Pistonscast.com interviewed rookie Walter Sharpe earlier this week on their podcast — Sharpe appears on the air around eight and a half minutes in through the 17-minute mark. Also, Sharpe shows off his uniform.
Archive for July, 2008
We knew from the start that one of the reasons the Pistons drafted Trent Plaisted and Deron Washington was because they were willing to start their professional careers overseas. Well, it’s happening. Plaisted will spend 2007-08 in Italy. From Daily Herald, a newspaper in Provo, UT:
The former BYU center, who forfeited his final year of college eligibility, has signed a one-year contract with a top-level Italian team, Angelico Biella (also known as Pallacanestro Biella.)
The industrial town of Biella, which has about 40,000 residents, sits at the base of the Alps and has no soccer team.
“So they’re into their basketball,” Plaisted told the Daily Herald on Wednesday while vacationing in Idaho. “I guess I don’t know for sure, but the plan right now is that I will play a lot.”
[…] “I was on board (with going to Europe),” Plaisted said. “I’m lucky. The team I’m going to is a Division I (also known as Serie A) team that knows my situation and they’re going to allow me to develop and do those things I need to do to improve so I can go back to the Pistons. There’s great competition, and I’m really excited.”
Exact terms of the deal weren’t reported, but I’m guessing he’ll actually end up making more than if he stayed in the states.
Plaisted said the contract details look even better when considering the tax credit and exchange rate.
“I’m not breaking the bank,” he said. “But it’s a good contract.”
All Plaisted will be responsible for is food, gas and cell phone. The rest is taken care of by the team, plus he’ll be given six round-trip airline tickets.
Washington has yet to sign a contract, but the Pistons are helping him find a team. From Pistons.com:
The Pistons have been working with Washington’s agent and using their network of European contacts to secure the best situation possible for him and hope to land him with a team in either Italy or Spain soon. Before Washington has to leave for abroad, they hope can take part in some or all of the three weeks of voluntary workouts Michael Curry has scheduled in Auburn Hills for August.
“We sit down (with his European coaches) and say these are the things we think he needs to develop so in time he can come back – that’s the idea,” Perry said. “And it’s important that he has coaches who have shown the willingness and the ability to develop guys. It’s also important that he has the opportunity to play. It makes no sense if he’s not going to get minutes on the floor. That will be an integral part of where he’s going as will the living situation. You want him to have the opportunity to be in a place where he’ll enjoy living a little bit because that will be a part of the adjustment.”
Walter Herrmann recently gave an interview with DiarioDemocracia.com, which appears to be a Spanish-language news site. If there are any Spanish-speaking readers out there, I’d like a little help with this passage:
Consultado sobre su negativa a integrar la Selección Nacional que participará de los juegos olímpicos de Beijin, comentó: “Básicamente porque no tenía contrato con la NBA. Recién ayer arreglé mi continuidad por una temporada con los Pistons de Detroit.
According to Google Translate, it says:
Consulted on their refusal to integrate the National Selection to participate in the Olympic Games in Beijing, said: “Basically because it had no contract with the NBA. Just yesterday arranged my continuity for a while with the Detroit Pistons.
Machine-generated translations are always confusing, but it seems to say that he’s not playing for Argentina’s national team because he didn’t have an NBA contract when the team was selected, but that he re-signed with the Pistons yesterday. (The article is timestamped July 29, so I’m guessing the interview took place the 28th, which means “yesterday” would mean Sunday. Or something like that.) A reader on the Pistons.com message board confirms this:
I read the article in Spanish and it plainly states (quoting Hermann) that he signed a contract yesterday to return to play for Detroit. No other details were provided.
Can anybody from DBB nation confirm the confirmation with their own word for word translation?
Update: Cisco comes through in the comments:
My Spanish is a little iffy (I’m a Portuguese speaker), but roughly translated, asked why he did not want to take part in the games, Herrmann says: “Basically, because I didn’t have an NBA contract. Just yesterday I arranged to play for one more season with the Detroit Pistons.”.
In my first Kwame Brown post, I suggested that his signing might set up another trade. Before Brown’s arrival, Rasheed Wallace was the only player on the roster who could defend opposing centers without worrying about specific matchups. Now, the Pistons have two such players, allowing Joe Dumars to trade Wallace, should the right offer come along, without necessarily demanding a starting-caliber center in return.
But the more I think about it, the more I wonder if Brown wasn’t signed simply to use as a bargaining chip down the road. Kevin alluded to this in his post this morning:
While $4 million per year might be a bit spendy for a center with a well-deserved reputation as a stiff, snagging a two year deal that expires in 2010 is a major coup in and of itself. Teams will be scrambling to get under the cap come the 2010 trade deadline, and a $4 million expiring contract will be ideal for facilitating three way trades.
As noted in the comments, Brown can’t be traded until after December 15, but most in-season trades tend to happen right at the February deadline, anyway.
A lot of people have suggested that the Pistons overpaid for Brown, but his $4 million salary may actually make it easier for the Pistons to make a deal in February. Consider this: Rasheed ($13.6 million), Chauncey Billups ($11 million), Rip Hamilton ($10.5 million) and Tayshaun Prince ($9.5 million) are all making top dollar.
After those four, Antonio McDyess ($6.8 million) and Amir Johnson ($3.6 million) are the only other players making more than $2 million. Jason Maxiell ($1.8 million), Rodney Stuckey ($1.7 million), Arron Afflalo ($1 million), Cheikh Samb ($800,000) are still on their rookie contracts, and Will Bynum (and potentially Lindsey Hunter and Theo Ratliff, should they sign) earns the veteran’s minimum.
For the most part, the young players represent huge bargains — their talent (or at least potential) far exceeds their current salary. You wouldn’t want to trade them unless you’re getting equal talent in return, and you certainly wouldn’t want to bundle them together in a trade unless you were absolutely certain it’d result in a title.
Trouble is, the fact that the Pistons literally don’t have a single “bad contract” on their roster can make it difficult to swing trades — when every player is either a bargain or making market value, it’s impossible to throw another body into a deal just to make the salaries work without getting ripped off.
Here’s a hypothetical example (that’s unrealistic but illustrates my point): say the Pistons and Rockets agreed to swap Rasheed Wallace for Tracy McGrady ($21 million) straight-up. The Rockets know Detroit will have to send back another body or two to make the deal work but don’t really care who it is. Without an expendable $4 million salary to throw-in, Detroit would have to package some of their young bargains simply to make it work. I’d swap Rasheed for McGrady straight up, but would I swap Rasheed, Maxiell and Stuckey for McGrady? No chance. Rasheed and Brown? Now we’re talking.
Now, obviously, overpaying guys simply to trade them in the future probably isn’t a good habit, but I’m already of the mindset that Brown’s contract isn’t that horrible when you consider the market for big men. But no matter what you think of his skills, remember that this is the league that features guys like Keith Van Horn being handed $4.3 million contracts with the understanding that he’ll never actually play a game simply to make a trade happen. Having players with medium-sized contracts is an asset in itself, above and beyond what they bring to the floor.
By Kevin Sawyer
With the acquisition of the 26-year-old-first-draft-pick-cum-journeyman-center, Joe Dumars has… Well, what has he done exactly? I’ve been vocally critical of Kwame Brown in the past, but now that he’s our 26yoFDPCJC (how’s that for a nickname?), let’s check the teeth on this deal.
Let’s get this out of the way. Kwame Brown hasn’t done particularly well at the NBA level. He isn’t a good rebounder, which is baffling given his physical attributes. Unfortunately, he is also most productive off the glass on the offensive end. The upshot is that he isn’t very productive on the offensive end, period.
Worse, he doesn’t seem to recognize that his bread and butter consists of putbacks and dunks. As such, he is rather prolifically unproductive. He showed promise in this area two seasons ago posting an excellent true shooting percentage of 57%, then reverted to form last season, settling for fifteen foot jump-shots that he doesn’t make with any particular frequency.
Brown’s lackadaisical attitude is well documented, though a reasonable argument can be made that he has been handled poorly by coaches and management at various levels. After all, his third season was his best, an atypical trajectory for a 19 year old draft pick. Further, his progress has been hampered by frequent injuries, which have a way of making a hard-working player appear disinterested.
To his credit, Brown is regarded as an above average defender, which takes some of the sting away off of his offensive deficiencies. While not an excellent shot blocker, Brown keeps his man in front of him without posting an excessive foul rate. Given that Joe D. has kept this type of player on the back burner since taking over as GM, perhaps we should not be too surprised at this pickup.
So what can the Pistons expect from Kwame? The word “serviceable” gets thrown around a lot in the NBA, particularly as it relates to players who are unlikely to start. Frankly, serviceable doesn’t win championships. That said, there are reasons to think we might have a solid rotation player here.
Statistically speaking, ages 26-28 are the sweet spot for big men. Combine this with Arnie Kander’s penchant for reviving ailing big men, and it seems probable that we will see the best Kwame Brown has to offer while he is in a Piston uniform. With consistent playing time and earthbound expectations, can he at least approach his output from the 03-04 or 06-07 seasons? If Kwame can simply hold court on the offensive end, then he will be a bargain.
And, speaking of bargains, this off-season has been devoid of them. In spite of Dumars’ insistence that he was ready to deal, the asking price for second tier stars and role players has been staggering. Short of taking pennies on the dollar in trade (Harrington for Billups, anyone?) or throwing $30 million at James Posey, of all people, the options have been limited.
All things considered, then, this is a great business move. While $4 million per year might be a bit spendy for a center with a well-deserved reputation as a stiff, snagging a two year deal that expires in 2010 is a major coup in and of itself. Teams will be scrambling to get under the cap come the 2010 trade deadline, and a $4 million expiring contract will be ideal for facilitating three way trades.
There remains even the very slim possibility that Kwame Brown could actually fulfill his initial promise. Given that this will be his last shot at a big payday, he’ll have every incentive to put in the effort. This at least partly answers the tricky question “what can he give us that Theo Ratliff does not?”
That, of course, is a legitimate question, and there are legitimate concerns here as well. Dumars’ insistence on signing backup centers invariably clogs the rotation. It is hard to reconcile this acquisition with a mandate to find more minutes for Amir Johnson. Further, Kwame has a high enough profile to become a side show if things go badly, particularly if they begin well. If he starts out on fire, should we find him more playing time? Move another piece? You see the potential for drama. Drama sucks.
But let’s give Joe Dumars some credit for not hitting the panic button. He didn’t fall for the lowball offers from the Golden States and Atlanta Hawks’ of the world. He wasn’t going to part with a piece of the core for the Ron Artest wild card. Kwame Brown may not be the piece that gets us back to the Promised Land, but he unlikely to represent a step backward.
This is the textbook definition of tweaking the roster. This signing, paired with the publicized meeting between Dumars and Billups, seems to indicate that Joe D. is done looking for suitors for a would-be blockbuster. I had thought that Dumars would eventually put the “closed” sign on the storefront, and this certainly does that.
He’s moving forward, and if teams want to make a deal, they can call us. And it had better not be about Al Harrington.
Ryan McNeill of HoopsAddict gets Ryne Nelson to explain how he went from being the YouTube guy from Odenized to SLAM’s Online Editor.
From ESPN.com’s Marc Stein:
Brown’s agent, Mark Bartlestein, told ESPN.com on Monday night that the former No. 1 pick in the 2001 draft has reached a verbal agreement on a new contract with the Detroit Pistons.
The contract is believed to be a two-year deal worth $8 million, with Brown — who spent his first four seasons as a pro in Washington after being drafted by then-Wizards president Michael Jordan — holding a player option to return to free agency after this season.
This is a move that should make Pistons fans happy. Yes, Brown was a bust when taken first overall, and, sure, he may have been overpaid the last three years. But $8 million over two years? For a legitimate center with underrated defensive skills?
Yeah, I’ll take that any day of the week, especially considering if Brown proves to be worth half a damn he’ll almost certainly opt-out after this season in search of a better deal. He made $9.1 million last year alone — one solid season with a team that actually knows how to play defense may be all he needs to convince some team out there to give him that kind of money once again.
Brown missed a lot of time last year with various leg ailments (bursitis, sprained knee and ankle, etc), but nothing Arnie Kander can’t cure before breakfast. It’ll be interesting to see if this move was made to set up another transaction (Rasheed Wallace just became a tiny bit more expendable) or whether the Pistons simply thought the price was right. Either way, I won’t be surprised to see Brown enter the starting lineup next year averaging 20-25 minutes a night, with Wallace, Antonio McDyess, Jason Maxiell and (in the right matchups, at least) Amir Johnson filling in the rest of the time.
Where does Theo Ratliff fit in? At the moment, I don’t think he does, unless he’s willing to endure long streaks of DNP-CD’s in hopes of being dusted off for the playoffs. Or, maybe he goes the PJ Brown route, sitting out most of the year before hitching his wagon onto whatever contender needs help — we’ll have to wait and see.
(hat-tip: Kay Wan, who broke the news on DBB in the comments)
Update: Random factoid — this move shouldn’t be terribly surprising considering the team’s solid working relationship with Mark Bartelstein, who also represents Lindsey Hunter, Will Bynum, Trent Plaisted and (former Piston) Ronald Dupree, not to mention Devean George. (Also, PJ Brown, ironically enough.)
Update: Laughton notes in the comments:
Joe is a genius. Seriously. Does this not seem like a familiar scenario? Former high pick, underachieved and unable to stick with a team, comes to Detroit and finally lives up to potential.
And a former Wizard, to boot.
Wow, this really happened: Josh Childress signed with Olympiakos in Greece. Also, Bostjan Nachbar signed with Dynamo Moscow. Europe is taking all of the players I wanted the Pistons to sign! However, there is some good news: Mo Evans signed with the Warriors Hawks. Not sure if the Pistons ever considered bringing Evans back, but I’m relieved it won’t happen.
In internet years, this rumor already decades old, but I haven’t touched officially on it yet and would like to offer my two cents. Sam Amick of the Sacramento Bee recently listed several possible destinations for Ron Artest and surprisingly included Detroit:
Could this be why Artest was so interested in interviewing brawl instigator John Green a while back? It would be a brilliant PR move if the Pistons were looking to put a package together for Artest.
And from what I was told from one source close to the Pistons, they are. I’ve yet to get this info from more than one person, so stay tuned. But much like the Mavs’ situation, this could be one of those where the player the Kings want (perhaps Tayshaun Prince) would be different than the one offered (Jason Maxiell, anyone?). Pure speculation on my part in terms of the potential pieces.
[Update: Amick found a second source to verify Detroit’s interest.]
For PR reasons alone, I’d be shocked if the Pistons pulled the trigger unless they could get him for 50 cents on the dollar, and given the alleged league-wide interest in Artest, I’m not sure that will ever happen. But let’s say it did … would you endorse the move?
Call me crazy, but I would. Strictly speaking from a basketball perspective, Artest is an incredible talent. He’s an extremely strong and physical player capable of guarding the best player on the opposing team, regardless of position. I enjoy watching Tayshaun Prince as much as anyone, but would Artest ever let LeBron James score 25 straight? Would he allow Paul Pierce to slice and dice the defense? No chance.
No one wants to win more than Artest. He’s notorious for playing as hard in the opening minutes of a game as he does down the stretch of a close game — he only has one gear. When the Kings came to town in January, Artest was playing just his second game after missing nine with an elbow injury. He was awful during a 25-point loss in his first game back in Toronto, and talking with him two nights later, I remember being surprised at how his performance was still eating at him:
“I was pissed. I was pissed that we lost. I was pissed that I came back and I couldn’t help my team win. I was pissed at myself. I just felt like I let my team down, I was so pissed. We talked about it when we got back to the hotel and everybody was back on the same page.” […] “Right after the game I got dressed and Reggie [Theus] finished talking and I left. I just walked back to the hotel, I was so pissed. Lost by about 20 points, that’s not fun.”
The Pistons have had guys like Antonio McDyess wear their heart on their sleeves like this in the playoffs, but this was after a regular season game in January. Yeah, I’ll take an attitude like that in the locker room any day.
I know, I know … but isn’t Artest a little crazy? Don’t believe the caricature the media has painted of him, because he’s probably one of the most complex guys in the NBA. Read this interview he did with The Starting Five in December — it’s one of the most thoughtful and introspective interviews you’ll ever find, and it sheds some light on the other side of Artest that we rarely get to see.
Yes, he’s absolutely made some mistakes that make me cringe, but unlike a lot of athletes he seems to always try owning up to them in the end. No, it doesn’t excuse them, but it counts for something.
Hell, I’m not even mad anymore about the Malice at the Palace — I pin that ugly chapter of Pistons lore on John Green. (And besides, Charles Barkley once brawled with the fans at the Palace — does that still define who he is? Of course not. If Artest’s involvement in that incident is still a poison pill to accepting everything else he brings to the table, you need a broader sense of perspective.)
In the end, none of this really matters — I’d be absolutely shocked if the Pistons actually pulled the trigger, especially if it involved giving up squeaky clean Tay. But is this something I’d like to see? Absolutely.
Will Bynum’s agent, Mark Bartelstein, also represents free agent Devean George, and confirms the Pistons have shown some interest in George. No deal is imminent, but I suppose this should be on your radar as a possibility.
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