Coming into the offseason, we had alot of goals in mind. Sign billups,Dice and Amir to extentions. Find a backup for Tay and Billups. That was our biggest need in mind. Next was to do something about Nazr and Webber(our 5 spot in other words) and do something withmurray and hunter to an extent.

In the draft, I was hoping to take a 3 with the 15 while taking a 1 with the 27. Instead we take a combo guard wih the 15 and a guard with the 27. Neither are pure point guards or a complete small forward. Problem? Well it was until we saw our rooks in the summer league. Overall, I'm satisfied with the Stuckey and Afflalo pick.

Next on our list was to get a backup for tay because we failed to draft a 3 in the draft. We could have easily found one in Barnes or Pietrus but due to us signing Amir for a ton of money, our cap space was limited. Instead we picked up an often injured shooter who hasn't reached his full potential yet. Best of all, we are still under the cap. Not much risk here.

However, I'm still angry that we couldn't find a take for Nazr and Flip. Many teams could use a center who provides height and a presence in the paint or a scoring combo guard. I'm also angry that we have no real center with DD and Webbber gone. Samb doesn't cut it unless he magically becomes buff as hell. A Haywood for Nazr trade would have made so much fucking sense for both teams:emo kid:

Lindsey Hunter has an ugly contract. Cut him, put him in a nice suit upstairs, dont give him a uniform and let him play again.

Overall my grade?

A b-. We addressed our biggest task, resigning Billups, but we still failed to fill out our agenda.

tough q.

i was pleased w/ signing chauncy and amir to imo reasonable k's. im not particularly pleased with the draft, and i see no indication that we're about to head back to the championship contender stage.

therefore, im inclined to give a c/b range. b would be we'd have as good an offseason as i could have expected. A being better than i'd have hoped.

im pretty certain its not an A. ill watch these rooks for a bit but im not impressed by summer league. lets see them earn real pt and then prove it before we praise their worth. we all love maxiell but how much has he helped the team? his fault or not, he's only imapacted a handful of games.

I think I'd go with a C+ to a B-. We accomplished 2/3 of our main goals.

Pluses:

We finally found Chauncey and Rip what looks like a solid backup. We've needed a guy we can trust to come in and play solid minutes behind them and Stuckey looks like he can be that guy. He also fills that slasher role we've desperately needed. Delfino and Murray just never quite fit that mold like we thought they would.

We helped out the locker room by dropping Delfino. I loved him and was one of the guys always rooting for him to get a chance and pan out but it was obvious he was a negative pressence in the locker room. That move was addition by subtraction.

We did finally fill our bench with young talent, which everyone has been calling for for years now. We have Stuckey, Afflalo, Mejia (if he makes the team), Amir, Max, and Samb. That's a plethora of young talent that will keep developing as the year goes on.

We got our guys resigned.

Minuses:

Yes, we found Chauncey and Rip a backup with the 15, but that's really all the draft landed us. Afflalo is a decent defensive replacement, but in the summer league he showed no semblance of an offensive game. His shot was flat game in and game out. Maybe if he works on that and develops into a defensive stopper who can knock down the open shot enough to keep teams honest I'll call it solid, but until then I think we had other needs after we landed Stuckey.

I don't understand why we still have Flip Murray around. Isn't Stuckey supposed to be a better version of this guy? Unless we're waiting for the right deal to come along or we think his expiring contract will be worth something at the deadline, move him for a draft pick or package him with someone to bring in a center.

Speaking of centers, we did nothing to shore up that position. Samb is going to spend the season in the D-League, leaving us with only Nazr. Maybe he's learned the system enough to come in and be semi-decent for us this year, but Flip never felt comfortable using him last year and he's foul prone. I still think a Nazr for Haywood deal would have been solid for both teams. Neither have much to lose in that scenario and you never know what a change of scenery can do for a guy. Come on Joe, take a chance on a still young, still somewhat raw bigman.

We still have Flip Saunders.

I guess that I'm tougher than you guys.

I give Detroit a C-

Billups was resigned for a reasonable contract but in the end there were very few suitors for him. Amir is back as is Mcdyess but I think that we might have paid Dice a tad much.

I was disappointed by our draft for again failing to meet the teams needs. We needed a back-up PG, SF, and a C. We got three combo guards. Delfino is gone but Acker wasn't brought over. I'm really curious to see what he can do.

Like the rest of you, I wonder why Hunter and Dupree are still around. I'm less worried about Flip until Stucky proves himself a bit. Most of all I am worried because this team has NO CENTER. Nazr is a stop gap at best. With C Webb. and DD gone, we are papaer thin and I think this team will suffer because of it.

Finally, the ownership's cheapness along with holding onto some stiffs has caused us to lose out on some pretty good and reasonably priced free agents and/or trades. I'm not going to go into names but this team could be much better than it is. Some things can still be fixed but as for now, a C- is all the Pistons get.

A+

Grade C
On the plus side is retaining Amir (future star) and drafting Stuckey

On the negative side... re-signing Dice to a longer deal wen he could have been a valuable trading chip... while effecting the development of Amir.

I'm also not excited about the long term deal for C.B.... after watching him play swiss cheese D last year and fold in the playoffs I'm not sure he won't finish his career with fat-cat-itis.... this will be a regretable contract after this year.

I hated the Hayes signing... when Patterson & Posey were still available.... those guys can actually D up.... we needed toughness at that position to compensate for Tay.

That said I'm sure Joe still has something still in the works... the grade should be "incomplete" until after the preseason.

Good thread Cross.

ill bet joe doesnt have something in the works. other than a very minor deal to open a roster spot for hayes, i dont think we're doing anything else.

Good thread, good replies.

I gotta go with a D.
Two first roundes, not really having a hole that any available rookie could fill, and no trade? No big free agents. Very lackluster.

I gotta go with a D.
Two first roundes, not really having a hole that any available rookie could fill, and no trade? No big free agents. Very lackluster.

Yes very boring, but we did the small things that still made us contenders.

Imagine that we drafted Nick Young and took McRoberts, not resigning billups, then signing Mo Williams to a huge ass contract. Lackluster? Nop, but thats a shit team compared to what we have now.

I was too expecting a big trade, not a Delfino for 2009 2nd round picks...

I think "letter grades" and the words in my mind are:

C is for Center

Stuckey seems like a keeper, and we signed Amir and Chauncey to reasonable deals, but I have a hard time going beyond C when we need a C.

oops, double post

Langlois Reference
Fuckin' cogent.

I'm actually going to go with somewhere between a C+ and B-. I think it's not too great because we didn't make any one move that would really make sure we're a top team and we didn't take care of all of the problems we had from last season. But at the same time we did make some little moves that seem (at least right now in August) to be all right and, well, you gotta give some points for not making any stupid and/or crippling moves during the offseason.