The Pistons didn’t completely sit on their hands at the deadline. From the DetNews:
They sent Primoz Brezec to Toronto for guard Juan Dixon.
Dixon, 29, averaged 4.3 points and 11.8 minutes in 36 games for the Raptors this season.
He was a first-round pick (17th overall) by Washington in 2002 out of Maryland. He has played for Washington, Portland and Toronto.
Both Brezec and Dixon have expiring deals, so this was purely about shifting assets. The move is slightly curious, though, considering the backcourt wasn’t considered a position of need for the Pistons, especially with Lindsey Hunter and Flip Murray not even active these days.
Dixon is probably upgrade over Murray, though, so I wouldn’t be surprised if Murray was soon released. If that happens, the Pistons would have an extra roster spot to play with. Might we see yet another return of Ronald Dupree? Here’s my vote: sign D-League blog-star Rod Benson, just because.
Update: Here’s my extended take at HOOPSWORLD.
Update: From Krista Jahnke’s Freep blog:
With Brezec gone, the move also gives the Pistons a need for a fifth, insurance-type big man. After clearing Murray, the Pistons will move to fill their open roster spot by adding a veteran big man for the veteran’s minimum.
A likely candidate to take that job is Dale Davis, who is not playing but was on the Pistons roster in 2005-06 and 2006-07. Davis was recently seen hanging with his old teammates and chatting with Dumars after the team played in Atlanta on Feb. 12.
They swap expiring contracts, but I believe that we got Dixon so he could help the Piston’s guards during practice. Detroit has problems with whippet quick little guards and now we can practice against one.
Just my take as I trust Dumars
It is interesting that Joe D went this route. It seems over the last few years leading up to the playoffs he stockpiled bigs instead of guards. I remember the comments Brezec made when he came to Detroit, something along the lines of how he and Herrmann hoped to have long careers w/ the Pistons. After watching Juan Dixon in PDX, I just don’t know how he helps.
Lookout championship, here comes the pistons!!
I’m not sure I understand the move, but Brezec was most likely going to be inactive during the playoffs anyway. Then again, I can’t see Dixon moving ahead of Lindsay or Stuckey on the depth chart either.
Well, I can see why they made this trade, even if Dixon won’t be doing that much. Guy can shoot, and frankly, does the East really have very many scary bigs? Howard, Garnett, Bosh. None too big for our Sheed, Mcdyess, and Maxey to handle.
Wow, so many trades. The Spurs made out well. Kurt Thomas will fit in nicely. To me, it’s a four team race now.
Lakers, Celtics, Spurs and Pistons. With a bunch of spoilers (Suns, Mavs, Hornets, Jazz, Cavs) that could muck things up for the Big Four.
If we were to sign someone I would want Tarance Kinsey. The guy was nuts last year at the end of the season but thats another guard so who knows.
This trade only ensures that Samb is going to be in the 12 man rotation come playoff time.
Uh… eh. From what I know, Dixon has the same profile as Jarvis Hayes (primarily a jumpshooter, doesn’t get to the line). He can be a useful scorer off the bench, but that’s two question marks we have every night.
Maybe Juan Dixon will take Afflalo’s place in the rotation since Afflalo isn’t really a good shooter. That’s the best reason I can come up with for making this trade. When Stuckey penetrates he needs to have shooters flanking him, and Jarvis is already one of those guys, but Afflalo can’t knock down a jumper consistently.
Their current guards get destroyed by quick guards like tony parker. Juan Dixon’s defense and quickness could help them with this…we’ll see. He’s a solid addition to the roster.
Flip Saunders on WDFN:
On Dixon: An offensive spark for when the bench becomes stagnant.
Dixon vs. Murray: He doesn’t know where each will fall on the depth chart, yet.
On the 10-man deal: He feels Chicago might have got the better end of the deal. Lots of man-love for Drew Gooden, who’s given the Pistons fits with his rebounding ability. Questions the Ilgauskis-Wallace dynamic, and who plays when and where.
Amir: Seems genuinely happy with his performance last night. “Moving up the ladder,” he called it.
Charlie Bell mouthing off during the game: Claims he never heard about it. Riiiiiiiiiight.
Pardon my brevity, I typed this during the interview.
With this Dixon deal, if McDyess or Rasheed goes down, Amir is suddenly a 5, like it or not. I like Amir, but I worry about how he fares against decent bigs, let alone scary bigs.
I agree completely with the idea of signing Rod Benson just because. He’s awesome, and is a damn good basketball player. He’ll be an all-star yet.
Boom Tho.
i’d rather have the size really, but primo had about 1 useful garbage minute since he arrived. he was painful to watch.
i don’t know about dixon. is he really any good defensively? i feel like i’ve seen guys just chew him up. he’s completely undersized. and i haven’t seen him spark a damn thing since maryland’s nat’l championship.
BTW, complete BS that Shaq is suddenly healthy enough to put in 15 and 9 for Phoenix, but couldn’t get off of his enormous behind to help his non-contending former team. COMPLETE BS, and tells me everything I need to know about his character.
Keegan, for every game that Shaq had last night, nobody believes (except the Suns) that Shaq can do it again on back-to-back nights, or even once every 4-5 games. That might be old Shaq theatrics in an opening night, followed by a string of stinkers.
FWIW: The most similar player to Dixon at his age: Tony Delk.
He’ll drop 50 for us yet.
Defensively, he’s quick and I think he gives an effort, but that doesn’t make up for the fact that he’s short and like 170 pounds.
kevin s.: God help us all, then.
ASB and Krista Jahnke are speculating that Flip Murray will be waived to open up a roster spot for a big man, most likely Dale Davis. I personally would be in favor of this; I’ve been thinking for a while that I would like to have Dale back. He knows the system, is tough defensively, and wouldn’t take minutes from Amir.
It’s true that the East really doesn’t have a lot of quality big men, but what about if (when?) we get to the Finals? A guy like Dale who has six fouls to give against Timmy, Gasol, or Dirk would be awfully nice to have.
I think Sheed would like having Dale on the team, too. They’re good friends, and Sheed seems to enjoy having a veteran big man on the roster, which is one reason why I was in favor of bringing Chris Webber back. Oh wait, I forgot! All Sheed and Dale did was party, right? I guess that takes care of that.
Yeah, Dale Davis man-handled Dwight Howard last time around. It’s not like we need another guy who can man-handle Dwight, but just having another guy who can is a plus.
Detroit always had an Elden Campbell/Dale Davis around for that purpose. Chris Webber was no good at that purpose. Brezec probably didn’t have the defense to do it, either.
Trader Jac– funny, that was my first thought when I saw this trade happen. We have no real center to back us up. I immediately thought of our boy Dale. Personally, I’d love to have him back on this squad.
Good comments and speculation all around. Brezec was likely moved to open up a spot for a big, most likely Davis. They probably trust Davis more than Brezec, but we’ll know for sure shortly.
I’d be surprised if Flip Murray isn’t waived in next 72 hours.
There are no “scary” bigs left in the East now that Shaq is gone - Pistons can surely handle Howard/Bosh. And I don’t think it’s wise to get someone like Davis on your team just for the finals (where we surely will encounter one, though).
So I kind of understand getting rid of Primo, but for another PG? Chauncey, Stuckey, Afflalo, Hunter, Murray… ugh. I would much rather get another SF, as we don’t really have anybody after Prince/Hayes.
Having said that… I have faith in Joe D. Sure, he makes mistakes here and there, but overall everything he does makes perfect sense. We will see the purpose of this trade soon enough.
Before Flip gets waived, I predict a sappy Freep story on his journey to the NBA, his near-death experience after taking a stripper home, and his contributions during practice.
Fadel, that’s a great point. I forgot about Dale Davis’s job against Dwight Howard in the playoffs. He was at the Atlanta game too. Sitting in the stands.
Good trade for bulls. Cleveland has just lost their minds, thinking that they got heaps better. In reality once the euphoria wears off, all they got was more miles on the same treadmill.
Bulls should use Drew and his duck tail as trade bait next trade deadline. Either that, or he’ll teach Tyrus Thomas and Joakim Noah how to eat, I mean build their bodies into a power forward build without having any muscle tone at all…
Cleveland Depth Chart:
C Big Z/Sideshow Bob
PF Big Ben/Joe Smith
SF King James
SG Wally/Sasha
PG West/Boobie
I think they did get better. Remember now, Joe Smith always hurts the Pistons on the boards and can hit that mid-range jumper. Ben, as we know, is an excellent weak side defender. Wally and Sasha can penetrate and shoot the three-ball. Delonte West is a decent upgrade at point for them; and Boobie is a killer. Varejao is their junkyard dog.
Oh, and James is James.
My first reaction to the Brezec deal was ‘thats nice’. Thinking about more though, I keep feeling better and better about it. I mean if little flip is turfed and davis comes back, this team in its current form can matchup with anybody. As long as big flip remembers to play more than 8 deep he can throw more combos at them than Mcdonalds.
This is my most favorite Wally Szczerbiak moment of all time.
http://bowenkombat.ytmnd.com/
OT: watching the warriors- celtics game from last night and I heard Pierce say “Ball dont lie”. THAT BITCH! Thats felonious!
It is true that James can beat any team by himself. The others are all scrubs. Cleveland was in the position it was in last year because of D. I cant see any improvement there. Big Ben is sadly on the decline and is worse offensively than ever. Wally can score but he has no hope in hell of stopping Rip. Our bigs will handle the cavs.
They Cavs won last year because they shut down Chauncey, if Flip has learnt anything he will have an answer if that starts to happen again. Also lets not forget Walter, I would be very interested to see how he would handle James.
*Probably not well actually
i’m not gonna lie, talent (or lack of) aside… i think i’m actually going to miss primoz and his double sleeves with sweatbands and sideline shenanigans
I think this was a good move, I was hoping for a better splash, but this will do. Joe is just adding depth for the playoffs. AFLFALFLFLAO offensive game is still a work in progress and he can’t create his own shot at this time in his short career. Joe wanted to add an extra scoring option to the bench, while Dixon can also play some D, is a fighter with good character so he fits in the mold. Brezec works hard, but is an abosolutely atrocious player, he wouldn’t help the team in any way and Sheed didn’t enjoy playing with a player with his lack of skill. D. Davis is good insurance, but Joe will wait it out for about two weeks or more to see if someone suprising gets let go.
Overall we need someone other than Stuck who could create a shot and an extra veteren presence, just another savvy move from Trader Joe, grabbing some value for nothing.
Reading all the stories it looks like most people agree Flip Murray will be waived and a roster spot opened up for either Dale Davis, a player to be waived later like Jamaal Magloire, or Cheikh Samb.
If that’s the choice I vote Cheikh Samb.
Anyone but Magloire. He’s proven time and time again that his All-Star berth was a fluke, yet people keep falling for it and paying him.
I just noticed that Dixon is yet another Wizard/Bullet to join the Pistons. By my count that makes seven. That’s gotta be a record!
Caron Butler is next.
Headbands. Neckbands. Wristbands. Armbands. Armslieves. Calfslieves. Standing and holding up 3 fingers for every tramp ball. Giving out hard fouls with 30 secs left of garbage time. Rim rattling dunks 3 secs after the play stops. I’m sure gonna miss Primoz and that Gangsta style.
Now I’m looking forward to Dale Davis dishing out even harder fouls in garbage time and giving that look that says “I smacked you bitch and your not man enough to do anything about it.”
Man, too many trades for me to even reflect on them all, so I’ll pick my (surprisingly overlooked) favorite for reflection. Why is there no love for the Hornets’ move? You’ve got the top team in the West (in the standings) and they just shipped off perennially injured Bobby Jackson for Bonzi Wells (possibly the best rebounding guard in the league, who also can score) and Mike James (who we know is good, especially defensively). Is this for real? Chris Paul just got Mike James to back him up. There has got to be no way that a non-playoff tested Hornets team can make it to the Finals out of the West, but they’re making an awfully convincing argument that they should do it, on paper at least.
QD, maybe the Hornets just went from spoiler to team #5. And I agree with you about Kurt Thomas. Very shrewd, undervalued move by the Spurs. R.C. Buford isn’t the most successful executive in the West because he’s just lucky.
PS: Hornets reserve Jannero Pargo on the trade, “To get those two guys for Bobby, it was almost like a no-brainer as far as basketball was concerned.” Um, yep.
LB, I figured the Houston/NO bench guard shuffle was a better re-org for most teams. People love Bobby Jackson and hate Bonzi Wells so the overwhelming retard consensus opinion is that Houston won big-time. It was one of those rare deals that kind of helps both clubs re: their bench.
most = both
Not so sure how much Bonzi/James do for NO until they put up some numbers, first. I thought that they were great signings for the Rockets, too. We saw how that turned out. Neither has done much this year to validate their contracts. Maybe NO will offer better opportunities (Like wells getting the nod to start over mo-P), but I’ll wait before saying that this really helps NO.
Per TrueHoop — the Sonics are waiving Brent Barry after acquiring him from the Spurs. Is he a good fit for Detroit? Boston? Some contender will probably add him to their bench.
I actually think Bonzi was pretty good for Houston. Wasn’t the most efficient player, but he attacked the basket and the boards with abandon. Not sure why they let him go, unless they really, really wanted to jettison James. James has played like absolute crap for Houston. He had one good year with the Raps and got his payday, and he’s been awful since.
Bobby Jackson is supposedly going to work well because he’s been under Adelman’s system, but they’re not using the pure Adelman system of old. He’s a streak shooter, but he can handle the ball, which the second unit of that team needs.
Barry’s an excellent shooter, a smart passer, so so defender that didn’t look so bad because Duncan was behind him. If he’s healthy, he might be worth a look.
joejoejoe: Could he go back to the Spurs? Ugh.
LawyerBoy - The Spurs can’t resign him for 30 days.
Laughton,
The best thing about Ben Wallace going to Cleveland is that there is absolutely NO reason for Lebron to EVER EVER EVER score 28 straight points against us to win a game.
Why? HACK-A-BEN!!!!
Brent Barry would be a good fit with the Pistons. Ex-Piston, his brother Jon, could give you a good idea of what he’s like, (if you haven’t followed his career) except is is better from 3 and shoots a higher FT%. He also has long, Tay-like arms, and is a decent defender. Of course I would love to see an Oregon State product on the squad, but don’t really think it is needed at this point.
“Per TrueHoop — the Sonics are waiving Brent Barry after acquiring him from the Spurs. Is he a good fit for Detroit? Boston? Some contender will probably add him to their bench.”
Brent Barry is going back to the Spurs. Book it.
I’ve always liked Dixon. He reminds me a little (just a little mind you) of Joe D. A class act and I think he’s been brought in to give a potentially steady hand on the tiller in the playoffs if anything (knock, knock, knock on wood) were to happen to Chauncey or Rip. The guy has seen more pressure and overcome more challenges in his life than most and I don’t think you can ever have too much of that at the end of your bench.
I do hope Flip latches on somewhere. He did a good job in a hard role for a guy who still has something in the tank and the confidence that an NBA player needs to have. It can’t be easy to be sliding towards the end of the bench when you’re not ready to pack it in.
I like Dale Davis and there’s no doubt if would be nice to see him bodying up Shaq, I think Samb could be the best move for the playoff roster.