I think the reality is that Flip's system has never made much use of the center position, either as a rebounder, scorer or defender. Historically, the facts bear this out.

Thus making it wise for Joe not to invest $14 million in Ben, or even $9 million in Darko (I think he will sign for less if he signs before the start of the season).

While Mohammed may be overpaid given his limited abilities, he does fill the slot, can offensive rebound and possesses the requisite size.

The toughest transition this year as fans will be seeing the signature Detroit Basketball change into something different. I think the team will no longer hang it's hat on defense, but rather make their mark with consistent offensive play, night in and night out.

Considering the background of Flip, and that he is the Detroit Coach for the forseeable future, it wouldn't make sense to invest money in personnel that he will not be able to best make use of.

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Nov 13 LW Milan Lucic had an active night. He scored his first goal in eight games since his Oct. 25 hat trick and also pounded Michael Komisarek in a third-period fight. Lucic cut his hand in a fight with Michael Komisarek. "I'll be fine," he said. "(X-rays are) negative, but there's so many broken bones in there from before you can't really tell."

Ahhhh, Darko would've fit Flip's plan.
But Flip was into kissing the starting 5s azzzz.
And not rocking the boat as a newcomer.

I think that if Darko does wind up playing the 5, he will play it more like Laimbeer did. And that might have fit in with Flip's offense. I just got
this off the Magic board and DMC shot a couple of 3s in that game and still not 9 boards with his 17 points:

Serbia & Montenegro trounced Argentina 83-64 in the opening game of the Philips Singapore Cup on Friday.

http://www.fiba.com/pages/en/news/brea_news_arti.asp?r_act_news=15154&r_cat=473&page =1

Here is a write up on the game

I am not going to make a habit of posting the Serbian games as I see them unless it is OK with the other posters. But the games are getting a little more serious now, on the way to the world 'ships. They beat last Olympic Champs this time, with most of their team intact.

If you don't want me to post these, just say so. You know me, I'm not pushy !!!

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Things appear to be at their darkest . . . . . . . . . just before they go totally black!!

I'm happy to hear about Delfino playing well. I have gone on record saying we should trade him, but if he can translate his excellent play in FIBA competition to the NBA then I will very quickly change my tune.

I'm not convinced that the reason we traded Darko was to free $$ for Ben. I think Joe soured on him because of his attitude and wanted to remove a potential distraction. Arroyo kept his head up in public, but I think with Darko and Delfino and him wanting more minutes there was a serious risk of locker room division.

Ironic that we had issues anyhow, but that was unforeseen at the time.

If Flip would have found some time for Darko to play things might have gone in a totally different direction. That's life.

Who knows why we did it, but it was a very bad move.

Arroyo, Murray, Delfino, Dyess, and Darko would be a sweet bench.


I'm past blaming anybody.


How many NBA teams have 3 Olympic starters on their bench?

Darko is better than Mohammed. Mohammed's only plus skill is offensive rebounding. He's average to below average at everything else.

Darko brings a lot more to the table. Trading him and getting nothing (almost) back was beyond idiotic.

It's agreed Darko was souring and JD won't keep any of that. But I still don't know why, in his second year with LB, he didn't get minutes. Did they think he would sit on the end of the bench like an old big? Sheed offered some of his minutes but BBeen wasn't in the mood.
PF or C does it really make a big diff.?

Lazyberbs, regarding Darko, is it really true that "so many fans came to look upon him as a failure"? Detroit fans? Certainly that is what the national media and even the Pistons organization and lame coaches may have worked themselves up, but I always got the feeling that Pistons fans just wanted to have the opportunity to see the guy play and felt frustrated. I think the fans were much more savvy of the situation than you give them credit for and many fans felt it was way too soon to declare him a failure.

The second LB year I watched alot of games thinking "Cmon, we're ahead by 20, put Darko in!" I think casual fans like storylines and Darko breaking free from the chains of the Detroit bench in Orlando is a storyline that will really take hold this next season. The jury is still out on Darko, but one thing is for sure, the courtroom is packed for the verdict.

Back to Topic. I really really hope that we did not trade Darko and Arroyo to give a pile of money to Chauncey. A premeditated decision to let this become Chauncey's team by making him the highest paid Piston by ALOT might actually force me to defect to another team.

I'll put my cards on the table. The Championship Window is Closed IMO. I'm for the Total Rebuild and it starts with Flip getting fired mid-season, and Chauncey's exit on Flip's heels. Can we trade him to Orlando for Darko and Arroyo?

Darko engineered the trade.

rebuild by trading Billups for Darko and Arroyo

How does that help?

Billups is a far better player than either of those two alone and both of those two put together. He may have an ego and one playoff choke job under his belt, but he is a proven winner, an Allstar, and a Finals MVP.

Those two are unaccomplished bench players. hello!

I'm all for dumping Flip, but if we do trade Billups in lieu of paying him --WE MUST DO BETTER than that trade.