They tried to give Tyson “Turf Toe” Chandler away but he couldnt pass a physical. Like I said West is 29 and the Hornets are projected to owe a 7 million dollar luxury tax.

They have one of the cheapest owners in the league and going over the cap down there is not going to fly.

Stranger things have happened and In MY Opinion the Hornets are that desperate!

All I know is that the Pistons need a SF not names Tayshaun Prince. That is all.

How about Troy Murphy? He’s like a younger version of Sheed with much better rebounding numbers. Indiana already has Roy Hibbert and he looks to be a star defensive center, so that makes Hibbert expendable. I’m not sure what the Pacers would want in return, but they can’t be doing much better than the rest of the league financially and even the lakers did a salary dump this year.

Also I’m sure the wizards would love to get Jamison off their hands if they get Griffin. The only major problem there is that Jamison is already 32, so there’s no telling what he will still be able to do next year.

Also another option could be available if Memo opts out of his contract, albeit I’m not sure he would want to come back to Detroit with the nature of his exit.

Also, here is something that has been bothering me: the Rip Hamilton re-up at the beginning of the season. I feel as though Rip was one of the players who gave up on the season once he realized the Pistons were no longer serious contenders. Because of this, i’d be willing to look at moving him; however, when he signed his new contract he became virtually untradeable. No one wants to pay $11+ mil for a player that can only thrive on a team that runs him off multiple screens. He is now an albatross contract, IMO.

Just think, if we never re-signed Rip to that new deal, he would be great trade bait with only one year remaining on his deal. Ugh, hindsight….

I think that MC can do a decent the job if Dumars fields the right vets. There’s no way you see Sheed back so no worries there. And I doubt you’ll see Tay back either. So considering we’ll have 3, possibly 4 new starters next year it can be like a fresh start. And my reasoning here is that Vinnie Del Negro looked like an awful coach at the start of the season, and yet look at how good their team became when they got Brad Miller and John Salmons. Or look at how bad people thought Doc Rivers was until he got Kevin Garnett and Ray Allen.

I think that we did not get to see what Michael Curry had drawn up earlier over the summer in his defensive rotations and offensive sets because of the Chauncey Trade. Granted we also know he does not have the experience for a good playoff coach yet because he could not make good in game adjustments - but that should come with time.

As Artest, would love to have him but you know there’s absolutely no shot of that happening right? And Grant Hill would be great but he said its either Pheonix or retirement (and he’s too valuable to Pheonix anyways, he and Steve Nash are the untouchables there). Odom isn’t a small forward, he can play the position but he lacks the lateral quickness to play it effectively for 40 minutes a game.

As far as players go, the only person that really stands out to me is Chris Bosh. I like Boozer because of his inside game and the ability to rebound, but I don’t think he’s is the kind of guy that you could build a team around. Chris Bosh has proven that he can do just that and he’s 3 years younger.

I’m sorry but I see absolutely nothing in Rodney Stuckey’s game that says he would be better in the two guard position. Anytime you get 6′5’ 205lbs 22 year old that is fast and can handle like that, you gottta, “ PUT EM IN”. Seriously, we will see Stuck excel when we first, come with a fresh identity. The Pistons are playing soft and every team in the league knows it. Second, determine what style of play best fits him. Right now he’s playing like his mentor Chauncey Billups with shades of the real Rodney peeking out every once in awhile.

Starters: Stuckey, Gordon, Artest or Odom, Bosh, Kwame

Bench: Bynum, Afflalo, Kapano, Grant Hill, Maxiell

Starters: Stuckey, Gordon, Artest/Odom, Bosh, Kwame

Bench: Bynum, Afflalo, Grant Hill, Maxiell

However I totally agree that the NBA has its favorites, and Boston is clearly one of them. Think of back in the playoffs when KG got off the bench in that brawl and even pushed aside a ref but was not suspended. The Celts would have lost the series had he been suspended, but Lamar Odom and Amare Stoudemire are suspended for just standing up off the bench. And yes that should have been a flagrant 2 on the Rondo, he clearly went for the head and not the ball.

But I don’t think you should give up on the Bulls just yet, don’t forget they get a lot of calls (especially Rose and Gordon). Eitherway it doesn’t matter, we know that the finals is going to come down to Kobe vs LeBron. A Celts Lakers rematch just does not sound as interesting to the general public, so ratings would go down.

1) Yes, I defintly agree that Stuckey doesn’t get the foul calls. Hopefully that will come with time.

2) The Pistons played at the slowest pace in the entire NBA, so that obviously has an effect on Stuckey’s (somewhat) low assist numbers (4.9 a game).

3) Also, that Stuckey had to share the ball w/ Allen Iverson for most of the season. That would make anyone’s assists numbers drop.

4) The Pistons (like Ali said), had no post presence this season. Sheed & Dyess are jump shooting bigs. Put a Boozer or a Bosh down low & Stuckey is going to rack up the assists.

Curry talked about playing faster next year. So I can see Stuckey averaging 17-7-4 next season easily.

I wouldn’t mind Jefferson, he’s a great shooter, in fact he reminds a lot of Chauncey in their style of play and build. Only gripe is that williams is much younger, so that means a longer title run.

Ok so I’ve got it. Best lineup evAr. Resign Sheed for 6 year $24 mil; trade Amir, Kwame, Maxiell and Sharpe for Verajo; sell Stuckey’s contract on ebay; used money to get Derek Fisher but place him at center; hire Isaiah Thomas as the GM in order to play Dumars at the 2 and lastly have Fabio run the point. See perfect lineup, guarantees more than 38 wins anyways (you said you were open to anything :p)

So adding Marvin Williams or Turkoglu will give the element of a shooting Wing, but then who do you expect to slide in at point? Ty Lawson was a great scorer but an average distributor. And once again I doubt the Bucks will give up Sessions very easily.

To be honest I think Rodney was a very good distributor at the end of the season, getting in the paint and kicking it out - people just missed a bunch of wide open shots. IMO, you’ll see much higher assist numbers next when they put better shooters around him and give him a consistent post player.

Also, don’t believe everything Joe D says.

We all know we need to make some big moves.

All I’m saying is dont rule anything out because I’m sure Joe D is looking at all options.

Who knows Ali, our 3 point shooter might be at the SF position.

Two Penetrators like Sessions and Stuckey and a shooting Wing player and you are back in business.

You know NBA defenders are lazy and will let Sessions and Stuckey have there way in the lane.

I believe that Stuckey can play the Point, even excel at it but in my heart I think he just wants to score and not worry about setting his teammates up.

However I do realize that Gordon’s biggest shortcoming is his height. He’s stronger than Rip, but other guys can shoot over him like they did to Rip at SF. As far as I know beyond Turkoglu there’s no other good 3 point shooter as a free agent this year.

IMO there’s no point in drafting a guard unless if its Wayne ellington - best outside shooter in the late rounds - because I guarantee you Afflalo will surpass Rip by the time Rip’s contract expires. Judging by the magnitude of growth Afflalo had just last summer, I think he can be a solid 16-20 pt with 40% from 3. However that does not fix the immediate need.

I wish the Pistons would have bought Rudy Fernandez’s contract last summer, Pheonix sold it for something like $2 mil in cash considerations. There is a shot at getting Jason Richardson, no defense but he’s really strong, athletic and a consistent 3 point shooter. Michael Redd should be on the market but he’s just as old as Rip and is coming off a bad injury. Tmac lol?

Take a look at the SG stats at ESPN, and tell me who you see on the list that will be easily available and also has a better resume than Ben Gordon for a similar price. There’s a lot of good young guys, such as Courtney Lee, but I highly doubt the Pistons will be able to pry them away in this economy.

This could be good tho because it forces him to penetrate which is something we sorely lack.

I am for Sessions at any decent price like 5-8 million dollars.

I like a team that starts Sessions, Stuckey and Afflalo. Give me a Big or two and Im good!

As for Sessions, I think that someone could get Ramon for the right price. Milwaukee thinks so highly of Sessions that Luke Ridnour starts over him. It was only after Ridnour got hurt that Ramon was handed the starting role. Milwaukee as a team is bleeding money. They cannot afford to pay the luxury tax on a team that isn’t in the playoffs. They are already paying Bogut, Redd, Jefferson, and Villanueva. Someone is going to be sacrificed.

We are in agreement on Marvin Williams, however.

I’m fine if you can point out a better all around 3 point shooter that’s available right now, but until then Ben Gordon is our best bet.

As for Ramon Sessions, I highly doubt the Bucks will give him up very easily, even if that means paying a lot of luxury taxes. When Chauncey was a free agent no one wanted him because he hadn’t quite put it together as a point guard. However everyone knows that Sessions is very capable of both scoring and setting up others so I doubt you’ll be able to get him easily. Plus his contract makes him even more valuable to the Bucks.

As for Marvin Williams, that’s exactly what I’m saying. Sign him and trade Tay+(1 big) for Bosh. I don’t see why Toronto would pass up on that, they’ve got a center, a PF, a shooting guard and PG, but no small forward and need better defense.

As for the cash-strapped Bucks, I do like Ramon Sessions. A lot. He is very underrated and he may be another Billups, meaning he is someone who people slept on or overlooked. Same with Marvin Williams.

As for Bogut, I’d say that’s a toss up between him and Chandler, since Chandler is the better rebounder but Bogut has a better offensive game.

However there is a major risk with Bogut in that he’s coming off a major back injury while Chandler has turf toe. Even if Chandler is affected by that toe, it won’t bother him nearly to the degree a bad back would. Besides the Bucks have no intention of getting rid of him for free as they’re in no where near the financial situation the Hornets are.

http://realgm.com/src_wiretap_archives/58730/20090423/raptors_interested_in_prince/