***Official Detroit Pistons Thread***

[l3ulvl]

Re: ***Official Detroit Pistons Thread***

Anxiously scanning the trade tickers to have my day made when I see "Rodney Stuckey" involved in any kind of transaction whatsoever....

[pietasterp]

Re: ***Official Detroit Pistons Thread***

Update: Darn.

[rdnk]

Re: ***Official Detroit Pistons Thread***

Here are the expiring contracts:

Jose Calderon
Corey Maggette
Jason Maxiell
Will Bynum

Also, Rip's buyout is off the books next year. If no one is resigned, that leaves Detroit with only 35 M on the books. This is a lot of open space. First round pick will likely come in at around 2-3 M if we stay where we are at.

I imagine Maxiell and Maggette will be gone. I would think that resigning Calderon would be good thing if Dumars thinks Knight is better at the 2 than the 1. He's the best PG going to FA, unless you count CP3 who has a 95% chance of resigning in LA. No clue on what plans he has in mind for Bynum.

The big name that could be available on the wing is Andre Iguodala if he opts out, which he probably will considering he is 29. There are some other decent impending free agents, and with all the cap space, I imagine Dumars will try to use some of it to improve the team. I just hope he spends it wisely...

[redsrule]

Re: ***Official Detroit Pistons Thread***

Will Bynum needs to be resigned too. He has been an excellent role player since he got here.


Happy to see the Pistons win yesterday, but did you see MKG's dunk over Monroe? All I can say is WOW after watching him all year last year at UK I didn't know he had it in him.

http://youtu.be/khnCGF_I3dg

[pietasterp]

Re: ***Official Detroit Pistons Thread***

Maggette is gone, and Maxiell will likely get better offers and bail. I'm 50-50 on re-signing Calderon; for the right price yes, but 1-penny above what makes reasonable long-term sense and we should look for answers elsewhere. Bynum is exciting and a spark off the bench, but it will of course depend on the numbers...his defense is marginal at best, and I wouldn't say he's a key guy by any stretch of the imagination. I don't like Iguodala in principle (he seems like a guy you sign if you're 1-2 players from being a title contender), and frankly none of the free agents who will be there this summer seem worth big-money/long-term contracts. No matter what we do, this team is going to be in the weeds for at least another 1-2 years, so no sense in doing anything rash. The most important move we can probably make in the off-season is finding a head coach.

I saw that MKG dunk on Moose. With the Knight falling down thing at All-Star weekend, that pretty much sums up the Pistons organization in a nutshell. Really getting clowned and posterized a lot lately. But I don't worry about that stuff, to be honest - that's for Sportscenter and people who are all about image in the league to get excited about. I always say, if you don't get posterized once in a while, you aren't playing aggressive enough defense. Just win the games; I don't care if the other team gets all the highlights.

Still holding out hope that the 'Stones deal Stuckey in the summer, although if he's still on our roster at that point, with only 1 year left on his relatively hefty contract, it might be worth it to just suffer through with him for the sake of keeping his expiring contract for the next season. But honestly, if they re-sign Stuckey to a new deal, I may have to turn my back on this organization forever...

[pietasterp]

Re: ***Official Detroit Pistons Thread***

OK, I've seen enough...I've resisted going to the "fire the coach" place all season long, and I really don't want to see the Pistons head coaching position continue the musical chairs situation that it's been for the past decade or so, but after getting completely drilled twice last week and showing just no heart or effort, not to mention any pride whatsoever, I think it's pretty clear there has been no progress whatsoever (and maybe even some regression) and this team needs new leadership. It's not necessarily Coach Frank's fault that we aren't a top-tier team - I mean, this roster just isn't a title contender no matter who is coaching them - but to see them play like this so often with no signs at all that things are improving just makes it impossible to continue to support Lawrence Frank. We have to find someone up to the task of turning this team around, and that person does not appear to be Lawrence Frank. It can happen, we just need the right man for the job. Whoever the next Rick Carlisle is, please submit your resume...

[l3ulvl]

Re: ***Official Detroit Pistons Thread***

Without Drummond it's just painful to watch this team. How in the world did we beat the Spurs?

I wanna believe Dumars can remake this roster, but he's the one that built it this way

[pietasterp]

Re: ***Official Detroit Pistons Thread***

....aaaannnnndddd, done. Another pointless season. See you guys at the draft for some wild speculation!

Say it with me, 'Stones fans: There's always next year.

[redsrule]

Re: ***Official Detroit Pistons Thread***

Regarding the draft, we need a point or a 3 imo. BK is more suited to the 2, and unless we re-sign Calderon (which we should try to do) we need a starting caliber guy. Otto Porter is shooting up draft boards, then there's Marcus Smart who is awesome as well. All depends on how the lottery goes. Knowing the Pistons luck though they'll get the #1 pick this year in a terrible draft class.

[l3ulvl]

Re: ***Official Detroit Pistons Thread***

Regarding the draft, we need a point or a 3 imo. BK is more suited to the 2, and unless we re-sign Calderon (which we should try to do) we need a starting caliber guy. Otto Porter is shooting up draft boards, then there's Marcus Smart who is awesome as well. All depends on how the lottery goes. Knowing the Pistons luck though they'll get the #1 pick this year in a terrible draft class.

I like both those guys. I'd gladly take #1 and get McLemore though!

I think we'll be in good position to get a nice guard or sf.

McLemore and Shabazz will probably be gone before we pick, but that still leaves Burke, MCW, Porter, Smart, Poythress, Goodwin, and Oladipo. Let the other teams take Nerlens, Zeller, Len, Austin, and the other bigs so a wing, point, or shooter can fall to us

[pietasterp]

Re: ***Official Detroit Pistons Thread***

Gave up 70 at the half to the Clips...way to show some Motown pride, fellas. They should roll out a new motto: "Goin' to Sleep".

More interesting than who we will draft is, I think, who will be our coach. This is embarrassing. The team is moving backwards at this point.

[23]

Re: ***Official Detroit Pistons Thread***

Does anyone know what Dumars' plan is after this year?

Are they making a move, staying put, taking time to rebuild...what is it?

[l3ulvl]

Re: ***Official Detroit Pistons Thread***

Does anyone know what Dumars' plan is after this year?

Are they making a move, staying put, taking time to rebuild...what is it?

Your guess is as good as ours but I'd say taking time to rebuild. It kinda looks like he's going to make a run at Josh Smith, but I hope the plan is to use that money down the road on extensions for Monroe and Drummond. We need a primary scorer and a wing, so maybe he's hoping to sign Mayo and draft Porter, it's hard to say, but that would bump Knight to a reserve role if he does re-sign Calderon like he says he plans to. Hopefully he'll get the team to be on the rise when Miami is finally on the decline

[23]

Re: ***Official Detroit Pistons Thread***

Well see...who is he going to build around?

That is the first question that needs to be answered.

[l3ulvl]

Re: ***Official Detroit Pistons Thread***

Well see...who is he going to build around?

That is the first question that needs to be answered.

I don't think it's 1 person to build around as much as 1 pairing, the frontcourt of Monroe and Drummond could be special and all resources should be spent ensuring they remain together & then plugging the other holes. Andre at this point has no offense other than putbacks and oops, but his defense has been light years beyond expectations. Monroe on the other hand kinda sucks defensively, but Drummond can offset that, and offensively the scheme would ideally run through Monroe in the high post which considering his passing ability could mask Drummond's weakness and actually set him up for more "around the rim" opportunities where he excels.

Right now the wildcard is Knight. He's showing a lot of flashes as a scorer, not so much as a distributor. The problem is he's a bit undersized to be a 2, and I think his absolute ceiling is Jamal Crawford, so his future could be as a 6th man getting near-starter minutes. Calderon isn't exactly a long term answer at PG though, so a player like Burke becomes a draft candidate along with a scorer or wing (Oladipo?). Basically there's still a lot of work to do lol, but with Monroe and Drummond we at least have some idea of where to build.