Hittin' The Links: Potential Trading Partners, Expected Terrico White Deal, John Salley And Maybe Not Enough Lindsey Hunter
by Packey on Jul 26, 2010 6:01 AM CDT
in Morning Shootaround
110 comments
Happy July 26. The off-season lull is in full swing, so push through with these links
- Vince Ellis of the Free Press feels the Hornets or Hawks could offer help to the Pistons. With the Chris Paul rumors running rampant (and Okafor possibly going, too), Ellis believes the Hornets may completely unload, which could make David West available (two years, $15.8 million, player option second year). Ellis goes on to conjure up the Pistons 2008 interest in Atlanta's Josh Smith. If/when Atlanta realizes giving Joe Johnson a max deal was a sorry mistake and they can't afford Josh Smith (or Al Horford), the Pistons could swoop in. Dan Feldman at Piston Powered responds that a trade for Josh Smith is not happening.
- Vince Ellis said on July 23 to expect a [contract] deal with Terrico White soon.
- Nowhere to be seen on the ESPN ticker as breaking news, Lindsey Hunter officially confirmed retirement on ABC's Sports Update with Tom Leyden on Sunday night. He originally made an announcement in February that he would retire after the season, but left the door open if something "drastically" changed. Nothing "drastically" changed -- he's still old and not getting any younger. Also on the Sports Update, Lindsey promoted his Red Bull Open Run Tournament that'll take place at Cass Tech High School next weekend. Here's the video:
- Speaking of Lindsey Hunter, Brady Green at D4L recalls a 1995 Pistons moment involving Hunter as one of the worst plays in modern-ish Detroit sports history. I vaguely remember this atrocity, but couldn't find a clip on YouTube for enlightenment. Instead, I found this Lindsey Hunter buzzer-beater from 1999, which sent Bison Dele (aka Brian Carson Williams) into a myoclonic seizure. Warning: Jud Buechler and Eric Montross herein.
- Speaking of Lindsey Hunter, Will Bynum's agent is still talking to Joe Dumars (I imagine it'd be a bad sign if they weren't). Both sides say things are progressing, but I think what we have here is a little game of free agency chicken. (H/T Apocalyptic0n3)
- The third biggest decision in the history of decisions (behind LeBron taking his talents to Miami and Ace Ventura choosing the white New England clam chowder over the red), happened to be Charlie Villanueva deciding where he should take his driving skillz: Aston Martin Rapide or Lexus LF-A? (Jim Gray with the drum roll) He went with the Aston Martin.
Does Dumars Intimidate MJ?
by Alex_Be on Jul 23, 2010 7:04 AM CDT
98 comments
Michael Jordan, the Bobcats owner, took a lot of ribbing for trading Richard Hamilton for Jerry Stackhouse eight years ago. There's a feeling Jordan was weary of dealing with Dumars again, so he dealt Chandler to Dallas for essentially nothing, which surprised more than a few front office officials around the league.
I never really thought of this, but maybe this is why Joe can't get anything done. Maybe his moves pre- 2004 were too good? Now everyone approaches him with caution. I think it's an interesting thing to consider.
I've always been a huge Joe D supporter, but it's getting hard to stay on this bandwagon when I look over at Milwaukee and see what John Hammond is doing over there. It's like they stole our blueprint and are running it to a tee. Which makes me think something has to be going on. Whether it really is what the paragraph above suggests, or if it's questioning whether or not Joe really was the mastermind behind the 2004 team, or if he was just running with the suggestions of the people around him?
Since 2004, more than just a few key people to the organization have left. Since 2004, we've been slowly declining. I vaguely remember Joe in a post 2004 interview say something like "...I'm only as good as the people around me..."
(Ed. note: Interesting theory -- it's like what happened to Billy Beane after Moneyball came out. Tweaked headline, etc, for the front page -- Matt)
Summer Block Party
by tads on Jul 22, 2010 10:55 PM CDT
56 comments
What better way to enjoy the heat then to watch Jason Maxiell swatting shots off of the court?
Well, watching a couple more videos from Ben, Tayshaun, and the newcomer Daye is one idea, or you could dream up Chris Paul trade scenarios.
56 comments | 3 recs |
Dumars ranked 24th GM out of 30 by SBNation
by brgulker on Jul 22, 2010 2:14 PM CDT
299 comments
[Ed. note - Didn't see this before putting up a FanShot. Deleted mine and front paged this. Thanks, brgulker - Packey]
Full story here.
Joe Dumars, PistonsHired: 2000
Coaches: George Irvine (2000-2001), Rick Carlisle (2001-2003), Larry Brown (2003-2005), Flip Saunders (2005-2008), Michael Curry (2008-2009), John Kuester (2009-present)
Long-term plan: Rebuild while staying competitive. In other words, an oxymoron, unless you have a superstar, which he doesn't.
Key Draft picks: Darko Milicic (2nd, 2003), Greg Monroe (7th, 2010), Rodney White (9th, 2001), Rodney Stuckey (15th, 2007), Tayshaun Prince (23rd, 2002), Jonas Jerebko (39th, 2009)
Key trades
- 2002: Traded Jerry Stackhouse and Brian Cardinal to the Wizards for Rip Hamilton, Hubert Davis and Bobby Simmons.
- 2004 season: Traded Chucky Atkins, Lindsey Hunter, Bob Sura and a first-round pick to the Hawks and Celtics for Mike James and Rasheed Wallace
- 2008 season: Traded Chauncey Billups and Antonio McDyess to the Nuggets for Allen Iverson's expiring contract
Key free agent signings: Re-signing Billups (2007), Wallace (2005) and Prince (2007). Rip Hamilton in 2008 (three years, $38 million beginning in 2009/10), Ben Gordon in (five years,$55 million), Charlie Villanueva in 2009 (five years, $35 million).
Key free agents let go: Grant Hill (2000), Ben Wallace (2006).
It pains me to put Joe Dumars, the architect of the Pistons teams of the 2000s, this low. However, Dumars has been a disaster since the Chauncey Billups/Allen Iverson trade. Dumars made the deal to regain salary-cap flexibility to rebuild a team that has run it's course, but ended up spending that money on Ben Gordon, Charlie Villanueva and a re-signed, declining Rip Hamilton. He's refused to deal any of his other big-contract players like Tayshaun Prince because he legitimately thinks his team can and should be "competitive" when rebuilding.
That's the problem, though -- you can be "competitive" without major salary obligations to declining players. Dumars, like many of the GMs behind him on this list, fundamentally misunderstands this. I'm not sure why Dumars refuses to take the long-term approach. Sure, their arena is empty, but it seems they have a core of dieharts that are willing to wait around for a long-term rebuilding project. It's not like Dumars is in a city like Charlotte, where the team desperately needs the revenue from home playoff games.
Therefore, the only explanation for Dumars' recent issues is that he must believe that, because he built a "star-less" core earlier, he can do it again. Newsflash Joe: you probably can't. Lightning doesn't strike in the same spot twice.
Tayshaun Prince To Be Inducted Into UK's Hall of Fame
by Packey on Jul 22, 2010 1:06 AM CDT
in News
34 comments
Tayshaun and five other University of Kentucky basketball alums will be enshrined in the school's Hall of Fame during the weekend of September 10-11.
Prince, who is eighth on UK's all-time scoring list, was a two-time All-American, SEC Player of the Year and three-time All-SEC selection during his time with the Wildcats. Despite the impressive resume, a lot of UK fans remember Prince most for the time he hit five consecutive three-pointers at the start of an always big game against UNC in 2001 (the year he was an All-American). The fifth was straight out of NBA Jam -- Prince knew he was on fire, so he just pulled up right as he crossed half court.
This probably could've been a FanShot, but it gives me an excuse to embed 'the block' that permanently wins him a place in the hearts of all Pistons fans. (Sorry, I was feeling nostalgic):
Greg Monroe Having Foot Surgery This Week
It's mentioned very briefly in the article (first sentence of second paragraph, I missed it at first) but Monroe is scheduled for foot surgery sometime this week. It seems like a minor thing, but something about 7-footers having foot surgery makes me nervous (see: Oden, Greg).
Terrico White 2010 Summer League Mix (HD)
by need4detroit on Jul 19, 2010 1:09 PM CDT
42 comments
Terrico White 2010 Summer League Mix (HD) Hey guys. I'm trying to get the individual player highlights up as soon as possible. I decided to start with Monroe's first and Terrico's second. Dajaun Simmers will be next followed by Daye and Jerebko. For best results wait for the entire video to load in 720p.(Be patient with it because the video was just uploaded.) I will try getting the Dajaun Summers' video up tonight and the rest should be finished during the next couple of days.
[Ed. note - Following the lead of my esteemed colleagues, I've embedded the video and front paged this sucka. These are unbelievable and I appreciate you doing them, N4D. - Packey]
42 comments | 4 recs |
Hittin' the Links: Catching Up On Pistons, DBB And Quitness
by Packey on Jul 19, 2010 10:38 AM CDT
in Morning Shootaround
227 comments
So I was gone for two weeks -- moving, getting married, and honeymooning --and came back Saturday night to find the interwebs completely turned on its head. I read that the Pistons almost moved to Las Vegas, Patrick Hayes moved to PistonPowered, Mlive's Full Court Press is now defunct, prolific DBB commenter Boney is writing at Need4Sheed, and employees of The Federal Building were effectively terminated within the DBB comment section. And here I was thinking I'd come home to a quiet internet community sitting around a camp fire, anxiously awaiting to hear how my new wife had a Smirnoff Ice tucked between her legs when I went to retrieve her garter in front of 200 onlooking wedding guests. Nope.
Anyway, I read through every single post posted and comment commented while I was gone (1,000+) and I'm ready to plug myself back into the mix here. I've missed you all turribly.
- Pistons finished 2-3 in Summer League action and you all got a good feel for how the youngins performed while watching and reading the game threads. If you're looking for reviews of all the NBA Summer League action, head over to Ridiculous Upside. They've done a pretty good job reviewing each day.
- I was in recluse from July 10-July 17, but I was so lucky enough to catch LeBron's decision on July 8. Of course, Sports Illustrated dedicates its newest cover to the glee-some threesome. Within, Ian Thomsen dissects the whole sleezy South Beach story -- from the BFFs' 2006 All-Star weekend foreshadowing comments to 'The Decision.' Loddy da, so freakin' what, right? Well, the article gets most interesting when quite possibly our very own, Joe Dumars, anonymously weighs in:
- I wanted to re-post this from Terrence J. Lynch because (a) it's awesome, and (b) I've never seen a comment on SB Nation get 27+ recs. It's a hypothetical transcript of what Ben Wallace, who signed a two-year deal with the Pistons, would have said to LBJ if he courted Big Ben to play in Miami.
- Beating a dead horse here, but there is some serious mind blowing perspective within this answer from Keith Langlois in his latest mail bag:
Even if the three win and win big, there will be complaints that they cut corners to their parades. "I guess I'm a purist, but I believe the journey to the championship is really what it's all about," says a former star who is now a league executive, and who asks to remain anonymous because he may try to acquire one of the Heat stars if their partnership fails. "It's the heartache, the ups and downs, the winning 60 games and losing in the playoffs, and then all of a sudden the breakthrough. Winning the championship is more about the journey than it is about getting three or four guys and [saying] let's win because we're so much better than everybody else. It's like if Bill Russell and Wilt Chamberlain had gotten together and said, 'Let's both play together in Chicago'—what would have been the meaning of that?"Kelly Dwyer thinks it's Joe Dumars, at least. Whoever it is, I agree with him. While I do think it's cool that three stars are friends and want to play together, and it'll certainly be entertaining to watch them play together, I'd also rather see them play against each other. I also agree with Michael Jordan, the greatest competitor of all-time, who said he would have wanted to beat them, not join them.
LeBron: Hey, Ben. You know you and I were teammates back in Cleveland. We got along pretty well. Why don’t you come down to Miami, get yourself another ring.
Ben: You know, I remember when I decided to leave the city that loved me. You remember that, don’t you?
LeBron: Kinda, yeah.
Ben: And you remember how that worked out for me?
LeBron: …Not too well.
Ben: Right. One thing I learned is that no place in the world will love me as much as Detroit did. Just like no place will love you as much as Cleveland did. And I’m not about to burn that bridge twice. You can take that offer and shove it up your ass. I’ve gotten a second chance I might not have deserved and I’m not going to squander it. I’m going to give whatever I have left to help this organization that did so much for me when no one would give me a chance. And if I never see the playoffs again, so be it.
To the contrary, the events of this summer – given the money paid to players like Travis Outlaw, Amir Johnson, Rudy Gay, et al – should reinforce the notion the Pistons were right to dive into the pool last summer, when there wasn’t nearly as much money (teams with cap space) flooding the marketplace. Would you rather have Joe Johnson making $125 million or Ben Gordon making $55 million? Villanueva or Outlaw at the same price? Unless you think the Pistons were going to be the team that convinced LeBron James and Chris Bosh to not go to South Beach – can anyone picture LeBron sitting across from Jim Gray and saying, "next season, I’ll be taking my talents to Motown?" – then it seems pretty conclusive that last summer was more conducive to shopping than this one.
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