Gordon could factor in draft plans

I.U.'s Gordon may factor in Pacers' plans Bird shoots down O'Neal-Ford trade rumor D-Squared Awards honor workout warriors Pacers NBA Draft War Room

By Conrad Brunner | June 24, 2008

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Eric Gordon could suddenly be factoring into the Pacers' plans. Jamaal Tinsley, on the other hand, no longer does – and the same might be true of Shawne Williams.

Addressing emerging speculation the Indianapolis native and Indiana University standout could slip to the Pacers' No. 11 pick in Thursday's NBA Draft, Bird said he'd "take a hard look" at Gordon if that scenario unfolded. Though the general consensus of draft experts has the Pacers focused on selecting a point guard to replace the troubled Tinsley, Bird said that wasn't necessarily the case.

"I'm not really worried about the point guard situation," he said, "because I know there are some things out there we can do to get a good point guard, maybe two of them."

He then added, "and we've got one for sale."

Williams

Tinsley

Williams was also singled out for tough talk from Bird. Asked about the status of the forward taken at No. 17 in the 2006 draft, Bird said, "He's on thin ice."

"I've had enough, really," Bird said, an apparent reference to Williams' past legal issues. "If we can look and do something, get something back, we'll probably do it. But he's on very thin ice here."

If Williams is on thin ice, Bird was asked, where does that leave Tinsley?

"Just right below him," Bird said.

In a lively pre-draft media briefing, Bird made it clear he was taking an aggressive approach to the trade market. Though he shot down a report of a deal with Toronto centered around an exchange of Jermaine O'Neal and T.J. Ford, he said he's hoping to acquire an additional first-round pick "in the teens, maybe to 20."

"We're talking to a lot of teams," he said. "We've got two days left. Every team you talk to, they've got a lot of things on the board just like we do, so hopefully we can. I think it's important for us and I think it's a deep draft. …

"We're looking to make trades. We're looking at some possibilities we do have. Our owner (Herb Simon) is in town and he's involved and we've got to run everything through him. It's a good process when he's here. It makes things easier. But still you have to get the right players that fit what your style's going to be, how you're going to play and we think we can do that in this draft."

Gordon, who entered the draft after averaging 20.9 points as a freshman at I.U., has generally been projected as a top-eight pick. But the late rise of players like Russell Westbrook of UCLA and Joe Alexander of West Virginia from mid-round to likely lottery selections, combined with the strong possibility of an early run on point guards, could drop Gordon to the Pacers.

Though he wouldn't fill either of their most pressing needs – point guard and center – Gordon's talent might prove too tempting to pass.

Bird

"You never know, it's just how the draft goes," Bird said. "If these guys are working on the places they think they're going and somebody's sliding, somebody else moves up, they'll throw a guy to you. But he's been all over the board. He's been from five anywhere up to 13 and that's right in our area.

"We'd have to take a hard look, no question about it. I mean, shoot, everybody thinks he's going seven, six and he drops to 11 … Eric's a hell of a player, somebody we'd really have to look at."

Though the 6-3 Gordon could play some point guard, he primarily is a shooting guard – a position where the Pacers are most laden with talent.

"I will take the best player available," Bird said. "I don't care what position he takes. Obviously we'd like to have a big guy and a point guard but if there's somebody else out there that we feel could help us go forward with this franchise and we can't pass on him we will take him."

The Pacers have not selected an Indiana University player since using the No. 44 pick in the second round on Damon Bailey in 1994.

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