Remember those crazy “Baron Davis to Detroit?!” rumors from last month? They fizzled out the moment Davis opted out of his final year with the Warriors, but as luck would have it, his decision to hit the open market just might help facilitate a different big-ticket move for the Pistons.
By returning to his Los Angeles roots to play in Kobe’s shadow for the Clippers (and with Elton Brand almost certainly re-upping with a monster deal of his own), Corey Maggette has become the odd-man-out in Clipper-land. But as A. Sherrod Blakely points out, there aren’t exactly a lot of teams with money under the cap, meaning Maggette may have to settle for the mid-level exception
And while the Pistons have been reluctant to use it all on one player this summer, they may if it means landing Maggette.
The NBA champion Boston Celtics also have been hesitant to commit their full mid-level exception to one player, even one of their own free agents, James Posey.
Boston also has inquired about Maggette and have reportedly offered their full mid-level exception.
Maggette, who opted out of the final year of a contract that would have paid him $7 million this season, appears to at least be receptive to the idea.
“If you want to win, you have to make sacrifices,” Maggette told the Boston Globe.
(I’m going to skip over a lengthy explanation of why the Pistons should want Maggette, but the short version is that he’s a 28-year-old slasher who loves contact, gets to the line about 10 times a game, has pretty good range, rebounds well for his position and is an underrated defender. Debate his merits in the comments if you like, but for me it’s an open and shut case.)
First, some math. Accepting the mid-level exception would be a pay cut, but not as much as you might think. It’s true that the MLE has been set for $5.8 million this year, but it also includes 8% raises each season. If he signed a five-year deal, the total value of his contract would be just over $34 million. He’d make almost $7.9 million in the final year, and he’d average $6.8 million over the life of the deal. Obviously he was hoping for a raise (aren’t we all?), but if that can’t happen, a lateral move to a contender is still a solid career move.
Now, before Pistons fans get too excited, realize that both the Celtics and Spurs are dangling the MLE at him, and even if the Pistons decide to follow suit, it’ll be awfully difficult to persuade him that Detroit is closer to a title than Boston or San Antonio. (If anything, I’d argue that the three teams are all so close it’s a wash.)
So what other factors might factor into his decision? For one, playing time. He can play either the two or the three, but as rosters are currently constructed, only the Spurs can afford to offer him a starting job (and that’s only because Manu Ginobili is content being the world’s best sixth man). I’d understand if the Celtics wanted a contingency play for Ray Allen, but I can’t imagine Danny Ainge has the guts to bite the bullet and deal Allen before the start of the season.
As for the Pistons, Maggette would be blocked by Rip Hamilton and/or Tayshaun Prince, though his arrival would in turn allow Joe Dumars to fashion a trade around Rip or Tay without demanding a starting-caliber swingman in return. If Maggette can be convinced that — some how, some way — a starting job would be his come November, perhaps he’ll bite. (Or in a perfect world, maybe he’s content coming off the bench. He did it sporadically in L.A., though I attribute that mostly to the Clippers’ mismanagement than anything else.)
Last but not least, here’s another interesting tidbit (dug up by PistonsForum.com member armygirl) Maggette has family ties to Michigan through his wife, Milagro “Mili” Martinez Maggette, who’s originally from Imlay City, MI, which, as luck would have it, is a mere 40 miles north of Auburn Hills. All things being equal, wouldn’t allowing his wife to move close to family (assuming, you know, she still has family there) be a nice bonus? Of course it would.
Mind you, the Pistons haven’t officially joined this race, and even if they do, there are plenty of hurdles. But in my eyes, this is a guy definitely worth pursuing. Cross your fingers.
Sign me up for any of the above mentioned scenarios.
Sign me up too. He would be a perfect piece for our team becaue he’s a slasher and points in the paint is the thing that has killed us over the last few years.
So, have we just given up on finding a true Center? How much longer are we going to have to try and fill the gap? Without a hard-rebounding forward, or someone who’s going to stick to the glass, we cannot contend next year.
Sure, I’ll take a 16 ppg lifetime scorer at the MLE. But aren’t there a lot of other teams that would make more sense for him if he were willing to settle for the MLE, teams that are just a slashing SG/SF away from taking the next step? I could see Orlando, Toronto, NO all being great fits. He could sign a three year MLE deal with any of those teams to get his LB rights and that would give them a core of:
Nelson, Maggette, Hedo, Lewis, Howard
Calderon, Maggette, Moon, Bosh, O’Neal
or Paul, Maggette, Peja, West, Chandler
Anyone of those teams look good enough to compete for their respective conferences to me and Maggette would get the chance to play a much bigger role in his team’s success than he would as a sixth man for Boston, Detroit, or SA.
That said, he should still come here. Just because it would be awesome.
As currently constructed we can’t offer him as much playing time as other contenders could. With CB, Rip, Tay, Stuckey and Maggette we’d have to divide up the minutes for the 1,2, and 3 between 5 people. With 144 total minutes available between 3 positions, that works out to only 28.8 minutes for each.
He’s definitely some one we should pursue with the MLE, but I would think he would prefer to go to a team that could guarantee him more minutes.
Maggette would be an upgrade over our current wing players and would allow us to dump one for a dominating forward/center or trade Rip Hamilton for a big guy with potential. Like Greg Oden.
I don’t think that it is a strong possibility because Maggette wants more minutes, but Holy Christ would that be awesome. We would have the best bench in the NBA. I wonder, if the Pistons signed Maggette with the MLE (and assuming that they didn’t make him any promises about the state of the roster), would Dumars back off on his insistance on breaking up the core of players? It would likely push Rip and Tay harder with an established starter behind them and a bench with Stuckey, Maggette, Max and Amir could bring a whole lot of energy. The only concern that I would have is how Maggette would mesh with Stuckey, as their games are pretty similar, i.e. breaking down the defender off of the dribble and drawing contact.
I think the only way this happens, is if at least 1 of Rip/Prince are moved… which is what Matt stated in the original post. So we aren’t going to have an über bench with Maggette.
Could be a good way to shake up the roster… and maybe they can move Billups and Rip for a very substantial center?
hmmmmm
First some facts
1. Maggette’s wife still has family in Imlay City
2. She was a star basketball player there when she grew up
3. The Maggette’s donated a lot of money so that a state of art softball field could be built in Imlay City
4. The Maggette’s own residential property in Imlay City
5. Maggette had a +/- of 6.5 last year with the Clippers of all teams and that was higher than any Pistons player last year except for Mr. Big Shot
6. Maggette had the 5th highest PER last year among all small forwards. (See Hollinger’s player ratings on ESPN)
7. Maggette had the 4th highest True Shooting % among all small forwards last year.
8. Maggatte averaged about the same number of assists per 36 minutes last year as Prince did.
As far as minutes go Maggette could get minutes from
A. SF as a backup for Prince
B. SG as a backup for Hamilton
C. PF if Curry decides to play small ball, which the Pistons did when he played for us. His rebounding is good enough for us to play small ball with him at the PF for limited stretches.
I don’t think it would be a stretch for Maggette to get 30+ minutes for us coming off of the bench.
I think he would be an excellent addition for us if we could sign him to the MLE.
Crazy Baron Davis rumors? That’s a little bit arrogant, Matt
It’s tough to see what we can offer that other teams cannot, but he is obviously someone we should pursue. I’ll cross my fingers, but I won’t hold my breath.
Also, I somehow get the feeling that this will be one of those signings where all the sportswriters declare his new team the favorite to win the championship, only to watch him have a mediocre season and become completely forgotten by season’s end. At least, that will be my stance if the Celtics sign him.
It’s tough to see what we can offer that other teams cannot, >>
Maggette’s wife might want to move back to Imlay City. We can offer a 40 minute drive from Imlay City to the Palace.
No other team can offer this combination.
In most families, with children the wife determines where the family lives provided the husband can work near she wants to live.
I think us signing him comes down to 2 things.
1. Do we want to sign him
2. Does his wife want to move back to Imlay City.
Maggette would be an upgrade over Prince and, based on production and talent, should start over him (if he earns it with effort in practice–a big if).
Tayshaun would then become the awesome 30mpg super-sub, solving our backup 2 and 3 issues, and may even play backup point guard a bit.
Mike: PF? He may weigh a bit more than Rip, but he’s shorter. In a word: Nuh-ub. The rest of the information however is awesome and much appreciated though I think 30 minutes (especially more) could end up being a bit of a stretch if we have any interest in Afflalo and Sharpe. If we bolt them to the pine, it makes sense.
I think Maggette’s going to go back to Orlando where he can start at the two or go to Boston unless he believes his own hype enough to think he’s our new “missing piece” and wants to test that theory. He’s got a pretty sizable ego, I just don’t know if he wants that “challenge”. I think we’re on the third tier of destination likelihood, right on par with the Spurs, except maybe the slightest of advantages for Imlay City. As for the question of whether or not Joe should do it, this is one of those “in a heartbeat” situations. Even with Maggette’s questionable demeanor and team commitment, the guy is a proven (over and over again) scorer with a penchant for getting to the basket.
Dangit, that word was supposed to be Nuh-uh
If anyone moves to PF during the “small ball” stretch, it’s Tay because Tay is 6′9.
Thank god PistonsGirl4Life isn’t around anymore, she would’ve lit into you Matt Watson for even thinking about signing a former Dookie!
I’ll take Maggette over Rip 7 days a week if it means we can acquire a big for a little (ie like when the Kings stole Webber from the Bullets for Mitch Richmond)
I would agree that Maggette is not a PF but he play PF in limited small ball situations. These would be when MC wants a 4th 3 point shooter on the court.
As far as our overall chances of signing him or where he might wind up I wouldn’t venture to guess. I was just saying that if his wife wants to move back to Imlay City that would give us a slight advantage in signing him vs other teams.
I don’t see us trading Prince if we get him.
Everyone is so down on Prince because he has had trouble in the last 2 ECF series guarding Lebron and Pierce. Personally I don’t agree with this thinking at all. Mainly because there are not a lot of guys, if any that can stop Lebron or Pierce.
The biggest problem I see with us signing him is that it would take minutes from Stuckey and Afflalo because Maggette would get minutes at the #2.
However Maggette would be a better MLE option than anyone else out there that I can think of at the moment except for maybe Childress only because Childress wouldn’t eat up minutes at the #2.
Most likely the Hawks would match on Childress especially if they lose Smith.
“Dangit, that word was supposed to be Nuh-uh”
I preferred “Nuh-ub” anyways.
Boney: Tell us something we don’t know about your misguided disdain for Rip. I like Maggette and he’s probably as good as Hamilton, but better, especially noticeably better? Not only is that a stretch, it’s just wrong. They’re absolutely comparable (with varying skill sets), but even so, the scale probably tilts slightly toward Rip.
Mike: I don’t consider a career 33% from the three-point line (over 8+ seasons), a three-point threat, really. Hell, Sheed shoots slightly better than that from three and any Pistons fan I know cringes at least 7 out of 10 times when Sheed puts up a “tramp ball”. We already have four players in our current starting lineup who can shoot better from three than Maggette. Maggette’s strength is getting to the hoop and he also sprinkle in a little bit of midrange. His three-point shooting, let’s just say I’ve heard my share of Clippers fans in Staples express their disdain when he decides to put one up.
Ummmm… I’ve never been to Imlay City, but is it really the type of place that a bling-dangling NBA wife would want to move back to? Granted, I know not a damn thing about Corey’s wife, and I’m hoping that she’s exactly the type of girl who’s been waiting to move closer to home, but, really? If we’re hanging our hopes on Local Girl Makes Good, and Boston can offer NBA Champ Looks to Repeat by Adding New Blood, I don’t like our chances. But my fingers are crossed for Audrey Hepburn to go back to the farm.
I’d take Magette in a heartbeat. Put his ass at the 2 and trade Rip or Tay or both. Imagine if we pick up Magette and add another solid piece through trades. I see a light at the end of the tunnel. Not a Rip hater. I would rather trade CB and Sheed before him but Magette is not a PG or Big so maybe Rip or Tay becomes a more expendable bargaining chip.
Just going by the Pistons website, I doubt they are moving Prince. He’s plastered all over the homepage, compared to anyone else. I hope he retires a career Piston.
I don’t think Maggette is that large of an upgrade over Rip…all things considered (health, history, defense, etc) but it could be the necessary shake-up and lead to a large trade.
Maggette was a mediocre 3 point shooter until last year when he shot 38.4% on 3s with almost 3 attempts a game. This and his excellent free throw shooting helped rank him 4th in True Shooting % among all small forwards last year.
Was last year an aberration or did he work on his 3 point shot last summer and can be expected to continue to put up the same kind of numbers going forward?
Only time will tell.
But players do improve their shooting, especially 3 point shooting over their career with a lot of practice.
I agree with Aaron N. I like signing of Maggette if it leads to a bigger trade down the road. Maggette isn’t a 3 point threat only to the extent he gets hot. But night in and night out, I wouldn’t want him chucking up 3 balls.
The one thing I do like about Maggette is he goes to the hole and draws fouls. Rip’s got a great mid-range game and I’d take his 3’s before Maggette. But the fact is Rip doesn’t get to the line enough and I think Maggette solves this problem. We might lose a bit with Maggette but getting the opponent into the bonus sooner will be better for all of the pistons. Who we trade and get back is the key to judging Maggette’s ultimate value.
LB,
I know you enjoy being on my sack, but while you clearly have man-love for Rip (and my balls too?) you obviously skimmed over the rest of my sentence where I said “I’ll take Maggette over Rip 7 days a week if it means we can acquire a big for a little (ie like when the Kings stole Webber from the Bullets for Mitch Richmond)”.
So, please go back to longing for the day where Chris Kaman or Dalembert put on the Piston red white and blue… or better yet, go back to getting owned on perkisabeast before commenting on anything I say in the future if you can’t continue reading a sentence until you reach the end of it which is marked with a “.”. douche.
Last time I checked, 22ppg is better than 18ppg anyway. Last time I checked, someone who can take it to the rack and dunk on your head is what has killed us the last 3 years in the ECF and Maggette is a talent who can drive the ball to the rack.
You know about as much regarding talent as the rest of us do, stop parading around here like we’re all stupid for wanting to trade anyone who would ever dare to put on the Piston uniform. You embarrassed us all with your trade thoughts (is Dalembert/Kaman REALLY worth Rasheed? really?) and then have the audacity to tell me that Rip is so far superior to Maggette that any ideas of acquiring Maggette and then trading Rip falls under the category of my man love towards getting rid of Rip because you have failed to comprehend anything I say about Rip other than my dislike towards him acting like MJ in Washington and being a Larry Hughes-esque retread before coming to Detroit.
The numbers from his days in Washington back up my statements. He’s a piece of the puzzle in Detroit, he’s not the glue that holds the puzzle together. His name was Larry Brown, and he’s been laughed out of town.
“The one thing I do like about Maggette is he goes to the hole and draws fouls. Rip’s got a great mid-range game and I’d take his 3’s before Maggette. But the fact is Rip doesn’t get to the line enough and I think Maggette solves this problem. We might lose a bit with Maggette but getting the opponent into the bonus sooner will be better for all of the pistons. Who we trade and get back is the key to judging Maggette’s ultimate value.”
LB,
If I made that above statement you’d try to have my balls put on a platter…
Very well put MarkinSoCal… my thoughts exactly.
Couple of things…
From the rumor mills on ESPN, it sounds like San Antonio is not a 3rd tier team, but the frontrunner for the Maggette race.
I can’t speak for the rest of you, but I’m down on Prince not because of his defensive efforts in the ECF the past two years, but his offensive efforts.
We made excuses for him in San Antonio and against Cleveland citing too many minutes, and too many consecutive games making him too tired to be effective at both ends.
It has now been two straight years where he has played solid offense in the first two rounds, and choked going into the ECF, despite averaging less minutes this year than last, he acted just as pathetic on offense (if not more so).
Combine that with him playing for Team USA, and you have to question whether he’s actually too tired, or just not able to get it done.
Tayshaun is one of my favorite players. Hell I own his red and blue jerseys and would love to see him become a 20/6/5 type of guy, but I’m starting to wonder whether he just doesn’t have the stamina for a full season + 16 games…
James B.
Prince usually served as the fourth option on offense. The games when he carried the offensive load were a bonus. It seems to me the games where we struggled offensively started with Billups and Wallace (since they are the floor “leaders”). Whenever the Pistons were in a funk, it seemed to start with them.
I think he’s too valuable of a guy to have around. And not nearly inconsistent enough to have the finger pointed at. I don’t think it was anyone’s stamina, i think it was the team’s mental breakdown.
Just my opinion though…
Wasn’t Agguire (spelling?) considered a step back when he replaced what’s his butt?
I’m not claiming that Maggette would be a step back, but according to those who prefer Rip.
Like everyone in favor of having Maggette on our team has said, this move makes sense only because we could get a 22/game scorer for the MLE, which would allow us to unload a larger contract from billups/rip for a big time interior presence.
This move doesn’t work if we don’t make another move after it, and my guess is that is how Joe D. will sell Detroit to Maggette…
hell yes Aguirre was a step back considering the weight Adrian Dantley’s name ALONE carried among NBA circles. Aguirre is (still?) among the Mavs career leaders in points, but that’s the Mavericks we’re talking about.. Dantley and his efficient shooting couldn’t handle playing in a team environment where all the other scorers average over 10ppg… kind of the same problem we have now.
James B. I agree, it’s how Joe D will sell Maggette on Det, but he’s gotta have something else in the hopper to pitch it to Maggette.
Maggette said “sometimes you have to sacrifice in order to win” though he was referring to money, perhpas he’d come off the bench, but I doubt it.
I think he ends up in Orlando or San Antonio. Hopefully SA to be out of the western conference. But I don’t know if there are enough B-balls in Orlando. Dwight has to get his, as does Lewis and Turk. If Lewis and Turk aren’t scoring, they’re not worth much because of their defense liabilities. So he becomes a 4th option there, where in SA he’d be at least #3 if Ginobilli is on the bench.
I think alot falls out on the 9-14th or so, when guys can actually sign a contract, deals become official, the cap amount is known and there will be a flood of offer sheets now that GS is in the mix….I know, pointed out the obvious. But can’t wait.
and Aguire was good buddies with Zeke.
Boney, i don’t quite understand your statement, is that for or against Maggette? Is Rip being compared to Dantley? just curious.
I LOVE Maggette’s game. And he’s got the biggest non-Dwight Howard’s arms in the NBA. He gets to the rim at will. And shoots 90% from the line. The only thing I don’t like is he’s even worse than Chauncey when it comes to trying to draw a foul on a last second shot.
That being said, there’s NO WAY he’ll come here. As for his wife being from Michigan? Once you live in LA for a few years you become soft when it comes to Michigan weather. Unless she’s got a sick parent she’s got to take care of, she won’t want to come back.
My guess is sunny Orlando (don’t their tax laws make your salary go further) or San Antonio. Or New Orleans. Maggette will want to play for a contender but not as a backup.
He fits in perfectly with San Antonio and New Orleans. Popovich would get the most out of him. And a playmaker like Paul would too.
It’s a nice dream, but it won’t happen.
Aaron,
I agreee with you that as the 4th offensive option behind billups, sheed, and rip it is harder for him to get easy points, however, the reason he was scoring well in the first two rounds and terribly in the ECF is because the team stopped going to him. Not because they didn’t feel like it, but because he wasn’t getting it done.
Understandably, no one really got it done for the Pistons so I’m not saying the blame should be place squarely on Prince’s shoulders, but if you look at Prince’s playoff numbers, well they only serve to support my general disappointment in Prince:
2007-08 Playoffs: 13.8 pts/5.5 rebs/3.2 assists
2006-07 Playoffs: 14.1 pts/6.4 rebs/3.8 assists
2005-06 Playoffs: 16.4 pts/5.7 rebs/3.0 assists
Oh and Tay also shot 32% from beyond the arc this year compared with 41% in 06-07 and 46% in 05-06.
In the Boston series, he averaged 9.8 pts/4.3 rebs/3.0 assists while shooting a dreadful 32.3% from the field which is even a significant drop off from just this season’s playoff averages. So even as the 4th option, he was doing less than expected, not just for Tayshaun Prince, but even for Tayshaun Prince - 4th scoring option for the Pistons.
I would not like Maggette in place of any of our starters. But as a 6th man coming of off the bench his scoring would be a big plus, certainly better than anyone we have had coming off of the bench since Corliss.
Oh, and since Maggette’s wife was a standout softball and basketball player. And because Maggette’s one of the most impressive physical specimens in the NBA…
I say the Wolverines should offer all of their kids a hoops scholarship right now.
if were talking about full mle on magette, im in. in that sense, magette won’t have to replace rip on the sg or prince on the sf. in other words….who cares who start, but for magette, im not sure if that would be an issue. regardless, having magette on board would give pistons more flexibility for a sign and trade deal, or staying with the same core.
Can i throw another crazy ass trade idea out there?
Hamilton/Maxiell to Portland for Aldridge/Przybilla/Rodriguez
Rip goes to Rip City…they get a good offensive weapon for the wings, and experience. Maxiell gives Oden more room on offense. Przybilla gets off the books.
We get a solid PF/C for the future. A Diop type center. And a back-up PG.
This probably looks way better for us than them.
I also could see Maxiell being just as effective as Aldridge for us. Aldridge is just bigger.
Aaron N.
That was kind of for Mags and less of Rip… I guess.
Basically it was “for” giving up something to get something.
I don’t see how getting rid of Rip and getting Maggette improves us either but to tell you the truth, perhaps it’ll clearly define roles of guys on the offensive end of the court. It’s nice to have 5 options on the floor, but when not one of them is a “take it to the rack” option for a drive and kick, then we’re watching 5 jumpshooters being passive on offense.
If we want to throw out crazy ideas.
How about signing Livingston to a partially guaranteed contract, assuming he would take one and send him to Fort Wayne to work his way back into shape.
If his game returns than we can pay him more and bring up. That would allow us to trade Billups for a big or whatever.
By the way Livingston has been doing basketball drills for about a month and was dunking again about 3 weeks ago.
love Livingston.
aaron, i see it as a giving something up to get something, but i don’t see pistons getting any improvement from that trade.
boney, define “take it to the rack” are you talking about, kobe, lebron, dwade, tmac, melo? if so, tmac and melo are the only possible player that detroit might land. having magette on the roster gives detroit an option to use prince/rip in a package deal.
mike, drills and dunks just won’t sell it after visualizing that demented injury he just had. im sure u saw it on youtube. also, a month, or two is plain and simple not a proof of full recovery especially off of an nba game.
I don’t think Rip is going anywhere, even if we do sign Maggette. Rip’s contract ends in 2010, where he would give us $11.4 million to spend on that sexy free agent class.
However, this makes Hamilton an even bigger trading piece. On top of his value as a player, his expiring contract is huge for the 2010 class.
As for Maggette, in a heartbeat. If it happened, I could see Curry swapping he and Tay starting at the 3 based on matchups. When the competing three is a finesse player, throw Tay at him. When the other SF is a muscle player, put Maggette on him. When Maggette would come off the bench, he’d do so behind both Rip and Tay, giving Afflalo and Sharpe spot minutes.
Do it, Joe.
James B: You’re right about San Antonio, I blew that one. They’re a great destination for him on many levels, because he can immediately replace Finley in the starting lineup and take his 27 mins./game. They can shift him to 3 with Manu out on the floor too. I’m sure they can find an extra five-ten minutes/game to appease Maggette too if need be, especially since Bowen is about 85 years old.
Boney: If Rip played on the Clips last year (where you got your “22″ v. 18 from), he’d average 25 points. Period. Faster pace, less defense, poorer managed possessions (ie: no Chauncey) on that squad which didn’t have Elton Brand. They’d still lose though, so it’s a moot point. Your use of stats is retarded because you pick to ignore that if Maggette came here he’d have a bunch of proven scorers playing team ball forcing him to SHARE. SAM CASSELL was averaging 13 a night on that Clips squad last season before he left for Boston and 7.7/game greener pastures.
As for what MB in SoCal said, moot to me, very moot to me. Less than TWO free throw attempts per game would put us into the top half of the NBA in free throw attempts. Forget the fact that Rip is a BETTER free-throw shooter (no knock on Maggette who is quite good in his own right) and that the Pistons were number 7 and then number 13 in team free throw percentage the two years since ditching Ben.
Since coming out of school in the same year (1999), Maggette has never shot better from the line than Rip once. Who’s to say he’d magically get the number of opportunities he got on the Clippers on the Pistons? I doubt it. It’s a lateral move at best, and when I suggested trades with Kaman and Dalembert if people like you weren’t telling me they disagreed vehemently they were saying it was lateral, so why do that? Ditching Rip for Maggette is lateral at its very best, and probably is only so because Maggette would come cheaper. And since it’s lateral, it makes no sense to bash Rip in the face of Maggette. That all being said, that doesn’t even consider team chemistry factors.
At least with Rip, while we do have to endure a technical here and there, we don’t have to worry about him pouting and making a fuss after the game in the papers because things aren’t going well for him or the team. You think there’s a lot of bitching in our locker room since Ben left? Doubt it. You think Rip would ever bitch if Stuckey suddenly took his minutes (unlikely, but not the point)? Doubt it. Ignoring this recurring element of Corey Maggette’s career is foolish. Are these type of comments very-Piston like in behavior:
http://articles.latimes.com/2007/feb/07/sports/sp-clippers7
No. They’re not. Signing Corey Maggette is awesome if we make it clear that we’re in control of this ship and his tirade-heavy ‘tude isn’t going to fly. If we mortgage Rip and/or Tay for Maggette and feed his dangerous ego, he could be cancerous. If it wasn’t clear already (I thought it was), Joe made it very clear this offseason that no one player is bigger than this team. With that in mind, you can forget about Joe ditching Tay and/or Rip to rely on Corey freakin’ Maggette. Corey Maggette is exactly the type of player to think he is bigger than the team if we gave him such a vote of confidence like that.
If he’s willing to go into a situation knowing he will be primarily coming off the bench (and/or paying equivalent minutes) but still getting serious minutes, then I’ll give him the benefit of the doubt and I think he will be awesome. Then again, if he goes to Orlando, Philly or San Antonio, he’ll be such an upgrade it’s worth it to those clubs. My money, he goes to San Antonio, goes to Orlando or he bumps Willie Green from (or replaces Iguodala in) the starting lineup in Philly (don’t they have more than mid-level money?). If he has to take less money, he will, but he probably would hate to take less money and be behind Allen/Pierce when San Antonio gives him a chance to contend and play big minutes. Hell, maybe Orlando gives him a chance to contend too. Ego.
Actually, LB, I do remember Rip bitching everytime Flip took him out of the game for Afflalo early in the year.
LaMarcus Aldridge would make us younger and give us a post presence on offense. It would also free up the 2 for Stuckey…. and maybe Maggette.
The only hope for Maggette coming here…
His wife Milagro paid to have a new softball field built in her hometown of Imlay City. It was called Milagro Field. With the current state of Michigan real estate. The Maggettes could buy the entire city and rename it Milagro City. This might be enough to draw him here.
Aaron N., Portland is not going to make a trade. Not until they see how their young players play together and see what they have with Oden in the lineup.
And why would they get Rip when they have a better player in Brandon Roy.
Aaron: I’ve been clamoring for us to get involved in something that gets us Pryzbilla. Seriously, the dude is a legit 7 footer and a ferocious rebounder. Offensive game is weak, but I don’t care. That trade is the greatest thing ever except it leaves us starting Afflalo at shooting guard. I dunno about that, but our bench gets penultimately nasty with (loser of Aldridge/Sheed duel), McDyess, Stuckey, etc.
QD,
Guess it depends if they want to spend a whole season hoping Oden/Aldridge/Roy/Rudy blend or bring in some veteran savy. Roy would be the primary playmaker with Rip in their lineup. I assumed their logic would be that Rip/Maxiell are a pretty nice fill-in for Aldridge.
If I were Portland, I would also be concernced about the past injuries of my 3 young studs.
LB,
Wouldn’t that leave Stuckey room at the 2 for us then?
I’d have Billups at PG, Stuckey at SG, Prince at SF, Wallace at PF, and Aldridge at C.
Pryzbilla hasn’t been “ferocious” since he was wearing a golden gophers jersey and dunking on 6′8 Big 10 centers… let’s get that out of the way first.
Let’s also get 22 and 18 out of the way, while true, I think Maggette could create more points on his own rather than Rip having to get his shots in the flow of the offense. When the offense is flat it’s flat… we saw first hand how an aggressive attacker like Stuckey can hit the rack and bring the team back almost single handedly.
I wouldn’t expect Maggette to average more than 16 a night in a Piston uniform, if starting. I would expect the others to pick it up offensively because of his ability to take the ball to the rim.
Let’s also throw out the “do these comments sound like a Piston?” when all of us could say the same thing about Rasheed Wallace prior to him becoming a Piston. All we have to go on is the media reports, just like we did with Rasheed.
All of this is just “save our ass” jargon by people who don’t want to see a team take another Grant Hill for Ben Wallace and Chucky Atkins risk, or a Rip for Stack risk.
I’ll take Pryzbilla on my team if he’s taking Ratliff’s spot. Until then, I’ll enjoy a front line of Amir and Max ripping the rim off with Stuckey alley ooping on the fast break.
At the end of all this we have to realize that Afflalo is an asset as well. He proved last season that in small stretches when isolated on a team’s primary offensive threat, he can lock it down. This is a valuable asset to the team and should not be overlooked when looking to sign a 28 year old swingman to basically sap up Afflalo’s minutes unless, like I said earlier, Rip or Tay is traded. Trading Tay makes us a smaller starting 5 because of his shot blocking ability, trading Rip makes us more versatile because of Maggette’s abilities to drive the ball.
I think eventually Maxiell or Amir have to take over for Wallace at the 4. Maybe the other one becomes a back-up for whoever ends up starting, or Wallace gets resigned as a back-up once his contract expires…
but Maxiell has a decent stock right now. And packaged with Rip or Chauncey, he could bring us a substantial upgrade in the post…. and free up a lot of bench time for Amir.
I like Afflalo as a back-up SG/SF… and the more i think about it we might be fine with he and Sandman backing up Prince.
let’s not forget that Rip can terminate his deal after ‘09, so using him as a bargaining chip for teams looking to dump in 2010 is likely moot considering dumping him to a team, say any other team not playoff bound.
So basically, Rip is a terminating contract that, when/if paired with Sheed could net a substantial return (although it’s unlikely that any team would give up as many players as the Celtics gave up to get KG. Unless the Lakers said “F it” and wanted to trade Kobe to the Pistons for Sheed and Rip)
It’s almost guaranteed that Rip will opt out of his contract, especially if the Pistons do not win this offseason. He will not get a max contract, no matter how loud LB cries for one, because he doesn’t deserve it.
Aaron N., I’m just guessing as to Portland’s intentions. But, if I was them, I would be very happy that I had a team that barely missed the playoffs and that I’m adding Oden, Rudy, Bayless and Batum to the mix.
Yes, they’re young but they seem to have some mature kids and I think they’ll grow together.
Also, I don’t think they would want to take on any bigger contracts becuase they’ll have a lot of players coming to the end of their rookie contracts around the same time. They’ll want to avoid the problems the Bulls have had.
“Pryzbilla hasn’t been “ferocious” since he was wearing a golden gophers jersey and dunking on 6′8 Big 10 centers… let’s get that out of the way first.”
+1
Plus he turns the ball over and draws fouls. Nazr is like Przybilla with an offensive game, and we traded him for Walter Herrmann just to get rid of his contract (which is about the same as Przybilla’s).
As for the Blazers, I don’t think they’d be afraid to turn a couple of their young guys into known commodities. That could be what they have in mind by storing up all this talent. That said, I think Roy and Aldridge might be close to untouchable.
QD
yeah, i thought about all of that. But seems like getting a young Maxiell in place of Aldridge wouldn’t be so bad. And they obviously know more about these guys than other teams do, and what Oden, Roy, and Aldridge might expect to get paid in a few years… primarily Oden since he is a few years away.
I’m not saying they should do it, but it’s worth contemplating.
I think us taking Przybilla would be part of Portland’s motivation. I just want the Pistons to get some low post scoring size for Amir to develop next to… referring to Aldridge not Przybilla.
and to make some room for Stuckey.
By the way, can i reiterate that it is going to be tough to get a more talented line-up through a trade. The team as it stands is considered to be one of the most talented in the league. Trades and FA pick-ups would be addressing a talent realignment, playing time adjustment, and position strengths. It would be cool if we could get a bit younger too.
I just don’t understand the “i don’t see how this makes us better” argument.
LB: Sure, two more FT attempts gets us in the top half…OK, then why aren’t we there yet if it’s only two per game? Additonally, I think Maggette gets us more than two more per game than Rip is now, all else being equal. Maggette gets more opportunities at the rim than Rip, and given the last two years going with this 5 we haven’t gotten there yet in terms of FT attempts. Part of my analysis (OK, theory) would be that it would open others for FT’s because we’d be in the penalty sooner. With an athletic group of Amir, Affalao, Stuck, Max, and perhaps Sharpe there will be (I think) more fast break point opportunities, from both the starting 5 and the bench.
I have no doubt that Joe D sits Maggette down and tells him how it’s going to be, but I agree that Maggette has a bit of RonRon in him….i.e., soesn’t play well with others. On the other hand, playing for the clips for 5 or so years will do that to you. I also think Maggette plays better man-to-man than Rip and I can see Curry going less zone. It may be a lateral move, but we get more athletic, I think we have the opportunities for more FTs all the way around and it free’s up a salary or two for a trade.
I like Joe Prz and wish he would have signed with Det rather than Portland when we ended up signing Nazr a couple of seasons ago. He’s a physical 7 footer and appears to be adequate at the line (from memory, no stats) and it doesn’t appear as though he’s ever looked to be the man.
Which I think is part of the problem when it comes to complacency. Each of the 5 starters knows going into any one game that it’s not critical that “they” be the man because the pistons are so well balanced. Take any one of the top teams and if their go to guy has a bad nite, it’s going to be really tough for that team to win on a consistent basis. I think if you look at each of the 5 that got a ring in 04, I think they each feel it sort of validates their career. Chauncy had 4 teams before Det, Sheed was considered part pariah, Rip was viewed upon as not being “the man” able to lead a team to a title, etc. I don’t doubt that each feels bad after a loss in the playoffs, but I think Dyess is the only one who’s heart bleeds after a loss, and by that I mean gets really pissed off. The pistons should be pissed that they loss game 5 in Boston. I have no doubt part of the image is “yeah, we’ll do better next time, we didn’t play well, etc,” and that’s part of the game. You’ve got to be actually really pissed of…of course, sometimes it does affect Dyess’ game and I don’t think they need to take it as bad as Kobe does occassionally, but I’ve watched the last two years and my impression is that the Pistons get down a game and their mentality is “Cool, we’ve gott ‘em exactly where we want them.” Which we all know is complete BS.
I also think part of the lackadaisical impression was from the Orlando series. I think it put more into the theory held by some pistons of “we’ve been here before and with the pressure, etc., the other team will make mistakes and we won’t.” They brought that into the boston series and it didn’t work, nor did it against Clev last year. I think it falls to Billups to be a bit more vocal, rather than his Cool Hand Luke approach.
Kevin S.,
To you point, until they know what Oden will offer, there is no way in hell they move Aldridge or even think about it. For all they know, Oden could end up back on the sideline with a nagging injury.
Boney,
Again Maggette is only a lateral movement if the Pistons fail to improve by using their other starters to get a big name player.
Lets do this:
1) get Maggette for the MLE.
2) Trade Rip and Billups to Houston for T-Mac and Luther Head
3) Start Stuckey, Maggette, T-Mac, Rasheed, and Amir. Why Amir you ask? Because I said so.
This would clearly be the best lineup ever.
I think most important is talent re-allocation. Yes we have one of the most talented starting 5’s in the league, but it makes me think of the “too many cooks in the kitchen” proverb.
The Celtics have a very talented starting 5 and yet every player on that team was driven to win.
The Pistons have a very talented starting 5 and yet every player on that team (save McDyess) was complacent when it came to winning in the playoffs.
That implies character flaws. We’ve gotten rid of the complacent coach, but that doesn’t mean that complacency on this team is gone. Gonna have to swap out some players for players that actually feel the need to win now.
Hell if we could have 10 guys who were all 32 years old but played as hard and motivated as McDyess, I would take that over our current team (well okay maybe not…but you get the idea)
Does LA have a Blueberry Festival? Does Boston? Imlay City sure does. It’s a lock! http://www.imlaycitymich.com/blueberry/index.asp
Complacent coach?
Any argument dissing Przybilla’s rebounding efforts is not even worth responding to. Same goes to any argument that trumpets Amir Johnson (currently a glorified Globetrotter and yet to prove to be nothing more) and Maxiell (Good, but FAR from even a Tay-level starter) as the Pistons’ collective savior. And to make it a trifecta, invoking a player’s college game when he has been in the league for nine years, also counts for nothing. I’ll make sure I only address those comments that were crafted with thought and perspective.
That being said, when Rip gets an offer for $13 million or more (he’d make $11,375,000 in ‘09-’10), I’ll let him leave. That’s more than he’s worth. He’s got a good thing going here (at least through ‘09-’10), and if I’d be happy to make a wager with Boney regarding his chances of opting out and subsequently jetting.
James B.: Thank you for injecting some levity. Rip: Three-time all star … Maggette: 0. Calculating for West-East differential … yeah, I’m coming up with close to lateral.
Mark: I’m with you, this “Cool Hand Luke” thing is getting old for me too. I just don’t think you’re adding anything tangible in a Rip for Maggette swap out. Maggette off the bench is wonderful, but Rip is just a better fit, period. It’s moot anyway for reasons you, QD and I understand re: weather. But um on another note, if Przybilla is “adequate” from the line, so is Ben Wallace. That doesn’t discourage me one bit, I’m just trying to fact check for ya. Career: 52.3% shooter from the line.
Stay classy, Boston:
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080707/ap_on_re_us/baseball_beating
james b, tmac will not be productive if you put him on the small forward position. i don’t think its a good idea to put magette and tmac in the starting lineup together, they’re playing style is similar and in a bad way, that may ruin the starting lineup chemistry……similar to ai and melo. however i wouldn’t mind having both in the team, but i rather have tmac in the shooting guard position and have magette as a back up for the sg and sf position…..i would have to agree with the people who has the same idea for amir not being ready to be a starter. ideally and realistically, he would have to earn that position meaning getting ahead of maxiell and dyess into that position. all im saying, its not an overnight decision, its a progress decision and observation decision to get someone ready as a starter. just refer to stuckey’s emergence at the end of the reg season and in the playoffs.
Comparing a guy’s college abilities to his ability now, 9 years later, when his college ability was a shit-ton better than what he is now is enough weight to throw into an argument. The guy was passed over to sign Nazr. He was the 2nd option AFTER Nazr, think about that before we pull out our hard-ons for a guy who dunked on 6′6 power forwards in the big 10. He turned down $29 million from Detroit… $29 million over what, 5 years of the MLE? Is he really worth that? really? Why would the Blazers trade a guy who they just signed, without having any reasonable backups at the big man positions?
Przybilla is not the answer. Plus, and I could be wrong, he’s making MORE than Nazr was making…I might be wrong on that… but if he’s not making vet minimum, he’s overpaid.
Rip will likely be able to pull close to or more than he’s making now when he becomes a free agent next offseason. By opting out, he’ll screw the Pistons going into the 2010 free agent class if/when he re-signs to be the highest paid player on the team.
Amir isn’t a globetrotter by any means. He’s a productive player, off the bench who contributes when his name is called. I’d take Amir over Przybilla 7 days out of the week knowing that Amir has the ability to send back 4 shots in the 12 minutes he might see, whereas Przybilla is just another poor man’s Greg Ostertag who likely is only playing basketball because he’s tall. He’s not athletically gifted by any stretch of the imagination, the only true value the guy has is he does have a bit of a mean streak… but so does Maxey.
As far as this: “James B.: Thank you for injecting some levity. Rip: Three-time all star … Maggette: 0. Calculating for West-East differential … yeah, I’m coming up with close to lateral.” is concerned, I won’t even offer that a response outside of Maggette has played for horrible teams while this whole “the better teams have the most players” era of basketball. Hamilton didn’t even DESERVE his selection this year, yet he still made it. He made it before Ray Allen did. If we’re going based on all star selections alone, then let’s trade Jason Maxiell and Amir Johnson to the Dallas Mavericks for Jamaal Magloire! Magloire is a former all star! Maybe HE can help out!
I’d take Maggette and his athleticism and his 22ppg and only 3% less field goal percentage over a Richard Hamilton who has to have the offense set up for him, who also cannot create off the dribble.
I’ll say it again: Give me Maggette 7 days out of the week if it means we dump Hamilton’s scrawnyass in favor of acquiring a solid big and bench pieces. If we can’t dump Hamilton, we sign Maggette on the cheap (MLE), lose Hamilton next offseason and use his cap space to sign someone else. Simple addition by subtraction if you ask me.
lawyerboy: Thanks for the stat check. As for the weather, I agree.
In the end, I think Joe D sits tight and waits for the offer sheets and/or signings to take place and then sees what’s left or available. There will undoubtedly be some teams that won’t get guys to sign (memphis) and others that will have offers matched by current teams for Restr FA and in the end someone (philly) will overpay someone extravagantly leaving some folks left.
I do think if Joe can make a move laterally, that he will probably pull the trigger, if for no other reason, this new player brings in a “sense of urgency.” But I think if you look at it right now, if Boston retains Posey or get Maggette, they are at worst the favorite, Toronto has improved, Indy & Milwaukee have improved. I think you can toss NJ & Heat & perhaps Orlando that will at worse be a bit better than they were last year. Do they challenge in the east, probably not. But they will be harder to play during the regular season meaning possibly less victories and perhaps worse seeding in the playoffs and home court during the finals. The wild card here is Cleveland. If they can sign Maggette, pick up Redd via trade and use Varejo for another big or major trade, they definitely have to be considered ALOT better if two of those three circumstances happen. Chicago will be better if for no other reason than they really sucked last year and added the #1 pick. Is the east better than the west from top to bottom? I think not. But the east is getting tougher to navigate thru the playoffs.
“I just don’t understand the “i don’t see how this makes us better” argument.”
If we can’t get better through a trade, then we shouldn’t make a trade. I’m perfectly fine adding a second tier free agent (e.g. James Jones) and seeing where we are at by the trade deadline.
Nobody said Przybilla couldn’t rebound. He also can’t hold onto the ball or play defense. That’s why I don’t want him.
I think Amir will eventually be a productive starter.
i say lets bring in amare stoudemire as a start.
tayshaun and rip are ten time better than corey maggette corey maggette can come off the bench for the pistons the pistons don’t need to chance the starting five thats been to the conference finals six straight times only one other team has done that in the history of n.b.a. and that is the lakers and they didn’t win the championship six straight years so everybody should be happy and satisfied! plus the pistons have won a large amount of their regular season games the last six year thats a fans delight!
Sorry to those of you who took my “Stuckey, Maggette, McGrady” lineup seriously…I thought the “This will be the best team ever” and the “Amir Johnson starts because I say so” was enough to imply my cunning sarcasm.
As far as the “lateral movement” folks, I will impart words of wisdom from my now-deceased Grosse Pointe South High School Football coach, Mike McLeod, “You either work hard and get better, or don’t work hard enough and get worse. You never stay the same.”
Pretty damn true. There is no such thing as a purely lateral movement. Who knows what would happen if Maggette were to replace Tayshaun or Rip on our squad. One thing is for certain, we’d either be better than we currently are, or we’d be worse than we currently are. Even if we won 59 games, beat phili in 6, orlando in 5, and lost to boston in 6 in the ECF again next year with Maggette, you could still look at the team and be able to see whether we were better or worse than last year.
So enough with the lateral movement. I don’t know whether Maggette would make us better or worse, but it certainly won’t make us the exact same team we are today.
all these are speculations and opinion…nobody is right, nobody is wrong….and thats the truth.
Boney: You ignore so many facts that don’t fit into your argument, not to mention invent ones that would (2 years ago next week is not “just signed”, pal) I don’t know how anyone would have the patience or the time to explain to you all of the pertinent matters. Here’s what I’ll do, I’ll start you off, give you a brief cliff’s notes and maybe you’ll do some work: Nazr and Przybilla are both good rebounders (thanks kevin, I’m not sure Boney has acknowledged this re: Przybilla). Przybilla is a better defender. Nazr is better on offense. Nazr never got a fair shot here which explains his lackadaisical production.
Last time I checked, a two-pointer is worth two and a three is worth three no matter what manner they’re created even though you actually don’t know how Rip and Maggette actually get theirs since you prefer to simplify it to the most generalized explanation. That would be par for the course with your indolence. You hide your intelligence (I know it’s there) behind your habitual sloth. I’ll explain the rest of the pertinent information on these players to you if/when you ever make an effort to educate yourself on the NBA instead of being a lazy, self-professed “expert”.
But please, keep spouting unsubstantiated claims, it makes DBB better by giving it a self-aggrandizing, frequent “contributor”. That is, if you could even justifiably call your frequent sermons of basketball-knowledge pomposity a contribution. You make the worst kind of arguments, lazy ones. Everything is either irrelevant material (Just injecting Przybilla’s time at Minnesota shows how out of touch you are. Let me guess, you were in school then, weren’t ya? Or are you just a diehard Big 10 guy?) or presented entirely out of context without basis. These are all facets that could be eliminated by a modicum of effort, and then we could get to work on silencing the voice of your inner-Narcissist (not to be confused with Lex Luger circa 1993). That’d be a nice change of pace.
For a guy who disapproves of Hank Steinbrenner’s behavior as an owner, you act a great deal like him in your various comments. Maybe you should just stick to talking about baseball, but then again, when you say you “know a lot” about something, that doesn’t really inspire confidence. As a matter of fact, at this point I’ll be happy to take your sage advice to Hank regarding caring about what one says.
You’ve got a hat-tip coming your way if you ever make an assertion around here formed from a cogent argument. Don’t worry, I won’t wait with bated breath.
Fred W. Capel, you have converted me to your side. I have seen the light. Matt, lets just shut down DBB and all sites and patiently cheer for the home boys. No need to have discourse here or on any blog or sports bar. Lets just follow Fred’s train of thought. Lets focus on the positive here. The Pistons haven’t been good enough to win the championship the past for seasons, but least they don’t suck. Lets sit back and enjoy whatever success they do have and don’t worry about trying to press ahead and win another Championship. Even if we can’t make it to the championship round, who cares, at least we made it to the final four.
On a serious note, Fred you’re permanently expelled from this site. Please enjoy the rest of your day at Disney Land.
im staring to hear a lot of cry babies in here and a lot of long BLAH BLAH….who cares if your point was not understood by another person, or the other, vice-versa……move on dude!!! i guess that’s what “too much time in your hand” does.
The funny thing is Ric, I thought the whole point of partcipating in a blog was to share opinions with others and get feedback, etc. But DBB is becoming a situation where you share your opinion, therefore opening your opinion up for discussion and people start ripping each other new ones if someone doesn’t agree with their point of view. Isn’t it understood that you open your self up for constructive feedback when you throw your opinion out there. (I say all this just having given Fred Capel a hard time about his opinion. LOL. Priceless :-0 )
For real, this is getting crazy. I’ve read DBB for a long time but have only commented about four times because of this reason. I didn’t want to have my opinion ripped to shreds. I think we could have a lot more comments if we eased up. In all reality, no one knows what the heck is going to happen this off season, so can’t we all just get along?
I hardly want to fan the flames between arguing commenters (can’t we all just get along?!), but Nazr was the fallback option after Joel Przybilla turned down the Pistons, not the other way around.
Also, Fred (is that you? where are the CAPS?), the starting lineup has changed more than a few times during the Pistons’ current run of ECF appearances: Cliff Robinson was still starting back in 2003, Rasheed didn’t come around until 2004, C-Webb was a starter in 2007 and McDyess obviously started in 2008.
Lastly, it seems the dog days of summer (and the lack of real news to discuss) has everyone on the defensive. If you think the dearth of NBA news is boring now, just imagine what it’d be like if everyone here agreed on everything. So let’s bottle up our venom and store it in a cool, dry place so we’ll have it handy when we really need it, like when the Pistons play the Cavs or Celtics again.
“So let’s bottle up our venom and store it in a cool, dry place so we’ll have it handy when we really need it”
Uh, EXCUSE ME, Matt, but you must be CRAZY to think that you can store venom in a cool, dry place. Venom can be stored in both cool AND warmer locations, as long as the container is fully sealed. Your suggestion is ludicrous. We will now fight with knives.
I make joke
I think DBB will be just fine. In the current setting, there has never been so much room for disagreement amongst DBBers. All of us, at once, haven’t had to think about a change on the level that Dumars suggested. As a result, we’ve been thrown in the deep end with nothing to reach out to. When the season starts and the lineup has been finalized, DBB will go back to a love fest (unless we lose more than one game in a row, when the boo hoos come out).
Fortunately, we’ve all got something to look forward to: the Summer League begins on Friday. Personally, I’d love to see a preview– who we’re playing, which active NBA players are on those teams, etc. If only I knew of a blogger who might have some insight to share there, and happens to be going to the Summer League in Vegas…
Hint, hint, nudge nudge, wink wink.
Hey LawyerBoy, you’re right dude. After receiving papercuts on 9 of 10 fingers tonight while flipping through a thesaurus and dictionary to find definitions for what you said I’ve realized something.
I really don’t know what I’m talking about.
For the sake of the Pistons, I hope that they never make a trade or free agent acquisition that would upset the best shooting guard in the history of the Eastern Conference or that would upset the 2nd best point guard in the NBA at all.
As a matter of fact, I’ll continue to put on the bridesmaid’s dress every postseason while the next up and coming team in the Eastern Conference defecates all over the logo at center court while guys like James Posey, Antoine Walker, Scot Pollard, Brian Scalabrine, Danny Ainge, Pat Riley, etc all have championship rings because of the poor play by the best starting five ever assembled.
Let’s hope that Detroit never makes a lateral move, or that they could possibly do something intelligent like acquire a talent to give them too much depth so they could trade a strength to someone that could trade from a different strength that could possibly help.
I prefer the number crunching by kevin s. over a dude so stuck on himself that he actually brags about talking out of his ass on some other team’s blog who now leads this entire site in posts.
Tell me again how Dalembert improves our team’s situation over just keeping Sheed and letting him walk next offseason. Tell me again how dominant Chris Kaman is, and how valuable he is over Sheed but then also tell me that I don’t know shit because an acquisition of Maggette FOR NOONE and possibly moving Rip could help us more than keeping Rip and having him opt out after this season.
Nowhere in your babbling of drafting DeVon Hardin, acquiring Thad Young possibly (that was a laugh), trading for stiffs like Dalembert or Kaman did you ever consider Rip’s contract situation (which is why I’ve pretty much said all along to deal him this offseason) or the fact that the offense may be stagnant because of a guy who you think is like Reggie Miller only Miller killed you by shooting 3s off screens instead of 14 footers.
Get off my balls dude. You are by far one of the most unreasonable commenters on this site when it comes to talking about trades. You talk about making a lateral move yet your trade proposals blow goat dick. Willie Green? really? Philly fans would say that his trade exception is more valuable than the player himself. Thad Young? trading a guy who they just drafted in the lottery for a 33 year old 3 point shooting power forward? Really? Dumping Dalembert’s contract is not THAT important of a topic to discuss that they would consider dumping their #2 option this offseason, especially considering their #1 option is weighing his options as a free agent.
Oooh, rub a stat sheet in my face all night long… The Spurs win championships by running no names around 2 guys in the starting 5 who score the basketball. The Cavs beat us with one guy who could create a shot. The Celtics beat us with 3 guys being unselfish and 2 young guys who felt disrespected. The Heat beat us with a guy who could score the basketball and distribute to his teammates. Perhaps this “5 man balanced” bullshit doesn’t work after all. Perhaps it’s time to break up the “we’ve been here before” boys.
I want the team to improve themselves, not stay the same. The same is just getting older and has no chance of improving. Do like the Celtics have done, like the Cavs have done, like the Lakers did… take chances and go for it, be smart about it, but take your chances. Look at how Grant Hill for Ben and Chucky ended up. I bet your punkass was cussing Joe Dumars out when you read about that trade in the freep. “THERES NO WAY BEN WALLACE AND CHUCKY ARE AS GODDDD AS HILL!!1!!1111!”
So after you try to belittle me and get me to run from the site again you can get up from your chair, go flex in the mirror and tell the stuffed unicorns on your bed how you PWNED! me again just realize, I don’t go away. So flex your muscles, dig deep in that thesaurus and draw some anger from the perkisabeast clowns before replying… do your best, because no matter what, you’re still on my sack and it pisses you off that no matter what you say you will remain there.
Boney: Are you a fan of George W. Bush? You two have a lot in common. You’ve never been wrong in your life even when mountains of contradictory evidence stare you directly in the face.
As for me? I’m wrong all the time about many things and unafraid to admit it. Hell, I’m starting to think that maybe we DON’T need some beefy center. I actually think about positions rather than continue an argument when I have every reason to believe I may be wrong. If we did need a center, I’m starting to think Joe would have one by now. The difference is this, I pick my spots to act as a know-it-all (Rip’s Personal Defendant v. Retard) whereas with you it is the same tired stump speech that NO ONE wants to hear. Now I’m starting to bother people because I simply can not stand that you’re an arrogant, clueless, self-professed “expert” blowhard. That truly sucks.
As for Rip, the guy is a very good NBA player and anyone doubting that is out their gourd (that would be you). Apparently as you said you just can’t stop wetting the bed from the nightmares you had of Michael Jordan circa 91 and 92. I’m actually stunned I give this much thought to a guy who cites a “Jordan-esque fist pump” as reason to shell a player. Sure, you will try and backtrack on that comment, but you made it, not me.
Learn some decorum, realize you’re an incessant narcissist and please stop getting defensive and loading up on sarcasm when someone sinks your battleship, as has been done countless times on DBB. At least kevin spends time making arguments but you’ve got to go to the “calculator” cut. I may not like how kevin says things, but dude does his homework and that’s more than can ever be said for your pathetic blabbering. He works hard to provide insights. You parade around like god’s gift to basketball knowledge when really you continually show less insight than the majority of people who frequent this blog. You know who that sounds like? Exactly who you despise. You ARE Hank Steinbrenner. Oh, and as I’m sure you’d say about the blowhard he is, it’s hard to be “on a sack” that’s not there in the first place. Someone with “a sack” has the ability to man up and admit when they’re wrong.
You can build a shrine to yourself, but if no one comes to worship, it’s not much of a shrine. So how’s the construction coming along with that? You sheltered, self-obsessed coward. Grow a pair, and maybe then I’ll get “on” it.
Here’s my XII for next year’s NBA champion Detroit Pistons!
PG - Rodney Stuckey
Note: For uncertain reasons Chauncey Billups goes into the witness protection plan and comes back disguised as a college freshman with a bad moustache. He reunites with Rick Pitino and leads Louisville to an NCAA championship. “Billups” averages 52 points a game combining outside shooting and low post moves reminiscent of Corliss Williamson.
SG - Arron Afflalo
SF - Olympic gold medalist Tayshaun Prince
PF - Rasheed Wallace. He’ll retire a Piston.
C - Antonio McDyess. Ditto.
Bench:
PG - Milli (Martinez) Maggette.
Imlay City Coach Rick Finkbeiner says:
“This kid is an overachiever. She’s a 4.0 student, an outstanding basketball player, unselfish and extremely coachable. She’s one of the best kids I’ve ever coached.”
“She’s a dominant player, offensively and defensively. Quickness is her best asset….She’s a real good outside shooter and has the ability to penetrate and score or set up her teammate…She’s an extremely unselfish person and basketball player. She’s been a pleasure to coach.”
The distaff Rodney Stuckey! Acquired as part of the deal for…
SG/SF - Corey Maggette, a poor man’s Manu Ginobli for the MLE.
SF/PF - Walter Sharpe, my new favorite player
SF/PF - Amir Johnson. Finally makes the Jermaine O’Neal HS leap.
PF - Baby Eater.
PF/C - Nick Fazekas. Please make it happen. Nam-myoho-renge-kyo.
C - Cheikh Samb. Homegrown Diop.
Pistons record: 75-7
Coach of the year: Michael Curry
GM of the year: Joe Dumars
Sixth man of the year: Corey Maggette
Woman of the year: The Imlay City Miracle, Milli Maggette
Rookie of the year: Walter Sharpe
Most improved player: Nick Fazekas
Defensive player of the year: Tayshaun Prince
MVP: Dwight Howard (I’m not a homer)
I feel like Keanu Reeves in The Matrix here.
“Whoa”
To tread once more over the original intent of this post, Maggette will more than likely sign somewhere else for whatever is best for him.
Which happens to bring me to a more pertinent point made by a very smart guy I saw in a movie once: “I like money”
@joejoejoe - funny, yet remarkable in its perception and accuracy. I must disagree regarding Tay’s medal, surely it will be bronze as only Australia will win gold as Bogut averages 35/25 over the tournament.
Serious.
No, really.
*uppercuts self*
Damn Boney and LB. Why don’t you guys just settle this with a good old fashion sword fight. Jesus Christ, DBB is getting brutal I tell ya. And to think I felt bad about playfully expelling Fred Capel from DBB. Both of you stop it and go to your rooms and take a time out. Don’t throw stones when you live in a glass house. None of us are perfect!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
@joejoejoe:
+1,000,000
@laughton:
+35/25
Oh, goodie. I’m the “I don’t like that guy, but at least that guy does this thing right, and you don’t even do that” guy. I’m like the Bruce Bowen of the board. Nobody likes my style, but I get the job done.
In the spirit of Bowen, I’m going to hang out in the corner and lob lazy three point shots at the conversations.
What we really need is to get more athletic. Maggette is athletic, so we should get him. Also, we should trade some of our players for other players who are great athletes. In this way, we will add to our athleticism.
Bowen for three!