The Official "What Now" Thread....

Joe D says he has a contingency. Frankly, I think this is going to sting a bit, since trading Darko couldn't have been a worse move at this point. But as I said, this is a "What now?" Thread.

We need to stay competitive, so here are some of my suggestions:

Option 1:
Trade Dice and Dale Davis to Atlanta for a S&T with Al Harrington. Use the MLE (or part of it) on any decent big, Nazr, Przybilla, or Evans. Start Wallace, a 25 year old Harrington, Prince, Hamilton, and Billups. The other nice thing about this is that it would open up PT for Delfino for sure and probably Johnson/Maxiell. We would be small, but far more athletic and balanced.

Option 2
Offer Zo the MLE with a buyout injury clause after 3 years, use the MLE on a PG like Marcus Banks. With Billups and Dice likely to opt out, this would give us still enough space to land a top free agent if they leave. Banks, our two first rounders, Rip, Delfino, Prince, and Zo would be at least a decent nucleus, and we would use our picks to beef up the frontcourt if we resigned Billups. I think we would actually be a better team this season with Zo than Ben, since he is more of a post defender, and we would have a bit better balance. I hate this option though because I hate Zo.

Option 3
Resign Cato to a deal at about 4-5 mill for one season. Look for a free agent steal at the deadline with Cato + Dale Davis ( about 8 mill). If not, be a huge offseason player next season with a $30 mill payroll and two first rounders. This would likely improve our pick next season, but make the Orlando pick worse as well. Still the possibility of two lotto picks in that draft and good cap room has to look nice. Look at what Chicago did to us this year.

aka fun with unlikely trades thread. i'm sure kilo will be all over this. have fun guys.

In fact only one of my suggestions even has a trade. And I don't think Atlanta signing Harrington is a slam dunk. Why would they sign Claxton first anyway?

What now? Boycott all things Piston's related. Hit that penny pinching fuck where it hurts. I hope the Palace is empty next season. Eat shit and die you old fuck.

Nah. By tomorrow morning, the beatwriter bought and paid for articles and a Joe Dumars WDFN interview later and the fans will be drinking the Pistons kool-aid again, and Ben Wallace Haterade.

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Originally Posted by Kilo

Nah. By tomorrow morning, the beatwriter bought and paid for articles and a Joe Dumars WDFN interview later and the fans will be drinking the Pistons kool-aid again, and Ben Wallace Haterade.

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Rob Parker is probably getting the lube ready right now

as far as im concerned, joe's already answered 'what now?':

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Lindsey's back ...
The Pistons got their first commitment of the free agency period from Lindsey Hunter, who will sign a two-year deal worth about $4.5 million. He can't sign the deal until July 12.

Oh, it gets better for Hunter.

When his contract is up, Hunter will also be given a position within the organization, primarily assisting president of basketball operations, Joe Dumars.

"That's what makes this all really special, an opportunity to work with Joe when my playing days are over," Hunter said. "I'm looking forward to playing, but I'm also looking forward to what lies ahead for me when I'm done playing, too."

Hunter said the Phoenix Suns showed a lot of interest, but his desire was to return to Detroit.

"This is where I wanted to be," Hunter said. "I wasn't real thrilled with the idea of moving my family, so this worked out great."

In all likelihood, Hunter will be Chauncey Billups' backup at the point, with the third point guard possibly being rookie Will Blalock or second-yeard guard Alex Acker, who is a shooting guard who got most of his practice last season primarily at the point guard position.

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good job, joe. going 1 for 2 is good in any profession!

So Joe really believes in Will Blaylock I guess.

I take it Hunter's getting the LLE again? If so, it's not a bad deal.

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Originally Posted by b-diddy

as far as im concerned, joe's already answered 'what now?':

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Lindsey's back ...
The Pistons got their first commitment of the free agency period from Lindsey Hunter, who will sign a two-year deal worth about $4.5 million. He can't sign the deal until July 12.

Oh, it gets better for Hunter.

When his contract is up, Hunter will also be given a position within the organization, primarily assisting president of basketball operations, Joe Dumars.

"That's what makes this all really special, an opportunity to work with Joe when my playing days are over," Hunter said. "I'm looking forward to playing, but I'm also looking forward to what lies ahead for me when I'm done playing, too."

Hunter said the Phoenix Suns showed a lot of interest, but his desire was to return to Detroit.

"This is where I wanted to be," Hunter said. "I wasn't real thrilled with the idea of moving my family, so this worked out great."

In all likelihood, Hunter will be Chauncey Billups' backup at the point, with the third point guard possibly being rookie Will Blalock or second-yeard guard Alex Acker, who is a shooting guard who got most of his practice last season primarily at the point guard position.

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good job, joe. going 1 for 2 is good in any profession!

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So we've got Billups, Rip, Prince, Dice, Sheed, Hunter, Davis, Delfino, Johnson, and Maxiell under contract now.

That's slightly less the $50 million in contracts. Since we had Hunter's Bird rights, we still have the full MLE, the LLE, and a $2.4 million trade exception. Those three added up won't get us to the luxury tax, so spending shouldn't be an issue.

4.5 mil? wtf? i dont get it...he should have better used this 4.5 mil for Ben...

Last I checked our #1 target was Bonzi Wells.

wastign the MLE on a medicore center would be stupid.

Kstat, I think Bonzi was our primary target with the MLE. As we have seen, players don't really like to take paycuts. He will probably stay with Sacramento or do a S&T. Can you honestly say that we can afford to ignore the defensive post, because we at least have Delfino to backup the SG/SF spot. Currently, it looks like Dale Davis and Rasheed will start, with Dice in the same role but more minutes. I don't think is very good, but it sounds like the most likely scenario.

Why would we sign Hunter to a 2 year deal? We need the cap space for next season. This sucks ass. I smell a MLE on Nazr Muhammed coming and I don't like it.

There's no big man out there worth the MLE. Bonzi Wells would be.

If we don't wina title this year because we dont have joel pryzbilla, i can live with that and use our MLE next year on a big man, or get one in the draft.

Assuming we used the LLE on Lindsey, I'm ok with this. If we used the MLE, yeah I'll be pissed.

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Originally Posted by Kilo

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Originally Posted by BIG BEN'S FRO

Kstat, I think Bonzi was our primary target with the MLE. As we have seen, players don't really like to take paycuts. He will probably stay with Sacramento or do a S&T. Can you honestly say that we can afford to ignore the defensive post, because we at least have Delfino to backup the SG/SF spot. Currently, it looks like Dale Davis and Rasheed will start, with Dice in the same role but more minutes. I don't think is very good, but it sounds like the most likely scenario.

Why would we sign Hunter to a 2 year deal? We need the cap space for next season. This sucks ass. I smell a MLE on Nazr Muhammed coming and I don't like it.

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I agree. I think Nazr Mohammad will be a Piston, as early as tomorrow afternoon.

With Indiana losing Peja, they're looking at bringing Bonzi Wells home, and unlike the Pistons would have S&T pieces available if necessary.

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We'd have sign and trade pieces if Joe not been forced to give them away to save money.

why in the hell would bonzi sign in detroit? let me think.

"i could sign for more money in sacremento and play for a crappy 50 win team... or i could sign in detroit for half the money for a crappy 50 win team... what should i do".

look for alot of that. guys coming to detroit over LA or miami or anyone else? those days are over. its time to think piston TEAL again.

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Originally Posted by BIG BEN'S FRO

Why would we sign Hunter to a 2 year deal? We need the cap space for next season. This sucks ass. I smell a MLE on Nazr Muhammed coming and I don't like it.

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i have no idea why we sign a 34 year old to be our primary backup PG the next 2 seasons...just make him assistant manag now, we dont need Lindsey on the court anymore

THE SKY IS FALLING!

YES IT IS...Nazr or whoever we can get with the MLE won't get it done...we aren't contenders anymore...why waste money and time, why sign Lindsey to a 2year deal...REBUILD! get me some young guys i can get excited about, so i can rave about their potential...i dont want a medicore team which cant get past Miami, Chicago and Cleveland

I am going to be so interested as to how the Pistons organization is going to spin that we can possibly have improved from last season by having Nazr instead of Ben. Joe, hope you got something up your ass, because if Boston lands AI, we are going to have some difficulty making the playoffs. I gotta assume that Chicago, Cleveland, Washington, and Miami are in. That is going to be a tight race with Boston, New Jersey, Milwaukee, indy, us, and yes, Orlando.

no, it actually fell already. i know you think the pistons losing ben only "stings alittle" and its "ok to be a good team". but ive seen that with the pistons, and it sucks. watching the guys we used to throw around beat the crap out of us is going to be horrible.

going back to not being able to sign a FA again is going to suck.

hearing chicago fans going nuts when the chicago PA system plays the big ben chime is really, really going to suck.

watching the pistons, who couldnt grab a rebound last year, is going to really suck.

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Originally Posted by Kstat

THE SKY IS FALLING!

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Not all of us can be as happy as you about losing an all-star to a hated division rival for nothing.

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Originally Posted by the wrath of diddy

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Originally Posted by Kstat

THE SKY IS FALLING!

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Not all of us can be as happy as you about losing an all-star to a hated division rival for nothing.

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It'll be even more fun in 2 years when half their young players leave because they can't pay them.

Kilo, I hate that deal. Right now I could live with Magloire, but Delfino really remains one of the only players that could actually improve our roster next season. Magloire is a putrid defender, but would be nice to add without dumping his salary. Besides, I doubt Milwaukee would do that deal now that they have Villanueva and Joe Smith.

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Originally Posted by Kstat

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Originally Posted by the wrath of diddy

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Originally Posted by Kstat

THE SKY IS FALLING!

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Not all of us can be as happy as you about losing an all-star to a hated division rival for nothing.

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It'll be even more fun in 2 years when half their young players leave because they can't pay them.

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Can't keep them because the owner is a cheap bastard.

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Originally Posted by b-diddy

no, it actually fell already. i know you think the pistons losing ben only "stings alittle" and its "ok to be a good team". but ive seen that with the pistons, and it sucks. watching the guys we used to throw around beat the crap out of us is going to be horrible.

going back to not being able to sign a FA again is going to suck.

hearing chicago fans going nuts when the chicago PA system plays the big ben chime is really, really going to suck.

watching the pistons, who couldnt grab a rebound last year, is going to really suck.

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Yeah this is a great post. I agree with every word in this. Can I add this?

If Dwayne Wade got that many calls driving the lane against us when we had the DPOY respect thing, how much respect do you think anyone else is going to have in there? Wade will shoot 37 free throws against us in a game next year. Bank it.

To me the Pistons have conceded that their contender days are over with this move. That is why the Hunter signing is even more fucking stupid. We sucked for nearly the entire post season and still came within a game of the finals again. You dont break that up and the Pistons half assed offer sealed our fate for sure. I cant wait to get the players reaction to this shit.

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Originally Posted by DPISTONS90

To me the Pistons have conceded that their contender days are over with this move. That is why the Hunter signing is even more fucking stupid. We sucked for nearly the entire post season and still came within a game of the finals again. You dont break that up and the Pistons half assed offer sealed our fate for sure. I cant wait to get the players reaction to this shit.

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agree

In the end, look at what Mark Cuban did to keep Terry. 12:01. Phone call, good offer. I honestly believe that if we had done that, we would still have Ben. Unless Joe D has a way to fill this void, we so definitely dropped the ball as hugely as possible on this one.

2 games away from the finals.

Look at free agency so far:

Claxton - way overpaid

Terry - slightly overpaid

Nene - way overpaid (injuries)

Ben Wallace - way overpaid

Peja - slightly overpaid (one dimensional and declining)

Bobby Jackson - way overpaid

Most of our contracts our very reasonable so I think that we can make the trades to be a Championship team again.

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Originally Posted by BIG BEN'S FRO

In the end, look at what Mark Cuban did to keep Terry. 12:01. Phone call, good offer. I honestly believe that if we had done that, we would still have Ben. Unless Joe D has a way to fill this void, we so definitely dropped the ball as hugely as possible on this one.

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agree

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Originally Posted by micknugget

Look at free agency so far:

Claxton - way overpaid

Terry - slightly overpaid

Nene - way overpaid (injuries)

Ben Wallace - way overpaid

Peja - slightly overpaid (one dimensional and declining)

Bobby Jackson - way overpaid

Most of our contracts our very reasonable so I think that we can make the trades to be a Championship team again.

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i think what that tells you is that you have skewed definition of overpaid.

true, most of the time you sign a guy and then you couldnt give away his contract if you tried (probably is true of ben). but then again, how often is there that diamond in the rough you can sign for cheap?

cap space is worthless if you dont spend it. bringing back ben would have been expensive, but look at the alternative. i dont know what 2 rounds of playoff basketball is worth, but i suspect in the long run, we would have come out ahead.

this sucks. joe should have brought ben back, and then salary dumped sheed now, or next year. that would have made alot more sense.

speaking of sheed, look for him to be a complete loose cannon next year. i figured he would be after this playoff run, but without ben... oh boy.

my point was, half the guys in the league are probably "overpaid". perhaps its not the worst thing in the world.

b-diddy, I am in your camp. I think it is okay to overpay for a player or two, but that player still has to be producing, even if its not worth the cash. In the end, would be have been better off if we didn't use the MLE at all this season and resigned Ben? I am not sure. But I can safely say that Delfino, Hunter, Dice, Johnson/Maxiell, and a LLE player might not have been that hideous.

100% we would be better with ben than whatever player we might sign with the MLE. without question.

that bench would suck, and i dont think that team has much of a chance to get back to the finals. but it'd have a chance. which is alot better than what we're looking at now.

Wallace helped Detroit advance in the playoffs in 2002 -- for the first time since 1991 -- get to the conference finals in 2003, win a title in 2004 and reach the finals last year. The Pistons won an NBA-high and franchise-record 64 games last season, then lost to the eventual champion Miami Heat in the Eastern Conference finals.

During the regular season this past year, he ranked fourth in the NBA in rebounding (11.3), ninth in blocks (2.2) and 10th in steals (1.78) -- the only player among the top 10 in all three categories. The undrafted free agent from Virginia Union became the fifth player in league history to have 100 blocks and 100 steals in six straight seasons, a list that includes Hakeem Olajuwon, Julius Erving, Sam Lacey and David Robinson.

His creds speak for themselves. With him we still had the best team in basketball regardless of the outcome this year.

Since I've already committed a "total rebuild" post I thought I'd be optimistic. It does look like Przybilla is our MLE guy, which will annoy Bonzi fans but face it: Bonzi wasn't coming here for the MLE.

So, here's the line-up:

C: Sheed (Yes, it could happen)
F: Dice
F: Prince
G: Rip
G: Billups

C: Przybilla
F: Maxiell
G: Delfino
G: Hunter

F: Amir
C: Davis
G: Acker
G: Blalock

The top 9 doesn't look all that bad. Przybilla and Hunter bring the D, Delfino can have the green light and Maxiell brings the pain.

If we're lucky Amir can step up and play some SF, otherwise Tay is gonna have to be an Ironman again, but we're not the fucking Hawks, people.

I'm not gonna predict ECF or anything like that, but we're not a fucking Lotto team.

(NOTE: I'd rather blow the whole thing up, though. Having picks, prospects and cap space is better than being a 4-8 seed)

I'd rather have some balls and try to win games this season.

Having picks/prospects is always nice, but DEPENDING on them isn't a good strategy.

Keep the core intact, try to get one more piece that will put us back in title contention, but don't gut the team. We're not even close to that point yet.

Um, if we can't go over the tax we're gonna struggle to add pieces.

I'm not saying give Ben some insane fucking contract, but once (sorry, if) Billups is taken care of we're screwed cap wise for 2 or 3 years.

And all our young guys will be up for extensions after Billups!

Pharoah, you bring up great points. Who knows if we are going to open the bankbook for Chauncey next season. Maybe the key is to rebuild the way others have, by trading our commodities before we lose them outright. I am talking about trading Billups. You can bet the farm that someone next season will offer him near the max, and Joe D has to know this is coming. I have to say that I would definitely think about a CBill - Chris Paul trade, although Charlotte probably wouldn't do it.