Utah Bebops Detroit: Jazz 115, Pistons 104

I mean, bad enough that we have to have max or jj guarding memo and boozer in the paint? They killed us w/points in the paint, and when max got into trouble, we brought in cv. Like that’s going to help. To make up for that, we constantly had to help in the paint, leaving their wing players wide open. I know our roster limits what we can do, but how can kuester not put up a game plan that includes a center?

We all know the sky is blue. We all know that Langlois is dumb and dishonest. But this new mailbag response warrants mentioning anyway. Langlois pretends that, in the event of a hypothetical expansion draft, it would be smarter to protect DAJUAN SUMMERS than Rip or Tayshaun, the Pistons’ two best players. DAJUAN SUMMERS! Nothing against DaJuan, but if he can’t get minutes right now for one of the NBA’s ugliest and most depressing teams then he is very unlikely to be in the NBA two or three years from now. Sheesh.

Tim (Grand Rapids, Mich.): Hypothetically, if there were a new Seattle team and the NBA stocked it with an expansion draft, which players do you think Detroit would protect?

Langlois: Very interesting question, and I’m not going to give you a definitive answer, but I’ll walk through the process, at least. Rodney Stuckey, Austin Daye, Jonas Jerebko and DaJuan Summers would be the no-brainers. Kwame Brown, Ben Wallace, Chucky Atkins and Will Bynum, whose contracts expire, would be out of play to be put on the protected list, I would assume, though the NBA modifies its rules every time an expansion draft is held. That leaves Jason Maxiell, Rip Hamilton, Tayshaun Prince, Ben Gordon, Charlie Villanueva and Chris Wilcox. Assuming the NBA would allow teams to protect eight players, and Wilcox would be one obvious pick to leave unprotected, you’d be choosing between Maxiell, Prince, Hamilton and Gordon. Prince, I think, would be the first one moved to the protected list because he’s got just one year left on a reasonable contract. Gordon and Villanueva have four years left, Maxiell and Hamilton three. Gordon and Hamilton, even at big money, would be attractive for an expansion franchise because those teams often struggle to find consistent scoring and those two players have proven over many years that they can score 20 or close to it a night. Maxiell and Villanueva don’t make the kind of money Hamilton and Gordon do, but they’d also have appeal because frontcourt players proficient at any one thing – Maxiell with his offensive rebounding and the ability he’s shown often, and lately, to affect games with his energy; Villanueva, when he’s right, to drop 20 points effortlessly in a variety of ways – are always coveted. What Joe Dumars and his staff would have to consider in finally submitting the name to be thrown into the expansion pool would be the likely strategy of the people in charge of assembling the new team and the likely list of names other teams would submit. Ultimately, he might gamble that the new team wouldn’t want to take on a contract as big as Gordon or Hamilton’s – especially if he sees another high-scoring guard likely to be made available with a lesser contract – with the consolation that he’d be covered at that position even if he were to lose one or the other, while simultaneously giving himself future cap flexibility.

(a) We as fans have literally no evidence that DaJuan does not suck, so none of us can say with any degree of credibility that he doesn’t.

(b) Rip remains one of the best shooting guards in the NBA. He shoots at high percentages, he is a good passer, he’s a tenacious defender, and he’s got good size. He’s a two-time all-star for a reason, and his game should age well because it’s skill-based, not jumping-high-based.

© Ben Gordon can barely stay in games because he’s such an abysmal defender. He and Villa had by far the worst +/- ratings in last night’s miserable loss. As soon as they take the floor it’s a layup drill for the other team.

I’ve never understood the Rip hatred on this board. It’s silly; I don’t know where it comes from. Injuries this season aside, Rip gets paid commensurate to the quality of his play.

Joe Dumars has made a lot of mistakes, but Rip is one of his biggest successes.

it looks like you just nipple pointed that last remark about ben