There's a bit of unintentional humor at the end of Part III of Keith Langlois' interview with Joe Dumars, which took place last week but was published today:
KL: I assume there’s been no news on this, but are you still talking with Lindsey and is he still making up his mind?
JD: We are definitely still talking. My BlackBerry just went off and that was Lindsey’s agent saying can you give me a call. It’s in real time.
Was his agent calling about that 15th roster spot? Or was it a head's up that his client would soon be in the news? My guess is the latter.
On a serious note, Dumars confirmed that if Hunter passes (although, who knows if that spot is still being saved now), the team will keep that 15th spot open for while.
There's nothing earth-shattering in the rest of interview, but hey, it's August and you're probably starved for any Pistons news, so if read the whole thing and you'll probably be entertained. Dumars talks a bit about the Zoo Crew: cautiously praising Rodney Stuckey, talking up Amir Johnson, gauging Cheikh Samb's progress, explaining Will Bynum, predicting what to expect from Walter Sharpe ... and heaping praise on Arron Afflalo:
Every guy you draft, acquire, trade for, sign as a free agent, is not going to have superstar potential. That’s now how you put a team together. But you still have to acquire guys who can help you become a great team. Arron Afflalo is one of those guys that all the good teams have to have on your team. Afflalo is just one of those guys that we were just recently talking about James Posey and what he did for Boston and Bruce Bowen and what he’s done for San Antonio over the years. I’ll date myself – Michael Cooper and what he did for the Lakers back in the day. Through the history of basketball, he’s one of those guys that you have to have on your team when you’re considered a really good team because those guys are willing to do whatever it takes to help your team win. It’s never about them individually. They just do whatever is necessary and that’s what he’s shaping up to be in the league. One of those guys that if it calls for defending somebody or face-guarding somebody, he’ll do it. If it calls for trying to score, he’ll do it. If it calls for diving on loose balls all night long, he’ll do it. When you’re putting a team together you’re always looking for guys like that. Guys who’ll do whatever it takes to win.