Joe Dumars touched upon several topics during Monday’s press conference. First and foremost, we know Flip Saunders’ job is safe. Not a big surprise there, but it’s the first public endorsement since the Eastern Conference Debacle ended a week or so ago. What else did he talk about?
- Coasting will no longer be tolerated.
Far too often the Pistons coasted through stretches of the regular season and playoffs, seemingly confident in their ability to simply “flip the switch” when it mattered most. Maybe it worked in the past, but it didn’t this season and won’t be acceptable behavior next year. From Pistons.com:
“Complacency is the worst thing you can have in sports. That’s not going to be the calling card of our team going forward. That’s been the tag, and deservedly so a lot of times. I’m not going to sit here and defend it. But it won’t be the calling card going forward. Either you play with that sense of urgency or you don’t. At this level you can’t sit back. Status quo just doesn’t get it. And we won’t be status quo.”
What does Dumars mean when he says “either you play with that sense of urgency or you don’t”? Apparently, he’s being quite literal: anyone who doesn’t give full effort will have their minutes slashed. Which leads us to our next point …
- The starters will play fewer minutes. But, you know, for real this time.
Again, from Pistons.com:
“You can change a sense of urgency,” he said. “If you’ve been playing 38 minutes a game here and you’re saying, ‘I can’t sustain that the whole season and through the playoffs,’ then don’t complain when we cut you to 30 minutes. You cut the minutes back and you say, ‘OK, I want the intensity. We’re not going to keep you out there for 40 minutes a night.’
“You just change the minutes around. If we went forward and say we’re gong to keep playing our core guys 40 minutes a night, you can’t do that. That doesn’t work. I can tell you firsthand you can’t pout (sic) those guys out there 40 minutes every night and then grind through the playoffs. What you do is say we’re not going to ask you to do that. Don’t complain, though, when you play 30 minutes a night. I don’t want to hear it. This is the way it’s going to be. That’s how you address that.
We heard a similar promise last year … and how did that work out? DBB reader Matt Gibson looked up the numbers:
05-06
Richard Hamilton 35:17
Chauncey Billups 36:06
Rasheed Wallace 34:42
Tayshaun Prince 35:1706-07
Richard Hamilton 36:47
Chauncey Billups 36:12
Rasheed Wallace 32:17
Tayshaun Prince 36:36
Now, technically speaking, the Pistons missed a few more games with injury this past season so they didn’t actually match the total minutes played from 05-06, but that’s beside the point. Three of the four core players saw their minutes increase during a season in which the pre-season mandate was to develop the bench.
Jason Maxiell enjoyed some success this year, but he was in and out of the rotation all season long when he should have been “in” the entire time. Carlos Delfino saw action in every game, but he, too, had sporadic minutes, especially come playoff time. Plus, none of the reserves ever seemed to be rewarded for a solid performance with a few extra minutes the next night.
For some reason, though, at least a small part of me actually believes that Dumars will force Saunders to carry through with the mandate to reduce minutes across the board. For one, Chauncey and Tayshaun will be playing with Team USA this summer, so there will be immediate pressure for Saunders to watch their minutes early in the season.
Secondly, Maxiell should be a full-time member of the rotation from the get-go, as opposed to starting out on the bench and having to wait for the right opportunity to come in and impress. Third, Amir Johnson (who is a restricted free agent this summer) will be working on a brand new contract, and the size of his paycheck should alert Saunders to the fact that he’s considered a vital piece of Detroit’s future.
Why do I seem so confident that Maxiell and Johnson will get an opportunity to shine? Partially because Joe called them out by name …
- Maxiell and Johnson will play more.
From Pistons.com:
“Maxiell has shown that he’s more than ready to step in. But these other young guys are going to get an opportunity, too. Amir Johnson. We’ve got to keep bringing in young blood – young blood, new blood, athleticism. It’s time for that influx to start having a serious impact going forward. We won’t just go forward with the same old same old. You’ll see new people, new blood, new faces out on the court for the Pistons.
Against both the Bulls and the Cavs, it was clear that the Pistons needed to get more athletic, especially in the front court. Energy, hustle and toughness is never a problem when Maxiell is on the court, and Johnson might already be the team’s best rebounder. The Pistons may have looked a bit old in the playoffs, but that will quickly change if those two guys start combining for 20-25 minutes a game next year.
- Chauncey Billups will (probably) be re-signed.
Yeah, I’ve already tipped my hand thinking that Chauncey will be back by mentioning him above, but Dumars is still confident the Pistons will be able to retain him. During the team’s end-of-season special on TV 20 last night, Dumars was asked how confident he was that he’d re-sign Chauncey on a scale of one to 10. Dumars said a nine, adding that he’d say 10 except for the fact that there’s always a slim chance something crazy might happen.
During the press conference, though, he downplayed how frequently “something crazy” actually happens. From Krista Jahnke’s blog on Freep.com:
And for about the umpteenth time, he inferred that he should be able to do so with little problem. “There are few surprises in this league,” he said. He then said what happened with Ben Wallace last summer wasn’t a surprise at all. I take that to mean he knows exactly who will go after Chauncey this summer, he knows what they’re going to offer, he knows his offer will be the best combination of money and situation and he is ultra confident that Chauncey will take it.
You don’t need to have inside information to realize that only a handful of teams can afford to sign Chauncey without a sign-and-trade, so it’s not surprising that Dumars likely has a finger on Chauncey’s market value. Plus, Dumars has said in the past that money won’t be an issue, and it doesn’t hurt that Chauncey has been adamant in his public interviews about the subject that he wants to return.
- Who said anything about a draft promise?
From A. Sherrod Blakely’s blog on MLive.com:
And when I asked him about the draft, one of the first things he clarified was that the Pistons had not made a promise to any player. As I said in an earlier blog, they like Rodney Stuckey a lot. But with so much uncertainty with who will be available at their spot, making a promise would have been pointless.
I don’t know how the rumor started that the Pistons promised to draft Stuckey at No. 15, but it’s now been dismissed by Stuckey’s agent as well as Dumars. It was always a bit too far-fetched to believe, considering the Pistons hadn’t actually worked anyone out yet. One thing is clear, though, and that’s that the Pistons should be able to grab a talented player (please, please be a guard) at No. 15, and Dumars expects that guy will contribute immediately, telling Eli Zaret during the TV20 special that the rookie should join the eight or nine man rotation.
- Cheikh Samb might not be as far off as expected.
From Pistons.com:
Senegalese 7-footer Cheick Samb will play with the Pistons’ summer league team in Las Vegas after completing his season in the Spanish league. It’s uncertain whether Samb will return to Spain next season or if the Pistons will have a roster spot for him. The Pistons might decide to let Alex Acker, who played in Greece last season, skip the Las Vegas league. No decisions on Acker’s future has been made, either.
I like the idea of bringing Acker back, but if the Pistons draft a guard, bring back Flip Murray (who said he won’t opt out of his contract) and Lindsey Hunter, I just don’t see why he’d want to leave Greece, where he’d make more money, play starter’s minutes and live an extremely comfortable life.
As for Samb, why the hell not? If there are still lingering questions about his quality of competition, give him the last spot on Detroit’s bench and put him in the NBDL for a year. If he continues to improve in leaps and bounds, maybe he’ll contribute during the stretch run. If not, well, at least he has a chance to further his development working closely with the Pistons’ coaches.
Last but not least …
- Nobody is safe.
Dumars never used those words exactly, but that seemed to be the underlying message in most of his points. While he disputed the notion that there would be a fire sale, he re-iterated that he’d be willing to make any trade that improved the team. There is interest around the league in Detroit’s assets — he hasn’t gotten any serious offers, but he did say he’s received calls from all across the league inquiring to see if he was ready to make a panic trade. Fortunately he’s not, but once a legitimate offer crosses his desk, you get the feeling that he’d seriously consider anything.
Why am I so sure that Dumars won’t simply accept the status quo and rest on the fact that the current generation of the Pistons came within two wins of the NBA Finals? To answer that, let me recycle a point I made during a lengthy email conversation with Nate Jones over at the FanHouse: Tayshaun Prince is the only member of the starting lineup that was actually drafted by Detroit — Dumars didn’t create this team by simply “staying put,” so don’t put anything past him.
Dumars obviously tried to address a lot of questions, but only time can provide most of the answers. It still remains to be seen who starts at center next year (will Chris Webber retire? If not, would he even want to return), and it’ll be interesting to see if there’s any truth to some of the rumors we’ve had fun debating so far in the comments. I think there’s just enough young talent emerging on the horizon for Dumars to sit tight if he so chooses, but I also think he’s smart enough to recognize the right deal if it comes along. Needless to say, it should be an interesting summer.
Papaloukas to Detroit???
Theodoros Papaloukas (200-G-77, agency: Interperformances) gave a press conference yesterday, since his camp will begin on July, both in Athens and Thessaloniki, and spoke about everything. Teo admitted the rumours that he is searching for a team in NBA, adding that this team should give him the playing time, the money and the victories that he used to enjoy in Europe. He also revealed that he will definitely stay in CSKA if his dream for NBA will not be a reality. �I want to go to the NBA but only for playing in the highest level. I am not a teenager anymore; I am almost 31 years old, thus I have to be very careful. I will go to a team that is a winner; I don’t want to play for a club that counts 50 losses every season. NBA is not like Europe and I am used to the European style. Here there are no salary cups, transactions and there are some very important and serious laws that are followed by everybody.
It is not like Greece�, he stated, adding that �I am speaking with 12 teams but I cannot reveal them right now. CSKA wants to me to take a final decision till July 15th, but I respect them and I care for this team very much; so I should respond the earlier the possible. I think that a lot of teams are waiting right now and they stand on a weird position, due to the possible transaction of Kobe Bryant�.
Referring to his preferring future team, Theodoros Papaloukas said that he would like to �a team where the coach would respect me and believe on what I can offer. I don’t want to be like Vasilis Spanoulis (193-G-82, agency: Beo Basket) that has the quality and the potentials to play in the league but he belongs to a team that hasn’t given him the opportunity to play.
Personally, I am interested mostly for teams such as San Antonio, Dallas, Detroit, Cleveland and Miami.
I am waiting for some changes on those teams. If an important player leaves, maybe there would be an empty place for me. However, it still is a very difficult and an important decision, as well�.
Theodoros Papaloukas (200-G-77, agency: Interperformances) gave a press conference yesterday, since his camp will begin on July, both in Athens and Thessaloniki, and spoke about everything. Teo admitted the rumours that he is searching for a team in NBA, adding that this team should give him the playing time, the money and the victories that he used to enjoy in Europe. He also revealed that he will definitely stay in CSKA if his dream for NBA will not be a reality. �I want to go to the NBA but only for playing in the highest level. I am not a teenager anymore; I am almost 31 years old, thus I have to be very careful. I will go to a team that is a winner; I don’t want to play for a club that counts 50 losses every season. NBA is not like Europe and I am used to the European style. Here there are no salary cups, transactions and there are some very important and serious laws that are followed by everybody. It is not like Greece�, he stated, adding that �I am speaking with 12 teams but I cannot reveal them right now. CSKA wants to me to take a final decision till July 15th, but I respect them and I care for this team very much; so I should respond the earlier the possible. I think that a lot of teams are waiting right now and they stand on a weird position, due to the possible transaction of Kobe Bryant�. Referring to his preferring future team, Theodoros Papaloukas said that he would like to �a team where the coach would respect me and believe on what I can offer. I don’t want to be like Vasilis Spanoulis (193-G-82, agency: Beo Basket) that has the quality and the potentials to play in the league but he belongs to a team that hasn’t given him the opportunity to play. Personally, I am interested mostly for teams such as San Antonio, Dallas, Detroit, Cleveland and Miami. I am waiting for some changes on those teams. If an important player leaves, maybe there would be an empty place for me. However, it still is a very difficult and an important decision, as well�. And about any probability to deny the Greek National Team in the case of signing at NBA? �I would never say no to our national team, for the next two years at least. If they want me of course� As long I am physically capable to play at the highest level I will play for our national team! I am more than glad for all that had happened to me. It’s really out of my imagination to deny my future in the national team�. Regarding any possibilities to return back to Greece, Teo confirmed that he had some discussions with somebody in Greece: �everybody may understand to whom I am referring to, I cannot mention his name though. He has shown me his real interest, for which I am honored, but I don’t want to come back to Greece yet�.
What in the Brent Petway??
http://www.detnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070612/SPORTS0102/706120358
I’m not at all surprised by this development. I was pretty sure that Joe wasn’t going to be making any rash decisions, but I am surprised that he’s decided on this course so soon after the Pistons get eliminated.
It seems as though he’s taking the toughest attitude possible toward the team and coaching staff that he can take without actually promising to get rid of anyone. This is a win-win for Joe - he is balancing himself in the pull of the fans, the owner, the coaches, and the players. This tactic may not produce a winning team, but it is a very good move with regard to his career as a team executive.
There’s really three possible explanations here. Either Joe is being sincere and the team is returning with a new mandate, and some changes will be explored but he doesn’t expect to trade part of the core or make wholesale changes. Or he knows what he’s going to do, and he’s not saying anything in order to allow for what he’s doing to not pan out (like if he says he’s trading Rasheed and can’t do it). Or he really doesn’t know.
I’m leaning toward “he really doesn’t know. He didn’t expect to be in the position he’s in right now, and I think he’s reeling a bit. He’s decided to sort of tackle things one at a time. First he dealt with the coaching situation, and he knows he’s going to resign Chauncey, but beyond that, I think he needs to figure out who he’s going to draft, who is going to go to make room for Maxiell and Johnson, and who might get traded.
The NBA offseason is a marathon. It’s still over two weeks until the draft, and a month until we can sign or resign free agents. That week or so between the Finals and the draft will be the big period, since I would expect Joe to make a trade before the draft, since picks in this draft are so highly valued.
In order to watch those Chauncey mintues, Detroit has to bite on a pure point guard that they used to have in Carlos Arroyo. In ‘04, they had Mike James and Lindsey Hunter. Mike, given his demonstration in Toronto, was much better than anyone anticipated. Carlos wasn’t horrible, either - he just wasn’t worth 4 million a year. Chauncey was making 5.5-6.5 million over the same period of time.
Lindsey Hunter and Flip Murray can’t spell Chauncey on the floor.
Tayshaun needs a compliment that isn’t Carlos Delfino who will come off the bench and provide easy points. There are enough guys in the league, let alone the draft, to make that happen.
Carlos or Rip . . . I’ll take Rip.
Rasheed, Ben Wallace, and Antonio McDyess were a nice trio, but Ben’s gone, and Antonio will remain a bench player, and Antonio and Rasheed have range on their shot, but they both play power forward, which is exactly where Maxiell is best - and Maxiell’s limited because Ben Wallace was pushing it for a center - Jason’s shorter, seemingly.
Arroyo was TERRIBLE. He doesnt even see playing time with the Magic. Im glad Detroit got him off the team.
Detroit needs to take a pg who can score, penetrate and run the O with the 15th pick. Both Acie Law and Javaris Critteton do all of those things, hopefully alteast 1 will be there at 15.
Detroit needs to tak a true C who can play in the post and is highly athletic and wont be manhandled. I want to see either Sean Williams or DeVon Hardin with the 27th pick. Both of those two would be steals if they stuck around that late.
If Grant Hill signs with Detroit for part of the MLE, the rookies play and Detroit shakes off its complacency Detroit will still be contending for a championship.
This is how Id want the lineup
Billups/Law/Murray
Rip/ Delfino/Murray
Tay/ Hill/Johnson
Maxiel/Dice/Johnson
Sheed/Williams/Nazr
With rookies Law and Williams getting about 15 each.
PG who can score is usually an undersized SG. Detroit has that with Flip Murray. No more of that. Crap, I’d take a completely distributor-only baller like Brevin Knight over a Rodney Stuckey at this point. But not Brevin - he’s at the end of his NBA rope like Eric Snow and Lindsey Hunter.
Must find guy to sub max 20 minutes possible per night for Chauncey, should he get in foul trouble. Pure point guard. No combo guards - Detroit has enough shooters. Need not apply if one hopes to start at any time for the next 4-5 years. This is the biggest problem among fountains of youth and foreigners.
Arroyo was horrible for the amount of money, but he wasn’t horrible. See similar sentiment for Nazr Mohammed, who was as misused as he was blind stupid when he was in the rotation. Nazr doesn’t have bad hands - he has poor recognition and reaction time. Nazr’s best when there’s a big power forward like Tim Duncan along-side him.
Sauce, I am also at my best when I play alongside the greatest PF of our generation.
A scoring point guard is not the same as an undersized shooting guard/combo guard. Tony Parker and TJ Ford are all good examples of a scoring point guard. A high quality pg who can break down defenses, get into the lane and score is exactly what Detroit needs.
And so is Oberto, and Nesterovic.
Nazr could fit with Zach Randolph (weak interior D but that’s half the NBA), Carlos Boozer, Dwight Howard, Jermaine O’Neal, Elton Brand . . . anyone who’s not spending but a mere shred of time on the 3-arc and only looking to pass out of that position from the PF spot can team up better with Nazr. The PF’s gotta have a solid inside game and be sure to produce plenty of points, since Nazr’s good enough only for his foul rate to be 20-25 mpg anywhere he goes.
There are uglier mistakes for contracts. Erick Dampier. Adonal Foyle. Samuel Dalembert. Soon to be . . . Shaquille O’Neal. Ben Wallace.
The problem with NazMo is that he is a 50%er. He’s not wide enough to control space, he doesn’t dominate physically, he can score, but he doesn’t have a go to move, and he’s not particularly athletic, or active.
We got a lot more out of Dale Davis’ limited tool set.
You can’t build your stars around your role players’ weaknesses. It has to be the other way around. Bottom line, all of the guys you mentioned are younger than Sheed and we’re not going to acquire one in trade cheaply so that NazMo can be effective.
If Acie Law works out for the Pistons, then I hope that’s what Detroit goes after, not Stuckey. The primary position of the guy has to be PG from prior experience.
If we get that guy, whoever it is, then we can stick with a Lindsey as a third point.
Yeah, there’s probably no way we’re getting anyone with Nazr to upgrade PF, but I was looking at dealing guys like Nazr together to get a different starting center.
Pistons need a guy who can play D and get rebounds. As much as it pains me I thing Joakim Noah could be that guy. May take some dealing to move up but he a good defender.
I think the talk of cutting minutes is serious. Last year, the talk was about keeping the starters fresh. This time, JoeD is talking about the lack of effort.
It sounds like the same song and dance as last year…I am tired of the rhetoric. Show me a new sense of hunger on the court. It hasn’t been there since ‘05.
Joe D has a tough few months ahead and once the Chauncey situation is settled the chips will fall into place.
Let’s just hope this off-season we get better compliments to the team. Murray and Nazr just don’t belong.
If the emphasis will really be on playing young talent- I don’t see how that can happen with Flip as the coach. he doesn’t trust the younger players.
If we trade Sheed it will be a huge hole to fill. Yes he makes everyone crazy with his attitude but his skills overcome that. We need his shot blocking and low post presence. I’m not sure he and Flip can coexist though which is troubling.
All I remember is last season this is what was said and it seems all tooo familiar….
- There really is nothing positive to say about Detroit’s play in Game 6, or in this series for that matter. The Pistons looked pretty lifeless on both ends and let the Heat shoot 55.7%; they let the Heat shoot 51.5% for the entire series, not very Piston-like. The offense was equally putrid once again, adding to their overall subpar play in this series, which they shot nearly 6 points lower than their 45.5% in the reg. season. The Pistons actually got a bunch of good looks in this game, but they just could not hit. Rip was the only guy who seemed to bring any aggresiveness with 33 pts in Game 6. But Rip was off from the field just like the rest of his team in this series–Rip shot 37.8% overall, he shot 49% in the entire reg. season. Sheed shot 36%, Billups hit 39% of his shots, and Prince shot the best in this series with only 44%.
-Basically in the last 2 rounds, the Pistons had chronic problems getting any type of rhythm going on offense and were a shell of their reg. season self. I am not really sure why. Was it something with Flip? Was it something with the players? Or was it just that their reg. season record was somewhat deceiving cause the Pistons were extremely lucky they had no injuries. That last fact can’t not be underrated.
Oh well its off to watch the Cavs and Spurs for game 3. Let’s see if the Cavs can stop emabarrasing the East.
Im figuring on Tiago Splitter at 15 and then Taurean Green/Aaron Brooks PG/Morris Almond SG at 27 then some project guy at 57.
As much as i’d like Law or Crittenton it just seems like there are to many teams with PG needs for them to slip to us.
Splitter could probably start at C right away and Green has been on the big stage plenty and could back up Chauncey pretty well I think.
With a lineup of
C- Splitter with McDyess, Maxiell, and Johnson off the
PF- Sheed bench at the C and PF spots
SF- Prince Delfino
SG- Rip Murray
PG- Billups Green
I’m starting to like the idea of Grant Hill coming back as long as he doesnt want to start. Though we could go small as a starting lineup. He would give us someone who could handle the ball, slash and score from the bench.
I’m not sure it’s worth it for Acker to comeback this year if he’s not gonna have decent guaranteed minutes. We’d have to move Murray to get him some minutes I think. I would like to see Sambh play the NBDL this year. It would let us keep a close eye on him and even get him some preseason burn. Same with Blalock I think. Of course if Blalock can play maybe a guy like Morris Almond that can fill it up at SG.
I dunno what JoeD is gonna do. He’s got a lot of options. Draft day cant come soon enough for me.
I’m watching the Game 3 (yeah, I’m an idiot) and Jon Barry just suggested that intentionally injuring oneself is a great way to stop the other teams momentum without burning a timeout. His exact words were “You should cut yourself.”
umm Carlos Arroyo is your answer to pure PG off the bench? No matter what salary you pay him, it’s too much. As evidenced in the Orlando series, he’s easily abused on either end of the court and his best passes are usually made when he’s falling down on the court as he’s flopping after getting bumped when the big man shows out on him when a pick is set. Give me a break, Flip Murray isn’t great but I’d take him over Arroyo or Delk or Hunter or even Brevin Knight at this point. He’s not the best, but he’s decent. This isn’t NBA Live 07, it’s time to be realistic.
Delfino should be the 1st SG/SF off the bench for Detroit. Again, this isn’t NBA Live 07, Delfino is the best option at swingman we’re going to get off the bench for the salary we have this off-season unless we deal Rip (which we should do) or anyone else.
Again, my question is: Why not take some of the talent that the media hypes up and deal it for quantity? It’s harder than it sounds, but you can get some serviceable guys to plug the holes left behind by Webber and Davis and you can also possibly dump the Nazr salary to a team looking to pickup a guy like Rip or Sheed.
I’ve cleared my head a bit and I was all for the trade sheed thing but if we did, wouldnt be a bit like an olders bulls team. We’d have no post presence unless we trade sheed for a post presence which doesnt make much sense. Amir, and Max arent ready to be big, consistent offensive weapons, so keep sheed. Keep the big four. Let Cwebb leave. I liked him but he’ll just eat up amir and maxs minutes and can’t defend.
Draft Law, or Crittenton (Crittenton will most likely be there). Flip Murray can stay or Acker can take his spot. Which ever. Delfino can backup Tay and a little Rip so he gets more mins then Flip/Acker.
I don’t like the idea of Hill coming unless Flip murray is gone, since we really don’t need to give Saunders another reason to bench Delfino.
Oh and random note: Verlander with the no hitter!
Arroyo isn’t the answer because his salary’s too much.
So don’t put words where there aren’t for me.
“umm Carlos Arroyo is your answer to pure PG off the bench? No matter what salary you pay him, it’s too much.”
When Carlos is coming off the bench, he’s best served against another team’s backup point guard while the starter rests. If he’s trying to ball against and then stop Billups, Nash, and Kidd, well yeah, he’s going to get toasted on both ends, especially on defense against Billups and Kidd.
A horrible point guard, for comparison with Arroyo, is Sarunas Jasikevicius. As inconsistent as Arroyo was, since Mike James, he’s been the best direct sub that Detroit’s had for Billups.
And if Delfino was all that special, he should be getting 20-25 mpg and a regular rotation in the playoffs already, and that doesn’t seem like a lock to happen because in the years he’s been here, Delfino doesn’t consistently apply himself from the bench, which is where Arroyo’s blame in Detroit should be placed, beyond that reason of salary. Delfino apparently seems to want to start and be the man at SG or SF on Detroit before he’ll ever live up to potential from the bench, but Detroit wants to see consistency every night and earn the minutes before that happens. This isn’t Atlanta, where a new young kid gets instant burn every year.
No more foreigners or mainlanders of that type, not on this team. Too many of the foreigners have Darko Disease, and too few of them are as useful as Tony Parker and Manu Ginobili, of which no one could ever dissuade me that Ginobili being held to 3 points makes him less than a 4-star player. As for the mainlanders, they have the same problem, but it’s even more foolish because they ought to know that the NBA is clearly leaps and bounds better than Eurobasket or any other off-shore outfit for talent.
I appreciated your toe-to-toes with the maniacal Chicago fans over at BlogaBull, so I’m not against you, Boney, for real. Apologies if it ever seemed that way.
I’m against Grant Hill coming here. It’s time to play the youngsters, even if it means significantly lower playoff seeding.
I don’t think any of the PGs that will be available at 15 will develop into bonafide starter.
I kinda leaning toward Splitter. Seems like a more skilled, less flop-prone version of Blanca (er, I mean, Varejao).
I think you guys havent probably seen Tiago Splitter play. I am from Europe and watch Euroleage, so I have. And let me tell you, half of time the guy is pathetic even by Euroleage standards. He aint got neither enought muscle nor skills to be starter for Detroit-like club. Maybe in 2-3 years.
Jake: thanks for the update on Splitter — that’s what I was worried about. Just looking at him you can tell he’s not very bulky. Unless he falls to Detroit with their second pick, I’m guessing visions of Darko will still be in Dumars’ head.
that is an interesting tidbit about splitter. i’m not very sold on anybody at 15. but i’m definitely not sold on him. and what joe wants with the no. 15 pick is an immediate contributor. we can’t wait for a guy to grow into a good player overseas. we need a guy who’s ready to go NOW. be pretty great if a guy like thornton fell to us, but that’s getting less and less likely. although you can never count out the stupidity of nba gms. especially the ones in the lottery.
derrick byars will be able to score off the bench right away–I’m thinkin kinda like a good jarvis hayes.
Very nice post Matt.
Whatever happens, I think Amir Johnson needs to be a part of that 2nd unit. The Pistons have proved over the last 2 years that home court means nothing if you don’t have enough in the tank.
I think they should try and move up for Conley.
I’d also try for Grant (he could be dangerous in the post season) and package Nazr and Dupree/Delfino for a center, but that may have to be a draft position.