Hello Forumites. Here I am posting ony my little handy dandy laptap midair, nooo just landing in Newfoundland. Back early I have a small tear in my rotator cuff and will need surgery, it's not so much the tear itself, it's the accumulation of swelling in my upper back, I even have swelling in my lats, therefore, I am on my way back.

I read that Billups would opt out of his contract. Well if that's the case, he appears to love his hometown of Denver, and the Nuggets are shopping Camby and Andre Miller.

Micro/Roscoe, will this fit within the salary cap. I wold hate to lose Billups and get nothing in return.

I just want to thank all of you guys on the forum for keeping me busy during my 2 month hiatus. It's difficult to explain in words how things that appears so small like reading the paper, finding a good chat on line just makes the days a lot more rewarding.

I really have to give thanks to God for keeping me alive to see the states again and for allowing me to be able to just enjoy some good old fashioned basketball talk. I am feeling a little bit teary and sentimental right now, but I really love you guys, appreciate the pages and pages of enjoyable reading, here's to you.

We love you too armygirl.

Have a safe trip home, you are appreciated.

hey army girl, glad you were able to post and provide some valuable opinions and insights from the foxhole and the 100 degree temps out there in the desert.

Welcome back and thanks for representing not only our country but the Piston nation too!!

Glad you are making it back safe.I agree if not Denver, if Joe has any feeling C is leaving get some value back from someone. Better than being strung out with a scramble for a fill in.

Welcome back AG! We are all grateful for your service to our nation in our unified hope for world peace!

We here at PF are very proud to have you in our midst and pray for your successful surgery.

Armygirl - Welcome back. I had to stop and think a minute where all those muscle groups were. I was not aware that you were back over there until you mentioned it a couple of weeks ago.

I actually came very close to joining myself. Back in the Reagan buildup years there were some very tempting offers. Not only pre-college as an enlisted guy but in college as well. Came very close, even had a semester of ROTC. Ironically if I would have joined then I most assuredly would have either still been in or had been called back for the 1st Iraq war.

On Billups its what he was going to do all along. He wants a pay raise and the Pistons will be interested in offering him more than the 6 mil or so that he will be opting out of.

With this Ben Wallace fiascal who knows. There always seems to be that one psycho GM willing to overpay for a player. As in Bens case it only takes 1 GM willing to overpay and thats it.

Who knows - I would hope that we would get something for him. If we can extend him now then I wonder why its not happening? Sort of like all these rookie contracts we see getting extended before it hits the league.

I have never been a big A.Miller fan and Camby seems kind of soft. I would hope for a better deal.

First Ben...and next summer? Billips will be opting out. I said that the Ben departure may trigger a chain event. A year from now--how far will we have gone in the playoffs? If we don't go any further than this year or less, are the Pistons going to pony up for Billips who will be at the edge of his prime years?

Micro, help out here. But wouldn't they be forced to trade him? After the following year, he could just walk like Ben did.

No Amy, Miller has no real game. His jumper is poor. His penetration is only so-so when you look at the results. Camby is a bit Ben like. That is who should have replaced Ben, Camby or Chandler.

I like Andre Miller. Nothing from three point range, but he'll get tons of assists, and now and then he'll rack up some points.

After what Arn's other client just did, I take that trade and run.


Hope you get better soon AG, those rotator cuff tears can be quite the pain.

Hopefully you've gotten an MRI to confirm this, as rotator cuff tears are very commonly misdiagnosed as such.

Glad you said that Cloudwalker. I will get an MRI at Bethesda tommorrow morning. The X-Ray only showed a 2 mm calcification in the area of the superior labrum suggestive of possibly labral injury. Whatever this means I don't know, doctors talk.

I am having so much swelling in the lattissimus dorsi (lats) which to me is indicative of another injury.

Military doctors are a trip, they give out motrin like M & M's. I am really trying not to take any pain killers, just using ice & heat. A friend of mine gave me a salon pas patch which was awesome.

Thanks all of you for your kind words.