FanHouse JamaalTinsley

It's been 16 months since Jamaal Tinsley last took the court for the Indiana Pacers, but it wasn't until Wednesday that the two sides finally agreed to sever ties, coming to terms on a buyout that will make him an unrestricted free agent once he officially clears waivers later this week.

Tinsley spent the last year and a half in limbo, not quite suspended but simply unwelcome to participate in team activities, as Larry Bird desperately tried to repair his team's image by ridding the roster of malcontents and troublemakers. (Tinsley's brushes with the law include participating in a barroom brawl and being the target of drive-by shooters.)

Everybody remember Jamaal Tinsley?

The Pacers point guard often called "troublemaker" and "malcontent" hasn't been allowed to play or even practice for the team this season. While the Pacers are still writing his checks, they've made it clear to both Tinsley and his agent that there's just not enough room on the bus, if you buy what I'm selling.

There's a new wrinkle in this particular sale, though, and it seems to be expanding rather quickly. First the NBAPA today announced that they're filing a grievance against the Pacers on behalf of Tinsley. Both sides probably have a case, but the fact that the Pacers removed his nameplate from the locker and sent his stuff to Atlanta (I hope he lives there) does not look good.

Now there's a new development on Tinsley that has him headed to... Charlotte?

One odd repercussion of the blockbuster Allen Iverson-Chauncey Billups trade is that Denver will no longer need the long-rumored services of Indiana exile Jamaal Tinsley.

A month ago, a spate of reports insisted Tinsley-to-Denver was awaiting the right moment, a sure-thing trade in the pipeline. Things never materialized, and Tinsley has spent the latent period working out in Atlanta while the Pacers rode T.J. Ford (and friends) into an upset of the World Champions.

With Denver out of the equation, how many teams still have a desperate need for a middling, high-priced (relative to the market) point guard signed through 2010-11?

UPDATE: The Indianapolis Star reports that there is no deal yet.

The long-awaited trade of Jamaal Tinsley has finally happened, according to the New York Post's Peter Vescey (via Indy Cornrows). Vescey reports Denver has acquired Tinsley in exchange for incumbent back-up point guard Chucky Atkins and limited big man Steven Hunter. The deal is roughly cap neutral for the next two years (Indiana can save some 2009-10 money by cutting Atkins early), but Denver's on the hook for an extra $7 million in 2010-11. That doesn't quite reverse the mood from the Marcus Camby liquidation, but it does quiet the idea the Nuggets are ready to blow everything up.

The interesting thing about the move from Indiana to Denver for Tinsley is that both teams featured a high-octane offense last season. How did Jamaal do? He racked up plenty of assists ... but shot at a simply awful clip and piled up buckets of turnovers. He was certainly a nominee for the All Bad Starter Team. Denver really needs someone to a) bring the ball up with wasting time or losing it, b) get the ball to Carmelo Anthony or Allen Iverson, and c) deliver some easy buckets (hopefully by way of dunk) to Nene and Kenyon Martin. Atkins was more of a shooter than a playmaker; Tinsley needs to never shoot ever for this to work out. (Seriously, Tinsley is one of the worst shooters of the last decade who has had a steady job.) Anthony Carter started for Denver much of last season, but I imagine Tinsley will have the gig on reputation alone.

Atkins almost certainly doesn't figure into Indiana's plans, and Hunter should be used like a relief pitcher, in there to block shots only when necessary. The real prize is losing Tinsley, who reportedly had a falling out with coach Jim O'Brien last season and never did enough on the court or in the locker room to make up for it. Indiana didn't need to get an asset back -- saving a year of salary is worth the split.

NBA Essentials ranks our six favorite stories of the day.

1. Dallas Morning News. Rick Carlisle wants his Mavericks to be a team of jerks. "'How do you get guys to be nasty? Well, I think hating the opponent is a start,' Carlisle said." I wonder if this means the annual Nowitzki-Nash gala is off?

2. Gelf Magazine. "Why stat-heads and scouts need to kiss and make up to advance the sweet science of the NBA." (That's half of a self-link.)

3. Indy Cornrows. Someone out there is willing to defend Jamaal Tinsley and explain why he's in a feud with Jim O'Brien. That someone is ... Peter Vescey.

4. Associated Press, via GSoM. The Warriors are getting rid of mascot Thunder because of Clay Bennett's swag-jack. Team Robert Rovell reveals Thunder might get ditched in China next week.

5. Los Angeles Times. Wait, Lamar Odom is going to L.A.'s point guard now?

6. Fast Break. Meanwhile in Oakland, Don Nelson can't decide who will man the one for the Warriors.

The Pacers have taken Jamaal Tinsley's name off his locker. He isn't allowed to practice with the team. Obviously, he won't be dressing for the team come preseason in a week -- he might not even be in the same gym as the team. For almost all intents and purposes, Tinsley is not a Pacer. But he will take up a roster spot until Indiana can find a home, because Larry Bird and David Morway have insisted he won't be bought out, reports the Indianapolis Star's Mike Wells.

Bird repeated his summer-long stance that Tinsley will remain on the roster but away from the team until he is traded. "We're not buying him out," Bird said. "He will stay where he's at until we get something done. Jamaal knows that, his agent knows it and we know it. Nothing has changed."

The way Indiana has dealt with Tinsley is a bit surreal. Shawne Williams and Marquis Daniels have been in as much if not more trouble than Tinsley over the past few years, but there isn't any trade talk circling them. The team let proud smoker David Harrison slip into free agency without a whimper, and the strategy of building a clean-cut roster has been beyond evident since the Stephen Jackson for Mike Dunleavy trade. But again: is Tinsley so big an attitude problem this sequestration is necessary? Maybe so, but it seems odd in the NBA ... even a unique market like Indianapolis.

Some might surmise actual roster considerations serve to embellish Tinsley's neg-swag: with T.J. Ford and Jarrett Jack in tow, the Pacers hardly have much immediate use for the veteran. If he were a model citizen, his presence would be superfluous in a basketball sense. That he's been involved in some unfortunate matters turns "no value added" into "get him outta here." If Bird thinks the quarantine is necessary to prevent further trouble and speed up the trading process, then I guess that's what he has to do.

In a recent post about Shaun Livingston, I tossed out a casual line which called Sebastian Telfair "one of the worst players in the league last season." This claim was made without research and is completely, 100% wrong. There were much worst players in the NBA last season. Ask Clippers fans. Ask Heat fans. Ask Knicks fans.

But let's set some parameters based on the role Bassy was asked to fill and the quality of his performance. With Randy Foye knocked out much of the season, Telfair was a starting point guard in the National Basketball Association. Heavy stuff. There are only 31* starting point guards in the league any given moment. An elite class, if you will. The same goes for NBA starters: it's a limited group of the best ballers in the world.**

And it is my opinion that last season, Bassy Telfair was the worst.

Only one player who averaged at least 30 minutes a game finished with a worse PER: Bruce Bowen, who happens to be the second best defender on a perennial top-3 defense. Raja Bell's in the neighborhood, and has a possibly undeserved defensive reputation. But Bell can also string threes at a 40% rate, a vital skill which overwhelms his lack of offensive creativity and box-score potency.

Ben Wallace, Tim Thomas and Jamaal Tinsley figure as Telfair's greatest challengers, in my book. But Wallace can still rebound like Hell. Thomas can score and rebound a bit. Tinsley's divinely awful, but even he racked up for more assists per minute than Bassy, and had similar (which is to say "terrible") shooting rates.

Sorry, Wolves fans. Your point guard sucks. Hope he's the back-up.

UPDATE: Canis Hoopus has a really great response.

* T. Jose Caldeford.
** Give or take a Josh Childress.

As strange as it seems, the Pacers are just two and a half games out of No. 8 seed in the East, and while I think the team's long-term future would be better served with the team missing the playoffs and taking their chances in the lottery, it's at least possible they'll be able to make a push in the remaining few weeks.

For one, Jermaine O'Neal, the franchise cornerstone who hasn't played since mid January, returned to practice on Thursday, even if only for a limited amount of time. From the Indy Star:

"He practiced, went full court, did some half-court stuff, but not a long period of time because we never go too long on game day," O'Brien said. "We went about 20 minutes live, hard, and he was probably out there for about 10 of those minutes. We'll see how he reacted and see if we can build on this."

Unfortunately it's not all good news: the team is starting to realize that Jamaal Tinsley, who hasn't played since early February, might not return before the end of the season. The team hasn't found a true replacement for his 8.4 assists per game, as no one else on the roster averages more than 3.4. Even so, the team has won five out of 10, which doesn't sound impressive until you realize that's actually been enough for them to make up ground on the three teams separating them from the last spot.

Seriously, why can't we just do things this way ...

It seems that Jamaal Tinsley and Marquis Daniels will at least avoid the nastiness of having to explain to a judge why they were involved in a bar fight, as they accepted diversion agreements on Monday morning, meaning that they will not have to appear in court to sort out the sordidness of this little affair.

Instead, they will have to complete 32 hours of community service each and apparently get involved in something called behavior modification training, which certainly must be less brainwashy and spooky than it actually sounds. They need to go two full calendar years without getting in any sort of legal trouble to avoid having the diversion decision backfire on them.

Diversion, different from a guilty plea, is similar to pleading 'no contest' in some states. Before Marion Superior Court Judge Lisa Borges, Tinsley and Daniels admitted only that there was probable cause for their indictments -- not that they were guilty as charged.

'We're very happy to go back to playing basketball,' said James Voyles, Tinsley's attorney, as they stepped onto an elevator with Daniels and his attorney, Ralph Staples. The players answered 'yes' to the judge's questions, but made no other comments inside or outside court.

If the players violate their diversion agreements, prosecutors said, the charges will be reinstated.

It's essentially like a PJC for a non-driving offense, if I'm reading this correctly. Now, many people would get upset that this could be another case of athletes skirting the law's ever shortening arm length, but I'm all for this type of punishment. What good does a trial do them? They would end up copping to some sort of plea bargain, which this basically amounts to, only now they don't have to waste taxpayers money. Oh right. This happened a while ago. Sigh. As Indy Cornrows said, "lawyers gotta get paid too". And don't forget the state probably didn't mind the extra publicity for the DA's office. Whatever. Let's move on.

The Indiana Pacers have gone through a lot of PR issues since 2004... and the team hasn't been successful enough to mute concerns. If it feels like the dead and buried "Portland Jailblazers" all over again, it should. The problems are similar.

The Pacers have been blowin' it up since last January, when they took on two tough contracts just to rid the team of Stephen Jackson. Have they gone far enough? Judging by the blotter, no. And owner Herb Simon suggests to Mike Wells of the Indianapolis Star a clean slate might be the only way to fix things.

"We're talking about restructuring, re-thinking, all the things you do when your team is in crisis," he said. "We're going to be having a series of meetings and we're going to make changes, yes."

When asked what areas he plans on addressing, Simon said, "Everything but the owner right now."