Chad seems a little off here, I think 4 yrs for 45-48 million would be reasonable.



This, to me, will be kinda tough given the FA market.

Jason Terry? I don’t really consider him that great of a slasher, but he has looked great over at Dallas. And how hard would it be to pry him away from there?

Mike James? He wants a bigger role, more money & he has some attitude issues (ego). I personally don’t like it, but might be worth looking into considering our limited options.

Marcus Banks? Young and improving, showed he has potential in Minny. But potential is, well, potential. May be the most realistic shot at getting though.

Al Harrington? I think he's out of our price range but would be an excellent backup for both the 3 and 4 spots, giving Tay that needed rest. Not sure he would want to come off the bench anyway, I wouldn't think so.

Nene? The only way would probably be a sign and trade (not assuming Big Ben). Would a draft pick(s) (our own) + Delfino get it done? Probably not.

I disagree w/ this assumption of our all-stars trade value as well. Rip is nearly UNTOUCHABLE in my eyes, he is one the best conditioned athletes the NBA and will have a VERY long and successful career, not to mention he is still quite young and has room to improve. Rasheed is older and has a history but still one of the most talented bigs in the game, which is well known.

Now let’s just say we HAD to do a sign & trade w/ Big Ben (asking for too much or just not wanting to work w/ Flip). Here are some options that could be available (that I wouldn’t mind). Keep in mind to make it work for some of these young studs or stars we might have to throw in a pick or 2 and we do have Orlando’s' pick to work with as well. Also trading C. Delfino (since various sources expect to him to request a trade) may help in some scenarios.


Chicago - B. Gordon (1, 2), L. Deng (2, 3) & Nocioni (3, 4)

Boston - D. West (1, 2), A. Jefferson (4, 5), K. Perkins (4, 5) & G. Green (1?, 2)

Atlanta - J. Childress (2, 3), Zaza (4, 5), J. Smith (3, 4) & M. Williams (3, 4)

N.Y. - C. Frye (4, 5), D. Lee (3, 4), J. Crawford (1, 2, 3?)

Toronto - J. Calderon (1), J. Graham (2, 3), C. Villanueva (3,4)

NOK - JR Smith (2, 3?), D. West (4)

GS - A. Biedrins (4, 5), I. Diogu (4, 5), M. Ellis (1, 2), M. Pietrus (2, 3)

Now there may be some players I listed that could be considered "untouchable" by some, but I'm just trying to put out some of the possibilities if we have to make a deal.


Here are some of the big names that have been ROUMERED to have a chance to be traded during the off-season.

S. Marion (3, 4), L. Barbosa (1, 2)

R. Allen (2, 3), R. Lewis (3, 4) - both is highly unlikely, but a straight up deal for one? or one of them plus E. Watson, D. Fortson or Wilcox (FA)

C. Boozer (4, 5?) (Utah has a few young guys that I'm not really familiar with, so adding someone and/or draft picks would be necessary for this to work)

J. O’Neal (4, 5)

Z. Randolph (4, 5?) Portland also has a bunch of young guys that could be options - M. Webster, S. Telfair, T. Outlaw, V. Khryapa & J. Jack - (seem to have a logjam at the G spot)

K. Garnett (3, 4, 5?) M. Jaric (1, 2, 3), M. Banks They might want another starter in return though.

C. Maggette (2, 3) Not sure if there is too much else on the roster I'd wanna look at though (realistically anyway)



I'll leave it up to you guys to put together what you would think would be the most beneficial for next years championship run.

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"We will not lose game 2...put it on the front page, back page, middle of the page, wherever, we will not lose game 2" - Rasheed Wallace after game 1 loss (on the road) to Indiana during the 2004 playoffs

Dumars trades tend to be very unpredictable. He has a knack of finding talent in the "Just about to Breakout" range that slips through other GM's. We are not going to sign and trade for Brad Miller or Eric Dampier ( Mercury news - other thread ).

The pessimist will think that Dumars grand plan of getting a bunch of solid players in the 6mil range is comming to a head. What do you do when those mid-range salary guys want max dollars but will never give you what Duncan, Nash, Nowitzki, ... and other max players can give?

The optimist will think that Ben is addicted to the post-season and will not go to a rebuilding team perferring to stay in Detroit for a more reasonable offer. Besides other teams saw the 25% FT shooting, not playing in the 4th quarter and demanding more offensive opps that we all saw as well. So a reasonable deal here will get done or Dumas will find the next Diamond in the Ruff.

Despite Bens flaws, which are obvious to EVERYONE, he is still highly thought of throughout the league. A four time DPOY in the past 5 years isn't going to just bring in a "diamond in the rough". If there are teams willing to throw max dollars at Ben (which has been widely published) there will be teams willing to give up young studs or stars as well.

It all depends on what goal will be set for next season. Do you want to go all the way again, or do you want next season to be a development season?

Another big question is the identity of the team. Do you want to stick to the "no superstars-great team chemistry", or are you willin to give the "Piston-identity" up in contracting one or more huge scoring egos?

Question 3 is: What kind of tweaks do you want to make to the team? Bring in some more veterans again, or finally start to work with younger guys? During the postseason i've seen some guys playing of which I thought "How would they look in a Piston uniform?". If you could get your hands on i.e. L Barbosa, that would be a nice fit in my opinion.

There has been a lot of talk about the Piston rookies, how well they played in the development league. OK, so they may not be ready to play a significant role in a NBA team, but they will never be, if they gain no playing time. Why not start next season by playing them directly from the start. You have veterans on the team with a tremendous amount of experience who can guide these guys. You will probably lose more games, but look at how it worked out for Dallasthis season.

No way its going to be a development season. We have to try and develop a bench and we'll try winning it again.

I have no idea what Joe is going to do, no draft pick, and no tradeable assets, except for maybe Ben.

Who are we going to get for Delfino? Another future draft pick? Can Joe even attempt to get equal value for him?

And this free agent class is horrific, we need an athletic guard, well Joe, you have one, make Flip use him. My best suggestion for Joe is to install a big, tall, role player as the starting power forward next year. Try to keep Ben, trade Sheed for whatever he can get, sign a serviceable backup pg, and force Flip to play Acker, Delfino, JMax, and Johnson.

A core of Rip, Tay, and CB, with solid contributions from 5 or 6 other guys should keep our run going for a few more years.

I don't think we can assume that the strategy for next year will be status quo... They were driven by getting HCA... hindsight says that backfired... at the time it was proving to be successful...
Next year could bring an entirely different mindset... priority # 1, develop a consistent bench.

I disagree that we don't have assets to bring in a young big and a slasher on the wing.

We shouldn't just assume that Orlando will have a stellar season... injuries or chemistry could make that pick look desirable to trading partners by next February.

I believe Sheed is rubbing Joe the wrong way... Joe likes guys that are humble, keep their yap shut and do their talking on the court.

I think if you put a gun to Joe's head and made him choose between Sheed and Ben, he'd keep Ben... Sheed may actually have more trade value than Ben (teams burnt by Sheed)... keep a real close eye on Sheeds home town Philly... that team is ready to shake things up.

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With politicians the future lies ahead

So what's he going to do about Chauncey Billups?

I'm expecting some big changes, and nobody's really untouchable. Tayshaun probably is safe, but only because he's a BYC player and the Pistons wouldn't get equal value.

I agree that the Orlando pick remains uncertain.

Billups?...there's nothing wrong with him...he just needs to be brought back to reality after Flip allowed his head to expand.

We came within 2 games of a third consecutive finals visit...our window of opportunity is still wide open.

The only possible BIG change I can see is Ben leaving...I hope not.