Pistons Extend Maxiell; Sign G Fitch

Posted Oct 1 2007 4:29PM

AUBURN HILLS, Mich., Oct. 1 (AP) -- The Detroit Pistons exercised their option to extend forward Jason Maxiell's contract through the 2008-09 season on Monday, and signed guard Gerald Fitch.

Maxiell, who was drafted with the 26th pick overall in 2005, is expected to play a key role in Detroit this season.

He played a career-high 67 games last season, averaging five points, nearly three rebounds and almost a block in 14 minutes a game. In the eight games he started, he averaged 8.8 points, 5.6 rebounds and 2.3 blocks in 26-plus minutes.

"Jason is a tough, physical player on the front line who continues to grow and mature within our system,'' Pistons president of basketball operations Joe Dumars said in a statement. "We look forward to the contributions he will bring this season and beyond.''

Fitch played in Europe last season after being cut by the Washington Wizards.

He played in 18 games for the Miami Heat during the 2005-06 season and averaged 4.7 points, 1.7 rebounds, 1.8 assists and 13.3 minutes.

Does anyone understand the timing of the Maxiell thing?

Why now?

Fitch has to be just a training camp dummy.

Fitch has to be just a training camp dummy.

I prefer that he has been signed for Maxiel's dinner.

That is a stolen line, btw.

Maxiell's extension was done to coincide with media day, I imagine.

Pistons Feed Maxiell Raw Meat; Sign C Fodder
Fixed.

Muchas gracias, Senor.

If anything, this would be to motivate our drafted guards to work even harder.

Or either that Murrays outtie.

Does anyone understand the timing of the Maxiell thing?

Why now?



My guess is to show him his hard work is being noticed and rewarded. Perhaps to send a message that if he plays well enough he could start with Sheed.

It's just accepting his option, right?

Yeah, they exercised the option, but I'm still not sure why now.

They weren't facing a deadline of any kind.

If he has a career-ender this year, they've screwed themselves.

I don't have a problem keeping/extending Maxiell, I'm just struggling with the timing, that's all.

If he explodes they also save themselves money by not having to extend him too I am sure. Perhaps this is a sign of him getting the starting nod?

If he has a big year, they could just exercise the option then, no difference.

Maybe somebody needs to email Keith Langlois to get to the bottom of this.

If he has a big year, they could just exercise the option then, no difference.

But what if he asks for an extension based on his good play? Wouldn't this push that big money back a year and save them a lot off the cap for a year? I suppose they could say no, we are extending your original contract, but that would be shitty. Doing it now shows a commitment, and is cheaper for them in the long run if he does explode and wants bigger money.

But what if he asks for an extension based on his good play? Wouldn't this push that big money back a year and save them a lot off the cap for a year? I suppose they could say no, we are extending your original contract, but that would be shitty.


Well, that's what happened to Melo, Bosh, Wade, and every other rookie contract, so I can't see Jason Maxiel getting too pissed.

I'm thinking its just to show a commitment to him and to keep his confidence up. They know they're going to do it eventually, so they did it now to get him going at the beginning of the season. Rewarding your employees for hard work is always a good idea. Remember, this is a business fellas.

I can buy that to some degree, but taking on the injury risk, unnecessarily, pretty much nullifies the "it's a business" rationale, IMO.

How much extra is he really banking in the extra year? Unless its a career ending injury, the Pistons would exercise the option anyway because he won't be making much so its worth the risk.

$1.87 mil is what I've seen everywhere. Not a huge risk IMO.

It's still risking $2m for no reason (not typical Davidson, for sure).

I know I'm nitpicking, but I still don't see a valid reason to pick up the option now.

You can't get the guy to go $1 over the luxury tax, but he's willing to jump the gun to pick up an option year for no tangible reason.

Frustrating.

It's still risking $2m for no reason (not typical Davidson, for sure).

I know I'm nitpicking, but I still don't see a valid reason to pick up the option now.

You can't get the guy to go $1 over the luxury tax, but he's willing to jump the gun to pick up an option year for no tangible reason.

Frustrating.

Even if he gets hit by a truck and can't play this year or next they still need to use the option to activate his RFA status Glenn. All it means is Dumars wants to control his contract status and he's seen enough of him to know it's not going to come back to bite him.

True.

But what good are having his RFA rights if he has a career-ending injury during the season?

Unlikely? Absolutely. Impossible? No.

As far as I can tell, the Pistons would lose no benefit by waiting on this.

Unnecessary risk, which is out of character, IMO.

Maybe he asked them to do it.

Maybe Joe saw our board and knew we needed more to talk about.

Maybe he was threatening to eat some employees' babies if they didn't extend him.

Glenn,

The option on a rookie contract must be exercised by October 31st. If it isn't, the player would be a unrestricted free agent.

In Maxiell's case, the Pistons would have Bird rights, but only up to $1.04 million. If they wanted to sign him to anything more than that, they would have to dip in to the MLE.

Extension was a poor choice of words, IMO. It was simply exercising the option, which based on Maxiell's play was a no-brainer move.

This explains it a little bit more.
http://members.cox.net/lmcoon/salarycap.htm#41

Glenn,

Shags knows way more about contracts than you do.

Also, it is "extension" not "extention," dumbass . . . .

(and giffman kicks your ass at spelling)

pwned.

How much sleep did Glenn lose over this I wonder?

The rest of you guys need to step your game up.

We can't be relying on shags to come in and save the day with the knowledge all the time.

All I wanted to know is why was Davidson not being frugal/cheap THIS time.

I'm comforted in knowing that he hasn't changed his ways.

You thought he would? For SHAME!

:mccosky:

Another quick note: Some of you have asked why I didn't make a big deal about Jason Maxiell getting a contract extension. He didn't get a contract extension. The Pistons simply picked up the fourth year of his rookie contract. It was just a book-keeping move; one that I reported they would do on Monday. Next year, they will try to negotiate a contract extension.

Why, oh why, can't we all be as smart, as funny, as likable, as insightful and as dead sexy as Chris McCosky?