Dupree lives to fight another day. Have to say, I find this decision a bit disappointing. MEJIA WAIVED
This is disappointing. I'm so tired of Dupree. Now we only have 1 guy to send to the D-League. Stay away from my sister!
Wow. Probably doesn't matter much in the big picture, but at least Mejia could have been sent to the D-League to improve. My only suggestion would be to make sure to put a guy like Dupree in every once in a while to reward him, like LB would do. At least once every 5-10 games.
Dupree must have some unflattering pictures of Dumars and Davison How can a guy that has not added any value other than a few high fives during his stint with the Pistons deserve another spot on the back of the bus, but Mejia a guy who had more potential than Dupree gets sent packing? With his limited play, we probably saw the writing on the wall. He will go off to Europe and be another player that will better than Dupree but will get lost over there with Rickey Paulding and Alex Acker...
I suppose it's cheaper to waive Mejia than Dupree. Disappointing from a fan perspective, however - nothing to be excited, or even hopeful about with Dupree anymore.
Maybe he's a "good guy in the room" to use hockey terms. Perhaps he adds to team chemistry/practices and he'll be providing high fives (as you say) during games - whereas Mejia would be running with the DL.
I have to agree, this doesn't make much sense, other than financial, to me as well. Especially with Hot Rod's injury. We already know that we won't get anything out of Dupree. Strange, indeed.
I always thought of the nba.com/pistons website as something like an official- like organ of the Pistons. Strange enough, just about 14h ago, ther e was an article on the Pistons homepage about Meija being a competitive player who hustles and who's working hard to find a niche and now he's being waived? How come?
The part that I don't understand is, what was the point in drafting him. Why not just trade him for a future 3rd round pick. He seemed to do everything right behind the scenes (if that article can be believed). He didn't get much burn in the games. They didn't seem to give him much of a chance to break out. The only thing I can think of is that Dupree is better to include in some sort of trade package if need be.
I truly believe that this is purely a financial thing with a possible behind the scenes promise. Like we sorry we had to cut you, we really like you, next year you have a spot if you do this and that. Or he really pissed someone off, but if we would sign him we would be right over the luxury tax threshold aka the hard cap.
We did not have to sign him. We could have let him play overseas for a year, or even two, before signing him. The fact we signed him, and then released him (the combination of the two things) is what means we get nothing for the pick.
Mejia performed miserably both in the Summer League and in preseason. Plus, he was probably only drafted as a favor to Billups' agent, who represented both Mejia and Billups. Also, Dupree is bigger, more experienced, and after paying his dues, he deserves a chance at some minutes.
