TRADE: Afflalo and Sharpe traded for 2nd round pick

[Vinny]

If you lived in Denver you would be.

[Pharaoh]

Who was pissed AA got traded for nothing but cap space (that we used on Wilcox)?

ME!

Fuck!

The whole thread is depressing... but to find out my boy got paid big money is nice. Well deserved for a guy that works hard and plays with some fucking heart. Pity we don't have lots of guys like him on our roster...

maybe cause we trade them away for nothing

[Glenn]

Honestly I don't think starting center is really a consideration for dumars right now unless one that he considers solid enough to be around in 2-3 years falls into his lap (and I don't think one currently exists in this market). It's about thinking long-term and collecting valuable assets.

Therefore you use your current roster and space to pick up assets that will either be around when the team is ready to compete or that can be used to trade for pieces later on. That's why dumars will pounce on big baby if he can be had with this cap space.

That's why I like the pistons off-season thus far. Gordon and CV are young and improving with the potential to be really good in a few years. If they add another young, improving player with this newly created space after the afflalo trade then that's a positive as well regardless of position.

They also said good-bye to guys that either won't even be in the league when the pistons are ready to compete (dyess, sheed, hermann, iverson) or any good (afflalo, amir, sharpe). For a team that's looking to the future that's a very positive thing. Being able to cut off that much dead weight is a positive thing and hard to do in professional sports.

Every decision dumars currently makes is based on how this impacts the team 2-3 years from now.

If they can continue to pick up young, improving assets regardless of their position then that's a positive move for the future. When more contracts clear (brown, etc.) or if a big that can rebound and block shots becomes available next year via the mid-level or if a team makes an offer for prince or rip that dumars can't refuse or if you can package some of your new-found assets for something better....

You get the point, it's about having options and not thinking you HAVE to compete right now even if that means you finish in the lottery next season (because that again gives you a valuable asset).

Just re-read the thread. I think we should re-name it "Shattered Dreams" (or maybe just "Shat").

yargs is a great poster, but wow. Not to single him out, there are many similar "highlights" in this thread.

[Pharaoh]

Yargs is a smart dude and I love reading his posts... and in his defense he was looking at the glass half-full

BG and Nova were young and had some potential to show and prove.

They just didn't show and prove.

We also didn't flip Rip into Millsap or Boozer or any other big - which would have made a world of difference.

Imagine Kaman with Nova, Tay, BG and Stuckey

Imagine Millsap with Nova, Tay, BG and Stuckey

Imagine if Stuckey actually fucking developed!

2-3 years wasted....

I wonder how long Gores has given Joe to turn things around?

[yargs]

Just re-read the thread. I think we should re-name it "Shattered Dreams" (or maybe just "Shat").

yargs is a great poster, but wow. Not to single him out, there are many similar "highlights" in this thread.

I agree, that was one of my better efforts. Can I save grace by stating at one point following the 2007 draft that Afflalo would turn out to be the better player in comparison to stuckey since he just led a solid conference in scoring (pac 10), led his team to the title game and appeared to be a guy that puts forth the effort to get better (while stuckey just led his team to a .500 record and seemed like a guy without a jump shot or exeptional athletic ability...I hated the rodney stuckey pick)?

Ok, probably not. But I've always valued guys that win and seem to elevate their game when the games matter most. It's why I liked Big Baby that off-season since he just came off of a stellar playoffs where he elevated his game and averaged 16 a night in 14 playoff games (he averaged 18 and 7 against the bulls in round 2). I still contend that if dumars hadn't misread how much it would have cost to get Big Baby (he essentially released afflalo because he thought he'd cleared enough money to spend on baby but was wrong) he would have been a piston and done well for a team that needed a guy that could score in the paint.

Having said that, the afflalo contract is very bad. He really isn't anything more than a spot-up shooter. A really, really good one, but he is severly limited in his ability to create shots for himself and others. He averaged less than 13 pts a game last year in over 33 minutes which isn't very good. He's going to have to severly step up his game to be worth what he's being paid.

As for BG and CV, I think gordon is a waste and needs to go and will go. Under-sized shooting guards that can't defend the 2 or even shoot consistently anymore are a waste of time. I hate him and hope he proves me wrong.

As for CV, I think if he's limited to being an instant offensive big off the bench (similar to how the pistons used corliss) he could still impact this team positively. When he is on he can score pts in a hurry and change a game. The problem is he hasn't done that often but then again he hasn't really been used in this way either. Identify a role for him and stick with it.

[lospistones]

Yep. Trading Afflalo for nothing pissed me off more than any other move Joe has made. He was a great complement to Stuckey should he remain at PG and would have been a nice change of pace from Ben Gordon. hell, three guard lineups would have been easier to pull off with him around.

[geerussell]

I'm still a little disappointed that the new ownership clean slate didn't extend to the front office.

[Pharaoh]

I don't think AA got paid that kind of money because he produced 13 points in 33 minutes.

I think he got that money for what he brings to that team that you can't measure on a boxscore.

Work ethic, professionalism, attitude, etc