Glenn
01-07-2008, 03:33 PM
Monday, January 7, 2008
Harsh (Rochester): I’m worried about letting the Celtics win in Detroit. Do you think the Pistons are a little concerned now? And why did the NBA make the Pistons play Dallas and San Antonio back to back?
Langlois: I think the Pistons recognized the Celtics as their biggest obstacle in the Eastern Conference before the game and still do. If by “concerned” you mean “intimidated” or “lacking confidence,” then, no. If it comes to a seven-game series between these teams, as it appears likely, it’s going to come down to half-court execution and shot-making in the last five minutes of practically every game, most likely.
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Colleen (Ann Arbor): Could you tell me how many minutes did our starting five played in the game against Boston? How many minutes did the Celtics’ guys play?
Langlois: Paul Pierce played 46 to lead everybody. Kevin Garnett only played 32 because he sat 13 first-half minutes with three fouls. Ray Allen only played 28 after getting in some second-half foul trouble. Chauncey Billups played 41 and Rip Hamilton 40. Rasheed Wallace played 36. More than they’ve been playing, but nobody was using fatigue as a crutch. Even though it was their third game in four nights and the second of a back-to-back, the light load they played in December because of all the blowouts has them as fresh as could be expected for this point of the season.
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Ken (Mount Clemens): The Pistons shot way too many jump shots against Boston. Big mistake by Flip in keeping Maxiell on the bench so long. Finally, Boston did what Cleveland did to Chauncey in the playoffs, doubling him and forcing him further from the basket.
Langlois: They didn’t try attacking inside enough, that’s for sure. That’s why it’s going to be important that Rodney Stuckey gets fully acclimated – what he offers is going to be vital when the playoffs arrive and offensive execution becomes more and more difficult. Maxiell played almost 30 minutes, more than he’s accustomed to playing, and wasn’t nearly as active in the second half as he’d been in the first. The lack of production from McDyess was telling. He’s been terrific so far this season and a big part of Detroit’s success. When he’s knocking down those 18-footers, it makes it difficult to pack the lane, as Boston prefers to do. Boston did a nice job of trapping Billups, but I don’t think it rose to the level of disruption that Cleveland caused in the playoffs.
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Ron: Your quote from the live chat on Pistons.com during the Boston game: “If I could add anything, it would be a dangerous stand-still jump shooter – a latter-day Steve Kerr.”
Langlois: It’s sort of telling that off the top of my head I had to go back to a guy who’s been retired for several seasons to find an example of a terrific jump shooter, Ron. There aren’t a lot of guys like that around. There are some decent shooters out there – Chucky Atkins, Travis Deiner, Daniel Gibson, Jason Kapono and Kyle Korver come to mind. But a guy like Kerr was so valuable because he could come off the bench cold, play four or five minutes and knock down a couple of 3-pointers, then go sit for the rest of the half and do it again in the second half. It won’t be easy to find someone like that because everybody wants one and there aren’t enough to go around.
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Prasad (Los Angeles): I noticed against Boston that Flip didn’t employ any zone, which I think would befuddle Eddie House and Boston’s reserves. Do you think he’s saving something for the playoffs?
Langlois: Good observation, Prasad. I didn’t ask him about it. My hunch is that he’s leery of leaving that much room for the shooters Boston can put on the floor – Allen, Pierce, House and Posey are all very good perimeter shooters and Garnett is a great passer out of the middle. The Celtics might not be the team to try to zone.
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Cassandra: I and others thought the first points of the game against Boston for the Pistons came on a Billups 3-point shot and then Maxiell was 1 of 2 from the line, but the score did not change. Was Billups’ shot a two-pointer?
Langlois: No, Billups hit a triple to open the scoring. But Maxiell missed both of his free throws.
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Nick (Gregory): I love what I’ve seen from Rodney Stuckey so far, but my question is can he shoot the 3 ball? I checked out his stats at Eastern Washington and he shot .317 from the 3-point line.
Langlois: He shot 37 percent in his first year at EW and 27 his second. I asked him about that last summer and he said the dropoff was mostly due to shot selection. He had the ball in his hands so much in college and had to carry his team’s offense so completely that he often wound up having to take ill-advised shots late in the shot clock because nothing else was happening. Shooting range almost always improves as a player matures. It’s the one thing scouts allow for when looking at young players. Poor rebounders rarely become good rebounders and poor shot-blockers don’t become shot-blockers. But poor shooters routinely develop into competent or even very good shooters. No. 1, when basketball is your job, you have more time to work on it than when you were a college student. No. 2, a young player who is athletically superior to other high school and college players – as Stuckey clearly was – relies on that athleticism to beat defenders off the dribble and get to the rim. When that doesn’t work as often at the NBA level, the shot is developed. There isn’t anything about Stuckey that makes me think he won’t add a foot or two to his range for each of the next three or four seasons so that by the time he’s 26 or 27 he’s a 3-point threat.
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Kirby (Philippines): Rasheed Wallace’s playing time has been cut and so have his stats. Is this Flip’s way of resting the guys for the playoffs or a sign that he is losing confidence in him?
Langlois: It’s certainly not a lack of confidence in him, Kirby. It’s being done with the playoffs in mind in the sense that everything the Pistons do is done with postseason success in mind. What I mean is that Wallace could play heavier minutes now, if needed, and still be fresh and effective for the playoffs, which don’t start for more than 100 days. But they also will need contributions from players like Jason Maxiell in the playoffs, and the playing time the Pistons have entrusted to him this season has been handsomely rewarded. Depth is one of the Pistons’ chief assets.
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Pat (Florida): I get tired of people wanting to make changes when the Pistons have the best bench and team in all of basketball. Do not mess with what works.
Langlois: I think Joe Dumars is more inclined to your thinking, Pat. He did his heavy lifting over the summer when he drafted Rodney Stuckey and Arron Afflalo, re-signed Chauncey Billups and Amir Johnson and added Jarvis Hayes as a free agent. Dumars is also looking for ways to improve the roster and he’ll make more moves if he sees something that benefits the team now and into the future. That’s why he did the Nazr Mohammed trade when he did even though the team was experiencing great success – it positioned them for a better off-season financially with the chance to improve the roster for tomorrow. So never say never, but I would think it’s unlikely there’ll be any new faces on the postseason roster.
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Travis (East Lansing): How do you see our five young guys – Stuckey, Afflalo, Maxiell, Johnson and Samb – eventually making their way into the starting lineup? It seems like next year all of them should be getting a lot more minutes and maybe even one or two should and deserve to be NBA starters. The problem is that our current starting five will all still be there and should assume the same roles.
Langlois: That’s not a problem from where I’m sitting, Travis. If the Pistons still have those five guys coming off their bench next year, then you know they’ll be a very solid team again. Will they ever be a starting unit together in the NBA? Hard to say. Not sure there’s enough perimeter shooting in that group, but they are all very useful players who the Pistons count as assets in whatever way they want to use them.
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Paul (Detroit): Whatever happened to former Piston Jerome “Junkyard Dog” Williams? I remember he was playing with Toronto, but haven’t heard anything about him for a while/
Langlois: He retired from the Knicks before the 2005-06 season and in January 2006 went to work for the Raptors as their “community representative” – sort of a goodwill ambassador.
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Tom (Beverly Hills): Do you know of any teams that will pick up Ronald Dupree? Will Cheikh Samb go back to the D-League soon? And is Sammy Mejia on the Pistons’ radar now that he is healthy and playing well in the D-League.
Langlois: I’ve not heard of anyone interested in Dupree, but he’d be a good signing for teams with roster openings because he’s what you’re looking for at the end of your bench – a great team guy who’ll practice hard and make your rotation players match his work ethic. The plan is for Samb to soak up lots of D-League time when the time is right. Mejia is on their radar, but they don’t own his rights and don’t have a roster spot currently available, so if another NBA team gives him a call he’ll be off their radar that fast.
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Clifford (Detroit): Who would you give the edge to in a seven-game series between the 2004 Pistons and this season’s Pistons?
Langlois: Four years ago at this time, those Pistons had not yet made the trade for Rasheed Wallace. They were a vastly different team after the deal. We tend to remember how they destroyed the Lakers in the Finals, but let’s not forget they were nearly eliminated in the second round by New Jersey when they had to win a road Game 6 to stave off elimination before coming back to win Game 7. My point isn’t that they weren’t a great team – it’s to remind everyone of how fine the line can be. I think this team is capable of winning it all. I think it has room for improvement as Rodney Stuckey shakes off the rust and emerges as the force I think he’ll be. But we’ll never really know which team was better, this one of the one from four years ago.
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Kevin (Lathrup Village): After Walter Herrmann’s first-rate reverse layup against Indiana, Greg Kelser commented on how huge his hands are. I remember when Carlos Delfino was drafted, Joe Dumars talked enthusiastically about how big his hands were. Do you see any similarities or differences between the two?
Langlois: Greg compared it to a Connie Hawkins move. It had an unmistakable Dr. J element to it, as well. Now, we’re not comparing Herrmann to those all-timers, but it was an eye-catching play. I never noticed Delfino as having unusually large hands. Herrmann does. Other than the fact they’re both from Argentina, I don’t see them being all that much alike. I think Herrmann’s a superior shooter and Delfino the better athlete. Haven’t seen enough of Herrmann yet to get a gauge on his makeup, which I thought was Delfino’s downfall – too easily thrown off his game.
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Waller (Flint): I feel bad for Flip Murray. He’s worked hard and chosen to be with the Pistons when he could have gone elsewhere. Where do you see him going from this point?
Langlois: He’ll be a free agent at the end of the season if the Pistons can’t find a trade partner before the February deadline. My guess is he’ll be somewhere else no later than the start of next season and perhaps sooner. In the meantime, things could be worse for Flip Murray – he’s collecting a nice paycheck and part of a first-class organization with great teammates.
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Asif (Ann Arbor): There was a poll on Pistons.com that asked what the Pacers should do with Jermaine O’Neal and the majority said trade him. What are the chances of him coming to Detroit?
Langlois: Slim and none, Asif, unless he opts out of his contract this summer – he has the right, but he’d be voiding the two years and $44 million still coming to him – and signs a mid-level exception deal. I’m sure the Pistons would love for him to do so, but that’s not happening. The only other way would be to trade with Indiana, but the Pistons don’t have the contracts to make it happen unless they want to package, say, Rasheed Wallace and Tayshaun Prince – and that’s not happening, either.
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Leslie (Brooklyn): There’s a rumor floating around that the Pistons are looking to add Chris Wilcox from Seattle in a deal that would surely include Amir Johnson. Any chance Joe Dumars takes a page out of Dave Dombrowski’s book to trade a player with lots of upside for a slightly older established player who also has upside?
Langlois: I heard that rumor about a month ago, Leslie, but I don’t think it has any legs. There’s no disputing that Wilcox is the more proven commodity right now and he’s only 25, but Jason Maxiell has worked out so well as the No. 3 big man that it doesn’t make a lot of sense to swap away so much potential to take back a No. 4 big man. Now, if the Pistons thought Wilcox would be an upgrade over Maxiell and that they needed an upgrade over him to put them over the hump this season, then it would be more logical. Wilcox is averaging about 13.5 points and 7.5 rebounds in 29 minutes to Maxiell’s 9.3 and 5.7 in 23 minutes. Consider the teams they’re playing on. Wilcox would not cut into Wallace or McDyess’ minutes. He would not get as many shots with the Pistons as he gets with Seattle, where he’s the only remotely credible interior scorer. Maxiell strikes me as the superior defender, especially in defending the pick-and-roll the staple of NBA offenses. So if he’s not going to supplant Maxiell, then why give up on the promise of Johnson? Dombrowski got back a player most think is headed for a Hall of Fame career when he packaged Andrew Miller and Cameron Maybin for Miguel Cabrera and Dontrelle Willis. I don’t think anyone sees the Hall of Fame in Chris Wilcox’s future.
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Greg (Marquette): A friend and I are both big Pistons fans and neither of us can stand the way Flip Murray plays. We’re relieved he’s been benched now that Stuckey is back. What did you guys see in Flip Murray?
Langlois: When they signed him in the summer of 2006, Joe Dumars was hoping Murray’s ability to break down defenses would add an element the Pistons otherwise lacked. They got some of that with Murray. Let’s be fair to Flip here – he did have some nice moments last season when Chauncey Billups went down with injuries and again at the start of this season. But what the Pistons also found is that their offense, which depends on player and ball movement to stay sharp and in rhythm, would often get thrown out of whack while Murray plied his one-on-one skills. It’s something that bears watching with Stuckey, too, I suppose, when he shakes off the rust and begins to assert himself more.
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Paul (Grand Rapids): I noticed during the Washington game that when Rasheed and Maxiell were on the floor together, Wallace was doing a lot of yelling to Maxiell to tell him where to go. Do you think it would be more beneficial to Amir to play him with Wallace so he can get that kind of mentoring, too?
Langlois: He gets it every day in practice, Paul. I understand your point, but during the game it’s not really mentoring – it’s merely communicating on defense. Rasheed does that with all of his teammates to let them know where screens are being set and what help they have behind them. He’s one of the best in the league at communicating on defense, which is invaluable.
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William (Houston): Will Joe Dumars trade Flip Murray to avoid potential discontent? If so, can he get a second-round pick for him and use the extra roster spot to pick up Sammy Mejia, who’s playing well in the D-League?
Langlois: Joe D will do what helps the team, first and foremost. If he could get a second-rounder for Flip Murray, my guess is he’d strongly consider that, given the way Stuckey and Afflalo have assumed the backup guard spots. Whether he’d add anybody as a 15th man this season is debatable. I think he’d only do it if he thought it was someone who could actually dress for games, not just to fill out the roster.
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Demetrius: I’ve been reading about Isiah Thomas’ job being in jeopardy in New York. Do you think the Pistons would have a place for him in their front office?
Langlois: Isiah’s an alpha male, Demetrius. I couldn’t see him accepting a job as anything less than a head coach or general manager. The Pistons don’t have any openings in those categories.
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Bob: The bench has improved, but I still don’t feel it’s strong enough to win an NBA championship. How about we move Tayshaun Prince to the bench and start Jarvis Hayes. The Spurs have a lot of success with Ginobili coming off the bench and Finley starting.
Langlois: New twist on an old theme, Bob. A few months ago, I was getting deluged with suggestions that the Pistons bring Rip Hamilton off the bench. I don’t think they’re inclined to do anything so dramatic while they’re going so well. Wait until Rodney Stuckey gets his legs fully underneath him. Then let’s reassess the strength of that bench. I think it’s fine right now, but it’s going to get better as Stuckey rounds into form.
Harsh (Rochester): I’m worried about letting the Celtics win in Detroit. Do you think the Pistons are a little concerned now? And why did the NBA make the Pistons play Dallas and San Antonio back to back?
Langlois: I think the Pistons recognized the Celtics as their biggest obstacle in the Eastern Conference before the game and still do. If by “concerned” you mean “intimidated” or “lacking confidence,” then, no. If it comes to a seven-game series between these teams, as it appears likely, it’s going to come down to half-court execution and shot-making in the last five minutes of practically every game, most likely.
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Colleen (Ann Arbor): Could you tell me how many minutes did our starting five played in the game against Boston? How many minutes did the Celtics’ guys play?
Langlois: Paul Pierce played 46 to lead everybody. Kevin Garnett only played 32 because he sat 13 first-half minutes with three fouls. Ray Allen only played 28 after getting in some second-half foul trouble. Chauncey Billups played 41 and Rip Hamilton 40. Rasheed Wallace played 36. More than they’ve been playing, but nobody was using fatigue as a crutch. Even though it was their third game in four nights and the second of a back-to-back, the light load they played in December because of all the blowouts has them as fresh as could be expected for this point of the season.
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Ken (Mount Clemens): The Pistons shot way too many jump shots against Boston. Big mistake by Flip in keeping Maxiell on the bench so long. Finally, Boston did what Cleveland did to Chauncey in the playoffs, doubling him and forcing him further from the basket.
Langlois: They didn’t try attacking inside enough, that’s for sure. That’s why it’s going to be important that Rodney Stuckey gets fully acclimated – what he offers is going to be vital when the playoffs arrive and offensive execution becomes more and more difficult. Maxiell played almost 30 minutes, more than he’s accustomed to playing, and wasn’t nearly as active in the second half as he’d been in the first. The lack of production from McDyess was telling. He’s been terrific so far this season and a big part of Detroit’s success. When he’s knocking down those 18-footers, it makes it difficult to pack the lane, as Boston prefers to do. Boston did a nice job of trapping Billups, but I don’t think it rose to the level of disruption that Cleveland caused in the playoffs.
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Ron: Your quote from the live chat on Pistons.com during the Boston game: “If I could add anything, it would be a dangerous stand-still jump shooter – a latter-day Steve Kerr.”
Langlois: It’s sort of telling that off the top of my head I had to go back to a guy who’s been retired for several seasons to find an example of a terrific jump shooter, Ron. There aren’t a lot of guys like that around. There are some decent shooters out there – Chucky Atkins, Travis Deiner, Daniel Gibson, Jason Kapono and Kyle Korver come to mind. But a guy like Kerr was so valuable because he could come off the bench cold, play four or five minutes and knock down a couple of 3-pointers, then go sit for the rest of the half and do it again in the second half. It won’t be easy to find someone like that because everybody wants one and there aren’t enough to go around.
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Prasad (Los Angeles): I noticed against Boston that Flip didn’t employ any zone, which I think would befuddle Eddie House and Boston’s reserves. Do you think he’s saving something for the playoffs?
Langlois: Good observation, Prasad. I didn’t ask him about it. My hunch is that he’s leery of leaving that much room for the shooters Boston can put on the floor – Allen, Pierce, House and Posey are all very good perimeter shooters and Garnett is a great passer out of the middle. The Celtics might not be the team to try to zone.
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Cassandra: I and others thought the first points of the game against Boston for the Pistons came on a Billups 3-point shot and then Maxiell was 1 of 2 from the line, but the score did not change. Was Billups’ shot a two-pointer?
Langlois: No, Billups hit a triple to open the scoring. But Maxiell missed both of his free throws.
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Nick (Gregory): I love what I’ve seen from Rodney Stuckey so far, but my question is can he shoot the 3 ball? I checked out his stats at Eastern Washington and he shot .317 from the 3-point line.
Langlois: He shot 37 percent in his first year at EW and 27 his second. I asked him about that last summer and he said the dropoff was mostly due to shot selection. He had the ball in his hands so much in college and had to carry his team’s offense so completely that he often wound up having to take ill-advised shots late in the shot clock because nothing else was happening. Shooting range almost always improves as a player matures. It’s the one thing scouts allow for when looking at young players. Poor rebounders rarely become good rebounders and poor shot-blockers don’t become shot-blockers. But poor shooters routinely develop into competent or even very good shooters. No. 1, when basketball is your job, you have more time to work on it than when you were a college student. No. 2, a young player who is athletically superior to other high school and college players – as Stuckey clearly was – relies on that athleticism to beat defenders off the dribble and get to the rim. When that doesn’t work as often at the NBA level, the shot is developed. There isn’t anything about Stuckey that makes me think he won’t add a foot or two to his range for each of the next three or four seasons so that by the time he’s 26 or 27 he’s a 3-point threat.
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Kirby (Philippines): Rasheed Wallace’s playing time has been cut and so have his stats. Is this Flip’s way of resting the guys for the playoffs or a sign that he is losing confidence in him?
Langlois: It’s certainly not a lack of confidence in him, Kirby. It’s being done with the playoffs in mind in the sense that everything the Pistons do is done with postseason success in mind. What I mean is that Wallace could play heavier minutes now, if needed, and still be fresh and effective for the playoffs, which don’t start for more than 100 days. But they also will need contributions from players like Jason Maxiell in the playoffs, and the playing time the Pistons have entrusted to him this season has been handsomely rewarded. Depth is one of the Pistons’ chief assets.
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Pat (Florida): I get tired of people wanting to make changes when the Pistons have the best bench and team in all of basketball. Do not mess with what works.
Langlois: I think Joe Dumars is more inclined to your thinking, Pat. He did his heavy lifting over the summer when he drafted Rodney Stuckey and Arron Afflalo, re-signed Chauncey Billups and Amir Johnson and added Jarvis Hayes as a free agent. Dumars is also looking for ways to improve the roster and he’ll make more moves if he sees something that benefits the team now and into the future. That’s why he did the Nazr Mohammed trade when he did even though the team was experiencing great success – it positioned them for a better off-season financially with the chance to improve the roster for tomorrow. So never say never, but I would think it’s unlikely there’ll be any new faces on the postseason roster.
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Travis (East Lansing): How do you see our five young guys – Stuckey, Afflalo, Maxiell, Johnson and Samb – eventually making their way into the starting lineup? It seems like next year all of them should be getting a lot more minutes and maybe even one or two should and deserve to be NBA starters. The problem is that our current starting five will all still be there and should assume the same roles.
Langlois: That’s not a problem from where I’m sitting, Travis. If the Pistons still have those five guys coming off their bench next year, then you know they’ll be a very solid team again. Will they ever be a starting unit together in the NBA? Hard to say. Not sure there’s enough perimeter shooting in that group, but they are all very useful players who the Pistons count as assets in whatever way they want to use them.
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Paul (Detroit): Whatever happened to former Piston Jerome “Junkyard Dog” Williams? I remember he was playing with Toronto, but haven’t heard anything about him for a while/
Langlois: He retired from the Knicks before the 2005-06 season and in January 2006 went to work for the Raptors as their “community representative” – sort of a goodwill ambassador.
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Tom (Beverly Hills): Do you know of any teams that will pick up Ronald Dupree? Will Cheikh Samb go back to the D-League soon? And is Sammy Mejia on the Pistons’ radar now that he is healthy and playing well in the D-League.
Langlois: I’ve not heard of anyone interested in Dupree, but he’d be a good signing for teams with roster openings because he’s what you’re looking for at the end of your bench – a great team guy who’ll practice hard and make your rotation players match his work ethic. The plan is for Samb to soak up lots of D-League time when the time is right. Mejia is on their radar, but they don’t own his rights and don’t have a roster spot currently available, so if another NBA team gives him a call he’ll be off their radar that fast.
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Clifford (Detroit): Who would you give the edge to in a seven-game series between the 2004 Pistons and this season’s Pistons?
Langlois: Four years ago at this time, those Pistons had not yet made the trade for Rasheed Wallace. They were a vastly different team after the deal. We tend to remember how they destroyed the Lakers in the Finals, but let’s not forget they were nearly eliminated in the second round by New Jersey when they had to win a road Game 6 to stave off elimination before coming back to win Game 7. My point isn’t that they weren’t a great team – it’s to remind everyone of how fine the line can be. I think this team is capable of winning it all. I think it has room for improvement as Rodney Stuckey shakes off the rust and emerges as the force I think he’ll be. But we’ll never really know which team was better, this one of the one from four years ago.
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Kevin (Lathrup Village): After Walter Herrmann’s first-rate reverse layup against Indiana, Greg Kelser commented on how huge his hands are. I remember when Carlos Delfino was drafted, Joe Dumars talked enthusiastically about how big his hands were. Do you see any similarities or differences between the two?
Langlois: Greg compared it to a Connie Hawkins move. It had an unmistakable Dr. J element to it, as well. Now, we’re not comparing Herrmann to those all-timers, but it was an eye-catching play. I never noticed Delfino as having unusually large hands. Herrmann does. Other than the fact they’re both from Argentina, I don’t see them being all that much alike. I think Herrmann’s a superior shooter and Delfino the better athlete. Haven’t seen enough of Herrmann yet to get a gauge on his makeup, which I thought was Delfino’s downfall – too easily thrown off his game.
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Waller (Flint): I feel bad for Flip Murray. He’s worked hard and chosen to be with the Pistons when he could have gone elsewhere. Where do you see him going from this point?
Langlois: He’ll be a free agent at the end of the season if the Pistons can’t find a trade partner before the February deadline. My guess is he’ll be somewhere else no later than the start of next season and perhaps sooner. In the meantime, things could be worse for Flip Murray – he’s collecting a nice paycheck and part of a first-class organization with great teammates.
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Asif (Ann Arbor): There was a poll on Pistons.com that asked what the Pacers should do with Jermaine O’Neal and the majority said trade him. What are the chances of him coming to Detroit?
Langlois: Slim and none, Asif, unless he opts out of his contract this summer – he has the right, but he’d be voiding the two years and $44 million still coming to him – and signs a mid-level exception deal. I’m sure the Pistons would love for him to do so, but that’s not happening. The only other way would be to trade with Indiana, but the Pistons don’t have the contracts to make it happen unless they want to package, say, Rasheed Wallace and Tayshaun Prince – and that’s not happening, either.
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Leslie (Brooklyn): There’s a rumor floating around that the Pistons are looking to add Chris Wilcox from Seattle in a deal that would surely include Amir Johnson. Any chance Joe Dumars takes a page out of Dave Dombrowski’s book to trade a player with lots of upside for a slightly older established player who also has upside?
Langlois: I heard that rumor about a month ago, Leslie, but I don’t think it has any legs. There’s no disputing that Wilcox is the more proven commodity right now and he’s only 25, but Jason Maxiell has worked out so well as the No. 3 big man that it doesn’t make a lot of sense to swap away so much potential to take back a No. 4 big man. Now, if the Pistons thought Wilcox would be an upgrade over Maxiell and that they needed an upgrade over him to put them over the hump this season, then it would be more logical. Wilcox is averaging about 13.5 points and 7.5 rebounds in 29 minutes to Maxiell’s 9.3 and 5.7 in 23 minutes. Consider the teams they’re playing on. Wilcox would not cut into Wallace or McDyess’ minutes. He would not get as many shots with the Pistons as he gets with Seattle, where he’s the only remotely credible interior scorer. Maxiell strikes me as the superior defender, especially in defending the pick-and-roll the staple of NBA offenses. So if he’s not going to supplant Maxiell, then why give up on the promise of Johnson? Dombrowski got back a player most think is headed for a Hall of Fame career when he packaged Andrew Miller and Cameron Maybin for Miguel Cabrera and Dontrelle Willis. I don’t think anyone sees the Hall of Fame in Chris Wilcox’s future.
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Greg (Marquette): A friend and I are both big Pistons fans and neither of us can stand the way Flip Murray plays. We’re relieved he’s been benched now that Stuckey is back. What did you guys see in Flip Murray?
Langlois: When they signed him in the summer of 2006, Joe Dumars was hoping Murray’s ability to break down defenses would add an element the Pistons otherwise lacked. They got some of that with Murray. Let’s be fair to Flip here – he did have some nice moments last season when Chauncey Billups went down with injuries and again at the start of this season. But what the Pistons also found is that their offense, which depends on player and ball movement to stay sharp and in rhythm, would often get thrown out of whack while Murray plied his one-on-one skills. It’s something that bears watching with Stuckey, too, I suppose, when he shakes off the rust and begins to assert himself more.
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Paul (Grand Rapids): I noticed during the Washington game that when Rasheed and Maxiell were on the floor together, Wallace was doing a lot of yelling to Maxiell to tell him where to go. Do you think it would be more beneficial to Amir to play him with Wallace so he can get that kind of mentoring, too?
Langlois: He gets it every day in practice, Paul. I understand your point, but during the game it’s not really mentoring – it’s merely communicating on defense. Rasheed does that with all of his teammates to let them know where screens are being set and what help they have behind them. He’s one of the best in the league at communicating on defense, which is invaluable.
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William (Houston): Will Joe Dumars trade Flip Murray to avoid potential discontent? If so, can he get a second-round pick for him and use the extra roster spot to pick up Sammy Mejia, who’s playing well in the D-League?
Langlois: Joe D will do what helps the team, first and foremost. If he could get a second-rounder for Flip Murray, my guess is he’d strongly consider that, given the way Stuckey and Afflalo have assumed the backup guard spots. Whether he’d add anybody as a 15th man this season is debatable. I think he’d only do it if he thought it was someone who could actually dress for games, not just to fill out the roster.
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Demetrius: I’ve been reading about Isiah Thomas’ job being in jeopardy in New York. Do you think the Pistons would have a place for him in their front office?
Langlois: Isiah’s an alpha male, Demetrius. I couldn’t see him accepting a job as anything less than a head coach or general manager. The Pistons don’t have any openings in those categories.
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Bob: The bench has improved, but I still don’t feel it’s strong enough to win an NBA championship. How about we move Tayshaun Prince to the bench and start Jarvis Hayes. The Spurs have a lot of success with Ginobili coming off the bench and Finley starting.
Langlois: New twist on an old theme, Bob. A few months ago, I was getting deluged with suggestions that the Pistons bring Rip Hamilton off the bench. I don’t think they’re inclined to do anything so dramatic while they’re going so well. Wait until Rodney Stuckey gets his legs fully underneath him. Then let’s reassess the strength of that bench. I think it’s fine right now, but it’s going to get better as Stuckey rounds into form.