Dale Davis, who got passed over by the Pistons for Theo Ratliff, might land with a contender yet: HOOPSWORLD reports that he’s working out with the streaking (22!) Rockets today.
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From Chris McCosky’s blog:
The Minnesota Timberwolves Thursday night placed veteran center Theo Ratliff on waivers and have agreed to buy him out of what remained on his $11.6 million contract. If he clears waivers in the next 48 hours - which is almost a given with his salary - he will sign with the Pistons for the prorated amount of the veteran’s minimum ($1.3 million).
Ratliff, 34, was drafted by the Pistons in 1995. He has only played 12 games the last two years, but he is healthy now. He played in the last 10 games with the Timberwolves, averaging 6.3 points and 3.9 rebounds.
Talk about coming out of left field, huh? No word on what the jilted Dale Davis plans on doing, but presumably he’d be interested in latching on with another contender looking to add a veteran big man for the stretch run.
I always liked Ratliff, though I wonder how much he has left in the tank. Of course, that’s why Arnie Kander makes the big bucks — once Ratliff gets a few gallons of Arnie’s magic water, I’m sure he’ll be jumping out of the gym just like the old days.
It’s also interesting that the Pistons settled for a relative lightweight center instead of a physical bruiser like Davis — with Shaq irrelevant in Phoenix, there’s really not a need to keep a designated wide body around. That said, I can’t think of a better mentor to help Amir Johnson harness his incredible shot-blocking ability without getting called for a foul every other trip down the court.
From Krista Jahnke’s Free Press blog:
The thing is, teams have until Saturday to waive players, and team president Joe Dumars is playing a waiting game, eyeing that waiver wire to see if any other big men get released.
That means it could be nearly another week before anything happens. Former Piston Dale Davis is still a possibility, but there is a reason Dumars hasn’t pulled the trigger yet. He must think he can do a little better.
His other target, Jamaal Magloire, wound up signing with the Mavericks on Tuesday, so he’s off the table. The Celtics, by the way, scooped up another big in P.J. Brown.
There’s no real deadline for when the Pistons need to sign that big. And since he won’t be expected to play much, except in foul or injury situations, there’s no rush.
Actually, there is a deadline: a player needs to be added to the roster by March 1 (Saturday) in order to be eligible for the playoffs.
It’s my understanding that a player released by a team needs to be on waivers for 48 hours before he can become a free agent. With that in mind, a player would have to be waived by Wednesday in order to be on a roster by March 1.
That said, I’m admittedly unclear on two points: 1) Is the deadline really by March 1, as in the stroke of midnight? Don’t laugh, it makes a difference — if it’s later, say, in the afternoon, a player released on Thursday could still be eligible; 2) Is the deadline actually Monday, March 3 since the league office traditionally closes on the weekends? Or does the league office make an exception and stay open since it’s a deadline?
Of course, all of this is moot (I think) if the Pistons actually claim a player off waivers (and assume responsibility for his current contract) instead of waiting until he actually clears (and giving him a prorated share of the veteran’s minimum).
If you’re confused, join the club; I’m not 100% sure how this works, and judging from the different interpretations I’ve seen explained elsewhere online, I’m obviously not the only one. The important thing to keep in mind is that whatever the Pistons end up doing, we’ll find out for sure by the end of the weekend.
Update: Chris McCosky tried to clear things up in his blog:
Players have to be waived by March 1 in order to be eligible to be on another team’s playoff roster. A lot of people get that wrong, including me. You can sign a guy on March 20 and he can still be on the playoff roster — as long as he was waived by his former team on or before March 1. With Dale, obviously, that rule doesn’t apply since he hasn’t played all season.
But here’s the thing: it seems that Davis’ agent is operating under the assumption that his client needs to be signed by Saturday:
Former Piston Dale Davis could re-sign with the Pistons as early as Thursday, according to his agent.
“We’re in pretty serious talks with them,” said Chubby Wells, Davis’ agent. “We hope to have something done soon.”
Davis needs to sign with a team by the end of this week in order to be eligible for the playoff roster.
“He’ll be signed in time for that,” Wells said.
Now, you’d think that the agent (ie, the one with the most to gain by understanding the rules) would be the one that has it right, but who knows? We’ll find out soon enough. (Thanks to Warthog and Fadel for pointing those two articles out in the comments)
Expect Dale Davis or Jamaal Magloire soon. My personal preference is Davis since he’s a better defender (and has a name easier to spell), but how much rust has settled in? He turns 39 in March and hasn’t played all year. Magloire, on the other hand, is about nine years younger and theoretically in game shape. Tough call, though considering they’d both be insurance policies, hopefully it won’t actually matter.
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.
Not by me (that would be really random, considering I haven’t left the house in two days), but Michael Grange of the Toronto Globe & Mail, who was in New York yesterday for the Raptors-Knicks game:
As the fellow geniuses were walking back from shoot-around this morning, talking about the Raptors – okay, Andrea Bargnani’s – rebounding woes who do we spy standing on the street, talking on the phone? Dale Davis.
We’re like “Dale, call Sam, he needs you bad.” Dale just laughs. It was kind of funny.
Thing is, I wasn’t joking. No, the Raptors don’t need Dale Davis on their roster, necessarily. But maybe they could pay him a fee to come and wrestle with Bargnani once a week.
That is all. Go about your weekend.
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