R.I.P. for Rip?

It's crazy that neither of these 2 guys are the highest paid on their teams right now. Rashard Lewis and ... hahemm... Ben Wallace are getting slightly more.

DHo's marketing appeal dwarfs both of them combined.

Merc, nice trade scenario. You need to post here more often!

Way to come through with that veteran leadership Merc!!!!! Take these young'ns to school !!!!!

Thank you lp, I thought I was the only one.

What is there not to get about AI? I'm not trying to be rude but some people just don't get the magnitude of sending him to the bench, even if he does get his minutes. That's what makes being a GM such a damn hard job: balancing politics, and what is "right"

You do that, and you can call the whole thing a waste. The Chauncey dump would be a waste. Expirings would be meaningless. Why? Because if you don't press the right buttons, there will be no 2010. It's been said already. Roscoe hit the nail on the head when he brang up Worldwide Wes.

Joe made the decision when he made the trade. And to an extent, Rip knew what was up as well. Everybody knows how it works.

Joe brought AI in to play next to Rip. Now that he's realized (as he has been under a rock for a few years) that AI is not a PG, the decision has to be made.

People are making it seem like we're sending Jesus to the bench. This is not 2001 superstar AI. I get the politics of it, but if AI were asked to be a the 6th man, him saying no would further damage his image more so than the Pistons. I don't see LBJ sitting there saying ok cross the Pistons off my imaginary list. They would bench me. But it's irrelevant i guess. Just speculation.

That statement assumes Joe's intentions without any proof.
It loses even more validity when it is predicated on the notion that Joe has been under a theoretical rock for a number of years.

It is just as viable to speculate that Joe could have intended to trade either Prince or Rip before the deadline and the last 20 or so games were played in an attempt to find out which player fits better with an Iverson led squad.

Joe doesn't need to be a genius or a blithering idiot for the aforementioned scenario to be realistically plausible.

Cloud, as always, you hit the nail on the head with this post. OUTSTANDING.

Consider the source of who you are responding to, some folks are AI haters to the end, enough said.

Mercury, I just absolutely love you. One question, where in the hell have you been? I have to come over to detnews just to rap to ya.

Can you come over more often, please. This would be an absolutely beautiful move for the Pistons as well as for the other teams you mentioned.

Joe said and i quote loosely, the reason i traded for AI was partly because I imagined how dynamic Rip/AI would be together; how great that backcourt would be, etc. So my assuming his intentions is based on what he said because i can't and am not trying to read his mind. I'm not speculating. If i was i could say well did he really mean that or maybe he just said it to to say it, etc. Unless he meant them to play together from afar, i'm thinking the plan was them starting together.

All i have to say to this is going around the forum to post ITA!! or great idea!!!! to every single post that mentions remotely anything about trading Rip and barely anything else is tired. We have other players on this team and other things going on to discuss as well. I have done my best to avoid you and your AI fanaticism. It's probably best if you do the same thing.

Exactly.

Stackhouse was traded right after Joe stepped up to publicly squash trade rumors.

With Joe you almost have to think about what he doesn't say more than what he does say.

Ofcourse Joe D will never say there is another trade coming.. its to keep rip/players motivated when playin..

it disrputs the team, if joe d says there is trade coming..

plz, ppl, this "trade Rip" is boring due to lack of viable and REALISTIC trade scenarios.

You have what you have and you have live with that. Speculations a la " maybe this GM (insert name) is dumb enough to make this trade" shows, politely saying ( I really do not want to test Roscoe's piety filter), extreme wishful thinking.

What about Rip for Oden + Aldridge + Fernandez?

Only if Port will throw in their #1 picks for 09,'10,'11 & '12.

This one should really throw the, "Keep Rip Here By Any Means Neccessary, Even If It Means Killing AI, AA, or AEIOU and Sometime Y" fan base into a fit for real:


ESPN.com - NBA - Trade Machine Results

Hey,it solves our problem for depth at the SF spot this season. If or rather when we play small ball, Tay won't need to man the 4, and we shave another $14 million off the books at the end of the season...I'm just sayin........