Larry Bird’s been a busy guy and is swapping around a lot of players. Assuming the physicals go well (when you’re talking about TJ Ford and Jermaine O’Neal, this isn’t a non-issue), you’ve got O’Neal, Ike Diogu, and 1st round pick Jerryd Bayless all leaving and TJ Ford, Rasho Nesterovic, Roy Hibbert, Brandon Rush, Jarret Jack, Josh McRoberts and Maceo Baston Toronto coming to town.

That’s new roster, my friend. And it might just look something like this:

PG: TJ Ford / Jarret Jack / Travis Diener / Jamaal Tinsley
SG: Mike Dunleavy / Marquis Daniels / Brandon Rush / Kareem Rush(?)
SF: Danny Granger / Shawne Williams / Brandon Rush
PF: Troy Murphy / Maceo Baston /Josh McRoberts
C: Rasho Nestrovic / Jeff Foster / Roy Hibbert

With the number of players on the roster, I have my doubts that Kareem Rush will be reunited with his brother, but I could be wrong. There are some free agents that won’t be coming back.

Bringing in two new point guards, one of the hold-overs is probably going away. You can make a pretty safe bet Jamaal Tinsley is being shopped while you’re reading this. Unless McRoberts is ready to step up a level, somebody to compete with Murphy for starter’s minutes at power forward is probably the biggest need. TJ Ford is a very efficient point guard when he’s healthy, but he has a history of missing a few games, so Bird will probably want to carry three point guards. You also have to wonder if Murphy and Foster are trade bait. 

As for Maceo Baston, if you’re not too familiar with him, I saw him a couple of times in the old CBA. Back in the day he was an adequate scorer, but not aggressive enough for big rebounding numbers. His averages, while in limited minutes, suggest that’s still the case. If you let Foster do the rebounding and Baston take the low-post shots, it might not be the craziest notion.

This is probably an upgrade over last season, and it was time for O’Neal to get a change of scenery, but the final product is likely another trade away.