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Tayshaun Prince thought he was going to be a Detroit Piston for life ... or at least close to it. I think the team's fans thought the same thing. That is why the quickly developing trade sending Prince and Austin Daye to the Memphis Grizzlies in exchange for Jose Calderon was such a surprise.
Of course, fans weren't the only ones who were surprised. Prince recently gave an interview to ESPN Memphis where he talked about learning he was leaving the only team he had ever known and what he thinks about his new playoff-bound team in Memphis. On his reaction upon learning of the trade:
"I was shocked, I was completely shocked. The situation that I had been in in Detroit, I thought I would know something was coming. I was pretty shocked. We played a game in Indiana, 45 minutes before the game and they came and grabbed me off and told me the news, so it was pretty shocking."
On what he wants to prove:
"I have a lot left in the tank. People start to write you off when you've had a great career and all the sudden losing starts happening. Then you're not being on TV and nobody is really watching and stuff like that, so I'm not too concerned with trying to prove people wrong. I think that's been part of what I've had to do since before I got to the NBA. I'm not too concerned with trying to prove people wrong but what I'm trying to do is help this team with what my capabilities are."
On his new team:
"Yes it's well built for the playoffs. When I first walked in this locker room I could see the chemistry that these guys have. I know that these guys were disappointed in the trade because when you have a team that is well built and has played together for so long, that's what makes your chemistry stronger and stronger as you continue to progress and get better. At the same time, when the trade happened it takes a while for chemistry to build. What's important is to build that as quickly as we can, which is a difficult task but we have a lot of guys in that locker room that have been there and know what the experience is about. Me and Tony Allen talk about it a lot as far as teams we've been on before we got here, so we try to provide as much knowledge as we can and hopefully it helps."