McGrady Signs 1 Year Deal Per The DetNews

Terrico White was a lotto prospect at one point. Let's hope he still is.

T-Mac was a superstar at one point, let's hope he still is (while not realizing it).

Let's just hope.

White should absolutely spend a lot of time in the NBDL. That league is a guard's league - in particular a PG's league. The agreement is that players sent down by the NBA teams play huge minutes.

IMO, this is a total no-brainer. I am really intrigued by this kid. A future backcourt of Stuckey, White, Gordon and Daye is what I'm hoping for - although I also really like Bynum. I think our team could have an incredibly dynamic for a lot of years. But the GM and coaches have really tough choices to make as we sort this out.

Me too, although our success seems to come in bunches, so lets hope all 3 exceed our expectations

Wait!!! What number is Tracy McGrady wearing? Someone hurry up and tell me!

He's #1.

Never mind. I ran a google search on "Tracy McGrady Pistons Number" and found the Ball Don't Lie article excoriating Joe for the trade and the number choice. I mean I think the trade is fine, I'm not wild about it or anything but it'll be interesting if nothing else to see how it all works out. But the number. What is Joe thinking? Just because he can't have 3 because the highly esteemed Rodney Stuckey has it (when it really belongs back with Ben and EVERYONE knows THAT) doesn't mean 1 is the only acceptable alternative. Who was the last superstar vet that came in who was #3 and couldn't have it and ended up as #1? Seriously, they couldn't give Tracy #5 or something. It's like he's the #1, but he's the backup behind Tay? Impressions matter. Don't lay that #1 thing on him, let's go into this thing with moderate expectations. Joe just can't help himself. On a more selfish note, this dates my authentic Iverson jersey. Puts a time stamp on it.

And whoever made that comment about sleepeyed guys wearing #1, I know you must have been talking about Chauncey who looks like he's about to nod off right before he squares up for his 3's because it's just way too much energy for him to take five more steps for a layup. I know you weren't talking about AI, who has the most beautiful eyes in the history of the NBA. LOL. ROFL. Well he really does. They're not sleepy, baby, they're deep.

Aw...Thanks Laimbs! Good to know that the forum never sleeps!

Some of us left coasters are still awake ......watching "The Wedding Singer" on the FX channel

PISTONS: Camp Questions

In summary:

This year...
Stuckey will be better and will impose his personality on the team
Bynum will be better because he will be in better shape
McGrady was the steal of FA and will come back as an all-star
Villanueva will be better because his stride has improved and he lost lbs.
Rip, Gordon, and Prince are just plain special.
Daye is an up and comer and has been working really hard over the summer
Jerebko is very dependable
Monroe is even better than we thought when we drafted him
Ben Wallace is a lock for the starting position because of his toughness and all around awesomeness.
If Maxiell picks up where he left off... then lookout starters.


Sounds like another Championship at the Palace to me!!!

The Pistons just signed a new sneaker deal..........

Hmmm, Stuckey? He is already pretty good on offense. Its his defense that needs improving, particularly in regards to not getting lost at picks. But I would take him as is, with no improvement, and be ok with him on a championship team.

Bynum was injured pretty much all last season with a serious ankle sprain. If he is healthy, he is far better than what we saw last season.

If McGrady is an all-star, he won't last the season. Lets hope that he is as good as Tay, in shorter minutes, and that between Tay and TMAC the two can cover all the small forward minutes while neither of them is overplayed.

Villanueva. At his best, he is a fine offensive player. And driven to try on defense, he ain't the worst big, what with all that length he has. Here's to hoping he simply stays healthy, on top of his game. No major minutes, just part of the mix up front.

Rip and Gordon. The best these two can do for us - keep all their minutes at shooting guard. About 24 minutes for each. With Rip out there just half the time, his bad influence on our offense won't totally ruin the team. As bad as he is at it sometimes, he should dedicate this year to busting it to the hoop at a 2-1 rate vs. shooting off picks; picks which the whole team drops everything else for to set for him.

Summers, JJ, Daye, and White. If TMAC, Rip, Gordon, and Tay, properly handle all the minutes at shooting guard and small forward, while Bynum and Stuckey man the point well, the minutes for these 4 youngsters will be hard to come by.

JMAX, Monroe, Ben Wallace. Three guys who can defend at center for us. Along with CV, they could be a four man rotation for bigs.

To sum this up:

Start Stuckey, Rip, Tay, Monroe, Ben Wallace

2nd unit: Bynum, Gordon, TMAC, CV, JMAX.

Fighting for the role of fifth big: JJ and Summers

Vying for a role as a spare small forward: Daye

Vying for a role as a spare shooting guard: White.

Hoping to have a career as a spare big: Wilcox.

In camp, and early in the season, use an inclusive rotation. Give guys like Daye and White, etc. a legitimate shot at minutes in the rotation. The last thing on earth I want to see is a repeat of last year, where Q decided halfway thru camp who was going to play, and who was sitting and not playing at all. Q saw how that plays out. Hopefully, he will choose a winning formula of inclusion this time.

This could be our deepest team ever.

No scrubs. No Will Bynums (before he broke out), no Horrace Jenkins, Smush Parkers, Will Blalocks, etc.

No real under the radar underdogs scrapping for a few GT minutes.

Yep as long as the Q knows how to manage this potential [STRIKE]contender[/STRIKE] pretender.

Stuckey will be better because of six major factors:

1. He has gained experience at the point guard position and been heavily criticized that he has ignored certain leadership qualities this positions demands.
2. The teams talent level (at least in the beginning of the season will be solid and healthy) will be further advanced beyond the transitional question mark in expectations from a rookie coach.
3. New additions (Gordon_Villanueva) now bring a larger comfort level on how they might fit via starts, bench and coaching expectations.
4. Bynum as a true PG, will mark his turf and expectations from his personality might fit into the right "starting" point guard position. This latter point depends on the offensive style and how the mesh from the bench performs.
5. T-Mac shifts the role of leadership within this team structure. His three position status will demand more aggressive play making that will challenge Stuckey. The two position will be a dog fight and the PG's best not be in the way of head-down dominance as shown in the past.
6. He will be in his major contract year. His agent might well begin the bidding process beyond a MLE. For this to happen, his level of leadership level should have numbers of 16/8 in proportion of 30 minutes or less.

Perhaps another look at three factors:

1. He will be healthy
2. He has signed a major contract
3. Much faith goes a long ways and recent PR from the organization has made a point that the PG position is his to lose, from a potential leadership level.

Hardly. But he has much to prove. More importantly, he has had major PR status and performance levels tend to magnify associative responses. What I mean by this is that activity and awareness levels from on-court-play-making tend to bring a different sense of heighten concentration. Everyone tends to accelerate involvement. In a minor level of psychology, everyone does not want to be the obvious laggard...best to point elsewhere.

This may be. The results from this is all mental attitude. No one questions his offensive ability. He may be challenged that certain maturation levels have (in the beginning of expectation) become easy to obtain...with a wink toward original, innate talent. These times are much meaner. Substitutions and heavily invested financial obligations (free agent 2009) have a short fuse for immediate ROI. Talent expectations are no longer fused with isolated arbitrations and unless you have a powerful brand association, the white whale will expect his due (Moby Dick). As the Palace box seats becomes more off-limits and those high paying altitudes become more strigent...there is a price to pay. He might want to stay off twitter and let his actions speak.

Rip and Prince are huge carry-overs. Each as a specific goal and a reaction on how they approach those goals. These reactions are tainted by competitive influence. Prince is the most vulnerable, because he has a genuine talent breathing down his neck (T-Mac). This latter talent has a curious side effect...over-aggressive talent display is past history. The missing placement for the Pistons, that needs filling, is a particular vacuum... called leadership. T_Mac was a sidestep and this may turn out to be happenstance. Many times happenstance lead to "fat tails" (Critical Mass: How One Thing Leads to Another; Philip Ball, pg. 242, ISBN#0099457865).

Well, his energy never lessens his movement forward. For youth, this is good enough.

I look forward in how his minutes play out in the NBA.

Yep. Absolutely, no one tougher.

In the game of hop-scotch and after the introduction of the start...who determines the direction of what is to become? Are you or have you, been moving forward or backward?

I promise you that in the joy and laughter of the festival nobody will....dare to put a sinister interpretation on your sudden return to human shape.
Apuleius

Don't know if it's been posted before, but a mate sent me this...


Hahaha

That was great........

McGrady home jersey is even monogramed appropiately......DNP