Well?

Given the parameters Joe has to work with, I'm fine. I guess there were no 1/2s with expring deals that wanted DD.

i think we wasted a opportunity, perhaps our last to give ourself a better chance to win a title...this is not the old NBA, where u can bring Lindsey and Delf of the bench, 2 guys who just can't score when you depend on them... we still only got 6 legit nba scorers, thats not enough anymore...screw the future, we screwed that one up with drafting Darko...i am disappointed

i'm fine with it.

i still think this team is getting better as the weeks go by. there's no reason that we can't make a strong run to the Finals this season and, if we're hot, we can sneak up on the Western team ala '04.

it would have been nice to improve, but i really believe this team is on the right track. factor in Wheelchair Wade being out for an extended period of time, and our chances only get better.

I'm disappointed, but just short of the pissed level.

I think we can still get a ring, but it would have been nice to add a piece to improve our chances.

These opportunities don't come around very often.

Maybe Joe is spoiled and has forgotton how roughly 25 of the other teams in this league feel right now. This was the time to be aggressive and make a move, IMO.

Maybe Joe can pull another castoff signing out of his ass before March 1.

Assuming Joe didn't have a Bonzi for DD deal on the table, I'm fine. I'd rather do nothing than add a bad contract or marginal player anyway. We already added to the team midseason with Webber, so it's not like we need a spark. I would have liked to see Mo Pete or Bonzi here, but not for a huge price tag either. With a possibly season ending injury for Wade I like our chances a lot.

For the third straight year dumars has neglected to fill the glaring need of obtaining ANYBODY that can even remotely put the ball in the basket from the backup 2/3 position. It's really unbelievable how you can let such an obvious problem to persist for such an extended period of time.

Looks like another 40 minutes a night for Rip, Tayshaun and Chauncey which should set up nicely for a second round exit in the playoffs...unless, of course, Flip Saunders finds a way for us to blow it in round 1.

i think we wasted a opportunity, perhaps our last to give ourself a better chance to win a title...this is not the old NBA, where u can bring Lindsey and Delf of the bench, 2 guys who just can't score when you depend on them... we still only got 6 legit nba scorers, thats not enough anymore...screw the future, we screwed that one up with drafting Darko...i am disappointed

how many legit scorers do we need?

look at Dallas: http://sports.yahoo.com/nba/teams/dal/stats
they have five "legit" scorers, imo. after Devin Harris, who else is there? please don't tell me Dampier's any more of a legit scorer than Nazr or Dale.

phoenix obviously has the most scorers: http://sports.yahoo.com/nba/teams/pho/stats

in the end, i think our team is balanced enough and matches up well with any team in the NBA.

We have enough, but could have had more. Now Flip has to really use his bench down the stretch to rest our starters, because they will play heavy minutes in the playoffs again.

i dont think we can compare us to other teams...they got 1,2 superstars who can score at will and get the needed calls plus the fitting roleplayers...our balance stops when Lindsey and Delfino enters the game, we depend on the other guys to score at this point

I think you have to compare us to those type of teams. That type of team beat us the last two years. SA was more complete, but they still had players that got the superstar call (Manu for sure). The same questions from last year exist. Can we beat the western champ without much bench production?

i'm very happy this season with Flip Saunders playing the bench on more of a consistent basis. we're finally able to see what Delfino and Maxiell can offer, rather than speculate based on few moments in garbage time.

it also helps that guys like Chauncey, Rip and CWebb are used to how Delfino and Max play.

for the first time in a while, we could have bench guys making an impact in a game, rather than just trying to maintain the lead that the starters have built.

we're still not as deep as i'd like us to be, but we're a deeper team than last season.

I think Detroit needed to add another guy. I can't see why Dixon, Udrih or Jones couldn't have ended up here. The price was low we could have given Portand Flip and a second if needed.

I hope this was Joe being happy not complacent. I also hope this has nothing to do with Wade. What I am mean by that was Miami allowed Wade to seem more injured, knowing they didn't have a chance to upgrade,

I think Detroit needed to add another guy. I can't see why Dixon, Udrih or Jones couldn't have ended up here. The price was low we could have given Portand Flip and a second if needed.

I hope this was Joe being happy not complacent. I also hope this has nothing to do with Wade. What I am mean by that was Miami allowed Wade to seem more injured, knowing they didn't have a chance to upgrade,
The problem is that our 2nd rounder is not the same as Atlanta's. Our 2nd rounder is almost a worthless pick, and those teams could hold out for a better offer with PGs in demand.

I would have done Flip and a 2nd for Dixon, but they may not have.

Udrih is garbage. He can't keep his spot in the San Antonio rotation that has no other viable back-up PG on a team that can run its offense through its big.

i'm very happy this season with Flip Saunders playing the bench on more of a consistent basis. we're finally able to see what Delfino and Maxiell can offer, rather than speculate based on few moments in garbage time.

it also helps that guys like Chauncey, Rip and CWebb are used to how Delfino and Max play.

for the first time in a while, we could have bench guys making an impact in a game, rather than just trying to maintain the lead that the starters have built.

we're still not as deep as i'd like us to be, but we're a deeper team than last season.

2 points in response:

1. certain bench guys may be playing more but that's really a result of Ben Wallace's 35+ minutes a night being disbursed equally between a collection of bench players (and to a lesser extent a decrease in minutes for Rasheed).

2. Billups, Hamilton and Prince are all playing more minutes this year than last year, and I mean a fairly steep increase (2 minutes a game). Obviously this team wore down in the playoffs last year due to a combination of Flip's mismanagement and Joe D's inability to find a legit backup to help give these 3 players rest during the long haul of an 82 game season. This team needs all 3 of these guys to be at their peak, both physically and offensively, if they are to be successful in the playoffs.

Not only does this problem still exist, it's gotten worse. Trouble looms ahead, my friends.

The Pistons must have done something REALLY wrong.

ESPN has a poll up asking which team will win the East and play in the NBA finals. Here are the results so far:

27.2% Bulls

25.0% Cavaliers

16.1% Heat

12.5% Wizards

10.2% Raptors

5.2% Magic

3.8% Pacers


I feel like a team is being slightly disrespected here....

The Pistons must have done something REALLY wrong.

ESPN has a poll up asking which team will win the East and play in the NBA finals. Here are the results so far:

27.2% Bulls

25.0% Cavaliers

16.1% Heat

12.5% Wizards

10.2% Raptors

5.2% Magic

3.8% Pacers


I feel like a team is being slightly disrespected here....
The pistons are at %13.2 on that poll:

4) Which of the following teams will represent the East in the NBA Finals?

25.5%Bulls
23.9%Cavaliers
16.0%Heat
13.2%Pistons
11.9%Raptors
5.3%Magic
3.8%Pacers
0.4%Wizards

How can the Magic and Pacers be above the Wiz (in mine) or Pistons (in yours) though? Something is wack with that poll technically speaking.

I am neither unhappy nor happy. I didn't want us to take on some stupid long term deal (like Jaric) or us spending some of our picks but I would like to have added either a back-up PG or SF.

I wish he could have added a piece, but who knows what the other GM's were asking for? So if I knew all the details, maybe I'd be happy he didn't do a deal.

Not only does this problem still exist, it's gotten worse. Trouble looms ahead, my friends.
Yargs that was not the main problem last year. And when it was a problem it was a problem to our bigs who our playing less time this year. those are the guys banging bodies down low all day. Ben was only hyper active in spurts and sheed never found anything worth remembering in his stats. when we were supposedly wore down the year before last, it was in the nba finals going to a 7th game only playing a 6-7 man rotation. IMO the tired excuse becomes nothing more than an excuse for more obvious things, like us having no continuity on defense, shooting too quick on offense, rebounding badly, and a host of other things we didnt do right. either we are going to hang on to fatigue crutch excuses or see why we really lost. in fact fatigue wasnt why LB put tay on tim duncan in the 7th game, it was a bad coaching decision and lack of confidence in anyone besides his first 6 guys. Fatigue didn't cause us to look confused when we missed our zone assignments on defense and let wade see the basket until he was blue in the face. Fatigue didnt injure Rasheed.

We now run an interchangeable 9 man rotation, the largest we've run since our title year. Getting another scorer woulda been real nice, but saying things are worse is kinda narrow sighted on where we were before this point at the beginning of this season and the late part of last season.

wade going down really simplified things. i would have liked to add james or bonzi, i guess, and/or dump nazr. but standing pat is fine.

i dont believe there was a trade that would have changed the fact that we will be underdogs in the finals. and we should get through the east relatively easily (stupid, stupid bulls. why did they bother to sign ben at all?)

and quite frankly, i dont think there is a huge emphasis from the org to win a ring. getting to the finals is ok by them. and by me, i guess.

If we had a coach that new how to mix the bench with the starters we'd be fine. It would be ok to bring in Hunter and Delfino together as long as we had the other 3 starters out there. Better yet, don't bring them out at the same time. Minimize the amount they're on the court together and keep starters out there with them and it becomes much less of a factor.

The problem is that our 2nd rounder is not the same as Atlanta's. Our 2nd rounder is almost a worthless pick, and those teams could hold out for a better offer with PGs in demand.

I would have done Flip and a 2nd for Dixon, but they may not have.

You may be right that a deal wasn't there to be made. However as late as this morning according ESPN radio Portland offered up Dixon and Pryzbilla for Nazr and Flip but Joe passed. The thinking was Portland wanted a more offensive minded C and Slasher and Detroit could have better used Pryzbillia in spots where they wanted defense and to chew up minutes. Even though it isn't a blockbuster it made sense for us. I was hoping that Charlie Bell might have found his way to us, because the Bucks were shopping under the radar.

Like I wanted to say in my last post, As long as this was Joe being satisfied I am cool. I just hope that Miami didn't pull off the bluff of the decade. What I mean by that is they made it seem like there season was lost thus teams didn't feel like they needed to make a splash to get to the ECF. When in reality Miami milked the info about Wade's injury because they couldn't upgrade through trade. I mean without Miami in the mix if Wade were out long terms anyone from Toronto to Cleveland could end up in the ECF.

I am also not as worried because they can waive Flip or Blaylock if a meaningful vet got bought out like Wells, Hill or Mason.

I am also not as worried because they can waive Flip or Blaylock if a meaningful vet got bought out like Wells, Hill or Mason.
could it be possible that that scenario is in the waiting room.

can we draw up a buy out list?

could it be possible that that scenario is in the waiting room.

can we draw up a buy out list?


I'll do it now.

EDIT: I made a list http://www.wtfdetroit.com/forums/showthread.php?t=8614

Pryzbilla turned into the second coming of Adonal Foyle after getting the MLE -- ewwww. I hadn't really paid attention to him, but... ewwww...

If we are going to luck into somebody, it has to happen in the next week.

I'll do it now.

EDIT: I made a list http://www.wtfdetroit.com/forums/showthread.php?t=8614
Cool, checked it out. Hill would be dreamy to get. He doesnt fit in Orlando at all. Having him and webber at the same time would all but seal us into the finals. Gives us another passer/scorer when Billups and Webber are on the bench.

Cool, checked it out. Hill would be dreamy to get. He doesnt fit in Orlando at all. Having him and webber at the same time would all but seal us into the finals.


Not gonna happen.

The pistons are at %13.2 on that poll:

4) Which of the following teams will represent the East in the NBA Finals?

25.5%Bulls
23.9%Cavaliers
16.0%Heat
13.2%Pistons
11.9%Raptors
5.3%Magic
3.8%Pacers
0.4%Wizards

How can the Magic and Pacers be above the Wiz (in mine) or Pistons (in yours) though? Something is wack with that poll technically speaking.

Oh so they finally added them? Maybe the poll is just skewed because they added the Pistons late. Way to go, ESPN. Not only do you fuck up the poll, but you don't fix your fuck up by starting the poll over so the results are skewed.

Dixon and Pryzbilla for Nazr and Flip
It all depends on their contracts. We probably didn't want to pick up multiple guys with long term deals, if the rumor was even true at all. That's just a guess though, I don't know their contract situations.

:lathamjahnke:

http://www.freep.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070223/SPORTS03/702230397/1051/SPORTS03


Dumars content to leave roster unchanged

After tons of speculation, trade deadline comes and goes with no blockbuster deals in the NBA

February 23, 2007
BY KRISTA JAHNKE
FREE PRESS SPORTS WRITER

ORLANDO -- For the Pistons, the NBA trade deadline came and went Thursday without a peep.

Barring a waiver deal, this is the roster that will carry them through the regular season and into the playoffs. And that's just fine with team captain Chauncey Billups.

"One hundred percent," Billups said on the eve of deadline day. "I'm expecting that anyway. I'm 100% happy with what we have."

What the Pistons have is a team that sits in first place in the Eastern Conference, has won nine of its last 10 games and does not have a major exploitable weakness.

That's why team president Joe Dumars kept his finger off the trigger Thursday. The Pistons didn't want to make a change unless it would be a sure winner, and such a deal didn't manifest itself.

"There was not a good deal for us to make," Dumars said. "If you can't make what you think is a good deal, you go with the squad you have."

The rest of the league must have felt the same way. No major players changed teams Thursday. While the weeks before the deadline were filled with rumors involving stars like Vince Carter, Mike Bibby and Jason Kidd, the real deals never materialized.

That leaves the Pistons the toast of the East. It's likely that -- barring injury -- they will be the front-runners to make the Finals, especially with an injured Dwyane Wade in Miami, with warring centers in Washington, with an unresolved point-guard problem in Cleveland and a lack of inside scoring in Chicago.

If anything, the Pistons' greatest weakness is the Pistons. If they decide they want to play hard consistently, they'll be difficult to stop, as they were Wednesday night in a rout of Orlando, a team they play again tonight.

"Early on, we just had mental breakdowns," Billups said. "It wasn't that physical or coaching or defense or none of that. It was just mental breakdowns."

But since Chris Webber's arrival, the team is 13-4. And mental lapses have been less common with every passing week.

Although there can be no more trades until after the season, there's still time for tinkering.

The Pistons could waive someone like guard Ronald (Flip) Murray, who makes less than $2 million and has fallen out of coach Flip Saunders' rotation.

After signing Webber in January, the Pistons began a search for a veteran backup guard, someone who could spell Billups and provide insurance in case of a major injury. Their bargaining chips included two big men -- Nazr Mohammed, who has been a starter most of his career, and Dale Davis, a veteran who provides inside toughness -- as well as Murray.

The Pistons targeted guards like Chucky Atkins of Memphis and Mike James of Minnesota -- both former Pistons -- as well as Charlotte's Brevin Knight. But Dumars was content to stand pat, especially after the successful turn that followed Webber's arrival.

A team insider said other teams, such as the Timberwolves, were asking too much, often asking for one of the Pistons' two first-round picks in June's well-stocked draft. The Pistons didn't want to give up a long-term fix for a short-term one.

Bench scoring remains a concern. The three main reserves -- Antonio McDyess, Lindsey Hunter and Carlos Delfino -- combine for 15.5 points a game. But McDyess' average is lowered by his poor start. And most nights, someone off the bench provides enough scoring punch to ease concerns.

As for worries at the guard position, the captain is unfazed.

"You look at Lindsey (Hunter) and how good he's playing," Billups said. "I'm not worried one bit."

In hearing that teams wanted one of our firsts for a rental player, I feel much better about standing pat.

^I'm sure you realize that the Pistons may just be saying that because they didn't get a deal done, right?

Hammond: "What do we say to the media when they ask why we didn't make a deal?"

Joe: "Tell them the asking price was too high and we weren't willing to give up our picks"

^I'm sure you realize that you are just saying that with just as little knowledge of what's true as well.

(Just bustin' ya G)

I can't believe Krista just got off with a "they don't have a major exploitable weakness" comment. Hello rebounding, man-to-man defense, and lack of a power inside game.

I know that I'm more skeptical of the spin that gets presented to the media than most.

I accept that.

To be fair, that same line about Minny wanting a pick for James has been in more than just our press, and if it is true, we were wise not to bite.

^I'm sure you realize that the Pistons may just be saying that because they didn't get a deal done, right?

Hammond: "What do we say to the media when they ask why we didn't make a deal?"

Joe: "Tell them the asking price was too high and we weren't willing to give up our picks"

I realize that but considering that Joe WAS looking actively for back-up PG and that he DOES like to make trades to improve the team, i'm guessing that he was telling the truth.

I think Joe is now banking on a bought out PG.

^I'm sure you realize that the Pistons may just be saying that because they didn't get a deal done, right?

Hammond: "What do we say to the media when they ask why we didn't make a deal?"

Joe: "Tell them the asking price was too high and we weren't willing to give up our picks"


Ummm, to be fair... What else would be keeping them from doing a deal?

It's obvious that the price was too high for teams since virtually no one made a deal.

Glenn likes vacilate between envisioning JoeD as a merciful creator god helping his fault-ridden worshipers achieve nirvana (04 being the first comming) and suspecting him as an ingenious tormentor god who's opening act was a championship that won the hearts of the people for the sole purpose of an infinite future of boundless ecstatic torture.

He's often bored at work.

There is an interview with Joe D regarding the trade deadline and our moves on the ESPN NBA page (under the Pippen picture):

http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/index (http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/index#)

WTF is the "Question of Fear".

That's terrible.

http://podloc.andomedia.com/dloadTrack.mp3?prm=2031xhttp://espn-mp3-od.andomedia.com/espnpod2/espnradio/dailydish/dailydish070227.mp3

WTF is the "Question of Fear".

That's terrible.

Ford's question of fear should have been "Joe, are you still mad at me for convincing you to draft Darko?"