Rick Carlisle's system the former Duke Star will see his scoring and shooting percentage numbers sky rocket. Being that he will now play in a porous Eastern Conference Dunleavy will have the opportunity to prove why he was selected third in the 2002 draft.

Also, former Arizona State star Ike Diogu can now show critics why he was a lottery pick. Diogu is not a big man at 6 foot 8, but he plays like he's 7 feet tall. At a robust 255 pounds he will have the opportunity to trample over the opposition. He only played 13.1 MPG this season because of the over abundance of big men that the Warriors have, but his playing time will increase. If you translate Diogu's playing time to 39 MPG he would be averaging 21.3PPG and 10.2 RPB. I see Diogu as being the steal of the whole entire trade, and a person who will form a nice combo up front with Jermaine O'Neal.

Overall, the Pacers made an excellent trade that will pay dividends for many years down the road. The average age of Murphy, Dunleavy and Diogu is 25. When you exclude veteran Darrell Armstrong, the average age of the Pacers roster is now just under 26. This is great news for a franchise that's trying to build a stable foundation for the future. Now that Jermaine O'Neal has the players in place to win, he needs to back up his comments by leading the Pacers to an Eastern Conference title.