December 22nd, 2014 at 12:01 PM ^
December 22nd, 2014 at 1:26 PM ^
Now they just need to get the #1 pick!!!
Also, now you get a chance to see Monroe and Drummond together, surrounded by shooters. If they perform well, you maybe resign Monroe, or facilitate a nice sign and trade.
December 22nd, 2014 at 12:02 PM ^
Negged for not Harbaugh.
December 22nd, 2014 at 1:00 PM ^
December 22nd, 2014 at 1:39 PM ^
I know someone who works in the Pistons front office. According to him, the Pistons are trying to free up money to offer Jim Harbaugh a "mega deal."
December 22nd, 2014 at 2:05 PM ^
December 22nd, 2014 at 12:02 PM ^
Im really surprised people go to those games .
December 22nd, 2014 at 12:15 PM ^
December 22nd, 2014 at 12:38 PM ^
there were literally more Raptors fans than Pistons fans at The Palace on Friday night. Didn't sound like it was really even all that close.
December 22nd, 2014 at 12:03 PM ^
He is a stretch four that the Pistons have no room for. When he plays the three he is useless. He is inefficient and takes a lot of shots.
Good move
December 22nd, 2014 at 12:09 PM ^
December 22nd, 2014 at 12:15 PM ^
but it shouldn't screw the cap up too badly. Pistons used the stretch provision, so it'll break down in the following way:
2014-15 $13.5M (full hit), 15-16 $5.4M, 16-17 $5.4M, 17-18 $5.4M, 18-19 $5.4M, 19-20 $5.4M.
He still gets all his money and the team still takes the full cap hit, but it won't be as restrictive as flat-out taking the full hit in the next two years. Seeing as the cap appears to be on track to skyrocket, it's like paying some bench veteran to hang around and basically do nothing (for reference, Joel Anthony is making $3.8M this season).
December 22nd, 2014 at 12:21 PM ^
I'm not as up on cap rules for the NBA as I am the NFL. Didn't know that they had a provision where you could spread out the hit over a number of years like that. Thanks for posting!!
December 22nd, 2014 at 12:22 PM ^
So according to your math, this guy can sit on his ass for the next 6 years and collect $40.5 million?
wtf
December 22nd, 2014 at 12:26 PM ^
guaranteed contracts man
December 22nd, 2014 at 12:27 PM ^
40.5 plus whatever the Knicks give him; because you know the Knicks can't resisit Smith's overwhelming talent.
December 22nd, 2014 at 12:32 PM ^
be sitting on his ass, I can nearly guarantee that. Per the CBA, if ANY pro team signs him (European, Asian, South American, anywhere), the Pistons can reduce their obligation and (this next part I'm not positive of) I believe, their cap hit by a certain amount. It's not the full amount of his next contract, but the value of his deal, minus the veteran's minimum, divided by two. For anybody curious how the CBA and the cap work in the NBA, Larry Coon is a damn evil genius and has just about every question answered HERE.
FWIW, a lot of people think Smith will clear waivers and sign with the Kings, which is a reasonable guess considering how hard they pursued a trade for him.
December 22nd, 2014 at 12:29 PM ^
I forgot about the cap exploding mitigating some of the damage from this contract. So they really just take a beating this year when it doesn't matter and then with more cap room in the future its not that big of a deal. Really like the move now.
Now SVG just needs to find a warmed over corpse to play SG because Caldwell-Pope is a giant turd masquerading as an NBA player.
Can we refire Dumars? Can someone be so bad at something that you can unretire their jersey?
December 22nd, 2014 at 12:35 PM ^
about finding a SF and a starting PG. Meeks will be fine at SG for the next few years, but there's not a single SF on the roster you could even mistake for a starter. MIght need a PF after this year too. Good news (or bad if you've been scarred by recent off-seasons) is, they'll have plenty of cap room to reconstruct the roster.
December 22nd, 2014 at 1:12 PM ^
The Pistons need to ruin their day for Mudiay.
They need to go in the can-uel for Emmanuel.
I like Stanley Johnson too.
December 22nd, 2014 at 2:40 PM ^
Fall ill for Jahlil?
December 22nd, 2014 at 2:16 PM ^
Joe Dumars had a direct hand in all three of the Pistons' NBA Championships. I am still pissed at him for not taking Melo and probably costing the Pistons one or even two more NBA Championships, but I still respect how he rebuilt the team out of nothing into NBA Champions.
In a way, Joe was a victim of his own success. He got the best of a lot of trades leading to the Pistons winning it all in 2004. Ever since then, nobody has made a bona fide offer to the Pistons, preferring to lowball them in fear of being on the losing end.
Dumars was horrible in the draft. That was really his downfall in Detroit. The Darko Debacle is still possibly the worst pick of all time. He was never really able to draft well. Combine that with Detroit not exactly being a preferred destination for free agents and it doesn't add up to championship caliber basketball.
I will always appreciate what Joe Dumars did, both on the court and in the office. I just wish time could have frozen for the Pistons in the summer of 2004.
December 22nd, 2014 at 3:02 PM ^
right pick for the Pistons. They have zero need for Melo with the current starting 5 and Melo is a ball stopper which doesn't mesh with the team concept.
Beside, a lot of people would villfied Joe D for passing up Darko at the time. Darko was at one time considered to be equal to LBJ at draft day.
December 22nd, 2014 at 4:41 PM ^
Darko was also the only guy that fit a need for the Pistons and made any sense given the team makeup. They had Rip and Chauncey so they didn't need someone like Wade. They thought Prince was going to be good and so they didn't need Melo -- plus they had 6th man of the year Corliss Williamson off the bench, where was Melo going to get minutes?
What they needed was a good big man to compliment Wallace. The thinking was that Darko was more NBA ready than a beanpole like Bosh. With his reported nasty streak he and Wallace were going to create a defensive force. So they took Darko.
December 22nd, 2014 at 4:34 PM ^
I'm not sure how much of Dumars' success was him, and how much was John Hammond's. I used to be plugged into NBA circles a lot more than I am now, but I remember talking to a scout once who said Hammond was the brains of the operation. And if you look at the timeline, things went to shit right about the time Hammond left for the Bucks in 2008. The Pistons went from 59 wins to 39 wins and haven't had a winning season since.
December 22nd, 2014 at 12:10 PM ^
Stretch four infers the man can stretch the defense with his jump shot. So.... stretch four he is not.
December 22nd, 2014 at 12:34 PM ^
Yep. And it made little sense to sign him unless they were going to trade Monroe. But even when played at the four, he was still taking really bad shots. And kept taking them. And took some more. And then he took some more. And more. And he's probably still taking more.
December 22nd, 2014 at 2:58 PM ^
Many questioned the move on day one, as Smith is a terrible shooter who thinks he is an excellent shooter.
December 22nd, 2014 at 12:11 PM ^
I've been hoping they would trade him and Jennings as both of them are hard to watch and root for. Then I came to peace with the fact that no GM in their right mind would want either player for the amount of money they're getting except Joe Dumars. This was really the only option. He clearly was a bad signing and probably wasn't listening to his coach. He usually has like the worst three point shooting percentage in the league yet he continues to chuck them up. I cant believe he's being told to do that, actually probably the opposite. Now please cut Jennings as well and draft Trey Burke.
December 22nd, 2014 at 12:29 PM ^
The Kings offered expiring contracts for him last Summer and Van Gundy balked. He wanted at least one first round pick. I bet he wishes he could take back that decision.
December 22nd, 2014 at 1:03 PM ^
That's simply not true. From what Woj is now reporting the trade that was kicked around would have been Carl Landry and Jason Thompson for Smith.
Landry is signed through 2017 at $6.5 million per year. Thompson is also signed through 2017, making $6 million next year, then $6.4, and finally $6.8. There was never any Josh Smith for expiring deals offer on the table.
Waiving Josh Smith actually gives them greater cap flexibility compared to that trade.
December 22nd, 2014 at 1:32 PM ^
From this article my Lowe it looks like they were willing to give up Derrick Williams who is on an expiring contract. I'm sure Jason Thompson could have been traded too seeing as half the league is looking to upgrade or increase depth in the their big man rotation. Point being, the Pistons got greedy and now they are stuck with all that dead money. I'm very curious to see where Smith ends up now.
December 22nd, 2014 at 1:42 PM ^
Adrian Wojnarowski, who is basically the word of God when it comes to NBA information, says it was Carl Landry and Jason Thompson for Josh Smith.
https://twitter.com/WojYahooNBA/status/547076735817494528
Zach Lowe has merely reasserted what Woj reported.
https://twitter.com/ZachLowe_NBA/status/547077541602029569
Also, did you read that article? Because it doesn't report anything. It merely suggests some names that were being kicked around (Thompson, Landry, and Williams).
December 22nd, 2014 at 1:38 PM ^
December 22nd, 2014 at 12:05 PM ^
watching Josh Smith shoot threes was as cringeworthy as vincent smith up the middle
December 22nd, 2014 at 12:27 PM ^
I'm assuming everyone downvoting you loved watching V. Smith run up the gut for no gain.
December 22nd, 2014 at 12:40 PM ^
just love that he contributes to the community here and sacrificed his body for the fans and his team and don't think that this really called for a jab at Mr. Finger Guns.
December 22nd, 2014 at 1:01 PM ^
December 22nd, 2014 at 12:06 PM ^
December 22nd, 2014 at 12:06 PM ^
December 22nd, 2014 at 1:04 PM ^
December 22nd, 2014 at 12:06 PM ^
What affect does this have on the timing of any announcement or his ultimate decision?
December 22nd, 2014 at 5:52 PM ^
December 22nd, 2014 at 12:07 PM ^
cant believe he didnt work out here...
December 22nd, 2014 at 12:08 PM ^
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December 22nd, 2014 at 12:08 PM ^
December 22nd, 2014 at 12:08 PM ^
he'll clear waivers and become a free agent. one of dumars' worst moves (and he made a lot of bad ones)
December 22nd, 2014 at 12:11 PM ^
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December 22nd, 2014 at 12:13 PM ^
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