Dumars: Pistons must rebuild softened roster

I should use this as my signature (with the little barfing smilie ).

I agree. Winning those games did NOTHING for a single player in our organization going forward.

If we end up having to use our best chip, Tay, to move up a few spots, then while I'll be happy to do that, I'll also know that that shouldn't have been necessary. We should have gotten the player we wanted without using our chip. Tay could have been (then) traded for something else we needed.

Now, that said, it's important to remember that at best, you need 9 key guys on your roster. With whoever we draft and trade up for (assuming we do), plus Stuckey, Gordon, Bynum, JJ, Daye and Summers - I count 6 or 7 guys on the roster (will Daye and Summers both work out? will either work out?) who are keepers, plus whoever we get in the 2011 draft and for trading Rip's then excellent nearly expiring contract.

But we really need to move up if the guy we really need doesn't otherwise fall to us. We've got to get that young big guy to anchor our front line.

Joe is pissin me off now, and I am a JoeD defender all day long. Defense wasn't our problem last year, our problem was we struggled to score 90pts on any given night, putting together consecutive 20pt qtrs was darn near impossible, so can we just learn how to be a plus .500 team? Defense wins championships, offense wins games, in order to win a championship you fist have to win some games and make the playoffs. Once you start making the playoffs players learn the level of intensity and defensive committment needed to win a championship. Joe go get some guys that can put the ball in the hoop and get us into the playoffs.

You can't trade $11M salary for a draft pick. There needs to be other pieces involved to bridge the gap. A lottery pick is a guaranteed what, $4-5M in salary? So you need to take back another $5M or so to trade away Prince. Correct?

if the trade is made before the draft, the draft pick has zero value per say.... if i have it right. actually when do they actually have "value" when they actually sign there rookie contract?

Gotcha. Thanks for clarifying.

When a possession ends with a tayshaun post up, it feels like 6 or 7 hours.

On a softness related note, this is the most accurate CV related article I've ever read. Kind of reminds me of this Rasheed article

CV does seem like one of the softest players that I can think of. SoftServ would be a perfect screen name for him.

The article was right on, which was pretty uncomfortable to read... just knowing that CV will read it and feel a deep level of embarrassment due to the high truth content.

If we rest CAS during the offense so his defense improves we can balance this by resting Wallace during the defense so his offense improves.

We need an eraser or two in the middle of our defense in the paint - someone who doesn't need a lot of help against top offensive players and who can make the area a no-fly zone.

When that happens, our guards and wing players won't have to cheat as much as they do now.

Our only guard who defends well and who keeps guys in front of him - even bigger guys who try and fail to muscle him when he plays SF - is Stuckey.

JJ is great at moving his feet - and his agility is incredible. He can become a first rate defender in this league.

Daye's length gives him possibilities, but he's not quick footed, so his ability to defend will depend on how smart he is and plays. I think his BB IQ and willingness to mix it up are both quite good. As he gets stronger, I think we're going to love him on this team. And I still think our future would be better with him at SG, JJ at SF.

It's PF and C we need to address. Maybe Summers can be the PF - we'll see - the potential is there.

That leaves C - currently a humongous black hole on this team.

And the league in general.

PF is just as big of a hole. Our current solution is Charlie V, and a future solution does not exist on this roster.

I understand Daye isn't bulky and isn't much of a post player so people think he should play SG, but he can't dribble the ball. Guys that tall don't even sniff SG without ball handling skills. T-Mac is around Daye's height, but he can put the ball on the floor. When Daye does it, it's a disaster waiting to happen.

Daye can definitely dribble. He's got very fine handle, and has shown signs of being able to initiate the offense and make plays.