Though very difficult to accomplish both at once, Larry Bird and I believe we were able to do just that this off season with our two trades with Toronto and Portland.

We acquired seven players including T.J. Ford, Jarrett Jack, Rasho Nesterovic, Brandon Rush and Roy Hibbert but also, as importantly, we dramatically improved the long term salary cap flexibility of the franchise.

When Larry and I initially discussed the possibility of trading Jermaine O’Neal we both understood we would be trading a six-time all star. We also understood that for our franchise to move forward and return to an elite status in the NBA we needed to not only add several quality players at critical positions to our team, but we also needed to acquire assets that would create salary cap flexibility.

Because the majority of teams in the NBA typically operate at or over the luxury tax threshold, long term multi million dollar players’ contracts are not the most desirable assets. On the other hand, one year contracts are extremely desirable and have the potential for creating the type of flexibility I mentioned above. Through the moves we have made thus far this off season we were able to acquire several of these valuable one year contracts.

In addition, we were able to acquire a trade exception of approximately $2.8 million which is also an extremely valuable commodity in the NBA world because, in accordance with League trade rules, it will allow us to consider trades for players who make that amount or less without having to give up a player of similar salary.

Lastly, we have significantly lowered our player salary commitments going forward which also creates greater flexibility for us.

At the end of the day, we believe we have not only improved the depth of our team by adding two point guards, four big men and the shooting guard we targeted throughout the Draft process, but we have also put ourselves in a strong position to be active in the trade market throughout the 2008-09 season.