Well, I know it’s been a long while since I’ve posted here, but this has made me get active again. While I don’t agree with Adande’s pessimistic view of our team, I do think it’ll be easier to win some of those close games. Over the past few years, it seems whether through exhaustion, embarrassment or some other source, the Pistons give up right at the end. I know for damn sure Iverson isn’t going to let Daniel “Boobie” Gibson score 30-something points in Game 6 of the Eastern Conference Finals. Hell no. So while I’ll miss Billups and even more so McDyess (Dice was my man!), I think it’s definitely a game-changer and it can only help us. If anything, it kicked everyone else in the butts and proved that Dumars wasn’t just blowing smoke up everyone’s asses when he said nobody was sacred.

It’s going to be a fun year.

From a purely win/loss perspective, this trade probably makes a lot of sense. The "04 Pistons were (by my calculations) the only team in a quarter century to win a title without a can’t miss hall-of-famer, and I suspect that the team as constituted would probably fall a bit short again. Is Iverson the answer? Perhaps not, and we can all see reasons why the trade could lead to a drop off, although not a major one. But perhaps he is—no one questions his elite talent, even at age 33, and this will shake up the team. Worth a shot.

Mostly, though, I just feel some sadness about seeing two genuinely good guys go. Yeah, I know we don’t actually get anywhere near this guys without wading through ten layers of PR, so maybe Chauncey tortures cats and McDyess sleeps in Mussolini bedsheets. But I’ve always sensed both of these guys to be real, genuine men. For whatever reason, I’ve long had a sense of affection for both. In short, even if the trade is a smashing success, I’ll miss seeing both of these guys on my team. Thank you, Chauncey and Antonio.

Don’t worry – Allen won’t be leading us to a conference game.

I totally disagree with Adande. Iverson wasn’t the best move for the future of the team, but he needed someone to replace Billups temporarily. I think freeing up the salary cap space was a brilliant move by Dumars and it’s really opening the door a bit wider for the summer of 2010 free agent market. Meanwhile, the Pistons are STILL a condender with the talent they have and finally put younger bodies on the court to give them more experience.

I actually read that article outloud to my gf last night before you posted it
it’s exactly how i feel… im not a detroit native, im from toronto… but one of the reasons i fell in love with this team was how great they were without a superstar

whether they win a title or not, that is no longer the case… we are now a team with a superstar… well for sheed, tay and rip’s sake i hope the superstar delivers and in fact does become “The Answer”

I’m pretty sure that Joe D and Curry have both had extensive talks with AI in the last few days— he KNOWS the expectations in D-Town. It’s not like because we suddenly have a “superstar” that we’re going to change our game and let him jack up 30 shots a night. They brought him here to WIN. He’s here to WIN. One season, and one season only. I guarantee you that AI puts up the most modest numbers of his career— and he’ll be OKAY with it. This is the best team he’s ever played on (I’d say even better than the ‘04 Olympic team), and if we can take last year’s Celtics as the blueprint, he’s going to get in line the Pistons’ philosophy and do whatever is asked of him to win.

Season Stats prediction:

19.5 ppg
8.5 appg
2.0 spg
3.5 rpg
45% fg
85% ft

This isn’t AI’s team. This is Michael Curry’s team. You can bet your ass that if AI isn’t pulling his weight, he’ll ride the pine just like everyone else on the team.

I read all the ESPN takes last night and Adande’s seemed strained. It’s easy to say you win with superstars but there are 15 teams paying the likes of Wally Szczerbiak superstar money for every team full of value like the Pistons. Guessing wrong on who is and isn’t a superstar in the NBA is a rampant disease. Joe Dumars isn’t guessing, he’s got an idea what he wants to do. It’s better know what you have in a Tayshaun Prince than squint and pretent that Jason Richardson is Paul Pierce.

The Adrian W. piece makes Joe D. sound like a evil genius. Dumars isn’t evil and outsmarting the other guy to give yourself more options is just good leadership. The freeing cap space doesn’t rely on backroom connections to work. It reliess on a) having cap space and b) being a desirable destination for FAs. Neither involve backroom dealings.

Henry Abbott had the best take – as usual.

Adande does come off bitter… but I think, in essence, he’s right, but in stead of “era” I’d use the word “chapter.” Dumars are made it crystal clear: Sheed, AI… THIS YEAR IS YOUR LAST CHANCE. I don’t see why it can’t be Detroit vs LA in the Finals.

I found another article where the author looks past this year:
http://sports.yahoo.com/nba/news;_ylt=ApLDerrNumZepvM35XdFz7y8vLYF?slug=aw-dumarslebron110308&prov=yhoo&type=lgns

I have to say he’s a bit cuckoo with LeBron coming to Detroit, but if we start scouting the financial landscape we can definitely see that Detroit will most likely land at least one certified superstar in 2010.

http://hoopshype.com/salaries.htm

The big markets LA, NY, and Chicago have either A) Lots of money tied to not-that-great players(Randolph, Heinrich, Carter, Davis) or B) are set in stone(um… just the Lakers.) If you look at the next tier of destinations(Washington, Detroit, Miami, Boston, Philly, SA, Phoenix) the places that have the most cap flexibility are Detroit and Miami. Personally I think LeBron will end up in Miami with Beasley and Wade(just my 2 cents)… even so, that leaves Detroit with the inside track on whomever is available. You might say “Well, that’s a long way off, too many trades will be made to open cap space for some of these markets.” Yeah, you might be right, but I think with the summer of 2010 coming, trading these big contracts that extend past that summer(which are all those guys I mentioned) will be almost impossible to ditch. I mean, somebody’s gonna get stuck with them. Right?

Alright, I’m about ready to buy league pass to watch THIS season. I hope this works THIS year.

My question is whether this is the last move Joe D is going to make this year or if he has more in mind? I’m not sure if having AI instead of Chauncey and McDyess brings the Pistons any closer to a championship this year. I think it helps in some areas, hurts in others and probably doesn’t move the meter much in either direction.

A lot of people are talking about the “long-term” consequences of this trade being that it positions the Pistons for free agency in 2009 and 2010. This could certainly be the case, and it makes some sense to rent AI for a year and use his cap space to add someone through free agency after the season while developing the younger players and getting a look at what they do with more minutes.

At the same time, the Pistons have a lot of assets to trade if Joe wants to. Rip and Tay are established (not super) stars with reasonable contracts, AI and Rasheed are great players with expiring contracts, and Maxiel, Stuckey, Amir Johnson are promising young players with tiny cap numbers. If this current group doesn’t gel or if Stuckey starts looking like a guy who should be starting right now, Joe could make another big trade this year.

I’d be surprised if Joe makes another major move. It seems like he did alot of finagling(Maxiell, AI, Rip) in one fail swoop to get this roster in its present condition. I wouldn’t even know where to go from here.

You forgot about the Lakers, who won three championships within the last decade.