Archive for June, 2007

I’m here for the draft — beer in the fridge? DBB’s 2007 NBA Draft Thread, with your host, PostmanE

Published by PostmanE on June 28, 2007 in 2007 Draft. 144 Comments

PISTONS PICKS:
Round 1: No. 21 — Rodney Stuckey, No. 27 — Aaron Afflalo
Round 2: No. 27 (57 overall) — Sammy Mejia
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Evening, Pistons devotees! PostmanE from the always moderately better than average We Are The Postmen, as well as the AOL FanHouse, here, setting up the structural component most necessary for draft discussion — the Official Detroit Bad Boys Draft Thread. Consider this your one-stop shop for Pistons draft discussion. I’ll be updating each time the Pistons make a selection, as well as when other notable picks take place. (Who’s it going to be? Oden? Durant? Or … Tiago Splitter? Hmmmm.)

So, here we are. To be perfectly honest, you commenters will definitely know much, much more about the Pistons and their needs than I do, as I am a Bulls fan and do my best to ignore the Crucial Motor Engine Parts until they inflict the annual early-round exit for the Bulls. Therefore, analysis will be largely left up to you. And please be gentle.

Since we’re about an hour away, I’ve got a question.

Surely you remember the Grant Hill-era teal and black and yellow uniforms. (Who could forget them?) While perhaps the real question here is “What were they thinking?”, my question is: What’s with the horse? Is a horse a piston, too? Or was that simply the most intimidating thing the Pistons design staff could come up with? Discuss amongst yourselves; back in an hour.

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7:oo: Well, this actually starts in another half hour. For some reason, I didn’t know that.

In any case, the big story so far is Joakim Noah’s suit. Henry Abbott mentioned Noah’s suit prediction to his father in a post earlier today — Noah called his suit “so funky” — but it simply exceeds all expectations. Bow tie, triple-breasted, cream and tan pinstripes … it’s truly a thing of beauty.

7:42: I’ll try to keep the non-Pistons stuff to a minimum, but for the sake of posterity, Greg Oden was just selected by the Blazers No. 1 overall. No real surprise there, but it’s hard not to think that the Trail Blazers missed a huge opportunity to start Sergio Rodriguez, Brandon Roy, Kevin Durant, Zach Randolph, and LaMarcus Aldridge for the next six years. Then again, it is Greg Oden.

Also, apparently, Boston is going to trade their No. 5 pick, Delonte West, and Wally Sczerbiak to the Sonics for Ray Allen. And Seattle just drafted Kevin Durant. Again, no surprise, but now it’s clear that the Sonics are going to dump Allen and build around KD.

(Also, the post might have just been set to Private for some reason. Should be all fixed now.)

8:00: Things are falling into place basically as expected. Al Horford went No. 3 to the Hawks — weee, another forward! — and the Grizzlies took Mike Conley at No. 4. At No. 5, the Celtics just picked Jeff Green for Seattle. So, to shake things down, Seattle gets: Kevin Durant, Jeff Green, Delonte West and Wally Sczerbiak’s contract and shooting. The Celtics get: Ray Allen. Not a bad pick-up for the Celts, considering they can start Pierce, Jefferson, and Allen together. And the Supersonics are set for years. The Bucks just took Yi, and Fran Frischilla just described him as “new school, hip hop, 50 Cent.” Riiighhhhht.

8:28: The Bulls, in case you’re interested, just selected Joakim Noah. As my cohort PostmanR just mentioned (we’re both Bulls fans; be gentle) hopefully Skiles doesn’t make him shave his head or something. But everyone’s happy here: the Bulls get a great motor guy who also happened to have NCAA success, and the Chicago beat writers get a better quote than the stylings of Ben Wallace. Win-win!

9:05: PISTONS SELECT RODNEY STUCKEY. The many mock drafts were correct — Stuckey it is. Jay Bilas just called him a poor man’s Dwyane Wade. Thoughts?

9:15: The Knicks just traded Steve Francis and Channing Frye for Zach Randolph and some pieces. Had to figure Randolph was going to wind up somewhere, but I would never have thought it was going to be the Knicks. Kudos to Isiah? Feels weird saying that.

10:20: PISTONS SELECT AARON AFFLALO. Detroit just selected the Pac-10 Player of the Year, a guy I’ve had the opportunity to watch in person several times. Good shooter, great defender, bad ballhandler, good character guy who’s gone through a lot during his poor Compton upbringing. Seems like a great teammate, which will have to make up for a skill set probably best suited for the role he played in college. In any case, the Pistons have definitely drafted in their guard template tonight (big, physical), something Jay Bilas has been happy to remind us of. So, what do the DBB commenters think?

10:47: Apparently the Bobcats are going to trade their first-round pick, Brandan Wright, to the Warriors for Jason Richardson. I told you I was a Bulls fan, so it’s probably no surprise to you that Michael Jordan is my favorite player of all time … but man, is that a bad trade for the Bobcats. I know Morrison struggled last year, and I know Gerald Wallace can be hit or miss, but what the hell? Jason Richardson is probably slightly above average, but he’s certainly not a franchise-changer — and Brandan Wright could be, given enough time to develop. Since when are the Bobcats in a hurry to win? Baffling.

11:02: Easily my least favorite player in the draft, Josh McRoberts, was just chosen by the Trail Blazers. It gives me great pleasure that this incredibly overrated, whiny d-bag — seriously, he cried during a game — fell all the way to the third hour of this draft. Cheers to that.

12:00: PISTONS SELECT SAMMY MEJIA. Just as the clock strikes midnight, and my sense of fatigue grows into a full-on fight with impending sleep, the Pistons mercifully select Mejia. I’d be lying if I said I knew much about Mejia, so, Pistons fans: what do you think? As always, throw your opinions in the comments.

And that will just about do it for me. Thank you for reading and checking it out, and while we may be rivals in ideology — Go Bulls! — we are forever united by our mutual love of Detroit Bad Boys. Catch you on the flipside, if people still say that.

Eight out of 17 mocks agree, Rodney Stuckey is the pick

Published by Matt Watson on June 28, 2007 in 2007 Draft and Around the Internets. 16 Comments

(BTW, I totally ganked the “mock roundup idea” from Bullets Forever. Just saying.)

Rodney StuckeyWho are the Pistons going to draft? I have no f’ing idea. Having participated in a few mock drafts, I certainly have a few ideas, but I won’t be surprised by a half dozen different guys. In any case, let’s round up some mock drafts and marvel at the lack of consensus people have about Detroit’s plans (No. 15 pick / No. 27 pick):

ESPN: Rodney Stuckey / Morris Almond.
Sports Illustrated: Stuckey / Dominic McGuire
Draft Express: Stuckey / Derrick Byars
Comcast SportsNet: Josh McRoberts / Aaron Affalo.
NBADraft.net: Stuckey / McRoberts.
FOX: Stuckey / Tiago Splitter.
About.com: Stuckey / Nick Fazekas.
Pro Basketball News: Spencer Hawes / Rudy Fernandez.
Inside Hoops: Julian Wright / Fernandez.
Real GM: Nick Young / Ramon Sessions.
Fanhouse: Hawes / Marco Belinelli (I made these picks.)
SB Nation: Nick Young / Daequan Cook (I made these, too, and immediately regretted the Cook pick, at least following a Nick Young selection earlier in the draft.)
Hoops Addict: Stuckey / Glen Davis
The Great Blogger Mock Draft of 07: Stuckey / Sean Williams. (I made these picks.)
SLAM: Al Thornton (no 27th pick — they stopped at 20)
Free Darko: Jason Smith / Taureen Green (or Byars or Stuckey)
SportProjections.com: Thaddeus Young / Petteri Koponen (Yep, I did this, too)

Stuckey looks like the favorite, but that might just be because there’s an “echo chamber effect” going on — I’m guessing a lot of the smaller sites/mocks were influenced greatly by what the big boys (ESPN, NBADraft.net and Draft Express) say — I know I was. If everyone made a mistake and someone projected to go high ends up pulling a Brady Quinn and falls, you never know how it could shake up the rest of the first round.

That said, if it is Stuckey, it’s nice to hear how much he wants to be here. From Andy Katz on ESPN (link swiped from Full-Court Press):

While Stuckey would be thrilled to go just about anywhere out of EWU, his dream destination is Detroit. The Pistons were one of the first teams to scout Stuckey. Former personnel director Scott Perry, now with Seattle, watched Stuckey as a freshman when Eastern Washington played at Cal State-Fullerton.

“It’s my style of play, and they’ve compared me to Chauncey Billups-type guard,” Stuckey said. “I’m a big guard [6-foot-5], and they need a backup point guard. I can learn from the best people — Rip Hamilton, Chauncey [assuming he stays with the Pistons], Flip Saunders and Joe Dumars. It’s a great organization. It’s perfect for me.”

The Pistons do look at Stuckey as similar to Dumars and Lindsay Hunter as being a player from a small school that plays with an edge. Dumars and Hunter played at McNeese State and Jackson State, respectively.

“You can find someone anywhere, and I’m in this position because they found me,” Stuckey said.

Random DBB programming note: I’m guessing most of you will be watching the draft on TV. Myself, I’ll be listening to a radio while swatting mosquitoes in the sticks of Grayling, MI, on a fishing trip that was planned literally a year ago.

(For some reason, when I tell people about the trip I feel like I need to add that it was planned a year ago, because I literally feel a twinge of guilt leaving DBB on the eve of such an Important Night … which really is a sign that I need a vacation from blogging more than ever.)

That said, I’m not leaving you guys high and dry: I’ve enlisted the help of a celebrity guest blogger, PostmanE, one-half of the always awesome We Are the Postmen and a FanHouse colleague. Assuming he’s not boozing with Mark Cuban, he should at least have one post up for all of you to congregate and debate the merits of each pick.

(That said, if all hell breaks loose and Joe Dumars ends up trading the entire roster for Greg Oden and a rack of the old “new” microfiber balls, I will get to a computer to weigh in, even if it takes breaking into Grayling’s public library in the middle of the night. But barring that, you won’t be hearing from me until Sunday evening.)

Did Antonio McDyess just opt out?

Published by Matt Watson on June 27, 2007 in From the news, Rumors and Transactions. 38 Comments

It seems like it, at least according to this article on ESPN:

Pistons guard Ronald “Flip” Murray has exercised his player option for next season to return to the team, his agent, Mark Termini, said Tuesday.

Murray’s salary for 2007-08, in the second year of a two-year deal, will be $1,890,000.

Pistons teammates Chauncey Billups and Antonio McDyess recently declined similar options to both become unrestricted free agents.

Murray averaged 6.7 points in 69 games last season.

That’s literally the entirety of the article, which is rather peculiar since the fact that Antonio McDyess is hitting the open market is without a doubt more newsworthy than the fact that Flip Murray isn’t. So, honestly, I don’t know if this is actually for real or a false assumption made by some copy editor (there’s no byline beyond “ESPN.com news services”). Once there’s confirmation either way, I’ll update this post.

(Hat-tips to Need4Sheed and Full-Court Press for the link)

Update: As I suspected, McDyess is NOT a free agent. From A. Sherrod Blakely::

I spoke with Antonio McDyess’ agent this morning, and he confirmed that McDyess has not filed for free agency.

“I have the paperwork right here on my desk,” said his agent, Andy Miller. “I haven’t seen the report, but I can tell you it’s false.”

This isn’t to say that he won’t become one (um, the paperwork is sitting on his agent’s desk?), but when it happens it’ll probably receive a bit more fanfare than just a throw-in line at the bottom of some random article. (Thanks to Justin and Brian for alerting me to Blakely’s post.)

Do the Pistons have a shot at Acie Law?

Published by Matt Watson on June 26, 2007 in 2007 Draft and Around the Internets. 14 Comments

Acie Law IVOf all the guys the Pistons might have a chance to draft, two guys have become personal favorites of mine: Nick Young and Acie Law. Depending on what mock draft you’re looking at, one or both might be available at No. 15, though it’s just as likely they’ll each be off the board.

When looking at the list of players the Pistons had recently worked out (a list which has since expanded to 32 players in all), I noticed that Law was conspicuously missing. What gives? Chris McCosky explains in his blog:

Why didn’t the Pistons work out Acie Law. Two reasons: They know him extremely well. George David has seen him play countless times and Law works out in the summer with Chauncey Billups. Secondly, it would be a minor miracle if he’s still around at 15. Most have him going to the Hawks at 11. But if he falls, the Pistons would probably snap him up in a heartbeat.

Well, that’s nice to hear — excepting, of course, the whole “minor miracle” part.

Update: Seems there may have been a third reason: Law canceled his workout with the Pistons. DBB reader Jeff points us to this article from ESPN Insider’s Andy Katz on June 11:

“Meanwhile, it looks like you can lock in Texas A&M senior guard Acie Law no lower than No. 14 to the L.A. Clippers. Law told ESPN.com as much in Orlando, and then he canceled his workout with the Pistons at No. 15.”

In other Law news, I spotted this tidbit on TrueHoop from Penn’s Steven Danley, writing for the NY Times:

When we were preparing to play Texas A. & M. in the tournament, the scouting report pointed out an amazing stat. In the last two minutes of close basketball games, Law outscored the entire opposing team. It wasn’t until we actually played him that I understood what that stat meant. For most of the game Law was content to set up his teammates, trying to involve everyone in the game. Coming down the stretch in the second half he went for the jugular and ran off a couple of quick buckets to put us away. Say what you want about his skills or his quickness, but if you have to win a game, you want this kid on the court.

If the Hawks go big with the No. 3 spot, I can’t see them passing up on a point guard at No. 11 — and Law is definitely more a sure thing at a leadership position than Georgia Tech freshman Javaris Crittenton, who has potential but is still raw. Although, for what’s it’s worth, there’s no guarantee the Hawks will even be using their No. 11 pick — if you believe the rumors coming out of SLAM-ville. So you never know.

On buying into the lottery

Published by Matt Watson on June 25, 2007 in Alley-Oops. 1 Comment

In my guest post on Pistons.com, I suggested that the Pistons would be essentially buying their way into the lottery by re-signing Amir Johnson. Today at the FanHouse, Bethlehem Shoals looks at a couple of other teams who think they’re doing the same thing.

Are Chauncey Billups and Antonio McDyess a package deal?

Published by Matt Watson on June 25, 2007 in From the news. 16 Comments

That’s what Andy Miller, the agent for both players, seemed to suggest to Chris McCosky of the Detroit News:

Miller is also the agent to Antonio McDyess, who can opt out of his final year ($6.37 million), as well. Miller said McDyess had not decided what he wants to do.

“There are some variables we are still going over,” Miller said. “Whether he stays in Detroit or explores free agency depends a lot on what the team is going to do. Whether Chauncey comes back is a big factor. McDyess and Chauncey are very close. What changes are the Pistons going to make?

“Antonio has made a lot of money in this league. What he cares most about now is whether a team has the ability to win. He is more desperate to win a championship than anybody.”

Honestly, this doesn’t really bother me, because if Chauncey leaves the Pistons will need to kickstart their re-building, and having McDyess follow him out the door would open up even more time for Jason Maxiell and Amir Johnson.

My preference, of course, is for both Chauncey and McDyess to return, but I do recognize their value to the short- and long-term future of the franchise is probably having them together in tandem, if that makes any sense.

Last thoughts on Delfino

Published by Matt Watson on June 25, 2007 in Alley-Oops. 0 Comments

I recently spoke to RaptorsHQ about what Toronto is getting in Carlos Delfino.

Let’s play the roster game

Published by Matt Watson on June 23, 2007 in Around the Internets. 38 Comments

(First things first: Wow, they’re just letting anyone post on Pistons.com these days — take a look at what this guy had to say.)

OK, I’ve had this idea kicking around my head for a while, and I think it could be fun. As evident by the conversations we’ve been having in the comments lately, it seems like we all have a theory about what the Pistons will (or should) do. So let’s add a dash of accountability to this and see who really knows what they’re talking about.

In the comments to this post, I want you to predict what the entire 15-man roster will look like come Opening Night 2007. We’ll award points for every correct player, with the number of points determined by how a player is added to the roster. It’ll work like this:

  • 1 point = a current player already on the roster. We already know who’s on the roster, so you don’t earn bonus points for going with the status quo.
  • 2 points = a first-round pick from the June 28th draft. There’s a realistic pool of only 5-6 players who might be picked at No. 15, so no huge points for getting that right. Granted, nailing that No. 27 pick will be tough, but I wanted to stay consistent.
  • 3 points = a free agent. There are a lot of free agents out there, and since every team in the league is theoretically a suitor, you get more points for correctly guessing that.
  • 4 points = a player acquired via a trade; or, a second-round pick, Trades are worth the most points because those often come out of nowhere (and unlike free agents, it’s not like there’s an official list of “who is on the block.”) Also, it’s harder to pinpoint who the second-round pick will be, and even if you got that right, it’s even more difficult to correctly guess that he’ll actually win a roster spot.

To head off any potential confusion, let’s clarify some ambiguous players/situations:

  • Since Chauncey Billups has already opted-out, he’ll be worth 3 points if he re-signs.
  • Since Amir Johnson is a restricted free agent, he’ll be worth 3 points if he re-signs.
  • Antonio McDyess hasn’t opted out, but (I think) there’s still technically a chance that he could. If he does and ends up re-signing, he’ll be worth 3 points. If he signs an extension without actually opting out first, he’ll only be worth 1 point. (And, of course, if he doesn’t sign an extension nor opts-out, he’ll be worth 1 point.)
  • Alex Acker played in Europe last year but is technically still a restricted free agent, so if he ends up coming back and re-signs, he’ll be worth 3 points.
  • Chiekh Samb was a second-round pick who never signed a contract, so if he finally signs he’ll be worth 3 points.
  • Sign-and-trades: we’re going with the spirit of the rule instead of the letter of the law. (This might cause confusing down the line, so I reserve the right to make a judgment call on scoring if needed.) Basically, if the Pistons want to sign a guy who’s currently a free agent, but the only way they can acquire him is through a sign-and-trade, the player in question will be awarded 3 points as a free agent. However, any players already under contract who are included to make the salaries work will be worth 4 points as a player acquired via trade.
  • This is unlikely, but if we traded for another or different first-round pick, he’ll be worth 6 points (2 for being a pick, 4 for being acquired via a trade).

So what’s at stake? The person(s) with the most points will earn eternal bragging rights here at DBB, as well as a guest post, if they so choose. I’ll also put up a DBB T-shirt of the winner’s choosing (though if there are more than two winners, I’m drawing names in a hat, since I’d go broke in the case of a massive 15-way tie for first place).

Also, and this is important, only the first unique combination will count, so read everyone else’s entries first and make sure yours is different. And you can only enter once (though if you realize after the fact someone already posted the same entry as you, we’ll bend the rules and let you enter again). To make it easier on me to check these later, try to follow the format I used in my entry. Comments on this post will close Thursday afternoon, so get your entry in now!

On pre-draft workouts

Published by Matt Watson on June 23, 2007 in From the news. 11 Comments

The Pistons have released 15 names of prospects who have participated in pre-draft workouts with the team. The names have been reported by all the newspapers, but I’m crediting the Detroit News for doing the legwork by providing height and college info:

Mohammed Abukar, 6-10, 229 pounds, power forward, San Diego State
Morris Almond, 6-6, 215, shooting guard, Rice
Stanko Barac, 7-1, 240, center, Bosnia
Marco Belinelli, 6-5, 192, shooting guard, Italy
Bobby Brown, 6-1, 170, point guard, Cal State Fullerton
Derrick Byars, 6-7, 220, forward, Vanderbilt
Javaris Crittenton, 6-5, 198, point guard, Georgia Tech
Zabian Dowdell, 6-3, 200, point guard, Virginia Tech
Brandon Heath, 6-4, 198, guard, San Diego State
Quinton Hosley, 6-6, 210, forward, Fresno State
Trey Johnson, 6-5, 218, shooting guard, Jackson State
Jared Jordan, 6-2, 187, point guard, Marist:
Sammy Mejia, 6-6, 195, shooting guard, DePaul
Gabe Pruitt, 6-4, 170, guard, Southern Cal
Ramon Sessions, 6-3, 190, point guard, Nevada
Rodney Stuckey, 6-5, 205, guard, Eastern Washington
Ali Traore, 6-9, 240, forward, Ivory Coast (France)
Darryl Watkins, 6-11, 258, center, Syracuse
Marcus Williams, 6-7, 205, forward, Arizona
Dashawn Wood, 5-11, 180, guard, Detroit and Wright State
Nick Young, 6-6, 200, swing player, Southern Cal
Thaddeus Young, 6-8, 220, forward, Georgia Tech
Artem Zabelin, 7-0, 215, center, Russia

What, no Acie Law? Apparently, it seems the Clippers have their eyes on him if he’s there at No. 14 — Chad Ford goes so far as to suggest (Insider link, sorry) the Clippers have promised Law as much.

Update: I’m also intrigued by Jared Jordan, and not just because of this Sports Illustrated article. The kid led the NCAA in assists the last two years — that’s damn impressive, even if he did play for Marist. But hey, do you really think Joe Dumars (McNeese State) holds it against someone for going to a small school? Many mock drafts don’t include him, but if he’s still there when the Pistons draft in the second round (57th overall), I wouldn’t mind giving him a shot.

Thursday Afternoon’s Layup Drill

Published by Matt Watson on June 21, 2007 in 2007 Draft and Around the Internets. 18 Comments

Random bits and pieces I wanted to mention before they fall through the cracks:

  • I made a list of Detroit’s top 10 athletes for FanHouse — how’d I do? Leave your list in the comments over there.
  • The Sonics hired Sam Presti away from the Spurs to be their new general manager, and one of Presti’s first moves was to hire Scott Perry, formerly Detroit’s director of player personnel, to be his new assistant GM.

    What this means for Detroit is … I don’t have a clue. I know Perry’s main job responsibilities for the Pistons had him intimately involved with scouting prospective draft picks, but I honestly don’t know how much input he had on the team’s final decisions. Either way, I’m happy for the guy — he first joined the Pistons as a college scout in 2000 and has steadily moved up in organization, and this seems like a pretty big break.

  • Natalie from Need4Sheed has John Hammond’s ear … or at least his business card.
  • Kobe and KG and Marion have (not really) been traded!
  • An interesting theory about Alex Acker’s immediate future from the guys at PistonsForum.com.
  • Is Mark Champion, radio play-by-play guy, taking a shot at Rasheed Wallace?

    Following back-to-back NBA titles in 1989 and ‘90, the Bad Boys began losing their balance on that slippery slope called complacency. The 1990-91 season was the beginning of the end – the famous walkoff led by Isiah Thomas following a Chicago Bulls sweep in the Eastern Conference finals.

    The following season saw the urgency of winning replaced by the complacency of “been there, done that.”

    A first-round loss to the New York Knicks would end a five-year run that stamped the Detroit Pistons as one of the NBA’s elite franchises. During the dog days of that season, Daly urged me to watch closely during a timeout. Look at the body language of the players. Look at their eyes. It was a window to the soul of the team.

    Dennis Rodman would be sitting on press row, several feet from the nerve center. …

    Replace “Dennis Rodman” with “Rasheed Wallace” and Champion sounds a lot like Chris Sheridan.

  • If you haven’t listened to Chad Ford’s interview with Joe Dumars over at ESPN, I recommend you do so. There’s a lot of interesting tidbits there, many of which were highlighted by MLive.com’s Full-Court Press as well as Keith Langlois at Pistons.com.

    Ford always scores incredibly insightful interviews with Dumars. Does he simply not make himself available for these types of things with the local press? Because he never seems to reveal quite as much to them as he does Ford.

Also, if you’re looking to satisfy your mock draft jones …

What can I say, I’m not really that good at mock drafts. You guys sound pretty intelligent, though.

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