I read today that Larry Brown & CHA are shopping Raja Bell.

On topic, very excited to catch some games at the Palace.

Thanks for the videos… live in Toronto, so couldnt have seen it otherwise. I enjoyed the feature, gave me something to watch as I wait for the season to start. Hell, I’m seriously looking forward to media day haha

Thanks, Mike! We don’t get Pistons coverage out here in DC, even tho the Wiz are the Pistons’ farm team.

from marc stein’s final regular-season power rankings last season:

“The official tally as the weary Pistons reach the merciful end of this circus-like season with Iverson: They’re 22-28 when A.I. starts, 2-2 when he comes off the bench and 15-11 when he’s away from the team.”

15-11 without iverson extrapolates to approximately 47 wins, which would be probably a 4 seed (again) in the playoffs.

I guess the question is whether this year’s new team is better or worse than last year’s team without AI.

Speaking of Iverson, my wife checks Post Secret every weekend and I just happened to be sitting next to her when she scrolled past this:

http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_a7jkcMVp5Vg/Sr7BPoI2M1I/AAAAAAAAJ9Y/gSj4L0FJB2o/s400/answer.jpg

I know this ain’t a Lions’ blog but Faith & Begorrah, they finally beat somebody in the regular season. I haven’t been this happy to see a W since 8 Diagrams.

@ Skizylar
tizell me about it!

How’s this for wild speculation?

SG Rip Hamilton (4yrs/$11.4M) for SG Raja Bell (1yr/$5.3M) + C Dasanga Diop (3yrs/$6.0M)

I think the Pistons have more talent at SG then they have minutes and splitting Rip’s contract in 2 would make a move for a big player. You know Larry Brown would like the deal. I like Rip, think his game will age well, and hope is part of rebuilding in Detroit towards another title. I’m just bored with the off-season and figured I’d screw with Trade Machine for fun.

above should read – ‘make a move for a big player EASIER’

@JJJ:

I saw the news that Charlotte was looking to move Raja Bell— and behind a player like Ben Gordon, he’d give us a solid year of steady defense and great 3-point shooting in Rip’s stead. Had Charlotte still had Okafor on their roster, it’d be a no-brainer. Sadly, they don’t.

IMO, Diop’s contract is ugly as hell, totally bloated for a player of his “production”. For a player with zero offense that isn’t even a good rebounder/defender for his position, he’s so far overpaid it’s not even funny. When he got that contract a year or two ago, I might have vomited a bit in my mouth.

However, it would get us out from Rip’s contract. And adding Bell in his stead would be nice. Funny enough, I’d rather pull that trade with Raja Bell and ex-Piston Nazr Mohammed. Mohammed’s usage rate went way down this season, so did his stats accordingly. But if the two were to be compared in their last frequently used season, Mohammed has the upper hand:
http://www.basketball-reference.com/fc/tiny.cgi?id=ncjF9

Long story short, if Charlotte hadn’t let go Okafor earlier this summer, a trade involving Rip Hamilton could have netted us the player Dumars’ talked about in the videos above— the one big-rebounding, post-defending player that could have made us a contender. Hopefully, Joey D won’t make a move unless it’ll bring in that singular piece that will push us high over the edge.

@ Mike Payne – I like Diop’s lower usage rate. I figured Charlie V’s game would fit better next to Diop in a winning lineup, a bit like Dirk in Dallas. Also, I don’t think Nazr 2.0! would be a big hit with fans trying to look ahead. But you are right, Nazr is probably the better player in the abstract.

Good point, Trip J, CV would likely neutralize Diop’s scoring issues. And you’re right as well, I doubt nary a Detroiter would be pumped about Nazr’s return. Maybe a trade elsewhere for Rip would better suit The D?

I would bite on jjj’s idea if it was accompanied with Kwame and Maxiell to NO for Okafor http://games.espn.go.com/nba/tradeMachine?tradeId=yc4amfw. If NO starts off the season poorly, or if Jeff Bower finally let’s Okafor’s 5year/65mil sink in, this trade would clear tons of salary room for them. We could move Wilcox over to back-up PF and clear up minutes for the rooks. This would shore up any weak spot on our roster.

http://games.espn.go.com/nba/tradeMachine?tradeId=yc4amfw

I’m glad to hear the powers that be acknowledge that Detroit is probably a piece away, because as much as I like most/all the new guys as individuals, Detroit is way too thin — literally and metaphorically — at the 4 and 5.

Along those lines, re Scott’s point that Detroit did better without AI last year, yeah, we probably gained in the “addition by subtraction” way for this year. But we also lost ‘Sheed and ’Dyess, and we haven’t replaced them with guys with their skill levels.

I’d actually rather see Diop in our starting lineup than Okafor. But I don’t think Charlotte’s trash will turn into anyone’s treasure.

Rip deserves better. ever player from that team deserves to land on their feet! and I believe it will/should happen for Rip.

I too think Rip deserves better than to be dumped to a lottery team— I always wanted him to retire a Piston. Unfortunately, he’s pretty much our best trading piece, which almost assures his leaving sometime this season. There’s got to be a contender-ish team that needs a vet-SG with a decent big man to get rid of. Portland (Pryz)? We should look into some 3-way options for Amare/Bosh/Gortat IMO. Amare’s my #1, but I think Gortat would also fit nicely with what we’ve got going on (and at a good price too).

There’s got to be a contender-ish team that needs a vet-SG with a decent big man to get rid of.

Utah?

the prospect of rip being traded for diop is one that i find underwhelming, though a deal of this caliber is kind of what im expecting.

@Shinons

Only if it’s for Okur. Boozer in no way fulfills a need. Not even sure Okur does. How about Brewer and Fesenko?

@Joel:
Boozer for one season, hell— half a season, fulfills a huge need: he’d get us out of Rip’s contract. We could play him at the 5 whether he likes it or not. We did pretty well that last few years with PF with huge range and a PF with a close range game at our 4 and 5. And at the end of the day, we can let him walk next summer and use that extra $ on a free agent.

If you think about it realistically, there are only a handful of guys in the entire league that fit the type of player we’re looking for— shot-blocker/rebounder/interior defensive presence/etc.

Oden
Pryz
Gortat
Dwight
Bynum
Perkins
Chandler
Okefor

Pretty underwhelming list, considering that really none of them are available. I think Pryzbilla is gettable, Gortat too probably, but really “our guy” is going to be hard to find right now. I think Marc Gasol is kind of flying under the radar in Memphis and could be a potential stud. I dunno though, the “defensive stopper big man” is something everyone would love to have, which is why they’re in such short supply (and high demand).

@MP

Didn’t even think of that— one year rental with a ton of capspace. That’s actually a great idea. $10mil next summer will go a lot further than it did this last one.

@Joel:
No doubt— even if the cap does shrink as much as was expected (and I don’t think it’ll drop as much as the media thinks), we’d have around $22 million in expiring contracts (if Wilcox doesn’t exercise his option). Even if the cap comes down $7 million, $15 million would go a long way in a free agency that will have some big names taking pay cuts after the marquis players sign. If not a free agent, we could use that for a trade and take on some salary for a team in luxury territory.

other than the big names who is going to be a fa next summer? anyone of quality?

Hollinger:
Prediction: 39-43, 2nd in Central Division, 8th in Eastern Conference

http://insider.espn.go.com/nba/trainingcamp09/insider/columns/story?columnist=hollinger_john&page=PistonsForecast0910 (insider only)

Nothing we weren’t aware of here.

Joel, I’d also add Ronny Turiaf to that list. Dude’s a miserable rebounder but he is a great shotblocker (and only 26), and I’d bet GS would listen to an offer for him.

@Joel, I think David Lee belongs on that list. not only does he fit the bill for what we need. but his situation, and the postion we will be in next summer is a perfect win/win situation. Hell even if we just let two of our bigs walk. we could make a serious push for him.

The Warriors’ management are a bunch of clowns, their team morale is in the gutter, and I’d wager Turiaf’s future in Detroit would be brighter than if he stayed playing for Nelson, he might even lobby the team for such a trade. Not inconceivable.

@scntfc:
Lee is not a good defender nor he is a shot blocking threat. We need those AND rebounding, any offensive ability isn’t totally necessary.

That said, Lee’s rebounding would be a great anchor for our perimeter game. We just need defense and shot blocking in the paint in a bad way.

@MFSkeeze:
Agreed, the Warrior’s management and coaching staff are muppets. I was praying that Biedrins would end up on our squad somehow, some way. You never know, maybe they’d be dumb enough to take on a $12 million shooting guard to add to their stable of shooting guards and move their best player back our way.

Then maybe they could start Corey Maggette at center.

Magette has the best nickname ever.

MP, interesting that Holinger has Detroit at 39 wins but still 2nd in the division.

@QD:
He has Chicago with 38 wins next season, citing lack of a post offense and no Ben Gordon.

OT: I just noticed Yahoo has their fantasy basketball up and running. Are we just going to renew last year’s league or get a new one going?

@Shinons:
I was literally going to post on that yesterday, but decided to wait a few days. Matt has a busy one today, I imagine he’ll be at the Palace for media day (Matt, do me a favor and bring Daye a super-sized Big Mac meal?), but I’d like to chat with him first.

This year, we really need to get the second league up-and-running as there were a LOT of people who missed out last year. That said, expect a post of me probably on Thursday about DBB fantasy.

Aside from signing Pargo and resigning Hunter, what the hell did the Bulls do to resemble anything close to the Pistons? Their best player left and they didn’t replace him with anyone close to his caliber. I’m a bit confused why media outlets give them such leeway. I think they’ll be at least 10 games behind us throughout the season. Did I miss anything they did?

the bulls should be okay, not great, deng is back this year and rose could get even better. i like noah and thomas for what they are and miller can be decent off the bench as well.

Sounds good, thanks for the info MP.

Rose, Noah, and Thomas will all get better (especially Rose; and Noah looked great at the end of the year), Salmons is totally solid at starting SG, Deng being back helps a lot… but their bench is looking to be miserable. I do like Brad Miller though. He’s sneaky good, even with no legs.

That all said, Rami’s right on the money. They’re a .500 ballclub. I think we’re a better than .500 ballclub. The Central probably puts 3 teams in the postseason (maybe 4, if Redd/Bogut can stay healthy and the rookie PG is any good).

My brain’s totally in love with that Boozer/Rip idea. I stopped caring about that trade way before we made all our roster moves, and now it suddenly makes sense (whereas it didn’t really before). They need a SG and have a logjam at PF/C. We need a PF/C and have a logjam at SG. If it works out, SWEET. If not, SWEET. If we let him walk we’ll have nearly max money to play around with next summer.

I’m back in for DBB fantasy hoops.

Is the formatting on the front page all messed up for anybody else?

yeah, its really weird, is this the new format or something?

I’m down for fantasy basketball, too. I came in second last year even though I don’t know what I’m doing! Awwwww yeah.

I’m new, but I would be interested in the fantasy league.

since this has devolved into the crazy trades thread…

rip + maxiell for dalembert + kapono: sixers need a starting 2, because iguodala is really a 3, and willie green is terrible…sixers could start marreese speights (who doesn’t suck) at center…pistons would still have wilcox, kwame, and ben coming off the bench…you could substitute willie green for kapono, but philly is losing money and would probably prefer to dump the larger contract…dalembert, kapono, and green all have contracts which expire summer 2011.

incidentally, I think philly will be worse than anticipated because they no longer have a point guard.

the infamous boozer trade: I agree that if this happened he would start at the 5 and probably be a one-year rental…I would want ronnie brewer (a defensive-minded backup 2/3) to be included.

and someone above mentioned trading for okafor because the hornets are the most broke-ass team in the league…think big, people!

rip + tayshaun + stuckey + maxiell for chris paul + julian wright + the decomposing corpses of peja stojakovic, morris peterson, and devin brown: hornets would save approximately 8 million dollars, in addition to getting under the luxury tax, which would probably add another 5-10 million to the bottom line…even though trading a possible hall-of-famer would cause the fans to continue staying away in droves, the hornets would have a reasonable core going forward and actually might not be that much worse:

stuckey-rip-tayshaun-west-okafor + darren collison, marcus thornton, posey, maxiell, etc

meanwhile, that leaves us with a question mark at the 3, but the pistons would have chris freaking paul!

paul-BG-daye-CV-kwame + MFWB, julian wright, wilcox, ben, the other rookies, and all those corpses

I hope there is some sort of most-outlandish-trade-scenario prize.

since this has devolved into the crazy trades thread…

Isn’t that every thread here lately?

I haven’t noticed until this one, but I’ve not been reading this site regularly for very long.

I’m sorry for kicking off the crazy trade speculation. I did add the disclaimers ‘I’m just bored with the off-season and figured I’d screw with Trade Machine for fun’ & ‘How’s this for wild speculation?’ but I’ll file away my pointless speculation machine and focus on the team as currently constructed until I hear of an actual trade, not a trade rumor. Go (actual) Pistons!

TRADE JOEJOEJOE NOW!

I checked Trade Machine and me to the Wollongong Hawks for a ball rack works under the cap.