Pacers looking for trades before NBA draft

INDIANAPOLIS — Larry Bird's rebuilding project with the Indiana Pacers faces a big step with Thursday's NBA draft.

If things come together, the Indiana Pacers president of basketball operations could get an early start.

Bird said Tuesday he has been discussing trades with several teams in hopes of adding a second first-round pick to the team's No. 11 selection and perhaps a couple of veterans as he embarks on the task of remaking the Pacers.

"We're talking to a lot

of teams. Every team you talk to, they have a lot of things on the board like we do," Bird said. "A lot of times, someone will call right before you pick. I think if they call now, it's better than waiting till Thursday. But we're looking to make trades, and we're looking at all the possibilities."

There has been rampant speculation this week about a possible deal involving six-time All-Star Jermaine O'Neal. He has been the face of the team since Reggie Miller retired after the 2004-05 season, but Bird would not confirm whether O'Neal was the subject of any potential trades.

Trading O'Neal could be just the start of a major facelift.

The Pacers desperately want to shed their bad-boy reputation, and Bird indicated how committed he is to making it happen when discussing the future of former first-round picks Shawne Williams and Jamaal Tinsley in Indiana.

"Shawne is on thin ice," he said. "You know we've had enough really. If we can do something to get something back for him, we'll probably do it. But he's on thin ice. And Jamaal is just below him."

The concerns stem from a series of legal encounters, including when Tinsley was at the scene when then-teammate Stephen Jackson fired a gun into the air several times at an Indianapolis strip club in October 2006.

Williams, a forward and the Pacers' 2006 first-round choice, left early from a February game last season after learning a murder suspect in Tennessee had been arrested shortly after leaving Williams' Indy home.

And after a significant drop in home attendance last season, Bird wants players who can do three things — stay out of trouble, work hard and win.

"Character is definitely an issue," Bird said. "The problems we've had before, we can't have again."

Some changes have already started. Longtime decision-maker Donnie Walsh is now in New York, team co-owner Herb Simon has become more involved in the team's predraft process and Bird has more responsibility in making personnel moves.

Fans are likely to see other alterations this week.

Bird wants to acquire another first-round pick, somewhere in the middle of the round. Only two teams, New Jersey and Memphis, have more than one first-round pick.

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