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MONDAY, July 7
Dale (Mission, Texas): Some say that Corey Maggette could end up with the Pistons. I was wondering why he would sign with the Pistons if he can sign for the same amount of money with last year’s champions, Boston. I doubt they will start him before Prince, so how can the Pistons lure someone like him?
Langlois: I’m not sure what Boston’s pitch is with Maggette, but he’s a swingman who’d have Paul Pierce and Ray Allen ahead of him at his two positions in Boston. I think it’s possible that this Maggette thing takes a few more weeks to play out. Only a few teams can pay him more than the mid-level exception and right now it doesn’t appear any of them are going hard after Maggette. Maybe he’ll wait to see how Philadelphia’s anticipated pursuit of Josh Smith goes. If Smith winds up returning to Atlanta, would the 76ers make a play for Maggette for something above the MLE? Maybe, but he essentially plays the same position as their own restricted free agent, Andre Igoudala. It could be that Maggette is left to choose from among MLE offers from contenders like San Antonio, Boston, Houston, New Orleans and Detroit.
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Jesse (Livonia, Mich.): The Pistons have a lot of undersized frontcourt players and that is a weakness that got exposed in the Boston series. With Maxiell and Amir expected to play more, that means more time we are exposed to losing rebounds. Is there any chance Joe D will use them at small forward and acquire a legitimate big man? I think Brad Miller would be a great fit.
Langlois: Amir’s rebounding numbers per minute were well above average last season, Jesse. Not sure how that will translate once he starts playing more regularly, but I don’t think you can make the case that more minutes for Amir will result in a weaker rebounding team. Those two guys probably can’t guard small forwards on a consistent basis. And while rebounding was a problem against Boston, overall the Pistons were a very good rebounding team last year as measured by percentage of rebounds secured – in other words, they grabbed more rebounds than their opponents.
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Doug (Oden, Mich.): Is Dee Brown on our Summer League roster? And do you know if DeMarcus Nelson landed with an NBA team?
Langlois: Brown wound up signing with the Sonics instead. That’s understandable given that team’s lack of quality depth at point guard. Nelson will play in the Summer League with Golden State.
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Justin (Darien, Conn.): I’ve heard the Pistons are leaning toward splitting the mid-level exception, but I don’t think they need more depth. Wouldn’t it be more useful to get a James Posey or Corey Maggette?
Langlois: The thinking could change depending on what’s out there. I don’t suppose that when Joe Dumars said the likely course was to split the MLE that he figured a talent like Maggette could be had at that price. But when Maggette opted out of his contract in a year when not many teams could go above the MLE, a lot of teams decided to take a run at him. If Maggette goes elsewhere, I’m not sure there’s anyone else to whom the Pistons would commit their full MLE. Posey might get similar dollars but not the full five years.
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Dalton (Manistee, Mich.): I hear the Pistons are targeting guys like Pietrus and James Jones. If they pick up either of those guys, do you think they would be ahead of Walter Sharpe in the rotation?
Langlois: Yeah, Dalton, if the Pistons grab a player of that stature, and pay him what it’ll take to get him here, then they’re only doing it because they believe he’s good enough to be in the playing rotation ahead of a second-round draft choice. The Pistons like Sharpe very much, but it would be a pretty big gamble – based on 18 college games played over the last three seasons – to believe he’s going to be ready to join an NBA title contender’s rotation right out of the chute. Then again, Sharpe has a chance to convince them otherwise starting this week in Las Vegas.
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Eric (Goldsboro, N.C.): With some of the big men still available, do you think the Pistons should try to sign Jamaal Magloire, Ryan Hollins, Earl Barron or Kwame Brown?
Langlois: It’s not an area of priority as things stand now. If Theo Ratliff returns, as seems more likely than not, he’ll go into the season as their No. 5 big man with Cheikh Samb at No. 6. Only Kwame Brown from your list would be someone who’d push Ratliff out of No. 5 – and for the money Brown will command on the open market, that’s a luxury teams can’t afford in the salary cap era.
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Philip (Dresden, Ontario): What will the Pistons do with Cheikh Samb this year? Do the Pistons expect him to get minutes in the rotation or will he play in the D-League again?
Langlois: The plan as of now is that he’ll split time between Detroit and Fort Wayne again. All along, the Pistons thought it would be at least two years before Samb was ready to compete for a spot in the rotation. If anything, he surprised them a little last year when he was thrown into the mix early in the season and played pretty well.
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Dave (Chicago): I was wondering if you could explain Joe Dumars’ decision to send Trent Plaisted and Deron Washington to Europe as opposed to sending them to the D-League. Wasn’t the D-League designed for situations exactly like this – players they would like to develop for a few years before bringing them to the NBA?
Langlois: Good question, Dave. The reason the Pistons’ preference at this time is to stash them in Europe is because that way the Pistons would retain their NBA rights but those players would not take up roster spots. A D-League player who is property of an NBA team occupies a roster spot. So if the Pistons were to keep Plaisted and Washington here this season, they would be part of the 15-man roster whether they spent the season in Detroit or Fort Wayne. With 11 roster spots essentially committed already – the five starters plus Rodney Stuckey, Arron Afflalo, Jason Maxiell, Amir Johnson, Cheikh Samb and rookie Walter Sharpe – that leaves four to go. If both Theo Ratliff and Lindsey Hunter return, that’s 13. And Joe D has said he’d likely use his mid-level exception this summer and, further, likely would split it up over two free agents. That’s 15. Signing Plaisted and Washington would really limit his roster flexibility. And he needs that flexibility, too, in case attractive trades present themselves that would require the Pistons to take three players for two, perhaps, where the extra player is really just a contract the trading partner wanted to unload.
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Tre (Worton, Md.): Joe Dumars should trade two of our stars for a superstar. For instance, Rip and Prince for Vince Carter or Tracy McGrady. The backcourt would be Chauncey and Vince. Then get a starting small forward and keep Rasheed and Dice down low.
Langlois: I think a trade of two starters for one acknowledged superstar is a possibility, Tre, but when you say “get a starting small forward,” how do you propose doing that? The Pistons are already thin at small forward. If they trade Tayshaun Prince, I think it has to be to bring back a player who’ll take his place at that position. The Pistons have greater flexibility in their backcourt with three starting-caliber players.
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Bruce (Kentwood, Mich.): I think Joe D is being rightfully patient in not making a deal just to make one. I believe it is not too far-fetched to see a mid-level exception role player signed. In addition, I believe unless something crazy happens, the core will remain intact leading up to the trade deadline in February.
Langlois: Something could happen at any minute, Bruce. My best guess is the likeliest window is sometime after the first wave of free agency – right about now – when the destinations of guys like Baron Davis and Elton Brand and Gilbert Arenas gets cleared up and the end of July or early August.
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Marcus (Kalamazoo, Mich.): Chauncey, Rip and Stuckey getting 30 minutes a game would be amazing. Then we could put Rip at small forward sometimes as well as whoever we pick up, hopefully Mickael Pietrus.
Langlois: If the Pistons come back with all four of their primary perimeter players – Prince, Hamilton, Billups and Stuckey – then I would expect close to an even split of minutes among them. Hamilton kept proving he could guard everyone from Chris Paul to LeBron James last year – seriously, Hamilton’s defensive ability and versatility continues to be a widely overlooked story – and that gives the Pistons a little flexibility in their decision-making on signing a perimeter free agent. The other player in the mix is Arron Afflalo. I think you’ll see him getting a more defined role in his second season.
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Tyler (Pocatello, Idaho): Do you think Trent Plaisted has a chance to make the roster or is he headed to Europe?
Langlois: Plaisted has to make a really big impression starting this week at the Las Vegas Summer League in order for the Pistons to change their thinking. They’re not going to keep him here unless they believe he has a chance to help them win games this season, and that’s pretty tough to imagine when he has so many bigs – Wallace, McDyess, Maxiell, Johnson, probably Samb and potentially Ratliff – all ahead of him.
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Matt (Windsor, Ontario): If we did trade Rasheed for Vince Carter, who would we start at forward? Would they start Maxiell or move Tayshaun to power forward?
Langlois: A little silly to speculate on who would start after a speculative trade, but Prince isn’t going to be playing power forward on anything more than a situational basis, so under your scenario – Maxiell. But a starting frontcourt of Maxiell and McDyess would be pretty seriously undersized. So I wouldn’t expect that to hold, in any case.
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Jeremy (Ann Arbor, Mich.): The Pistons have been looking for a backup small forward for quite a while. That’s all well and good, but how about a starting center. The way I see it, we have four quality power forwards – Wallace, McDyess, Johnson and Maxiell. Isn’t it time we get a real center? If the Clippers sign both Baron Davis and Elton Brand, would they be willing to do a trade centered around Chris Kaman and Rasheed?
Langlois: Boston just won an NBA title with nothing but power forwards – Kevin Garnett, Kendrick Perkins, P.J. Brown, Leon Powe and Glen Davis. They beat the Lakers, who started power forwards Pau Gasol and Lamar Odom. DeSagana Diop, who I’m guessing would fit your description of a center, just got a full mid-level exception deal to return to Dallas – a pretty stiff price for a career 2 points per game scorer. Rasheed is, for all intents and purposes, a legit 7-footer. He’s as much a center as anyone else these days. Or would you rather trade for Wallace for Diop?
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Mike (Birmingham, Ala.): I’ve seen the Pistons are looking at James Posey, Mickael Pietrus and James Jones. Which player do you think is the best fit for the Pistons?
Langlois: Best or most realistic? Jones is probably the most available. Posey would cost the full mid-level exception and, unless Boston balks at coming close to that figure or shortchanges him by a year or two, is the odds-on favorite to keep him. Pietrus is going to star a lot of interest, too, and might also get the full MLE or something close. Jones wouldn’t cost quite that much. He’s a really good perimeter shooter whose game isn’t quite as well-rounded as the other two, but a lot of folks have long thought he could blossom into something more.
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Alex (Grand Rapids, Mich.): Here’s a three-way trade that looks pretty interesting. The Pistons give up Chauncey Billups, Tayshaun Prince, Rasheed Wallace and Antonio McDyess; the Suns give up Amare Stoudemire; and the Nuggets give up Carmelo Anthony and Marcus Camby. The Pistons get Anthony, Stoudemire and Camby; the Suns get Wallace; and the Nuggets get Prince, Billups and McDyess.
Langlois: You’re right – that’s interesting. It’s also slightly less likely than listing your home and having it sell in 48 hours. Phoenix would definitely want some sweetener and Denver is on the record as saying it won’t trade Anthony, though I think its resolve could be tested.
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Michael (Los Angeles): It appears the Pistons are looking for another point guard and Shaun Livingston represents an intriguing possibility. Before getting injured, Livingston was a Chris Paul-type player who probably would have become an All-Star. He recently resumed basketball-related activity and the Clippers didn’t extend him a qualifying offer and have now signed Baron Davis. Maybe Joe D tries to sign him to a non-guaranteed contract and start by sending him to Fort Wayne.
Langlois: Somebody surely will take a chance on Livingston, Michael. But unless the Pistons trade Chauncey Billups, I don’t think he’d likely see enough opportunity here to make it a match – and the Pistons, intent on getting immediate help for another title run, probably can’t afford the luxury of committing the good chunk of the MLE I think it would take to get Livingston. The D-League wouldn’t be an option for Livingston, who’s been in the NBA more than two years, as long as he’s on an NBA contract. It is an intriguing idea, but I think Livingston is more likely to wind up with a team that can afford to carry him next year – meaning a team with lots of cap space or without high expectations, or both, most likely.
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Jake (Westlake, Ohio): I thought Joe D said he was not going to let this trade issue brew for a long time? And what do you think of Rasheed Wallace and Chauncey Billups for Tyrus Thomas and Ben Gordon?
Langlois: There are only two things keeping the Pistons from that trade – the salary cap (Billups and Wallace will make nearly $25 million combined next year; Gordon is a free agent and Thomas will make less than $4 million) and sanity. That’s a really bad deal for the Pistons unless Thomas becomes a star, and he hasn’t given anyone reason to think that in his first two years. Dumars did not say he thought a trade would happen soon. In fact, he said it was very unlikely for it to happen before the draft, and also unlikely to happen until the first wave of free agency blows over.
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Cliff (Detroit): I am sitting back and listening to all these trade rumors and people are trying to hold Joe to his statement about the core of the team. But like he said, this won’t be a fire sale. With Michael Curry as coach, I feel there is a new mind-set with our players and a respect for the coach. Joe will probably add one or two free agents and we will be fine.
Langlois: Possible, Cliff. I asked both Dumars and Curry about that possibility. Joe D said he would be OK with that scenario but it wasn’t his first preference. I think he feels that would probably be putting an unfair burden on his new coach – that he somehow would be able to draw out of the same cast of players what Flip Saunders could not. Joe was pretty emphatic about saying all the blame for the lack of fire over the past few postseasons could not be put on Saunders. Curry said he’d be perfectly fine with coaching whatever team Dumars handed him, including the same old cast, because Curry thinks there is still great room for growth within the young core.
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David (Madera, Calif.): I see the Pistons are targeting James Jones or Mickael Pietrus. If they land one of them, would that end the idea of dealing one of the core four?
Langlois: Almost completely unrelated items, David. In a perfect world, Joe D would like to make the significant trade first and then delve into free agency to fill in the holes. But free agency isn’t going to wait on the Pistons, so it might be that he has to grab the best fit for a roster that could still be in flux – meaning a versatile, all-around player as opposed to a niche specialist like a 3-point shooter or a defensive stopper – within the early stages of free agency and then make his big deal after the dust settles and teams look at what they have. Or don’t have. Jones and Pietrus fit that description – versatile players, shooters and solid defenders.
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Hubert (Wallace, N.C.): Why do fans feel the need to trade Tayshaun Prince? He’s never missed a game in a Detroit jersey, he’s been overlooked for years and he’s obviously in love with the Detroit Pistons. Why trade Tay, people?
Langlois: Since the season ended and Joe Dumars declared everyone was on the table, fan reaction has been all over the map. There’s a trade Rasheed faction and a don’t trade Rasheed camp. Ditto for Chauncey Billups. And Tayshaun Prince. Not so much for Rip Hamilton. They’re all highly skilled, very useful, very desirable players. But if Joe D is determined to shake up the mix, then he knows he has to give something of value to get something of value.
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Jerry (Romulus, Mich.): For the right price, do you think Joe Dumars should push to get Emeka Okafor?
Langlois: There will be no right price on Okafor, Jerry. He’s a restricted free agent. The Pistons only have a mid-level exception to offer, which should be somewhere around $5.5 million. Okafor turned down $13 million a year before the season started. The only way he goes to another team is to sign an offer sheet and execute a sign-and-trade, but there are only three or four teams in the league with the kind of money needed to throw at him. He’ll almost certainly be back in Charlotte next season, either playing out the string and becoming an unrestricted free agent next summer or signing a new, long-term extension.
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Joe (Saginaw, Mich.): Do you believe, all things being equal and Stuckey being the right age and actually in the draft, that the Pistons would have taken him No. 2 in 2003?
Langlois: Do I think they would have taken him ahead of Carmelo Anthony? No. Dwyane Wade? No. Chris Bosh? No. All of those players had performed at high levels against better competition. But do the Pistons believe Stuckey has a chance to be a player on par with those players someday? Yeah, I think they do.
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Stephen (Clarkston, Mich.): Does your recent blog entry about free agent small forwards mean that the Pistons don’t feel Walter Sharpe will be able to assume minutes behind Tayshaun Prince next season?
Langlois: It means that unless Sharpe is dominant or close to it in Las Vegas – the way Rodney Stuckey was a year ago – that I don’t think the Pistons would want to go into a season in which they again feel they can compete for an NBA championship with a critical role entrusted to a second-round draft choice, no matter how bright they think his future might be.
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Anders (Stockholm, Sweden): I think Joe D is being emotional rather than rational. It can easily be argued the Pistons are the second-best team on the planet. The main reason for this success is not the players being hungry, it is their enormous experience and outstanding team play. Giving up one or more of the starters would be the same as giving up the very thing that makes the Pistons great. Keep the starters, develop the bench and the Pistons will rule next year.
Langlois: You make a valid point, Anders – a Swede who follows Deee-troit basketball, not hockey? – but Joe D isn’t trying to build the second-best team on the planet. He’s trying to win an NBA title and his creation has come up short four years running. The last three of them, he’s detected burning desire as a shortfall against all three teams that prevailed. That’s enough of a litmus test for him. He wants the chemistry to change. I think he’s willing to risk being the third-best team on the planet next year for the chance to be the best.
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Juan Jose (Las Palmas, Spain): Can we compare Walter Sharpe with Kevin Durant? I think they are very similar. What do you think?
Langlois: One was a No. 2 pick and is the reigning Rookie of the Year. The other was the No. 2 pick – of the second round – and has played 12 college games in the last three years. Let me get a look at Sharpe in Las Vegas before leaping to that type of conclusion. If the kid’s good enough to crack the fringe of the rotation next year, they’ll be pleased.
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