pacers never gave peja a offer?

[ducks]

Pacers' busy summer could be just starting

By CLIFF BRUNT, Associated Press Writer
July 12, 2006

INDIANAPOLIS (AP) -- The Indiana Pacers are hoping to become a younger, more athletic team this summer.

Veterans Peja Stojakovic and Austin Croshere are out. Draft picks Shawne Williams and James White are in.

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Marquis Daniels and Orien Greene are newcomers who add youth, depth and versatility to the backcourt.

The Pacers also have locked in youngsters Danny Granger and David Harrison through 2007-08 and added the draft rights to European player Andrew Betts.

Pacers CEO Donnie Walsh said the change of emphasis comes from rule changes that allow guards to penetrate to the basket more easily, the success of up-tempo teams such as Dallas and Phoenix and a desire to improve on last season's disappointing 41-41 record. He said more changes will follow.

"I wouldn't call it a rebuilding process, I'd call it a restoration," he said. "We're going to have to make some more moves to have our roster filled out the way we'd like it. We'll try to do that either through free agency or through trades."

Daniels comes to the Pacers in exchange for Croshere. His versatility will give Williams and White time to develop because he can play both of their positions.

"We're very happy to have Marquis join our team," said Pacers president Larry Bird. "He can play multiple positions and brings things to our team we didn't have. He's athletic, long and very skilled."

Stojakovic, who was a free agent, has agreed to a five-year, $64 million deal with the New Orleans Hornets. He played a half season with the Pacers after coming from Sacramento in exchange for Ron Artest.

The Stojakovic deal was made official Wednesday night with the announcement that the Pacers signed and traded him, along with cash, to the Hornets in exchange for the draft rights to Betts.

Betts, a 7-foot-1 center from Long Beach State, was the Hornets' second-round draft pick in 1998. He played in Europe through the 2004-05 season.

Walsh said the Pacers never extended an offer to keep Stojakovic because they felt they had a capable young forward in Granger and they would have had to make a long-term commitment to the 29-year-old Stojakovic. Walsh said signing Stojakovic for a long-term deal would have forced Granger to play power forward or limited his minutes, something the Pacers didn't want to do.

"It wasn't easy to do what we did with Peja, but one of the things that factored in is we have a lot of faith in Granger," Walsh said. "I think it'll be fun to watch him develop."

Walsh also announced that the Pacers have added guard Greene. The second-year player was waived by the Boston Celtics last month. He averaged three points last season as the backup point guard, but his 6-4 frame and defensive prowess were too good for the Pacers to pass up.


http://sports.yahoo.com/nba/news?slug=ap-pacersmoves&prov=ap&type=lgns

[Trainwreck2100]

with NO giving him what they did, there was no point

[NBA Junkie]

I wonder how Jermaine O'Neal feels about the youth movement that the Pacers have adopted

They call it restoration, I call it rebuilding.

[furry_spurry]

The seventh annual Peja and Vlade Summer Basketball Camp will be held July 24-28 at Folsom Middle School and there's still time to register.

After years of holding two weeklong camps, this year the camp was cut to one weeklong camp because of a drop in attendance.

"When the Kings reached Game 7 a couple of years ago, we had 850 kids at the camp," Camp Director Alex Dimitrijevic said. "When Vlade left it dropped to 700 and then last year we only we only had 500. Cutting it to one weeklong camp was a no-brainer because we knew we wouldn't get enough kids for two weeks. It (attendance) seems to depend on how the Kings do."

Right now there are a little over 100 kids signed up for the camp, but Dimitrijevic is hoping for more. Even though Divac and Stojakovic no longer play for the Kings, they'll both be at the camp every day. Dimitrijevic still feels the camp has a lot to offer.

"No other camp offers a $250 tax deductible receipt, a T-shirt, lunch every day, autograph session, picture session and giveaways," Dimitrijevic said.

Those who attend the camp also learn the fundamentals of basketball and get to hang with former King stars, which isn't too shabby. Cost of the camp is $360. If a family has two or more children registered, they'll save $20 per child.

Dimitrijevic is disappointed with the low number of kids signed up for the camp, but it's not for his lack of trying.

"We have 3,000 kids in the database and we sent out postcards to all of them in February and then another flyer went out a month ago. We've also e-mailed them. We hear a lot of good things about the camp, but we're not getting a lot of repeat customers. We're grateful for the ones that we do have, though."

Proceeds of the camp benefit the Peja Stojakovic Children's Foundation, the Group Seven Children's Foundation, the Folsom Teen Center and Folsom Middle School.

Anyone between the ages of 8 and 17 interested in attending the camp should visit www.pejavlade.com/pvcamp2006.htm for more information or to register.


http://folsomtelegraph.com/articles/2006/07/12/sports/local_sports/03camp.txt

[furry_spurry]

"It was a feeling that every player wants to have. That a team really respects you, recognizes your skills and sees you as a big part of their team. I never thought that NBA teams worked that late [referring to the Hornets’ calling Stojakovic’s agent at 12:01 Eastern a.m. on the first day of free agency]. There was an eight-hour time difference between where I was (in Europe), so my agent called me and woke me up at 7:30 a.m. I was really excited when I heard about the offer. The contract is important for every player – you can’t lie about that. But over the first seven years of my career, I was really lucky, because I was enjoying myself. I never thought (about whether) I was overpaid or underpaid. It never came through my mind. When you’re playing with a group of guys where you can’t wait to step out onto the court with them, that’s the best feeling. When I was looking at free agency, I thought being in the right situation, and being surrounded with the right people, was really important."

http://www.nba.com/hornets/news/Stojakovic_13Jul2006.html