Scola is a restricted free agent (Hou will def match the MLE) and even if he wasn't, there is no way you'd get him with the MLE in this summers market.Miller is headed to Miami with the money they freed up in the Beasley trade.You really wanna give Haslem the MLE? Plus he's hasn't been weened off of Wade's breast, he'll go back to Miami and suckle for the min.Howard = Tayshaun, with more off-court baggage.Matt Barnes? Really??C'mon Pass, you're usually more on it than this........

With the way that free agency is going, there is too much cap space available and not enough remaining quality. The Pistons are going to be unable to sign anyone good with the MLE because the Cavs, Nets, Knicks, Wizards, etc. all can afford MORE than the mid-level exception and pretty much have to after gambling and losing in the Lebron sweepstakes.

Oh, and I have to point out that Dumars is looking like a fricking genius for signing Gordon and Villanueva last year; in retrospect he had no chance at Bosh, Wade, and Lebron and the price for talents equivalent to Gordo and CV is a lot more this year. Now their contracts look relatively low; Gordon would have gotten $15 million pretty easily, and Villanueva would probably be looking at $10+ million. They're flawed players, but so is pretty much everyone else, and now the Pistons have spare players for those aforementioned g&l teams.

Yes, Joe Dumars always falls on his feets.

one little fact : nobody predicted that trio ends up in one club and it means that there are 2-3 teams, hoping to get either wade or bosh, but did not, ready to spend handsomely.

a proof? remember dumars spoke ( via langlois) pretty confidently landing a solid player with MLE. Dumars also calculated that there will be one team for each superstar and this "constellation" leaves enough players at decent price to FA market.


mark my word: villie and bengo will have good seasons.

sometimes negativity in this forum is depressing.

He may be restricted, but that's the top player which can immediately help the Pistons. I never mentioned I liked the others, only that they were available. Scola is still the best and no big deal that we make a play for him. I don't think much will happen this summer with JD...so let the money sit for a week. Only KarenD will have a headache.

He's going to the Nets anyway. All the rejected teams have holes-in-their-pockets. Not much left soon.

I am getting older and the drooling won't stop.

Lol???

They're still overpaid one-way players.

We'd have Wall right now if he would have sat on the wallet.

I think we kind of agree with each other, but I'm not sure where.

You're right - nobody predicted that one team would end up with those three guys. I agree that villie and bengo will improve this year. The truth is that I'm very optimistic about the direction of this team. The results of free agency thus far - 2 to 3 teams, as you say, that are ready to spend handsomely - means that Dumars has a better chance of taking care of the shooting guard overload without even having to use the MLE at all (and IMHO, there really isn't anyone left that's worth the MLE other than maybe Sean May or Luke Ridnour, but I haven't seen anything that indicates the Pistons are interested in either one). There's going to be a market for Hamilton - which I don't believe would have existed in the same capacity had Bosh, James, and Wade gone to different teams - and getting rid of Hamilton is very important for establishing the team's new identity.

Agree on both accounts.

I don't think it's necessarily negativity, it's just that we want more.