Other Matt
Jun 26th, 2008 at 11:26 pm

We lose the draft.

Did we accidentally replace Joe D with McHale tonight? This is weird. I’m rattled.

Can someone explain this to me?

wow that sucked.. im assuming if the garbage we srafted makes the cut theyll be packaged in trades?

Other Matt no… Tell me it will all make sense…

I’ll admit, I’m surprised by the picks also but I would also admit, with all due respect, that I’m sure Joe and the Pistons brass has a little better idea of whom to draft and when than us.

It’s kind of a crapshoot. Hardin, who just went 50, was supposedly a mid-first rounder last year before he pulled out. I just want to say that I’m sure there are reasons as to why they liked these two and I’m sure we will all see why very soon. Can’t wait for summer league. In Joe we trust. Go Pistons.

Dumars should just pick me with the second to last pick at this point—at least it would be funny.

I’m even less whelmed after watching that video than I was before. Horrible.

Here’s what this draft tells me: Joe can’t find a trade he likes with the current team, so he is drafting non-guaranteed projects, so that if one hits, all the better once the team is turned over to stuckey, max, amir and the rest…

Granted, that last post was by an non-GM, uninformed, fanboy…

I agree, though if he’s a Mormon maybe he doesn’t drink or smoke and will work out hard and become… Mehmet Okur??

I am sure Joe knows what he is doing. At least if they don’t make the cut we can stuff them in the D-league or get rid of them.

Here Here, Laughton. I agree. I think anyone complaining about this draft needs to get a little realistic— with such a stacked roster, there is no way we’d find a player to fit in and make a contribution this season.

Walker to the C’s for cash.

The draft that couldn’t get worse…just got worse.

The Celtics just bought Bill Walker from the Wizards. That’s wonderful.

Is it too late to start drinking beer now??? Or is that still OK?

Yeah, I just mentioned that on the other thread. Walker getting bought by the Celtics is like salt in the wound… this night sucks.

Holy crap the Lakers just drafted a ref

Oh, great, we just drafted Jarvis Hayes’ doppelganger. Gross.

If we all go out and have a drink, can we send an invoice to Bill Davidson?

I know he can write it off under Business Entertainment somehow.

OK there’s our SF pick

So….every team in our division just got better…..we didnt

I don’t think our last pick has any chance of making the roster. Major character issues from what I just read on DraftExpress.

CDR… He was availible. And then… no. Bill walker. Availible. And then no. Who the fack are theses guys?

I’m still @ work and listening to this on ESPN radio and they’re declaring Detroit, Portland, and Charlotte as the draft winners.

biggest loser today: kansas…wow

Fort Waaaaynne Bas-ket-baaaaallll!

Seriously? Are you listening to a loop of the 2007 draft recap?

Ok to be honest, I’m curious about the guys we picked… but still don’t fully get why we passed on the likes of some of the ones who were on the board.

What? How can anybody who follows the NBA say that we’re among the “winners”.

Miami hit it out of the park tonight. Portland had a phenomenal draft and absolutely fleeced Indiana. I like what the Bucks did today. I like what Charlotte did. New Jersey did exactly what it needed to do; stock pile good young players and shed salary to make a run at LeBron.

We passed on proven guys to take people nobody’s ever heard of who apparently “worked out well”. Sounds like 2003 all over again to me.

So we end up with a guy that has played 18 college games and will literally fall asleep on the court, a white lefty, and a guy with no offense (reminds me of Balkman actually). Time to go to sleep thinking we could have gotten CDR or Bill Walker. Great.

Sorry, I don’t like what Charlotte did, I like what the Celtics did. I don’t know why I said Charlotte.

You would think the Pistons would consider using some draft suggestions based on reading bios from mocks and youtube clips instead of basing it on top-notch scouts, individual workouts and player interviews. What are they thinking?

Matt Gibson, we could’ve had BOTH CDR and Walker. That’s what sucks so bad about this.

Correction, that’s CDR and Bill Walker, the Pistons could have had both.

On the plus side, Chris Ford apparently likes the few picks they made mostly as developmental players.

UTEP, our hits have largely come from drafting guys who had a history of producing on some level in college. I don’t think you can say Walter Sharpe produced on any level in college.

And not to beat a dead horse, but those “top notch” scouts whiffed badly in the best draft of the last 20 years. I mean, like really-really-oh-my-God-look-away-it-hurts-so-much badly. And we did it by drafting guys who hadn’t really produced on any level, they had good measurables and good workouts.

UTEP, I hear the point you are making. But first, the same logic would dictate we never comment on anything about the NBA b/c the teams all have professionals with better access information than any of us. Second, the mocks aren’t written by idiots…Chad Ford is as much a paid professional as the people working for Joe. Third, I think the people who comment on this site make some pretty insightful comments. And fourth, NBA teams have been known to do some ridiculous, ridiculous things that fans identify such from the get go. See Thomas, Isiah; Mchale, Kevin; or Laydin, Scott (and no, I’m not comparing Joe D to them, just saying this isn’t a perfectly efficient market).

My point is that all drafts are somewaht of a crapshoot and the idea of judging this draft 10 minutes after it ended is kind of a joke. The fact remains that the people who make decisions have forgotten more about the game and players than most of us. Give ’em a chance.

*identify as such

And it’s a very fair point. We all hope the Pistons knocked the cover off the ball here and took the next Arenas, Ellis, and Ginobili. Go Stones.

Points taken but the popular pick isn’t always the best pick. I did want to see them take CDR but I’m not gonna kill ’em about it until I see them on the court (summer league, regular season).

I think CDR would’ve been amazing, they could have got the other guys anywhere in the 2nd round in my opinion! Probably could have gotten them undrafted, that’s why it makes no sense to everyone here. I think that’s the point people are trying to make. We could have had exactly what we have now + Bill Walker and CDR duking it out in the summer leagues.

A shame.

I think Dumars didn’t like anyone enough to give them a guaranteed contract so he traded down to the 2nd round.

Well, this makes two years in a row that the Celtics substantially outplayed us at draft time. This looks like pure panic to me.

They could have taken Walker but there’s reports saying Sharp wouldn’t have lasted past the first couple picks in the second. I’m more intrigued than dissappointed.

I think anyone coming in at this point, especially at 29 is going to be a project. Take the core, trade 1 or 2 and get 1 or 2 back and at worst you’ve got Amir, Max and Affalo off the bench.

A MLE pick up to back up Tay if not traded or fill a hole in the middle. Does Walker or CDR come of the bench before Affalo, who maybe doesn’t have the O yet, but can play NBA D. None come off the bench before Amir or Max, so we’re basically talking about an 8th or 9th guy, at best 7th if the starters have to play 40+ a nite. Joe stocked picks, and at worst/best depending on your point of view, 1 of the 3 will go to Europe which is a threat nowadays.

If one of the 3 pan out in two years, because I think we’re all comparing them to what Stuck did, and if perhaps that one is a homerun, we’ll look back and say Joe found another gem.

I prefer to let this play out. There are some lousy GM/Pres of BB Op out there. When was the last time (before tonite supposedly) that Micheal Jordan had a good draft or K. McHale? Unfortunately, the NBA is also about cap and lux tax and dividends back. You gotta believe Joe D saved some first round money to be able to do something later on.

To help me put it in perspective as I finish this beer, I was at a college bar in s utah (yes, I know, an oxymoron) when across the screen it flashes Utah had just picked a guy out of Gonzaga…some stiff named John Stockton.

UTEP, what’s the source on the report that Walter Sharpe would have gone early in the 2nd? And I’d much rather have Walker than Plaisted, unless we plan on playing him in a Turkgolu role, and if he ends up being that talented then all of us complainers are going to look legally retarded when it’s all said and done.

In the Sharp thread, I read where he cancelled a workout with the Wizards today. If they finally have him diagnosed right and the meds are right, he’s never really had a fair opportunity to show what he can do. On the other hand……

Walter Sharpe would probably have been available at the end of the draft. Nobody said otherwise.

Meanwhile, the Heat drafted a nice backcourt for themselves to go with Beasley. Chicago obviously improved. Milwaukee has become a playoff team. A few minutes before the Pistons pick, I thought we might land Darrell Arthur. Now we’ve landed “let’s hope the Pistons see something nobody else in the entire known universe have even begun to even sniff at.”

I can’t say I expected us to draft these players but guys, come on now . . . you’re ripping this draft to shreds without even seeing them suit up for the team. I remember a lot of grumbling last year when we drafted two guards in the first round. Let’s just chill and wait and see.

Other Matt, it’s from Keith Langlois at the bottom of the Walter Sharpe is a Piston post…

nm

I’m sad to say that at this point I’d trade all three of the guys we got for DJ White, and I wasn’t really a DJ supporter to begin with.

I thought Joe fleeced everyone when we traded down and CDR was still there, but then…blah. And then Bill Walker was there, but then…I’m sure you all were feeling it too. I left the bar feeling like we should have used the trade w/Seattle to address our two biggest needs: take the best center prospect left with the 32 pick and Walker as backup SF with the 46. I don’t know what happened here. In Joe we trust I suppose.

Pop Quiz:

When was the last time a 29th pick pushed a title contender over the edge to become a championship team?

“When was the last time a 29th pick pushed a title contender over the edge to become a championship team?”

Josh Howard – 2003 came two referees away from doing so.

Tony Parker was 28, and would have been 29 had the T-Wolves not forfeited their pick.

Well, Josh Howard came reasonably close, anyways.

MP: I like the optimism, but I can’t blame anyone for expression confusion. This was just weird.

Also, there have been plenty of quality guys to come out of the second round in recent years (Monta Ellis, Gilbert Arenas, Carlos Boozer, Paul Millsap, Rashard Lewis, Okur, and Manu Ginobili, off the top of my head). Tony Parker was a 28th overall pick, David Lee was 30th. Not all those guys have titles, but I’d take any of them in a heartbeat.

Valid point Matt W., but I feel kind of like I was cheated out of the opportunity to feel ecstatic about tonight. I mean, had we gotten both CDR and Bill Walker, or Walker and DeVon Hardin, or something along those lines, we’d all be giddy as hell right now. With these picks, I’m just hoping we get to experience that at a later date via a nice trade, Amir-like development of these players, or by some domino effect a championship.

Fuj: oh yeah, I’m definitely in the same boat as you, I know exactly how you feel.

@Kevin S:
So, never then?

I suppose I should have qualified my point— “When was the last time a 29th pick pushed a title contender over the edge to become a championship team the following season?”

@Matt:
No doubt, confusion is well warranted. Thing is, with our team, we have starter-quality talent waiting on our bench. I have to admit I didn’t care much about the draft tonight, although I did watch the whole thing. I didn’t get involved in the draft speculations before tonight. But for two good reasons: 1) I didn’t feel we’d find the answer tonight that would get us a championship in the coming season and 2) if any big news would come tonight, it would be in the form of a trade.

We didn’t get any better tonight, and I didn’t expect us to.

If we had picked up a solid player with our picks tonight, they likely wouldn’t have seen the light of day in our rotation for years. Our best opportunity for a championship will likely have passed before any of the players we could have drafted tonight will have an impact.

BTW, its good to see you back, Matt. :)

Good to be back — I was going through severe internet withdrawl. I was able to leech a wifi signal from a neighbor for a while, but it’d drop every five minutes, which honestly made things even more frustrating than if I went cold turkey.

I know precisely what you’re going through, it does not feel good at all… During the height of the flooding, I bought a laptop and would drive across town to leech for a bit, just to check in on work (and bastketball). True story— I was staying at a friend’s place with my lady, and I brought my laptop to check at 2:00 a.m., very well sauced, just to check up with DBB. I’m officially a nerd.

We’re excited to see you back, and glad your withdrawal is over. Hopefully there will be plenty of news in the NBA and with the Pistons in the coming weeks… and good news too.

In other news, should Love stand up to his potential, the Timberwolves have a bad ass frontcourt.

Joe D’s comments on the picks:
http://truebluepistons.blogspot.com/

interesting stuff on what he thinks of Sharpe and why he took the other two guys. it actually makes me feel a bit better about this.

As always, Joe makes us feel good… it’s freakishly Godfatheresque.

Does “Plaisted” translate into “big oaf” in French or something?

Why not take CDR and start to build a reliable backup to Rip (from a scoring perspective). Whenever I watched him, I thought he looked ready for the NBA.

The YouTube video of the guy from VTech was good. Maybe they can get him in the dunk contest and have Paulus come back and help him re-create the shot (with a dunk this time). They can call the dunk the “tea-bag”.