Trade deadline goes by and the Pistons stand pat. people on other forums are burning effigies of Joe and buying voodoo dolls off ebay. The team is developing chemistry and succeeding so I don't mind not having a trade mid-season. We need a shake up in the offseason though.
I am in the small group that only wanted a trade that made the team better short and long term... I don't get the trade for trade's sake when the team is coming together... Something has to be done this summer to get rid of CV I feel, I don't see him being a part of the rebuild... A vet big man needs to come in to take Ben's spot, have to hope that the draft pick can take max's spot and max can take JJ's spot. JJ getting his mins at the backup 3 I think makes us better. My hopes for the summer... 1. CV, Daye, Bynum, and maybe Ben G traded away for whatever we can get. 2. An athletic 4/5 to start next to Monroe. 3. A vet to start the year at the 4/5 willing to shift to 1st big off the bench as the rook is ready to start. 4. A vet PG that is willing to come off the bench to give us depth there. 5. Catch lightning in the bottle with our 2nd round draft pick in either another Big or an athletic wing player.
Looks like the Pistons were at least semi-active in looking for a big. http://www.freep.com/article/201203...hris-kaman?odyssey=mod|newswell|text|Sports|p
Dumars definitely gambles and hopes to add Kaman to rosters w/o sacrificing his only valuable tradeable piece (Maxiell). He wants to compete desperately for PO spot next year instead of drafting somewhere 5 and 15 every year, and no revenue from attendance. I have no doubt - Gores wants to see profits entually and PO hunting teams in NBA generally speaking, sell. To get to top dog from drafting - you need insane amount of luck and only one from several teams gets it and from Dumars/Gores perspective - this gamble is not worth of it. And Dumars did not hire lawless frankenstein for tanking.
No moves due to Dumars thinking that none were in the long term interest of the Pistons. He could have a point but he also seems to be in a trade slump. Maybe a lateral move to get the gears working again would have been a good thing. Two players IMO should have been moved - Maxiel and JJ. Maxiel while he is still playing good and JJ while people still think he has potential. JJ does have potential as a scorer but thats what we have CV for - and CV is better at it. Maxiel and JJ could have been moved for a backup big and this also would have opened up room for CV. Team gets tougher up front and moves 2 bad contracts off the books. Maybe this summer.
I think Jerebko is worth $4.5 million. He has played just a little more than one season in this league. The guy has some skills, some basketball smarts, and he works hard at both ends of the floor. There have been times when he has disappointed this season, but I think he's a keeper.
Would you rather pay Jerebko 4.5 or this Max 5.whatever he makes? That is not a faIr question, I suppose, but I'd rather pay the post all star break Max. Doesn't it seem like JJ has a reputation as a defensive stopper/can guard 3, 4 and possibly 2's/grinder when he's really all offense?
Dumars talked about it in another article - you can't give up on your young guys simply because they're not reaching their potential as fast as you want them to. That's the difficult part of the deal, I assume - recognizing when a player has reached his ceiling before everyone else has - but Stuckey is a good example of that patience being important. If you keep making lateral moves, all you're doing is dancing instead of running.
I feel like Stuckey, Maxiell, and Jerebko are all playing to their contracts right now. Monroe is outplaying his contract by a huge multiple. Of course Maxeill and Jerebko have weaknesses, that's why they don't make the big bucks. $5M is nothing for a big man that is actually in the rotation and out of their rookie contract. COMPARABLES: B. Miller- $5M Milicic- $5M J. O'Neal- $6M Nocioni- $6.7M Amir- $5.5M Kleiza- $4.6m Walton- $5.7M Kwame- $7M Zaza- $4.8M Tyrus- $7.3M Diop- $6.9M Blatche- $6.4M Haywood- $7.6M Camby- $9.3M Dalembert- $7M Harrington- $6.2M Turiaf- $4.4M C Andersen- $4.2M Thabeet- $5.1M Nazr- $3.8M Favors- $4.4M Chuck Hayes- $5.2M There is a very strong market at the $4M to $7M range for flawed big man. You have to have them on your team to fill out your roster and to provide depth.
Ellis was +33 in his first game with Milwaukee- and it was against Golden State. That must have felt nice.
The top spot looks like a tough cookie to crack but could Joe reach the top 2? Pistons’ trade drought the 12th longest of all time, will move into 11th « PistonPowered
His 3 overriding principals: 1) my hands are tied 2) I don't want to make trades for the sake of making trades 3) If it's broke, change the coach.
Interesting. Pistons the third team since 1970. Had a look at the other two teams since then. The 89-92 Pacers had a young core of Miller, Chuck Person, Smits and Schrempf. In their trade drought they drafted Antonio and Dale Davis, drafted Malik Sealy and signed Micheal Williams as a FA. Was a quiet period transaction-wise. After 3 seasons of hovering around .500 they ended their trade drought by trading Person and Micheal Williams for Pooh Richardson and Sam Mitchell. It wasn't until the next season they traded Schrempf for McKey, signed Byron Scott and traded for Mark Jackson before they became contenders. The 99-02 Wolves started with a young core of KG, Szczerbiak and Terrell Brandon. They went through a tough time in this era with Sealy killed in a car accident and being stripped of 5 first round draft picks for the Joe Smith signing. One would have thought they would be more active on the trade block losing all those picks, but they signed a number of FA's instead including Billups and LaPhonso Ellis. Ended their drought by trading Dean Garrett and a future 2nd rounder for Marc Jackson. Not really the drought-breaker of the century. The year after they would go on to trade for Cassell and Sprewell in separate deals to form the team that went to the WCF. There are some similarities here with this Pistons team. We now have a young core, but if the Gordon and CV signings don't produce soon, we'll need to get some roster turnover going.
