Comments on: Pistons cut Sammy Mejia, give final spot to Ronald Dupree

By: RJR

RJR — Fri, 14 Dec 2007 02:54:27 +0000

I THINK MEJIA IS GOOD PROPECT FOR THE PISTONS BUT THEY DONT LIKE MEJIA THEY CAN TRADE HIM OR PUT IN THE DLEAGUE.PISTONS DO A MISTAKE WITH THAT DUPREE CANT PLAY LIKE MEJIA.

By: Sammy Mejia cut by Ft. Wayne | Detroit Bad Boys

Sammy Mejia cut by Ft. Wayne | Detroit Bad Boys — Wed, 28 Nov 2007 17:42:51 +0000

[…] line between being good enough to play in the NBA and being banished overseas. Sammy Mejia, who almost made the Pistons roster, was waived by the D-League Ft. Wayne Mad Ants. From Chris McCosky’s blog for the Detroit […]

By: V

Tue, 30 Oct 2007 19:35:13 +0000

We’re talking the 15th and 16th guy here. While one could argue thar Mejia has more upside than Dupree (note Flip’s priceless comment that “we know what Dupree brings to the table”, or something like that-yes, Flip, a career 15th man on the roster, apparently), it could be about saving the dough they’d have to pay Dupree if they cut him.

Frankly, I’m more concerned about the Renteria/Jurrjens-Hernandez trade, but I guess that’s for another blog lol.

By: Craig

Craig — Tue, 30 Oct 2007 15:07:41 +0000

Mejia was drafted as a favor to his agent, and if he did make the cut, would’ve spent the whole season in the D. As for Dupes, he’s known as a tough defender and a hard worker. This really is splitting hairs, though. Anyone want to open a thread about John Long?

By: Mike Payne

Mike Payne — Tue, 30 Oct 2007 14:03:37 +0000

PG4L:
Kobe, Odom, and Mihm for Dupree, Hunter, and Delfino’s practice shorts that are still stanking up the Pistons locker room. Final offer.

By: PistonsGirl4Life

PistonsGirl4Life — Tue, 30 Oct 2007 13:36:37 +0000

As for the “news”, whoever said “the 15th man on your roster isn’t going to play” pretty much nailed it. Nobody is even going to remember the name Sammy Meija in a couple months. I mean sure, you always hold out hope that you “stole somethin” with every single 2nd round pick you make but really it’s actually pretty RARE to actually do that. Meija would have had to be pretty special to crack the rotation (something I’m bordering on 100% sure Dupree won’t do).

Plus think about this from the team’s perspective for a min… why does one even KEEP a 3rd string SF on the team? Because the backup has a long history of not being able to play because he’s hurt all the time. If Jarvis Hayes survives a full season I’m pretty sure that’d be his FIRST 82 game season in the NBA. They kept Dupree because there’s a VERY real chance the 3rd string SF might have to play a few games this year. Obviously they felt more comforitable that Dupree wouldn’t embarass them than Meija (and fwiw, don’t say Affalo… A) the word so far is he doesn’t actually look very good when playing SF, just SG. B) He’s only 6′5″ which is short for a SF and C) he has the same “damn rookie” issue Meija does).

Seriously if say Prince rips his knee and is done for the year after 10 games did you REALLY want to know Sammy Meija was being counted on for 12 mins a night? I dislike Dupree because he does absolutely NOTHING with the ball whenever he gets it, but he’s not a horrible defender, he knows our set play calls and the organization clearly feels comforitable with him as a deep bench player (hence the re-aquiring when Minny dumped him).

By: PistonsGirl4Life

PistonsGirl4Life — Tue, 30 Oct 2007 13:30:04 +0000

Mike Payne…. I’d be willing to do that deal but only if LA threw in 2 first rounders and Lamar Odom. Then we could hopefully trade Kobe for some gatoraide and a euro prospect the Spurs don’t want.

Deal?

By: Mike Payne

Mike Payne — Tue, 30 Oct 2007 13:24:59 +0000

I couldn’t really get it to work out on ESPNs trade machine, but I had an idea for a trade involving Dupree:

Dupree for Kobe, straight up.

Thoughts?

By: Alex K

Alex K — Tue, 30 Oct 2007 13:18:56 +0000

The Timberwolves sent a protected 2008 second-round pick to the Spurs for cash considerations and guard Beno Udrih, whom the Wolves immediately waived.

http://sports.yahoo.com/nba/news;_ylt=AgLy6nBd5u9Es2JhRVBY.h68vLYF?slug=ap-timberwolvesmoves&prov=ap&type=lgns

This should’ve been our 2nd round pick!

By: joejoejoe

joejoejoe — Tue, 30 Oct 2007 08:32:49 +0000

If Sammy Mejia pans out as a D-league player in ‘07 and ends up with the Ft. Wayne Mad Ants I can see the logic in keeping Dupree. Mejia isn’t NBA ready, no other team thinks he’s ready, and you still have Dupree’s salary as a trade chip and Mejia under close observation with Mejia grateful for the guaranteed cash and likely to give the Pistons first crack at signing him down the road as a free agent.

If Mejia signs with another team I think you’ve blown a second round pick to keep a journeyman SF with no demonstrated upside over a player that just a few months ago you selected because of his potential.

It’s puzzling but events over the next few months will reveal this move as either A) smart or B) a minor brain freeze.

By: LawyerBoy

LawyerBoy — Tue, 30 Oct 2007 06:39:16 +0000

Satchel - I am gonna miss Jair Jurrjens. He showed some nice stuff last season and I agree that Atlanta could be getting something nice back in this trade. Can’t expect to get a guy like Renteria though without paying some sort of price. At least I can feel secure with the guy playing defense in the hole for once. Guillen was pretty pitiful. And to officially bow out of the ARod sweepstakes was a decision I always believed Dombrowski would wisely come to, but never expected him to come to it this fast nor did I ever feel 100% secure of such a belief either. Now I can finally exhale and sleep peacefully.

By: Satchel

Satchel — Tue, 30 Oct 2007 04:20:04 +0000

I’m one of the few people who think they SHOULD bring Webber back.

Regardless, Dupe had some value. has anyone looked at the Celtics roster? Dupe would be their 7th man. That’s not worth a 2nd round pick?

And on Meija: he’s not gonna be a star. Jair Jurrgens, maybe. Not Meija. Hard-nosed, undersized swing-men are the most dime-a-dozen type there is in the NBA. If there’s a chance to bring in a player who might matter, there’s no harm in losing this guy. And I like Meija.

Hopefully there is something even better cooking for the frontcourt, but nobody passes like Webber. Nobody.

By: Matt Gibson

Matt Gibson — Tue, 30 Oct 2007 04:08:46 +0000

Trade Dupree for a 2nd round pick, then sign him for a 2 year contract in the offseason, have him sit on the bench all year and then trade him for a 2nd round pick at the beginning of the next season. Dumars is a fricken genius.

By: Alex K

Alex K — Tue, 30 Oct 2007 02:49:01 +0000

Mike Payne - Dupree was actually traded for a 2nd round pick before, to the Wolves (and the Pistons got him back for nothing.. gotta love the Wolves!)

I would love for another team to be gullible enough to trade for him again, but I really doubt that’ll happen …

By: LawyerBoy

LawyerBoy — Tue, 30 Oct 2007 02:44:10 +0000

I’m not trying to say Dupree is better than Mejia, but I think you guys aren’t looking into this move from all angles. Let’s suppose no trade goes down involving Dupe. I see Rob G saying “mark my words”, but I’m nearly inclined to use the same phrase preceding the claim he WON’T be traded. For the time being, no resolution to said trade issue and we plain don’t know the future of it. Besides, this wouldn’t be the first time that people anticipated a trade in the NBA and it didn’t happen, and it wouldn’t be the last.

If that ends up being the case for the sake of my argument here, we cut the 16th guy so we can get down to 15. We have to do it, and a team doesn’t imagine it will need to rely on it’s 15th guy for any meaningful minutes during a season because well, it never does. Nothing against Mejia the person, but I’ve always gotten the impression that our core has always seemed to really like Dupe and maybe this was a move out of respect to him and/or the rest of the squad who may have been proponents of keeping Dupe.

I don’t think the locker room would be distraught over Dupe being cut, but I think it’s going to be glad he wasn’t if I’m right that they like him. It’s a move to preserve status quo, continuity, appease even in the smallest form any feelings of ill-will, or whatever you want to call it. That’s how I see it.

What if this wasn’t really a big deal and/or a large gap in talent and they went with the guy who the players are used to seeing around and have a greater familiarity with and a greater bond (based maybe entirely on his longer tenure)? To me, that seems logical, and probably a more prudent decision, especially from a team psychology standpoint, which I believe plays an important role in success. If Sammy Mejia blows up (which is clearly a serious IF), shame on us. If not and Dupree remains untraded, I find the move generally inconsequential in terms of talent, and mildly solidifying in terms of chemistry. Just adding a perspective that hasn’t been offered on the subject yet.