Comments on: Poll: Grade Joe Dumars’ total draft history

By: Dan Feldman

Dan Feldman — Wed, 08 Feb 2012 20:45:43 +0000

And they’ve been way over the luxury tax, something the Pistons have never done.

By: tarsier

tarsier — Tue, 07 Feb 2012 23:41:17 +0000

“contenders need to be way over the cap”

counter points: Thunder, Clippers, 76ers, Pacers, Nuggets, Blazers and let’s throw in last year’s Heat and Bulls for good measure.

By: Max

Max — Tue, 07 Feb 2012 21:33:14 +0000

Further, you may note that most trade exceptions which are an oppurtinuty like to being under the cap regarding taking in another teams player more often expire than get used.

By: Max

Max — Tue, 07 Feb 2012 21:30:42 +0000

Another thing—I thought Dumars should have used his money as you suggest by taking in another team’s player but you should always remember that such a transaction means that a team wants to get rid of said player and or his contract and so unless it’s a Rasheed/Sprewell kind of situation, you are usually not going to get great talent.

By: Max

Max — Tue, 07 Feb 2012 21:28:13 +0000

Also, I don’t only think in terms of franchise players, but I do believe the Pistons have one in Monroe and that their last title team did not. I also believe that they have a high likelihood of landing one this year and if so, they will have two franchise players on the roster for the first time in their entire history. I’d call Isiah, Grant Hill and Bob Lanier franchise player but I think Dumars and Bing just miss the cut because they are not quite dynamic enough even though they are great hall of famers.

By: Max

Max — Tue, 07 Feb 2012 21:24:19 +0000

I should have said it had everything to do with being over the cap but that being over the cap for a decade didn’t hurt but helped them win their title.

By: Max

Max — Tue, 07 Feb 2012 21:23:22 +0000

Dallas is another good example—they have been winning 50 plus games a year for a decade and have always been way over the cap. This has not stopped them from tinkering with the roster from year to year and when they won their title last year it had nothing to do with being way over the cap and paying Brendan Haywood 10 million a year to do nothing didn’t hurt them and rather added to their flexibility moving forward this year because they felt they could let Chandler go and not pay him the absurd amount the Knicks did.

By: Max

Max — Tue, 07 Feb 2012 21:20:57 +0000

Because contenders need to be way over the cap and when you go under the cap it takes years to get way over the cap, It worked for Miami to an extent last year and their chief reason they didn’t win the title last year was a lack of depth that was unavoidable due to going under the cap. This year, they are a little deeper and their roster is a little more expensive and next year they will add to their cap again. It is a process and not one that really works unless you actually land players like LBJ, Wade and Bosh. The last time Dumars built this team into a contender they were always over the cap.

By: Max

Max — Tue, 07 Feb 2012 21:17:23 +0000

I totally disagree but I won’t substantiate because we’d wind up repeating ourselves.

By: Patrick Hayes

Patrick Hayes — Tue, 07 Feb 2012 14:15:12 +0000

Afflalo, Amir Johnson and Delfino are better than anyone the Pistons currently have other than Monroe and maybe Stuckey (though not this year, as Stuckey has not been good so far). So they are better players who make less money. Even if they aren’t going to make the team contenders, they all still have value. Gordon and Villanueva have negative value. There is no trade out there for those two that is going to bring back much other than equally useless contracts in return.