Houston Rockets Amnesty Luis Scola: Is A Deal For Dwight Howard Now On The Horizon?

Houston Rockets Amnesty Luis Scola: Is A Deal For Dwight Howard Now On The Horizon? by Chris Walder

As a story first broken by REALGM’s Michael Scotto, the Indiana Pacers have agreed to send point guard Darren Collison along with Dahntay Jones to the Dallas Mavericks in exchange for backup center Ian Mahinmi.

Collison began the season as the Pacers starting point guard where he averaged 10.3 points and 4.8 assists a game. He was later replaced in the starting line-up with George Hill (who recently signed a 5-year deal with the Pacers) in a decision made by head coach Frank Vogel.

Jones was seldom used by the Pacers off the bench as he averaged 5.3 points and 1.8 rebounds in 16 minutes of action per contest.

Ian Mahinmi was the primary backup to Brandon Haywood in Dallas as he finished the regular season with averages of 5.8 points and 4.7 rebounds a game. The Pacers will offer Mahinmi a 4-year, $16 million dollar deal.

Grade for Pacers: D +

No disrespect to Ian Mahinmi, but not only is he not worth the money that Indiana is about to give him, but in no way should the Pacers have given up a starting-caliber point guard with a lot of future potential to grow as well as a strong, defensive-minded wing player in Jones to get him.

I guess the Pacers were just desperate to find a reasonable backup to their newly resigned all-star center Roy Hibbert.

Current starter George Hill is more of a hybrid guard than anything. Collison gave them more of a pass-first point guard who changed the dynamic of the team with his lightning fast speed when he was on the court. He isn’t the perfect player by any means, but he certainly had more value than what the team got in return.

Rumor has it that Indiana is in negotiations with the Charlotte Bobcats to acquire D.J Augustin, but unless the Pacers have a guarantee it will happen, this deal with Dallas looks that much more bizarre.

Grade for Mavericks: B

Darren Collison isn’t Deron Williams, but he will do.

After losing Jason Kidd and Jason Terry to free-agency this summer, the Dallas Mavericks were desperate to find their starting guard of the future. Collison can be a valuable part of the Mavericks future if the team chooses to resign him when he becomes a restricted free-agent at the end of next season.

Mahinmi became expendable when Dallas gave Chris Kaman a 1-year, $8 million dollar deal on Wednesday.

The Mavericks may regret that decision in the near future if Kaman succumbs to the many injuries that have plagued his career, but for a team that isn’t expected to do much (what a true fall from grace this has been) in 2012-13, they can take the chance.

Christopher Walder is a sports blogger and lead editor for Sir Charles in Charge. You may follow him on Twitter @WalderSports