Archive for July, 2006

John Hammond responds to Carlos Delfino

Published by Matt Watson on July 27, 2006 in From the news. 2 Comments

Earlier this month, Carlos Delfino gave an interview to a Spanish-language newspaper that seemed to suggest that he wanted out of Detroit for lack of playing time. I say “seemed to suggest” because we never received a conclusive translation, but whether or not that’s actually what he meant is somewhat of a moot point as Joe Dumars already went on the record earlier this summer saying he has no plans to trade him.

On Monday, Pistons VP of basketball operations John Hammond was asked specifically about Delfino’s latest comments, and he also dismissed any reason for concern. A. Sherrod Blakely writes:

“In our face-to-face meetings, he has given us every indication that he wants to play in Detroit, that he doesn’t want to be traded, and that he wants to be the best NBA player he can be,” John Hammond, Detroit’s vice president of basketball operations, said on Monday. “We fully expect him to come in and be a player that will contribute this season.”

In June, Pistons president of basketball operations Joe Dumars spoke with Delfino about whether he wanted to remain with the team.

Delfino told Dumars his preference would be to stay in Detroit, but if head coach Flip Saunders didn’t want him or if he wasn’t going to play, a trade might be the best thing for both parties.

Team officials assured Delfino there would be more opportunities to play next season, after several roster changes were made.

Last month, the Pistons traded Maurice Evans, who split playing time with Delfino last season, to the Los Angeles Lakers for their second-round draft pick, 7-foot-1 Cheick Samb of Senegal. Earlier this month, the Pistons added small forward Ronald Dupree, a player Delfino beat out for playing time in training camp last season.

Blakely also added a quote from Dumars, who reiterated his stance on moving players who don’t want to play in Detroit:

“If he says he thinks he should be somewhere else, then I’ll be calling you guys together and say, `We just made a trade,’ ” Dumars said earlier this month. “It’s simple. It’s not a gray area for me. It’s black and white.”

So that’s that. Delfino may or may not have spouted off to the foreign press, but he’s singing a different tune to the Pistons. It sounds like all he really wants is to play, and I can’t fault him for that — he’s a 23 year oldHe turns 24 on August 29. former first-round pick who’s yet to get a real chance to crack the rotation. It seems like a lot of Pistons fans are on one side of the fence or the other with him, but with any luck this upcoming season we’ll be able to stop debating his potential and start talking about his production.

Pistons don’t put much stock in story that Delfino wants out [MLive.com]

Giving credit where credit is due

Published by Matt Watson on July 26, 2006 in Alley-Oops and Around the Internets. 1 Comment

I understand this post on True Hoop about “blogs vs. mainstream media” won’t interest 95% of DBB’s target audience, so I’ll withhold commentary except to say I agree 100%.

Alex Acker is a wanted man

Published by Matt Watson on July 26, 2006 in From the news and Rumors. 5 Comments

If the Pistons don’t want to re-sign him, Alex Acker has options: at least two foreign teams have expressed interest in signing him. Haaretz.com reports that Maccabi Tel Aviv, an Israeli team, and Olympiacos, a Greek team, are monitoring his progress:

Maccabi expressed an interest in Alex Acker, a guard who appeared for the Detroit Pistons last season. Olympiacos immediately added him to its shopping list.

I know Maceo Baston has already turned down a potential NBA job to accept more money to play in Tel Aviv, which made a little bit more sense 10 days ago than it does today given the, shall we say, tense situation with Lebanon. Here’s to hoping that Acker doesn’t have to make that decision — especially following the favorable reviews he received from the Bad Boy Summer Camp crew who watched him play in the Vegas Summer League:

Acker when he gains confidence is very smooth and effortless, a lot like Tayshaun Prince. His weakness is that he seems to rely so much on his confidence which only comes from really playing against a guy and getting to know what advantages you have over him. Also, he picks his spots which pulls him out of his rhythm. With some consistent work to make his jumper automatic, I think he could be very solid. He makes very few mental mistakes and definitely has a killer instinct. But, the only thing is that he will need some minutes to get himself comfortable with playing against even 2nd tier NBA talent. If he can do that…look out.

On a related note, Acker isn’t the only American drawing interest overseas. From Haaretz.com:

The same scenario is being played out with Dajuan Wagner, formerly of the Cleveland Cavaliers. The No. 6 pick in the 2002 Draft, who is looking to rehabilitate his career after a major illness, miraculously appears on [Olympiacos’ coach Pina] Gershon’s list as well as that of Maccabi chairman Shimon Mizrahi.

Big money sends Athens clubs on shopping spree [Harretz.com]

Monday’s Layup Drill

Published by Ian Cameron on July 24, 2006 in Around the Internets and From the news. 9 Comments
  • Will Blaylock bump Alex Acker?First off, the Boys in Blue have inked a multiyear deal with Will Blaylock, the last player selected in this year’s draft. Joe Dumars had this to say

    “We are pleased,” said Joe Dumars, the Pistons’ president of basketball operations. “Will had a good showing at the Vegas summer league and we are excited about his potential and ability to give us depth at the point guard position.”

    Still no word as to how this affects the prospects of Alex Acker, last year’s last player chosen.

  • Conspiracy theorists, rejoice! Chris McCoskey of the Detroit News comes out swinging against David Stern’s NBA. 106 free throw attempts in a summer league game that didn’t even feature Dwyane Wade? Jeebus…
  • Get ready for the return of those fairweather Pacers fans. ESPN reports that our (at one time) hated rival to the south is close to reobtaining Al Harrington from the Hawks in a sign and trade. No word yet on what the Pacers would give up in the deal. Let’s see how Harrington fits in with Rick Carlisle’s swimming upstream offense this time around.
  • The Raptors, currently being rebuilt in the image of the Phoenix Suns, signed 28-year-old Jorge Garbajosa, the MVP of the last two Spanish Club Finals. Despite the curious trade for T.J. Ford earlier this offseason, I would not discount the efforts of new team president Brian Colangelo. It looks like the Raps could be in the mix for the final playoff spot in the East.
  • Henry from True Hoop takes issue with Deadspin’s treatment of his beloved Portland Trailblazers. Granted, the “Jail-blazers” nickname is as trite as referring to the Artest brawl at the Palace, but until Zach Randolph is traded to the Knicks, the nickname will always be somewhat appropriate, won’t it?
  • Carnival of the NBA, treinta y tres is up over at Celtics Blog, and were it anything other than a Larry Bird theme, I might be able to muster up a more enthusiastic intro. Nonetheless, they did a nice job on the presentation, so it’s worth a look.

Friday’s Layup Drill

Published by Ian Cameron on July 21, 2006 in Around the Internets and From the news. 7 Comments
  • Off topic, but we’d be remiss if we didn’t comment on the Detroit Tigers’ remarkable week. They are making believers out of the most skeptical of fans and have continued the Detroit-area teams’ run of regular-season dominance. After taking two of three from the rival White Sox, they are now 64-31 tops in the majors. Let’s hope this team is playing well into October and that their post-season success surpasses that of the Boys in Blue and the Red Wings.

    [Edit: How far has Tiger fever spread? Mack Avenue Tigers reports that it’s already infected the U.P.!]

  • U.S. National Team member Chauncey Billups, who will miss the world championships in August to be with his pregnant recovering wife, was in Las Vegas as his teammates vied for about 15 spots on the World Championship roster. Says Chauncey (via ESPN):Matt correctly pointed out to me that Chauncey’s wife has already given birth, in late June. The article cited below is mistaken

    “The challenge is to try to become cohesive and get all that camaraderie right now,” said Billups, who will miss the world championships to be with his pregnant wife. “I don’t know if that hurts me or not in future years, but it’s not about me. It’s about what’s best for the U.S.”

  • Now don’t get me wrong, you never want to finish the regular season with a record befitting a lottery pick, but do you remember how exciting it was to watch the Pistons select at the top of the first round (and end up with Darko)? Remember the influx of talent from multiple first-round picks, with hope springing eternal as Joe D somehow snagged both Darko and Delfino in the same draft (in the same draft!)?

    Well, barring a trade between now and next summer, the Pistons will have multiple picks in the ‘07 draft with at least a chance of one of them being fairly high (Orlando’s pick is projected to be a low lottery spot this season). The folks at NBAdraft.net are, as usual, all over the NBA draft with frequently updated projections up to two years in advance.

    So who are the Pistons projected to nab in next year’s draft? The answer, Hasheem Thabeet, a freshman center from UCONN and Aaron Gray, a senior center from Pittsburgh. And while I’m absolutely certain that neither one of these players will be Pistons, it is entertaining nonetheless to read the projections of folks much more educated about amateur basketball than myself.

  • Finally, of the Pistons famous four, only one can brag to have the best official website: Tayshaun Prince. With frequent updates, and occasional messages from the man himself, Tay’s humble, fan-friendly persona translates quite well in cyberspace. An honorable mention goes to Rasheed, for his fitting site intro. Note to Rip and Chauncey: it might be time to kick your webmaster in the ass and have him transfer your page to the real web address. Then again, nothing says “Mr. Big Shot” like http://65.61.22.167/cbillups.

Rare William Davidson interview

Published by Matt Watson on July 19, 2006 in Alley-Oops and Around the Internets. 2 Comments

WDFN scored a rare William Davidson interview at yesterday’s press conference. The Pistons owner spoke bluntly about the team’s outlook sans Ben Wallace. From MLive:

“There are pluses and minuses to that, them playing (so many games) together,” Davidson said. “I think they all got a little bored with each other is what more or less happened. I think we needed the shakeup.”

Full-Court Press has the actual audio from the interview as well as a transcription.

Delfino on the block? News to Dumars

Published by Matt Watson on July 19, 2006 in Contracts, From the news and Rumors. 7 Comments

The Pistons held a press conference yesterday to officially introduce Nazr Mohammed and Flip Murray. Joe Dumars pretty much said all the right things — the Pistons will still be a tough defensive team without Ben Wallace and Wallace’s departure has not lowered expectations or goals for the upcoming season. Flip Saunders, who seemingly never clicked with Wallace in the first place, wholeheartedly agrees. From the Detroit News:

“We have a chance to be a better defensive team,” he said. “I know that sounds crazy. But the No. 1 thing you have to be able to do is stop perimeter penetration and I am excited about (Murray’s) ability to defend on the perimeter. When he came into the league, he was known as a defensive player.”

Flip Murray a defensive stopper? OK, so maybe Saunders’ Kool-Aid needs a little more water, but it’s clear that the Pistons braintrust is feeling optimistic about the upcoming season.

It was after the press conference, though, that I think Dumars made his most interesting points. In a radio interview with WDFN, Dumars clarified the reasoning behind the Dupree signing and stated plainly that he’s not planning on trading Carlos Delfino. MLive’s Full-Court Press has a link to the actual interview and transcribed the interview (not 100% word for word, but close enough for context):

Q: There is speculation that you acquired Roland Dupree in case you have to move Carlos Delfino in a trade; perhaps a sign-and-trade deal with Al Harrington. Is there any truth to that speculation?

A: No. First of all, Al Harrington is looking for $10 million a year and Delfino makes no where near that, so a sign-and-trade doesn’t really work. We got Dupree because we needed depth after losing a guy like Mo Evans. We felt comfortable bringing in Dupree to fill that hole because he doesn’t need to make a big transition to learn the system.

Q: Is Flip going to give Carlos Delfino a bigger chance this season?

A: I think he did well with his minutes down the stretch. Yeah, we’ve had that conversation and we intend for him to play this year. He’s a guy that deserves to get some time. He’s a 24-year-old guy that brings something to the table that we didn’t have last season. He’s a good open-court player, a good finisher around the basket and I like him a lot.

So that’s that — make of it as you will, but it sounds to me like Delfino will still be here come training camp. In case you forgot what Delfino is capable of doing given solid minutes, DBB reader Matt Gibson dug up a couple of box scores from late in the year: against the Bucks and against the Wizards. Considering Delfino is making just over $1 million this upcoming season and the Pistons hold a team option for $1.8 million in 2007-08, there’s absolutely no reason not to hold onto him for at least another year to see what he develops into given actual playing time.

Dumars: Pistons’ defense won’t rest [Detroit News]
Dumars WDFN notes: Being a GM isn’t like fantasy basketball [Full-Court Press]

Tuesday’s Layup Drill

Published by Ian Cameron on July 18, 2006 in Around the Internets and From the news. 7 Comments
  • Ron Ron is currently playing beyond the reach of David Stern.Say what you will about Ron Artest (and we have), but he’s not living in an ivory tower. The New York Daily News caught up with him playing in a Rucker Park “Summer League” game. Ron Ron, only hours removed from wrapping up his stint in the NBA-sanctioned Vegas Summer League, was running for Fat Joe’s Terror Squad.

    I’ll give the guy this, he loves the game.

  • According to the Free Press, the Pistons are set to officially announce the signings of Nazr Muhammad and Flip Murray at an 11:30 press conference today. You feel that? Tingles…
  • ESPN’s Sports Guy compares Lebron’s performance at the ESPYs to his playoff series against the Pistons Read on:

    I happened to be sitting a couple of rows behind LeBron, which was funny because every time a female celebrity walked on stage (Janet Jackson, Mariah Carey, Ashley Judd, etc.), he looked more intense than he did during Game 4 of the Pistons series. If they ever do an ESPN Full Circle for the ESPYS, there needs to be a channel devoted just to LeBron’s reactions to everyone who walks out.

  • And, lest you need yet another reason to dislike the Sports Guy — in spite of (or in addition to) his uncanny ability to work Britney Spears into any article regardless of topic — catch him bragging about his on-screen moments during several classic Celtics games, including:

    You can also see me taunting Rodman right as everyone’s leaving the court during Game 5 of the Pistons-Celts series in ‘87 (the one when Bird made the big steal).

  • What, you want more Maceo Baston news? Well, bear with me anyways (as a Michigan alum, I can’t help myself). According to Haaretz.com, Maceo has received a one year offer leave his Israeli team Maccabi to play in the NBA, but he is holding out for two years and more than the $500k offered. Thanks to True Hoop for the link, as well as the excellent article detailing the increased competition for NBA-level talent from overseas leagues. Check it out.
  • Just a quick note: we said we’d update you on Ronald Dupree’s contract when details became available, and they have: it’s a two-year minimum contract, with the second year a player option.

Takin’ his game to the next level

Published by Ian Cameron on July 18, 2006 in Around the Internets and Puff Pieces. 3 Comments

Apparently, Sheed is big in Vegas too.

Natalie over at Need4Sheed recently noticed that SLAM Online used the word “Sheed-tastic” (a word she coined on her site) in an article describing a Sheed appearance in Las Vegas during the Summer League. But while SLAM’s use of the word is a testament to Natalie’s internet reach, we think she may have missed the real story of the article, namely Sheed’s adherence to the Vegas nightlife (if not its dress code). Check out this eye-witness account.

But on the last night, one of the guys we were with went crazy on the craps table and decided to treat all of us to a night out…at the strip club…at 6 in the morning. (Hey, it makes sense in Vegas — don’t judge me.)

As we were there enjoying the scenery and friendly service, an extremely tall dude wanders in with one of the security guards helping him through the crowd. One of my boys immediately screams about how that’s definitely a basketball player. To prove that not all tall black men are basketball players, I strolled over near the bar where tall dude was standing. Chilling in gym shorts, a t-shirt, and a really low, black baseball hat, was Rasheed Wallace. I’ve never been happier to be wrong about something in my life. Minutes later, he was escorted to the back and most of the more attractive ladies appeared to be gone for the night.

I’ve always loved ‘Sheed, but now, the man is a legend to me.

Strong.

Sheed-tastic [SLAM]
Even Slam Thinks Rasheed is Sheedtastic [Need4Sheed]

Is Carlos Delfino on the block?

Published by Matt Watson on July 18, 2006 in From the news and Rumors. 4 Comments

Was the recent addition of Ronald Dupree simply a move to add more bench depth or a precursor to another trade? A. Sherrod Blakley suggests it might be the latter:

There’s speculation that Dupree may give the Pistons another athletic player off the bench in case they deal [Carlos] Delfino in a sign-and-trade package. Atlanta’s Al Harrington, one of the top free agents still available, is a player the Pistons might pursue.

Speculation among whom? Well, forum posters, for one. I don’t see any deal for Harrington happening — Delfino most certainly does not fill a need for the Hawks, as the knock on them is that they’ve acquired too many swingmen in recent years. There’s also chatter in the MLive forums about a potential deal with the Hawks involving Zaza Pachulia, which blows my mind since he’s a legitimate starting center at just 22 years old — what possible reason might the Hawks have for moving him?

That said, I can’t help but look at the current roster and think that we’re not quite done. I don’t think we’ll pull off a blockbuster, but I won’t be surprised to see Dale Davis’ expiring contract and one of those first-rounders from next year moved before training camp.

Speaking of Carlos Delfino, he’s created a mini stir among some fans due to some comments he made in an interview with a newspaper in Argentina in which he seems to suggest he wants to be traded.

I say “seems to” because the interview is in Spanish, and there doesn’t seem to be a consensus among those that speak Spanish as to what he really meant: Justin Rogers from Full-Court Press has a Spanish-speaking co-worker who loosely translated Delfino’s comments to say:

“As for me, I do not want to stay in Detroit because I want to be developed as a player on a team where I can play.”

But over at PistonsForum.com, a member who is a professor in Argentine literature says a more precise translation is less worrisome:

“[It] isn’t “I do not want to stay in Detroit” but rather “I would not want to stay in Detroit”. The sentence sounds somewhat odd, even in Spanish (but since when were pro basketball players grammarians!).”

Seems to me like he’s saying he wouldn’t want to stay in Detroit if he’s not going to receive more playing timeAny Spanish-speaking DBB readers want to weigh in? — but following the Mo Evans trade, that shouldn’t be a problem. And the rest of the article doesn’t make it seem like he’s in a rush to leave Detroit — for instance, the Full-Court Press translation also provided this tidbit:

There are better things to come. I still have one year on my contract in Detroit, the coach is still new, and now that Ben Wallace has gone to Chicago, anything can happen.

As you may remember, this isn’t the first time a translated Carlos Delfino interview resulted in controversy, and that turned out to be a simple misunderstanding. He has a fan in Joe Dumars,After all, it was only a month ago that Dumars said this: “[Delfino’s] going to be here. We’re not trading him and he’s not going anywhere. That was one of those situations where I would have liked to see him play more this year. Flip (Saunders) and I talked about that. He provides a skill we need — he can put it on the floor, break down defenses, get to the rim and play in the open court. We need that.” so I’d be shocked if the Pistons include him in any deal except a sign-and-trade that brings back Harrington or Bonzi Wells — which looks like a pretty big pipedream.

In any case, you know it’s the offseason when we’re splitting hairs about what tense a player used when speaking in a language we don’t even know . . .

Pistons bring back Dupree [MLive.com - link spotted on Need4Sheed)
Carlos Delfino still not happy?

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