Forget Russia, former Piston Flip Murray is going to Atlanta.
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Former Piston Flip Murray may be cashing in his dollars for ruples: “A source said free-agent guard Flip Murray has been approached by Dynamo Moscow. The former Cavs guard had drawn some interest from Cleveland, but that was before the Cavs signed Tarence Kinsey. Dallas and Washington have also sent out feelers. Murray has reportedly been offered a contract worth $2.5 million USD ($5 million gross) by Dynamo.”
From Chris McCosky’s blog:
By the way, what’s the over-under on how many points Flip Murray puts on the Pistons Saturday. From what I am hearing, he will be in uniform for the Clips.
I’m going with zero — it seems Murray has reversed course and is now expected to stay in the Central Division. From the Indy Star:
Guard Flip Murray, who was waived by the Detroit Pistons last week, is expected to sign with the Pacers today.
Murray will likely team with Travis Diener to fill the void left by Jamaal Tinsley’s ongoing knee problem. Tinsley, who hasn’t played since Feb. 5, said before Friday’s victory over the Raptors that he doesn’t know when he’ll be back in the lineup.
Who knew he was in such high demand?
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.
[Update: Dumars spoke again today, check the bottom of this post …]
From the Detroit News:
“I have had an exchange (verbal) with Chris within the last 24 hours and I’ve been in constant communication with his agent (Aaron Goodwin),” Pistons president Joe Dumars said. “But the one thing that hasn’t changed is that we still have a 15-man roster, and that poses a problem as far as bringing him here.”
Dumars said it was not his intention to buy out the contracts of either Flip Murray or Primoz Brezec. So, unless a trade can be made, Webber is going to remain on the outside.
We’ve had variations of the Chris Webber debate several times over on this site, so feel free to skip the “should we?” opinions and focus on the “will we?” speculation in the comments. (Or not, the comments are your domain, feel free to re-hash to no end if that’s your thing. I’m just saying that the point of this post isn’t to open that can of worms, just to pass along the latest info.)
At first my gut feeling was, “well, if he’s in constant communication with Goodwin and is even taking calls from Webber, something must be cooking.” But the more I think about it, I’m not so sure. Yes, Murray and Brezec have expiring contracts, but those are just as valuable to Detroit as any other team.
I’ve kind of held a simplistic view that as soon as a team offered a pair of second-round picks, Murray would be out the door. But who’d make that deal? Not a team looking for cap relief (duh, you only get cap relief by dumping a bad contract, not trading picks that don’t actually cost anything), and probably not an actual contender (since Dumars most likely wouldn’t trade with an Eastern team and nobody in the West seems to be interested). I suppose Brezec has a touch more value simply because of his size/position, but it’s basically the same conundrum.
Since moving either player individually without getting an actual player back in return seems surprisingly difficult, I think the most likely scenario to open a spot is a 2-for-1 in which Detroit trades Murray and Brezec. But that’s more difficult than it sounds. The only teams who’d jump at that deal would be those looking to dump a long contract, but it doesn’t make sense for Detroit to take on a bad contract just to clear a spot as opposed to just buying out a deal.
The best-case (and least likely) scenario is Dumars pulling a 2-for-1 while duping a team into giving up a quality player with a respectable contract. (Murray and Brezec combine to make $4.64 million, and there are plenty of useful individual players at that pay grade.) Maybe it could happen — Dumars is a shark — but it’d take a team really, really desperate to clear room under the salary cap this summer to make it happen.
Or, maybe Dumars actually is willing to buyout one of those two guys at the last second and is merely putting on a front to encourage more trade offers. In hindsight, that’s probably the most likely option, which means I probably should have just pasted his quote and not wasted any time speculating any other possibilities.
Update: A. Sherrod Blakely spoke with Joe Dumars today (1/21):
“I had dialogue with Chris this afternoon,” Dumars said. “And what I expressed to him, is that we do not have a roster spot open. That has not changed. And if we were to have a roster spot open, we’d still have to have a conversation about role, minutes … and all those things.”
Dumars later added, “that situation hasn’t changed. It’s the same as it was a month ago, two months ago … it’s the same situation.”
For a guy who keeps saying the situation “hasn’t changed,” Dumars sure spends a lot of time chatting with C-Webb.
From Pistons.com:
Stuckey, who wowed NBA personnel folks with a dynamic turn at the Las Vegas Summer League, broke his left hand in the Pistons’ final preseason game on Oct. 24 and was initially expected to miss six weeks. But the multiple fractures to three fingers still hadn’t fully calcified when Stuckey was last X-rayed, two weeks ago at the six-week mark. That last bridge was crossed Thursday.
The Pistons held only a light optional workout Thursday, which means Stuckey’s first significant practice time will come on Saturday with the Pistons between home games Friday against Memphis and Sunday against Houston. Pistons coach Flip Saunders has said he would likely choose to have Stuckey participate in at least a few practices before activating him for games, though it’s possible Stuckey could be in uniform as early as Sunday.
Possible, but maybe not likely. From A. Sherrod Blakely:
But Saunders cautions to not look for him to be in the lineup immediately.
“Once he starts going, it’ll be at least a week or two before he’ll do anything more than that,” Saunders said.
Still, this should get interesting. Flip Murray has been getting DNP-CD’s left and right (six in the last eight games, to be precise). With Stuckey in uniform, will Murray even dress? Lindsey Hunter will have his playing time cut, but he’s worth keeping active because he can come into the game and provide 3-5 minutes of shutdown defense when the Pistons need a few stops. Once upon a time I thought Arron Afflalo would be the odd man out once Stuckey returned, but he seems to have earned a spot in the rotation.
As currently constructed, the Pistons are one of the deepest teams in the league, but with so many small and expiring contracts belonging to relatively disposable players (Murray, Brezec, Herrmann), a little breathing room under the luxury tax (~$1.7 million) plus a couple of trade exceptions (~$2 million, courtesy of the Nazr and Delfino deals), I could easily see Detroit pulling a three-for-one trade to pick up an impact player.
Or, if the Pistons opt to move those guys piecemeal, does anyone see the Warriors wanting Flip Murray? They just lost Troy Hudson to a potentially career-ending hip condition and could use a backup point — if Murray’s shoot-first, gamble-on-defense philosophy would fit in anywhere, it’s Golden State. Not sure who they have that Detroit might want, but they don’t seem high on Patrick O’Bryant — there’s probably a good reason for that, but I’d rather roll the dice on a young seven-footer who might have upside instead of holding onto Murray until he walks as a free agent.
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