Terrico White at #36

Oh and about where Rip should go. I've always thought Utah's been a solid team but that they were always missing that solid 2 guard to make them solid title contenders. Now that Boozer and Kirilenko might be gone, their window might have close, but I always thought they were a good shooter away from being a legitimate threat.

A lot of teams are clearing cap space for a couple of mega-stars. Once these guys sign somewhere, there should be a ripple effect of teams starting to scramble for talent. I think the Pistons will have a chance to do some wheeling-and-dealing this summer, but it might not be right away.

yep, I think mid Aug will be when you see alot of trading take place once teams have scooped up all the free agents and alot of teams are sitting with very unbalanced rosters.

Look at our roster, not nearly enough talent but its somewhat balanced everywhere short of center... so we can trade away most anybody without leaving us a glaring hole at that spot.

Joe gets an I for the summer so far, but he's off to a good start in my view, and with a dollar that will get you a bottle of water (well in some places anyways)

Imagine being a Heat fan and seeing D-Wade leave and get replaced by Rip.

Rip will be moved by trade deadline NEXT season, when he'll effectively have an expiring contract - since the last year of his contract can be bought out for $3 million. In fact, given how great Rip keeps himself in shape, I can imagine a contending team being pretty thrilled about having the option to lock him up for that final year.

One of the key developments with Monroe being drafted is that our offense is even less dependant on a traditional PG. That means Rip and Gordon can play in the same backcourt when Stuckey/Bynum are on the bench. Tay and Daye are more than capable of bringing the ball up court, as are Rip and Gordon. Even JJ has that capability. With Monroe and either Tay/Daye making plays, Rip and Gordon or even CV (who plays really well off of Gordon, btw) can focus on getting their shots. Without Monroe, we really had nobody in the post or elbow positions that occupied opposing defenses or who could make passes that carve up a defense. This totally lessens the need to trade Rip right away.

In February 2012, Rip will be a super valuable commodity - a guy who can really play, who's won a championship, and who is one of the best scorers in the league.

Think October 2012 as the date the Pistons are targeting to be contenders again. We'll have something nice in a trade of Tay this season (and he WILL be traded given our logjam at SF), something nice in a trade of Rip next season, another important draft pick in 2011, - and possibly more than one since we have 3 second round picks next season, and another important draft pick in 2012. We'll also be making roster adjustments to try getting the pieces on this team to fit together.

you can add weezy's expiring contract to this package as well.

I actually liked this pick. This guy has a lot of potential, but some questions about his drive knocked him way down in the draft. It's a high reward, low risk type of pick.

People need to stop complaining about 2nd round picks anyway. The vast majority don't pan out. Nothing to lose any sleep over, that's for sure. We weren't getting our "center for the next decade" in the 2nd round anyway, so why not take the guy with the most potential?

Probably one of the things that makes it hard to trade assets like Tay or Rip is Joe's desire to "do right by them". Joe won't send either Tay or Rip to a losing dead-end team like the Grizzlies or a post-CP3 Hornets. That adds another level of difficulty to setting up trades.

I'm starting to like this pick, there is something with the name I like. It's not "Sy Amara Warrior for the slam!" quality but "Teeeeeeeerrrrrriiiiiiicccccooooo" would sound nice or maybe even "Teeeeeerrrrrrriiiiiiifffffiiiiiiiccccc". Got potential atleast.

Yes! Terrico "Terrific" White is a shooter, but is he a looter? Any word on his "D"? Also, He seems to play it "straight up". Hopefully he doesn't take his frustration out on the refs but instead takes it out on the rim!

YouTube - Terrico White Sophomore Year Highlights Part 2 (No Music)

White highlights from this last season. Didn't see anyone post it yet.

I'm actually a little pumped up after watching it. Seems like he's playing in fast motion, has a nice NBA looking stroke, and can rise to the top of the square on the fly. Very athletic.

If Joe is going to clear out Rip, then this guy looks like a very nice bench SG who might be NBA ready.

Agree TaS....if Chucky was the 5th guard on the team last tear, then Terrific Rico, definitely makes the squad as he is a definite upgrade over Atkins.

If Bynum or Rip leaves he definitely can help in this rebuilding year. Willing to bet that his shots are blocked less than Stuckeys' as he seems to get to the hoop easier than Stuck does when driving.

3.5% body fat!

That's almost unheathy.

Gotta wait and see how he does at the NBA level before we can say that. I'm sure Stuck wasn't getting his shot blocked all that often at the collegiate level, either.

Having said that, White appears to play above the rim more often than Rodney does, so he probably doesn't get blocked as often. I wish Stuckey would do the same, but his small hands become an issue when trying to throw it down hard over 7 footers.

So does his weight. Not saying anything negative about him but it's rare that Big physical guards like Stuckey can explode off the floor.

terrico will be terrific or terrible

Fwiw, Chad Ford seemed very impressed by the Terrico pick in the latest podcast on espn.com. He said that sometime during the year or if it was last, Terrico was rated to go in the top 10.

I'm multi-sports tasking right now so I'll look it up later, but Ford pre-draft set out his tiers and those indicated that there were about 20 guys in the 20-40 tier (or something like that) who were all pretty much equal in the scouts eyes. We were going to end up with someone pretty highly regarded. The fact that we swung for the fences with that pick, is, IMO, delightful.

Today's word is "delightful."