This trade has always dumbfounded me. It's so one sided, you'd think Isaiah proposed it. IRREGARDLESS of Darko's attitude, he was 20, 7'1", bulking up, getting props from Ben and Sheed, under contract for one more year, and Ben was not a lock. What's to lose by keeping him for another year. Plus Throw in Arroyo for a stiff and a future protected 1st rounder?

Well, I may have got my answer, quoting Wave from Detnews:

Arroyo would have been nice Chauncey insurance for the end of next season but the Pistons squandered that trading Darko, claiming that the only way to get value back (in an expiring deal) was to move Arroyo as well. Of course, re-signing Ben Wallace was always a ruse, the money was always being saved for Billups.

...

Trading Darko and the OverDribbler hurts, but not as bad as the tight fisted penny pinching by the Pistons front office. To think they were going to throw the MLE at Flip Murray until their need for Mohammed came up. When it was all said and done, Murray was happy to sign in Detroit for $1.50 and a bus pass. No one wanted him, and no one wanted him for more than the league minimum.

Yes, it was a lousy offseason by Joe. But at least we don't have to deal with the sulking Serb anymore.


It makes sense, and now I'm depressed. (Was hoping it was just personal between Joe D and Darko). If this was all done to save money for CB, we're done. Instead of going with 5 potential all-stars, the new motto is 4 guys and a stiff, it's cheaper.

BTW, Chad Ford says very few teams will have cap space next year, so CB will not too many offers, which means Joe D will lowball him, he'll get po'ed and sign with someone else.

I hope this does not start a new round of slam the franchise. Last year they gave Prince whatever he wanted. If they were that cheap they would not have done that.

I loved Ben as much as the next fan but he was slowing down and had an awfull post-season. Its not too far out of the relm of reality that a team would not want to pay him 60 mil over 4 years, perhaps even more? Who knows how far over Chics offer Dumars would have had to go.

Why has Orlando not re-signed Darko yet? His agent still thinks the kid is worth more than they want to pay. Darko has not proven anything yet. I know he can block a few shots but some nimrod is going to offer the creep a near max deal, and regret it. I think in the future we will be glad that we rid ourselfs of Darko.

Give it some time.

I'm sure Orlando doesn't want to overpay based on a couple months of PT and Darko doesn't want to sign onto a deal if he thinks he can earn a bigger one next year. Either way we won't be glad we got rid of him when we did. At worst, Orlando can pull a sign and trade if he wants too much $$$. In which case his value must be pretty high, and his value is easily 5X what it was when we got rid of him, so they'll get something good in return.

1. 16, you love a good conspiracy theory

2. micro didn't post that here because it is part of a larger article he/I/we are working on, and the looney bin board seemed as good a place as any to test out new material. It should only be taken as unsubstantiated opinion, there is no fact to back any of it up.

3. This may have people wringing their hands, but what can you do? I love the Pistons, and they are incredibly cheap. It's like being in love with someone that has an annoying laugh. Difficult to tolerate, but not reason enough to end the relationship.

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Joe said he did not regret dealing DMC even after Ben left... there was most likely some bridge burning going on prior to the trade.
If not then it would certainly have made sense to hold out 'til Ben's deal (or lack of) was done.
IMO Darko is a PF not a center.... the Magic play Howard like a center and Darko like a PF... it works for them.... we didn't have a space eating scorer to compliment the Serbian Pranksta (er Gangsta).

Sign and trades are not always fruitfull. We did get a potentially decent draft pick out of the deal. And no one was really all that hot on Arroyo.

LoL
I guess if I can make up stuff about CB you can make up stuff too.
As far as CB getting only 1 or 3 offers...One huge desperate one is all it takes. Besides if someone did land CB they might totally retool their team. Not quite the balance of power shift that Shaq caused but maybe some serious jerrymandering.

This will be worth a sneak preview... it could be that Joe is positioning himself for next year... loaded with picks (in a good year) and a little wiggle room (prior to CB's decision)... there's the potential for a substantial acquisition.

That's an understatement, you should hear my ideas about Bush's plan to still the '06 elections.

But as for the Pistons, I think I get it. Joe thinks he has enough to win, and doesn't want to pay premium parts that he may not need.

Let's hope he's right. If Delfino is as good as I think he is, Joe gets a super cheap quality 2/3. If Amir develops, there's another super cheap player. Nazr MLE, Tay, Rip, and Sheed locked in. So Joe opens the bank for CB in a year where teams don't have a lot of money.

I guess it's nice to have 5 allstars, as long as you don't have to pay them all star money (unless your the knicks who pay 5 scrubs all-star money).

Hopefully it works out, a core of CB, Rip, Tay and Sheed and Nazr, Dice, and Delfino as the role players, aint all that bad.

IMO, people make entirely too much of the fact that Orlando has not locked DMC up as yet. Darko as played fewer than 35 games in his NBA career. The Magic might just be playing it smart. Give him a season doing what they want him to do, along with Dwight, Jameer, Hedo, JJ, et al, and then figure out what they want to offer him. It might be more than they could 'get by with now', but I think Darkio wants to play and to win, so he will be somewhat cooperative, something he might have learned from the Pistons.

It certainly is to Darko's advantage, as well, because they will, after a full season, see where he fits into the scheme of things, and will pay him accordingly.

And the Magic management has stated several times that they will pay their players what they are worth without playing mind games, as long as they think those players give them a good chance to win.

And that is what management should be all about. Sometimes, trying to get by in the cheapest way comes back to bite you.

As for the main subject of this thread, I have figured it as many ways as I can come up with and have come to realize that they made A HUGE error in judgment. DMC should have been kept ahead of Ben, anyway, because he outscores Ben even on Ben's good nights, blocks just as many shots, and with playing time, is now beginning to rebound. There should have been no doubt in Joe's mind that Darko would blossom eventually and Ben's best days are in the rear view mirror. Sheed's and Dyce's will be appearing there soon, as well.

He did not want to ruffle Ben's feathers until the 'best starting five in the NBA' brought home another 'ship. We have seen how Ben plays when he is feeling underappareciated and that would not have won another set of rings.

I just keep coming back to the fact that the player who was chosen number two overall was not given 5 minutes a game in order to earn more and become a force. How many times has it been said that you can NEVER have too many big men? This is going to haunt the Pistons for years.

It is interesting to me that he came to the Pistons with such high expectations and was never allowed to live up to them. So many fans came to look upon him as a failure (at age 19). He came to Orlando with his reputation and league experience at a very low level and the huge majority of fans has welcomed him and are excited about his future.

We can only hope that the Pistons win a lot of games despite this error in judgment. And that they have learned by this experience and will change some things.

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