Basketball - Pacers Set To Add New Faces To The Team

Last summer, Jermaine O’Neal spent a lot of time lobbying for Al Harrington to be join the Indiana Pacers. O’Neal and Harrington are very close off the court and O’Neal had hoped that they could bring that off court camaraderie to on court. Unfortunately, it did not happen.

Pacers are set to have a major roster shake up. They will have four new faces and they are Troy Murphy, Mike Dunleavy, Ike Diogu and Keith McLeod. These four will arrive from Golden State in exchange for Stephen Jackson, Sarunas Jasikevicius, Josh Powell and Al Harrington, who were swapped in a deal.

With regard to Harrington’s departure, O’Neal said that it was tough for him specially since he had been fighting the entire summer to get Harrington back . However, O’Neal further said that as long as he is in the Pacer uniform, it was his responsibility to ensure that the players joining the team are made to feel comfortable as soon as possible.

Harrington spent the first six years of his career with the Pacers and then the next two with Atlanta Hawks. The Hawks sent him back to Indiana in summer 2006 in exchange for a 2007 first round draft pick. This season, Harrington averaged 15.9 points and 6.3 rebounds.

Rick Carlisle, Pacers coach, is optimistic that the trade off will work to the benefit of both the clubs. Carlisle mentioned that the exchange happened because Indiana were looking for the right players to support Jermaine O’Neal who is a franchise player for the club and is one of the top players in the league.