My fellow Americans in blogland, I come to you today to let you know exactly where the Indiana Pacers stand at this point in the season.  I am here to bring to you, the information that I think is important to this team.  Things that I feel will help improve this team, not only now, but for the future as well.  So, lend me your ears eyes for five minutes and hopefully I can enlighten you all.

Troy Murphy

Let me break this down in an equation to help you better understand this player.  Troy Murphy = Raef Lafrentz.  It is pretty much as simple as that.  What do I mean you ask?  Troy Murphy is a big man that spends way too much time on the perimeter.  He occasionally will go inside and grab some rebounds, but it is a rarity anymore.  He has fallen in love with the three point shot.  Murphy was a player that was a double-double threat his first couple of years in the NBA.  Then some injuries got the better of him, and now finding him in the paint is harder than some "Where's Waldo" images.  I have a couple solutions for him.

1. Take away his green light from three point range.  Jim O'Brien has to limit his shots from long distance.  Here is a guy that is 6'11 and half of his shots are from beyond the arc.  That takes away from Indiana having another guy underneath to rebound and the ability to score in the paint, which limits free throw opportunities.
2. Trade him.  Here is a trade scenario that I worked up on ESPN.com's Trade Machine.  Denver is wanting to get out from under Kenyon Martin's contract, so that allows them to do so.  Martin and Murphy both have 4 years left on their contracts, so that wouldn't cripple us anymore than we already are.  Kenyon Martin also fits the athletic, up-tempo style that Jim O'Brien wants.  By getting rid of Jeff Foster in this trade, we will actually save money for next season.  He only has two years left on his contract and would be prime trade bait next season for Denver.  Plus, with the injury bug constantly biting the Denver big men, Foster's rebounding would be much needed.  He basically is the white Reggie Evans.

Jermaine O'Neal

O'Neal is playing like he is a first or second year player right now.  He is averaging 13 points and 7 rebounds a game.  Not that bad, but he is making 19 million a year.  Plus, he is shooting 38% from the floor.  Why is he shooting 38% from the floor?  Because he isn't playing in the paint either.  He is playing everywhere but the paint.  I can't count how many 15 foot fade aways I've seen him take this season.  JO seems to just be going through the motions right now and it is starting to really bug me.  Soon, the other players will get pissed and we will have another Artest situation.  So, what should we do with him?

Trading O'Neal is not going to be an easy thing and will take some creativity to do.  With his contract being so large, teams will have a hard time matching the money.  But, he only has two years left on his contract, so that could tempt a few teams to go after him.  Here are a couple scenarios that could work:

This scenario allows Indiana to get two expiring contracts from Minnesota and a decent post player from Sacramento.  The Trade Machine doesn't allow you to trade future picks, but this trade would have Minnesota sending one of the first round picks they have for next year's draft to the Pacers.  With Theo Ratliff, Indiana has an inside defensive stopper, as Ratliff is a tremendous shot blocker.  In Abdur-Rahim, Indiana is getting a post player that has experience and used to be almost unstoppable.  In this scenario, Minnesota would be a getting a front court player to go along with Al Jefferson, Craig Smith, and Ryan Gomes.  With those four in the post, the T-Wolves will have immediately improved for now and the future.  The only thing that Sacramento would be gaining in this trade is the ability to dump salary, something that they have been wanting to do for a while now.

Now, this scenario is a bit more extravagant and it involves Jamal Tinsley, but the possibility is still there.  Again, Indiana would be capitalizing on the Kings' desire to get rid of extra money.  Indiana would be taking on Bibby's contract for two seasons, which would save them around 6 million a year compared to O'Neal's contract.  This gives Indiana a point guard that can effectively handle a running team, as that is the style he has played his entire career.  This trade has the Pacers gaining Tim Thomas and Abdur-Rahim, two players that could help solidify the bench and/or start if needed.  Sending Tinsley to the Clippers helps them out with their point guard situation since Sam Cassell is getting older and Shaun Livingston is still recovering from his knee inury.  The Clips would also gain another Thomas (Kenny).  This gives them another big man to go in and rebound while Elton Brand is out with his achilles injury.  Finally, Sacramento would be combining O'Neal with Brad Miller and Ron Artest, who played together in Indiana a few years back.  They would also be gaining Cassell and his expiring contract for the remainder of the season.  Throw in Kevin Martin at the two guard spot and Sacramento immediately has a team that could compete for a playoff spot in the Western Conference.

America, that is how I see it right now.  Things are ok, but they could be better with a couple little tweaks.