PistonsNationBlog.com - Detroit Pistons News & Views

• The NBA Draft has become a secondary story to the blockbuster trade pulled off by the Cavs and Suns.  To Cleveland: Shaq.  To Phoenix: Ben Wallace, Sasha Pavlovic, the 46th pick and $500,000.  To me this moves says that the Cavs are pulling out all the stops in an effort to keep Lebron in Cleveland.  For the Suns they’ve still got some talent, but it’s not going to happen for them.  Time to rebuild.
• Take a look at The Bleacher Report’s 5 defining moments in Pistons drafting history
• It’s being reported that both the Kings and T-Wolves may make offers for the Pistons #15 pick
• Citing the Amir trade RFA Charlie Villaneuva does not believe the Bucks are looking to keep him, Keith Langlois thinks that he may end up in Detroit.
• You think ESPN’s Chad Ford would like a mulligan — he gave the Pistons an A+ for their draft selections in 2003. While we’re on the subject a certain 7′ Serb looks like he’s on his way to the New York Knicks in exchange for Q-Rich
• Did the Pistons (reportedly) give a draft promise to Darko Jr.?  I hope not, neither does Detroit4lyfe
• It’s been said before, Isiah knows talent. Isiah Thomas would make a better served as an NBA scout then he is as the coach of an obscure college bball team.  Zeke tops this ESPN list of the best drafting GMs

The best of the rest

• Trouble in Celtics land. Aww, this really breaks my heart.  Wait.  No it doesn’t.
• My favorite NBAer Tweet of the week goes to former Piston Nazr Mohammed :
  

  I just saw a really big woman on a small moped, puffing on a cigarette. It just didn’t look right!

• Former Piston ‘big’ man Oliver Miller is the latest to say he wants back into the league.  What do you expect from Miller after seeing this??
• Mark Cuban wants ESPN to blacklist blogging rumor mongers.  …Next.
• If you’re interested Dennis Rodman has a website, but it’s pretty void of the Worm’s time spent here in Detroit.
• So it’s official, Walter Herrmann will not be back. The Pistons say they’ll not be offering Herrmann a qualifying offer. Big Herm is expect to play in Europe.  We’ll probably have to wait until Tuesday to find out whether Kwame Brown will opt out of his contract. If he does Joe will have $4 mill more worth of the funny money to throw around.
• Would the Pistons move Tayshuan to Dallas for cap space?  This is just getting silly.

The Amir Johnson project is officially over.

Not much time tonight to expound on this trade, so I’m going to piggy-back of Matt Watson’s Fanhouse report for the time being:

Just hours after being traded from the Spurs to the Bucks, Fabricio Oberto is reportedly on the move yet again, this time going to the Detroit Pistons in exchange for Amir Johnson. The deal has yet to be officially announced by either team, but multiple outlets, including Sean Deveney of Sporting News, who broke the story, and the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, cite unnamed sources within the Bucks organization confirming the deal.

As if being traded twice in one day wasn’t enough, Oberto should probably wait by the phone; his contract is only partially guaranteed, meaning the Pistons have the option of waiving him before July 1 and only be on the hook for $1.9 million of the $3.8 million he’d otherwise be owed.

Despite the fact Detroit needs to plug holes in their front court after the likely departures of free agents Rasheed Wallace and Antonio McDyess, my guess is that they’ll let Oberto walk and use the savings to help make a run at a free agent such as Carlos Boozer or Paul Millsap.

I hope Amir would have had ‘broken out’ here but there was just too long of a line in front of him to get on the court.  I hope to see him flourish in Milwaukee.

UPDATE: Don’t go buying your Oberto jersey just yet.  This is from Chris McCosky:

The Pistons got four-year veteran forward Fabricio Oberto in the deal. But the Pistons plan is to waive Oberto and gain nearly another $2 million is salary cap space. They now expect to have at least $19 million available to spend this summer.

While most of us in Pistons Nation are letting out a big “yeah right” to the proposed trade (to Det: Ray Allen, Rajon Rondo / to Bos: Stuckey, Rip, Prince) Kelly Dwyer is playing a little Devil’s Advocate suggesting Joe missed the boat by him his underling giving Danny Ainge’s people the ‘ol we’re gonna just go ahead and pass on this one mmm’kay.

Here’s what Kelly wrote on Yahoo!’s Ball Don’t Lie blog:

And, bless Joe Dumars, but what the hell is he thinking?
For 2009-10, yes, this could be a big deal for the Celtics. Hamilton could have a bounce-back year, same with Tayshaun Prince, and Rodney Stuckey should improve. Based on sheer depth, alone, Detroit could have handed the hated C’s another Eastern Conference championship. Not unlike the way the Celtics possibly handed Detroit the same thing five years ago.
Beyond that? They would have handed Boston an above-average offensive shooting guard with a three-year, $34 million dollar contract. A 29-year old defensive stalwart, already on the decline, who is owed about $21.5 million over the next two years. And Rodney Stuckey, a nice player, possibly a point guard (his assist ratio rivaled that of Shane Battier(notes) and Derek Fisher’s(notes) in 2008-09), and definitely a guy looking for a contract extension after next year.
What would Detroit have gotten? Sweet, sweet relief.

Sounds like Kelly Dwyer feels Dumars owes Boston for facilitating the ‘Sheed deal?  If you keep reading Dwyer goes on to suggest that Joe might be in denial about this team and what phase of rebuilding we’re actually in saying none of the three Detroit players mentioned are guys you can build around.

Myself, I don’t like the deal from a competitive standpoint.   I’d like to have a point like Rondo (with some sort of caveat that Rajon go through a Hazmat grade disinfectant process to get that Celtic taint off of him before he throws on the red, white and blue).  I wouldn’t mind seeing another package with Rondo in it, but I’d want no part of Ray Allen even with his big expiring contract.

How many moves can we make for cap space?  Unless Joe plans on suiting up Ben Franklin and the boys we’re eventaully going to need some players not just contract assets.

The Hollinger sucks edition!

• No Respect: I’ve been meaning to get to this for days now…John Hollinger, YOU SUCK! You might have seen his all-time rankings of the NBA’s 30 teams.  I don’t care how you scored the teams, you’re wrong!  The fact that we’re to believe there’s 12 all-time franchise’s better than the Detroit Pistons should earn you a severe cock shot. The Suns, Pacers, Buck, and Thunder all rank above the Pistons?  What kind of cat nip have you been smoking son?  Do I even need to defend the Pistons with stats like 3rd most all-stars, 4th in most playoff wins and playoff series won, 5th most titles, 13 HOFers, etc.  I also took notice that Hollinger factored in ABA accomplishments to strengthen the Pacers’ case.  So why no mention of the Pistons 2 NBL Championships??  Just awful.

• Keith Langlois profiles possible Piston draftee Gerald Henderson.  Henderson is a 6′4″ athletically gifted wing player who spent three years under Mike Krzyzewski at Duke.  Gerald also has a Piston bloodline.  His dad and namesake spent 3 seasons in red, white, and Pistons’ blue snagging a ring in 1990 as a backup guard.
  
• A belated congrats to the NBA Champion Lakers.  Now after seeing how Laker fans like to get down after their team hoists the gold isn’t it time for people to get off Detroit?  Wild’n out after a championship isn’t just a Detroit thang. It happens everywhere except we always get the most credit for it.
• The Free Press’ Michael Rosenberg would like to formally clip Bill Laimbeer’s NBA coaching wings before he even takes flight.  Ha, Laimbeer…flight.
• Flip Saunders is trying to turn Nick Young into Rip Hamilton by having him run all of Rip’s off-screen drills. (H/T: PistonsPowered)  In related news MCIAFI.
• After a decent showing in the Olympic Games and a productive (I guess) stint in Russia the Raptors want to Bring Carlos Delfino back into the fold.
• From one Pistons let down to another:  Sean Elliott gives some insight to his trade to Detroit in an interview with SLAM.  This is an old interview even though it looks as if SLAM posted it just recently.
  

  SLAM: In ’93, your trade from Detroit to Houston was voided when you flunked the physical. Is that how you learned you had kidney disease?
  SE: No. I knew way before that. Detroit knew I had a kidney condition before they got me, but they just wanted to get rid of Dennis Rodman. The Spurs didn’t know if I was going to be able to play more than another year or two, so this was a chance for them to get something in return. Midseason, we told Detroit I wanted to go somewhere out West, because things were not working out. The Pistons had told Houston I had something going on but when they tested me out, all the doctors had different opinions and everyone was in limbo. They sent me back to Detroit, which eventually sent me back to San Antonio. (more…)

Enter power forward option #3, David Lee.  I like Lee.  He’s rugged post player in the same mold as Paul Millsap.  Just another scenario to mull over.  One thing that’s clear though is that Joe is going to get someone of note and he’s pretty much in the free agent driver’s seat unless, as Dave Dial points out, he puts all his eggs in the Millsap basket…Utah resigns him and the other targets look for deals elsewhere seeing that Millsap is the guy leaving Joe with all that money and no place to shop.

Thanks for giving us that to worry about Dave, but he’s got a point.

MLive.com detailed a blow-by-blow offseason plan that Joe Dumars could follow to lock up one of the major power forwards on the market this year. In this scheme, Lee is the Pistons last option if they aren’t able to outbid Utah for Paul Millsap, or fork over enough cash to get Carlos Boozer in town.

That plan also assumes that the Knicks would go for a package of Amir Johnson and the 15th pick in exchange for Lee -Dime

Cut it out Salley!

• Rasheed is our boy.  No matter what we’ll always hold a special place for Roscoe.  Wait, what? He’s (reportedly) talking to who??  Rasheed WTF!  You kidding me?… Hold the phone, Dave Dial has this thing under control:
  

  The only chance Cleveland has to sign Rasheed Wallace for $10 million per season is if Joe Dumars agree to do a sign and trade. Dumars is not going to give the Cavaliers Rasheed, taking on salaries that would use up almost half of his cap space, for their overpaid bench players. Besides LeBron James, there is not a player on the Cleveland roster worth using the cap space Dumars obtained this summer

• Probably the oddest Rasheed Wallace swag you’ll come across.
• What happens when the stinky hyper kid forgets to take his Ritalin? He “guarantees” NBA titles in 2010 and 2011
• C’mon Raptors.  The writing’s on the wall.  Get something before it’s too late.
• Gotta feel for the Orlando Magic.  They make it to the Finals for the second time in franchise history and all the focus is still on LeBron James.
• Here’s the main reason some of my friends won’t even talk NBA hoops with me anymore:
  

  A study by three economics researchers has concluded that NBA referees favor home teams, teams trailing in a game, teams trailing in a playoff series, and teams from large media markets in the playoffs, according to the Oregonian – Free Press

• DBB (via Draft Express) addresses the rumor that has the Thunder getting the #15 pick and Amir Johnson for cash.  Treating this just as a rumor I’ll say this; I like Amir but don’t see him reaching his potential here.  He along wth that young OKC cast could be one of the more exciting teams in the league to watch.
• A point guard at the #15 pick?  All things considered Dan over at Piston Powered thinks it makes sense if a quality floor general is there for the taking.
• I can forgive John Salley for his fear of spiders.  So he turned some people of by eating a rat tail after all his devoted vegan braggadocio.  Where the line has to be drawn though is John turning into a sniveling, blubbering invertebrate on camera.  Rick Mahorn would like a word with you Sal.
• Watch a 15 year old Grant Hill (15 yr old frame, current head) dominate some inept peers

Vince Ellis writes in this morning’s Frees Press that perhaps we should add Michigan’s own Chris Kaman to our offseason possibility lexicon.

The Clippers won the Draft Lottery and will look to add Oklahoma PF Blake Griffin to an already talent saturated front court.  Kaman’s size, game, and contract ($33 mill over 3 years) will most likely make him the Clipp’s most attractive trade bait.

I hope those out there not as familiar with Kaman’s cred don’t judge him on his appearance.  Looks can be deceiving.  Just because the dude’s a 7′ white guy doesn’t mean he’s slow and awkward.  He may look like your buddy’s old man, but the difference is that Chris can ball.  I’m mean sure, he’s not Dwight Howard, but he’d still be a good pick up.

Kaman is not too far off from being a career double-double guy with averages of 10.4 points and 8.3 boards per.  In 2007-08 Chris only played in 56 games but he made the most of them averaging 15.7 ppg (.483 FG%), 12.7 boards, and 2.8 blocks.

The real concern is his durability.  As Ellis points out Kaman has had durability issues having played in less than 60 games in each of the last two seasons.  He’s been bothered with feet problems which is never good for a big man.  But, If anyone can offset nagging injuries it’s the Piston’s own Arnie Kander.

If we draft a point guard — it looks like Dumars has already scratched the “Stuckey is our PG of the future” — and things don’t pan out with Rasheed, McDyess, or Kwame then we’ll be small ball’n whether we want to or not.

We need to start thinking big now.

(more…)

NBA Draft rough draft

• Matt Watson of Detroit Bad Boys got a phone interview with Louisville’s Terrence Williams whom just finished up his work-out with the Pistons. Williams is an athletic wing that should be pretty high on the Pistons draft board when the 15th pick rolls around.  If you’re looking for a little more on Terrance Williams check out A. Sherrod’s profile on him from a couple of weeks ago. You can also follow Williams from his Twitter account.
• Keith Langlois sees PG Ty Lawson as a safe pick for the Pistons.  Lawson is a compact Will Bynum-type with a winning pedigree helping UNC win the National Title this past season as a junior.  Drafting a point guard would do little to follow the Piston’s “point guard of the future” storyline they’ve laid out for Rodney Stuckey.  SI mocks Lawson to go at #11 to the Nets and has the Pistons with Ohio State 7-footer B.J. Mullens.  Drafting size might be the way to go for the Pistons with the Dice and Sheed situation. If Kwame is somehow able to get more than his $4.1 million option with the Pistons from another team then we’d be left with no true center.
• There’s also a rumor out there that the Pistons may be looking to trade the #15 pick
• mLive has a run down of the guys the Pistons worked out this week
• Chris Ford, a member of the Pistons 50th Anniversary Team, interviewed for the 76ers head coaching position. He’d been serving as a scout for Philadelphia.  Ford was drafted by the Pistons with the 14th overall pick in 1972 and spent his first 6 years here in Detroit.
• Former Piston (2003-04) Bobby Sura is suing General Motors.  Sura, the co-owner of a Nashville Saturn dealership, says GM’s plans to cut the Saturn brand would make his dealership worthless.



• Rip Hamilton is slapping a $1 million lawsuit on his sleazeball former business manager for cheating the Ripster out of a ton of loot.
• Pistons assistant Dave Cowens was named to the coaching staff for the USA Basketball men’s national team program minicamp on July 22-25 in Las Vegas
• Some of the inner-working the the blockbuster Billup/Iverson deal at Pistons Powered.  The Pistons originally wanted ‘Melo but the Nuggets said nahhhh. In the same post over at Powered Dan Feldman looks at the possibility of a Manu Ginobili and Fabricio Oberto for Tayshaun Prince and Amir Johnson trade.
• Need4Sheed was tipped off by an Eli Seckbach tweet to a awesome vid at former Piston Alex Acker’s Cali home.  It’s pretty interesting stuff, like how out-of-control the overseas hoops fans are.  Ak also tells a funny story about the first time he met ‘Sheed during a pick-up game where Wallace was basically looking like a crazy bummy dressing left-handed jump shooting football helmet wearing nut job.  Classic!
• HoopsWorld spotlight 6 players they expect to have break out season in 09/10.  Amongst the six is 3rd year Piston Rodney Stuckey. (via mLive)
• Ben Gordon’s name has been thrown out their as a possible Piston target to help boost the offensive output.  New Bulls GM, Gar Forman, says he wants to keep Gordon in the Windy City.
• OT: The WWE is making the Nuggets owner Stan Kroenke their new top heal over the scheduling conflict for their Monday Night Raw program.  Wait, so Vince McMahon is carrying this thing on to promote his company?  That’s not like him.

Just a few odds and ends to get through as we A) Root for Chauncey and the Nuggets to win it all, B) Wait for Joe D to finagle a stud from another roster and totally redeem himself for the Cryverson deal.

• Sheed (reportedly) wants $8 mill or he’s outty 5000
• On the stength of the Chauncey Billups trade Nugget’s VP of Basketball Operations Mark Warkenstien won the NBA’s Exec. of the Year Award.  As stated in mid-April Joe Dumars was awarded the ‘Executive Assist Leader’ and will be presented a framed copy of this screen cap:



• CHRIS PAUL! CHRIS PAUL! CHRIS PAUL! We hit upon the Hornets looking to shed some contracts to keep afloat in this shaky economy.  They were saying Tay & Rip for David West, and we fantasized said only if you throw in CP3, well Drew Sharpe of the Free Press is thinking along those same lines.  Sharpe acknowledges that it’s a long shot but ya know you’ll miss 100% of the long shots you never take.  Look into it Joe. Hornets Hype suggests we back off the pipe.
• Antonio McDyess is sure going to be on a lot of contenders free-agent short lists after a resurgence of sorts this season.  All though we’d love to see him retire in the red, white, and Pistons’ blue you can’t help but wish nothing but the best for Dice whatever he decides this summer.  If you scroll down the page you’ll see Mehmet Okur has a player opt out option in his contract.  His first choice would be with the team that made him an all-star, but he knows that the game is also a business.
• After a failed intervention attempt that enlisted the help of the Triangular One himself, Dennis Rodman is now ready to seek help for his addiction to being a walking drunken orgy.
• What to do with the 15th pick?  A. Sherrod Blakely profiles Louiville’s Terrance Williams in the first of his potetnial Piston prospects (try it 5 times fast).  Williams is a 6′6, 220 lb. athletic wing, something the Pistons could definitely use.
• Life would be a lot easier for the ‘Stonz if they had a true 3-ball assassin, especially with Rasheed more than likely out the door(see bullet point #1).  Keith Langlois at Pistons.com takes a look at some of the best 3pt marksmen who may be available to rock the Detroit threads.  Speaking of Keith Langlois, Motown String Music scored a nice Q&A session with the Pistons official beat writer.
• It’s officially official.  LeBron James is your 2009 NBA MVP.  Even with that credential up on the mantle it’s still kind of a pretentious move crab signing your gear “King James“, to another star athlete no less.
• A real nice video gesture from the Pistons to their fans.

I expected a lot of Pistons news, rumors, and jive talking. Just not this soon…

• You’d expect Rasheed Wallace chatter to dominate the offseason.  Well it’s started already.  This first bit of news is pretty disturbing.  A rumor that’s swirling around right now is that ‘Sheed went to the Pistons with a buy-out request presumably to join the Cavaliers of all teams!  As if Rasheed’s play wasn’t enough to have you disgruntled as h-e-double hockey sticks with him.  Check out mlive where Dave Dial is all over this like Rasheed on the blocks errr Rasheed on the glass errr Rasheed on the 3pt line.  After you get done there hop on over to the Detroit News where Chris McCosky says the Sheed buy-out rumor is felonious.  Fel-o-ni-ous.

• Rasheed is said to be coveted by both the Cavs and Spurs.  Remember there was talk of Rasheed to the Spurs earlier this season.  I think that would be an amazing addition to San Antonio. Plus I’d like to see him out west not on a division rival.
• Rip’s unhappiness with the way the season turned out has this Knick’s blog dreaming of a masked man in their backcourt.  For the sake of conversation, I really like David Lee…
• The Bleacher Report offers up this formula to get McDyess to stay:  Trade Jason Maxiell, Tayshaun, and the 15th pick to Toronto for Chris Bosh.  Plus acquire Marvin Williams.  Not bad, not bad.  Quick, someone, does the money work?  BTW, Anyone else feel like it seems like a forgone conclusion that Tay is going to Toronto for Bosh?
• Chauncey Billups won the Joe Dumars (ironic??) trophy  for sportsmanship.  One player from each division receives the award for ethical behavior, fair play and integrity.  McDyess picked up the Joe D for the Central Division.  This is different than the J. Walter Kennedy Citizenship award (Chauncey won last season) that went to Dikembe Mutombo this season.
• In the biggest no-brainer of the offseason the Pistons picked up their team option on Will Bynum.  It’s worth $825,497. He needs a raise.
• Vince Ellis gives his final Pistons grades.  Vince gave Allen Iverson an F, I think he’s being too generous.
• Could the Hornets and Pistons be working on a “mega-deal”?  Hoops World is saying Rip and Tay for David West.  Money wise they’d need someone else from Nola.  Unless it’s Chris Paul (unlikely) then no thanks.
• Got your Cedar Pointe trip planned?   Rodney Stuckey’s summer plans consist of family and do’n work.
• OT: KG: Got the ring, still no class … Really? No!! I’m calling b-s on this one.

Detroit News:

The Pistons traded guard Alex Acker to the Los Angeles Clippers on Sunday night. The two teams will swap future second-round draft picks.

The move takes the Pistons from $300,000 over the luxury tax threshold to $500,000 under. The deal will also put the team close to another $1 million under the salary cap this summer.

Without knowing exactly where the salary cap will be set, the Pistons are now expected to have some $23 million to spend on free agents, if they choose to, this summer.

Acker, 26, was the 60th overall pick of the Pistons in 2005. He played in seven games this season, averaging 1.3 points.

The Pistons have three second-round picks in this year’s draft. One of those will most likely be sent to the Clippers.

Not much to say other than good luck Ack.

updates: A.Sherrod with the upsides of this trade, and Dave Dial gives us reasons to believe it might be a prelude to a bigger deal, buuuut Michael Rosenberg says trading for a big name now doesn’t make sense.

New York Daily News:

The fast-sinking Raptors are looking to shake things up and have talked to the Suns about trading Amare Stoudemire. But unless they decide to part with Chris Bosh, chances are slim that Raptors president Bryan Colangelo will get the All-Star power forward he drafted out of high school in 2002 when he was Phoenix’s top basketball executive. Bosh has missed the last two games with a sprained knee and his future in Toronto, beyond 2010 – when he becomes a free agent – is up in the air.  So Toronto might be forced to get something for him. Detroit has been linked to Bosh in 2010, so it’s entirely possible that the Pistons will try to make it a three-way deal. Detroit’s Tayshaun Prince is being mentioned as one of the primary players who would end up with the Suns

Hate to see Tay go but I’d like this better than getting Stoudemire.  Chris Bosh brings more to the table and would be a better fit.

The trade winds are getting gusty and if you listen you’ll hear Rasheed’s name being mentioned more and more.

Well, here’s how Rasheed feels about the prospect of pulling another team’s jersey over his head:

“If I get traded, I get traded,” Wallace said prior to the Pistons’ shoot-around this morning. “If it happens, can’t cry over spilled milk. I just know wherever I go, wherever I get traded to, you gotta go and ball.” (Via A .Sherrod at mlive)

That’s your typical nonchalant ‘it’s a business’ answer.  That’s the answer you’re supposed to give while you’re still lacing ‘em up with your current team.

I suspect though if Sheed does get dealt we’ll eventually get some ‘Sheed-worthy’ quotes that would perhaps shed some more light on just why this team can’t seem to bring it all together.

UPDATE: Chris McCoskey has more of Rasheed’s feelings about trade rumors

Marc Stein:

San Antonio’s desire to acquire one more big man (preferably a floor-stretching big man) to counter the Lakers and Boston is no secret.

The surprise stems from the rumbles I’ve heard about Detroit free-agent-to-be Rasheed Wallace, he who is chief among the Pistons unsettled by the realization that big changes are undoubtedly coming in that locker room, having legit interest in joining the Spurs to team up with his 2005 NBA Finals nemesis Tim Duncan.

Is that saying that Sheed’s actually said he like to play in San Antonio?  The wording is kind of confusing.

Anyone could see why he would want to though. How can you stop Duncan down low and Sheed wherever he decides to play?  What a front court that would be. I’d like the Spurs chances with Sheed, but like Stein goes on to say the Spurs don’t really have anything to offer us.

Can you tell it’s coming up on the trade deadline?  I’m sure we’ll have plenty of more scenarios as the days grow closer to February 19th.

Yahoo!:

Perhaps signaling a willingness to dismantle their roster, the Phoenix Suns have begun exchanging trade proposals with teams for All-Star forward Amare Stoudemire, league executives told Yahoo! Sports on Thursday.

How about Joe makes 2010 come early?  Who’s up for some fun with trade checkers?