Comments on: As a dismal season comes to a close, the Pistons play like they can’t wait for next season to start in win over Bucks

By: Larry

Larry — Sun, 10 Apr 2011 19:32:26 +0000

Patrick, that scares the hell out of me. But fortunately Joe doesn’t really give us the straight stuff (There will be accountability, I sign gusy with character, etc.)

By: Laser

Laser — Sun, 10 Apr 2011 18:33:54 +0000

not 29th. maybe in the 20s, maybe not. i’m not sure what it would be exactly, but it’s “something.” a project big man, some other prospect, who knows? it would also have given us a chance to see how the team looks without the guys who won’t be here next year anyways. a starting spot for daye, more minutes for bynum, give summers a chance. int’s a win-win.

By: Patrick Hayes

Patrick Hayes — Sun, 10 Apr 2011 04:03:21 +0000

I still can’t get over people thinking like the 29th pick in a horrid draft is an asset.

By: Patrick Hayes

Patrick Hayes — Sun, 10 Apr 2011 04:02:20 +0000

The fact that Dumars has called Stuckey a “big part of the future of this team” leads me to believe Dumars fully believes that Stuckey still has vast amounts of untapped potential.

By: Larry

Larry — Sat, 09 Apr 2011 22:08:28 +0000

not grinchy. realistic. good analysis. oh, and speaking of “grinchy”, can anyone say “lockout”?

By: Laser

Laser — Sat, 09 Apr 2011 21:44:31 +0000

i hate to be my usual grinchy self (well… sorta), but i don’t know how relevant the question about gores’s determination about players’ futures is. which is the reason i’ve given up hope for the near future. regardless of what the guy wants to do, these guys’ contracts are going to dictate the what happens. and it doesn’t look good.

rip, gordon, villa and max are either (a) here to stay, (b) tradable only for similarly horrid contracts, or (c) bought out, ridding us of them while fixing nothing. and these are the four guys who represent almost all of your flexibility.

perhaps there may be some marginal decisions to make (but honestly, anyone we bring back just inches this roster closer to a facsimile of this season), but it looks like dark days for at least one more full season (at which time the rip and max contracts have just one year left and are therefore valuable) and more likely two (when that’s the case for BG and CV). but the demand for the players on this roster that represent our potential flexibility has to be nil, and we’re not luring any free agents with what must be considered among the absolute worst midlevel exceptions in the league. and all that’s assuming gores doesn’t just leave all the decision making up to dumars. which he probably will.

the team being sold is better than it not being sold, but i don’t know why anyone should be all that excited. it happened too late to roll over assets like tay, mac and stuck (before he’s due for an extension and an absurd pay raise). i doubt there’s anything that can be done to right the ship next season, but at least we’ll get to see if my theory is right. but the way i see it, we’re just flat-out not going to be able to free enough cap space to lure a solid free agent, and we’re not going to be able to upgrade through trade. so we’re sunk.

By: Larry

Larry — Sat, 09 Apr 2011 21:42:10 +0000

Patrick, you derive a lot of psychological interpretation from a win at home over the Bucks.
Here’s hoping that the mysterious Mr. Gores considers the full body of work of GM, coach, players. Here’s hoping that Joe Dumars does not agree with you that Stuckey is still a “work in progress” and realizes that Chris Wilcox is likely to return to dormancy as he does every time he signs a new contract.
But at least the ownership change allows a different type of conversation than simply wondering how bad things can get.