Out of nowhere, ESPN’s Chris Sheridan reports that the Greek powerhouse Olympiakos has offered Chris Webber a two-year dea worth $10-12 million (that’s between $10 million and $12 million, not ten dollars and twelve million dollars. As a writer, I agonize about how to accurately yet concisely write these things …). If Webber is simply concerned about money, this blows anyway any offer he’ll get in the NBA, especially when you consider European teams also provide perks like living/travel expenses.
As if that wasn’t interesting enough, Sheridan included this little nugget:
Webber has said he is leaning toward returning to the Detroit Pistons, although signing Webber prior to training camp, even for the veterans’ minimum, would have cap ramifications that the Pistons want to avoid. Webber is said to be comfortable with the idea of waiting at least a month or two for the Pistons’ roster issues to work themselves out, which would allow him to join them in midseason as he did in 2005-06.
I already touched upon this at FanHouse, but it’s pretty surprising. The Pistons currently have 16 players under contract, which means they already have to get rid of one before the start of the season. McCosky and Blakely have said more than once that Flip Murray is expected to be traded, probably for future second-round draft pick(s), so that’s one spot. But if Webber is/was in Detroit’s plans, they’d need to clear two spots. Rookie Sammy Mejia would seem the most likely guy, but why bother signing him in the first place if you don’t want to keep him? With that in mind, I don’t think he’s going anywhere. Well, maybe down to Ft. Wayne, but you know what I mean.
Will Dumars try once again moving Nazr Mohammed? If that’s the case, I’d imagine he’d be used as a starter early in the year to showcase his skills, but instead we’ve been led to believe Rasheed Wallace is the new starting center. So I really don’t know. My guess? Either Webber’s hopes don’t line up with Detroit’s plans or Sheridan is misinformed (which, you know, wouldn’t be the first time).
So yeah, chew on this in the comments. And since it’s Friday and I’m unlikely to get another post up this weekend, consider this your weekend open thread.
Wow, I really didn’t expect Webber to be back. How unusual is it to bring someone in a few months after the season starts, bring them in off the bench, then run your offense through them? I see that as Webber’s role (if he has one), but it’s tough to imagine. He was as slow and methodical as he was certain and confident. He’s got a ton of experience, but I wonder about his hunger. He seems to want to help, but it doesn’t look like he’s got a lot in the tank.
I can’t see him defecting to Greece to bang with young, hungry players trying to get to America.
Plus, didn’t he just get a huge payday when Philly bought out his contract (I had a Philly Cheesesteak today; coincidence?)? As much as I like Webber, I don’t know if he can help the team at this point.
Where was I when Webber played on the team during 2005-2006? Come on Sheridan, it’s not that hard to print the correct season.
Seriously C-Webb should take this. He’s a decent passer, has a pretty good shot and will absolutely destroy stickman Euro 5’s inside.
Even if the Piston’s ARE whispering in his ear about bringing him in later, he’s gotta realize that’s just the team covering it’s angles in case of injury or working out a big trade.
Seriously if C Webb still wants to play ball this probably is the best career move for him…
of course it’s C-Webb so firmly expect him to hang around Michigan getting fatter until like Nov at least.
C-webb must be smoking the wacky tobaccy again. He is not coming back to the Pistons. Going overseas would be a nice end to a good career. He plays defense like he is allergic to it, and if the Pistons are going to compete…HE CANNOT BE IN THE MIX. Maybe he can go back and help coach the University of Michigan for free as I think he owes them a thing or two, you know coaching on things like how to call timeouts correctly.
Don’t know if anyone saw this in the Amir Johnson feature on Pistons.com, but it seems there might finally be a company line on his height:
Johnson, listed at 210 pounds, said he’s been lifting weights in the off-season to beef up his 6-foot-10 frame. But he certainly didn’t do it through his diet overseas. “I really ate pretty much bread and rice out there,” he said. “The food was pretty good.”
http://www.nba.com/pistons/news/travelinman_070928.html
Murray likely to stay
The Pistons apparently have cooled on the idea of trading Murray. Although he’s not expected to be in the regular rotation, Detroit sees him as a solid fill-in if Billups gets hurt.
Murray, signed by Detroit in 2006, had some impressive stretches of play last season. But far too often, his play was inconsistent and left Saunders little choice but to play Billups and Hunter more minutes.
The 6-foot-3 combo guard could have opted out of his contract this summer, but he would have been hard-pressed to find another team willing to pay him more than the $1.94 million he’ll earn this season.
Saunders spent some time with Murray this summer and believes he’s ready to come in and do whatever he has to do in order to help Detroit win.
“We’ve talked, and I think he has a better understanding of what’s expected of him now,” Saunders said.
I don’t think flip is going anywhere. The first guy to be cut would be Ronald Dupree. Then if the Pistons can find a taker for Nazr, which has been tough so far, they would probably pick Webber up for a more limited role then last year.
I think ya’ll are missing an important option here; could it be that Flip Murray or Dupree go before the season starts to get the contract situation to the needed 15 (how is not important)? Then, Joe D. and the coaching staff use the first couple months to evalute (under game conditions) the impact Stuckey is going to have on this team, and when a high probabilty that Stuckey IS the real deal, Lindsey Hunter “retires” and plays assistant-assistant coach or some other help-the-new-guys-out role and Detroit signs Webber for another (hopefully deep) playoff run. Contrary to the majority opinion of everyone who posts here, Nazr is a good center (not great), and the offensive options provided by C-Webb FAR outweigh his defensive liabilty, and furthermore, if you take a detailed look back at several games late last year and even through the playoffs, the appearance that Webber was playing the Four and Dyess or Sheed played at the five is very obvious. From my perspective, that is a viable strategy, defenses cannot leave webber alone at the elbow and both Dyess and Sheed own the low block (in the vast majority of games we play), I also noticed that this offensive set opened up nemurous lanes for our guards, but not being able to take anyone off the dribble left that option pretty much off the table, (another reason Stuckey will be evaluated before Hunter moves on), but nevertheless, C-Webb provides more offensive help than any other big on this team, Amir and Maxey still need to prove themselves. One last thought before ya’ll shred this post, with Amir’s high basketball IQ, imagine what he can learn about passing and reading defenses from C-Webb, is it not possible that Amir is a five, he just don’t know it yet?
Man, it’s kind of sad that we’re all throwing Webber under the bus like this. Was he really THAT bad? Didn’t the Pistons go on a tear when he joined the team and got their offense flowing a bit more? Sure, he’s old and creaky and probably had some tension-filled locker room fights with Flip, but begging the guy to go to Europe? That’s cold.
Hey man, if it helps I GENUINELY feel Europe is a better option for C-Webb right now considering his age/conditioning/going rate on the NBA market. Personally I think that if he IS hearing whispers from Detroit THAT’s kinda cold because I don’t think he’s anything more than an emergency plan for the Pistons at this time, regardless of what they are saying to him privately.
BTW, the Lions staged a legitimate 4th quarter comeback today AND beat a team they were supposed to beat… Don’t look now but we might actually be in possesion of a mediocre NFL team rather than a long standing punchline. I mean I’m not drinking the kool-aide yet but that ACTUALLY looked like an NFL level team finding a way to WIN rather than lose the game.
Oh, Jeebus. Please - no!
Yes, Webber gave the Pistons a boost and some much-needed offensive cohesiveness when he first joined the team, but was clearly gassed at the end of the season, and became a leg-dragging liability on the floor.
Bringing him back would likely ensure that this team continues its downward slide, instead of giving the lineup an infusion of youth that’s needed to sustain a largely veteran roster through 82 games.
Go for the spanakopita, C-Webb!
PG4L, perhaps these Lions are different? Their offense certainly seems to be. We did win without CalJo, Woody & Kalimba on D. Our schedule does not do us any favors however. I’m still worried that this team may be as good as most of the NFC playoff teams this year, but the schedule may do us in. Of course we have to play the entire NFC East and the only sniff of the pathetic South we get is the only team that looks any good in that division. Only one game against the NFC West (@Arizona), great. Just remember what Denny Green would say in this situation: They are who we thought they were. Lions aren’t anything until they’re actually in the playoffs.
LB, all well taken points but I don’t think you’re understanding exactly what I’m saying here:
The Lion’s are a legitimate NFL team. I’m estatic. No, really, I’m absolutely thrilled. It might not end well once the team plays better teams but I’m reasonably convinced the Lion’s are at least a mediocre NFL team. They may lose another 9 games but I’m pretty sure those games won’t be a forgone conclusion before kickoff. This hasn’t happened since the one year Scott Mitchell WASN’T fat and useless, merely fat.
Lemme just give you an example of what I mean… Two min warning goes off with Chi trailing Detroit by 10 but driving, I turn to a friend at work and say “You know, two mins is more than enough time to shred the Lion’s secondary for a quick TD, kick it deep and wait for Martz to call an ill advised pass for the game winning INT return touchdown…” Except this time I didn’t believe it was actually going to happen. I inwardly said “Naw, I think the Lion’s have this one.”
I’m pleased as punch.
They’re showing a different resolve, that’s for sure. They trailed late against Oakland and Chicago and still pulled through. And they took care of business against Minnesota in OT (curse you Marty Mornhinweg!). This team looks pretty competent in late game situations, which is a refreshing change. Legitimate, I’m fairly certain we are at this point, I’m just really worried about our schedule. Even if we’re better, it may not be well reflected in the final record. And just feeling certain that we’re better isn’t good enough for me. I want to see a .500 or better finish, and I’m not sure we’re going to get there. I sure hope so though. Maybe Kitna and Williams are right on the prediction of at least 10 wins.
I think the people that want C-Webb back miss the point when they say he’s better than Nazr.
The reason I don’t want C-Webb back is because I don’t want him to eat into Maxiell and Amir’s minutes. I think our chances for success (now and down the line) are greater by developing the youngins.
As much grief as Flip Murray gets, he’s a great as a 3rd PG and as a 12th man. That’s how deep this team is. And Lindsay makes a great 4th PG and 13th man.
My guess is that Dupe is the odd man out.
European leagues are very very competitive..especially the greek league this year…don’t forget all the players that made the leap from greece to NBA all these years, Antonio Davis, PJ Brown, Peja Stojakovic and the players that left NBA to play in Greece Eddie Johnson, Dominique Wilkins etc..Cwebb has 1-2 years of good basletball left, he should spend them in greece and get paid a fortune…simple as that..
Chris Webber Come to Greece and Olympiakos!!!We wait you,at wednesday..
Did anyone see that Sideshow Bob plans on not coming to training camp? Sweettttttttttttttt, I am very very happy. I hate that guy so bad.
And on the Lions, what is the best Lions blog out there? I got my Tigers and Pistons blogs but no Wings and Lions blogs. Help me out!
So we sign Baby Eater to an extension. Awesome. Then we sign Gerald Fitch? Huh?!?
That Fitch move makes no sense to me. We didn’t really sign Maxiell to an extension; we really just exercised the team option 4th year that comes standard on all 1st round rookie contracts. Kind of a no-brainer, but let’s hope he gives us every reason this season to sign him long-term beyond that ‘08-09 option year.
Yeah, not sure what the Fitch signing means. There are no details on the length of the contract. It could be for just training camp.
The guy played at Kentucky so maybe Tayshaun and Nazr put in a good word for him.
We didn’t sign Fitch, he is just invited to training camp. We already have 16 players under contract, I don’t think we just give someone to a contract that is going to get cut before the season. Doesn’t make much business sense to just throw away money, think about it.
Also Monday morning, the Pistons added guard Gerald Fitch to their training camp roster on a non-guaranteed contract. Fitch played 18 games with the Miami Heat in their championship season. He comes in as an extra body for camp and is at the most a long-shot to make the team.
lionbacker.com is alright.
And I like where the Pistons are headed without C-webb. As much as I love the skills he brings offensively, I think the Pistons are committed to getting younger, as evidenced by the drafting of a player like Stuckey. He should come in and be able to contribute quickly. If C-webb comes back, we lose opportunities for Max and Amir. It’s a trade-off: Do we take the immediate contribution and risk under-developing our players, or do we play the young guys and have less offensive rythmn? Personally, I think the latter is the better option.
According to the Freep, sounds like Webber’s saying “no” to Greece and “Please take me” to the D.
The decision of whether or not to resign Webber (assuming it’s an available option) and the decision of whether or not to utilize him in the same manner as we did last season seem like different questions to me. I’m all for taking a guy of Webber’s talent level for the price of the veteran minimum. I’m not at all for that guy playing 29 a game. If Tay is dying from 36/game (and yes, Tay played 82 v. Webber’s 43, which makes it hard to directly compare) and he’s healthy, in his mid 20s, and leaner than Webber, what are we doing sending Webber out there for 29/night? I’d like for him to come back with an adjusted role. On top of a sizable reduction in minutes, I’d like to see him come off the bench too. Realistically, I don’t think a single NBA team can be fielded in 2007-2008 that can indisputably claim that it fields 15 guys who are more worthy of a roster spot than Chris Webber. Someone has basically said all this and also what I’m about to say (maybe multiple someones), but maybe even a Dale Davis role would be most appropriate if Webber returns.
“Chris Webber said Monday that he will not be accepting a lucrative offer to finish his career in Greece and revealed that the Detroit Pistons are the only team he can see himself playing for this season.”
HE WANT STAY WITH PISTONS!!!
Yeah, from Dime Magazine this morning:
Chris Webber isn’t at Pistons camp, but he says that’s where he wants to be. C-Webb turned down the offer to play in Greece because, “I’m an NBA guy. I don’t want to just chase money. I want to make sure I respect the game.” Repeat that line to any Sixers fan who watched Webber’s last half-year in Philly and stand back as they start throwing things …
I agree with LawyerBoy, and I think everyone is too quick to write off C-Webb. Just because he’s on the roster doesn’t mean he’s gobbling up minutes for Amir and Maxiell. Webber could be a pretty important practice guy who comes off the bench and contributes in spot minutes. Plus, who says Amir and Maxiell are going to get the huge minutes that we all want? Sure, we want babies to be eaten and Amir to show the world that he’s KG v2.0, but Flip might have other ideas as far as minute distribution goes. Still, I think the Pistons are better wtih Webber than without and if I’m in the minority so be it.
C-Webb is a LOSER. He lost at Michigan. He cost Michigan a solid hoops program that they still haven’t recovered due to all the crap he and the rest of the so-called “fab five” accepted. He lost all around the NBA, how many teams? He lost in Detroit and he, apparantly, lost his mind when he uses words like respect.
As a Philly guy, C-Web can go to Athens and eat himself silly. What a waste of talent. What a LOSER!