The Pistons did not make a move for a third straight NBA trade deadline, but it wasn't for a complete lack of trying. According to Vincent Goodwill at the Detroit News, while the Pistons were on the west coast, Joe Dumars was working the phone(s) until the buzzer:
Before Thursday's deadline, the Pistons offered one of their big contracts — probably Charlie Villanueva or Ben Gordon, in addition to a future protected first-round pick — in exchange for Kaman, who attended Central Michigan from 2000-03.
The Hornets countered by offering forward Carl Landry for Jason Maxiell and the Pistons' first-round pick this season, with no lottery protection. Both Kaman and Landry are in the last year of their contracts, while Maxiell has a player option for next season at $5 million.
The Hornets would counter with that garbage. Remember, this is the same team that is run by David Stern and coached by a guy who wanted to see Greg Monroe suspended for something that was nothing. But maybe the reason they came back with that is because the Pistons trade offer was equally laughable to them. I don't know, but I agree with Dan Feldman at PistonPowered: it doesn't feel like the Pistons were close to landing any deal here.
A couple other notes:
- Despite there being rumors about teams possibly being interested in Austin Daye, Dumars was not interested in trading him. Rather than giving him away, Dumars would like for him to ... eat.
- The Pistons were supposedly also in the running for Javale McGee. Now, Goodwill said "moreso [sic] Kaman" and that didn't seem close, so who knows if any McGee talks ever got past "we'll give you CV or BG..." before the *click*.
- Excuse me, I have to yawn.