Detroit Pistons Blog – Page 95 – NBA Blog

Quick East thoughts

The season is approaching, folks. Training camps open in around one week (I’m in Prague right now, haven’t looked at a calendar in a while. Tuesday I’m off to hang out in Berlin for a week, then about 8 days in Amsterdam. I’ll be back in New York City right around the start of preseason.)

In the east, the Celtics remain the best of the conference, though I wonder if Ray Allen will drop off a bit this season. They also need to improve their bench.

The Pistons bring back last year’s team, with Rasheed Wallace and Chauncey Billups a year older.

The Magic still need to improve their backcourt.

The Cavaliers add scoring punch with the addition of point guard Mo Williams, but it’s still the LeBron James show with a supporting cast that will have to work very hard to carry their weight.

The Wizards must once again play without Gilbert Arenas for a while, though even with him they’re a lower-level playoff team.

The Raptors have to hope Jermaine O’Neal regains former All-Star form; it’ll be tough.

The 76ers added a star by signing power forward Elton Brand, and that should definitely raise them in conference standings.

The Hawks aren’t locks to return to the playoffs, but it’s good they kept Josh Smith.

The Bucks improved on paper, adding a pass-first point guard in Luke Ridnour, but more importantly, a legit good forward in SF Richard Jefferson.

The Knicks have the same talented yet flawed roster, but a new coach. Can Mike D’Antoni work miracles?

The Nets are rebuilding and aside from Vince Carter and young Devin Harris, everyone on the team who matters is young and in development.

The Bulls have the same team as the last few seasons, though Ben Gordon remains unsigned. Will they play like the good Bulls from two years ago, or the disappointing ones from last season? Flip a coin, because they’re capable of going either way.

The Bobcats have nice swingmen in Jason Richardson and Gerald Wallace, plus Emeka Okafor, but everyone else is young and in development.

The Heat could make a leap in the standings now that Dwyane Wade is healthy, plus Shawn Marion needs a new contract, and Michael Beasley doesn’t like losing. The supporting cast is still extremely weak, though.

The Pacers always do a bit better than expected. The bad news is, almost nothing is ever expected. Danny Granger, Mike Dunleavey and TJ Ford are very nice players, though. They may surprise a little, but not a lot.

I’ll share quick West thoughts tomorrow. Right now I’m off to hike up to the Prague castle. I’ll be right here in about an hour.

–Jeff

Dumars defends lack of Pistons roster moves

The Detroit News (Chris McCosky) reports: Pistons president Joe Dumars, speaking to a media assemblage in Lansing Wednesday, made it abundantly clear that he won’t apologize, rationalize or make excuses for not pulling off any blockbuster deal or radically altering his roster this summer. “I said we would look to make changes but we wouldn’t do a bad deal,” he said. “The deals that were presented were not good deals for us. You don’t make deals so you can walk in here on a day like today and say, ‘Hey, we made a deal.’ You want to resist that, and I did and I make no qualms about it.” … “There’s nothing to patch up,” Dumars said. “I’m the one who was upset, so who do I need to patch things up with? It’s been good. Guys understand that six straight years of making the conference finals and going to the NBA Finals only twice isn’t enough and I am not going to rest on that. What you do is keep pushing, keep moving forward.”

InsideHoops.com editor says: The Pistons were successful last season. They won 59 regular season games, second only to the Celtics. And they did well in the playoffs, losing to those same eventual-champion Celtics. True, Rasheed Wallace is getting old, as is Chauncey Billups, but it’s not like a breakup was actually necessary. Detroit can still ride the current core for another season, but ideally they find another Rodney Stuckey, in the form of a forward or center. That would help. Anyway, if they keep the current roster I think they’ll still win 50+ games this season and finish second or third, fourth at the worst, in the Eastern conference.

Pistons likely to open with 14 players

True Blue Pistons (official team blog by Keith Langlois) reports: It’s appearing more and more likely that the Pistons will open training camp with 14 players under contract, one under the league maximum. That’s Joe Dumars’ preferred mode, giving him roster flexibility as the season unfolds in the event of injury or opportunity to add a veteran free agent – maybe one who gets bought out, a la Chris Webber two seasons ago, or someone who comes out of retirement late in the season for a playoff run – to fill a niche role.

Fan Poll Results: 8 East playoff teams

InsideHoops.com ran a poll for the last week asking fans to pick the eight Eastern conference teams they feel will make the playoffs in 2008-09.

The voting for the first four teams was pretty close, with the Celtics (592 votes), Cavaliers (588), Pistons (582) and Magic (578) taking the home-court seeds.

The Raptors (504) came in 5th, though from our experience Toronto fans, being very enthusiastic, tend to bump their team up slightly higher than tends to be expected. Though, if new Raptor Jermaine O’Neal can stay healthy and play anything like his old former All-Star self, this is a very reasonable prediction.

One vote later, coming in 6th, was the 76ers (503), who played better than expected last season and now add star power forward Elton Brand, who is returning from injury, to their mix.

The Wizards (459) came in 7th. They welcome a healthy Gilbert Arenas back.

And now, a dropoff.

Fans feel that last year’s #8 seed, the Hawks, won’t do as well in 2008-09. Rather than pick them to return to the playoffs, fans went with the Heat (294 votes). This is reasonable. Miami welcomes a healthy Dwayne Wade back, alongside Shawn Marion, who needs a contract, and superkid rookie Michael Beasley. The supporting cast is still weak, but slightly improved from last year.

The Bulls (195) finished 9th, just outside the playoff seedings. The Hawks (180) were 10th.

Here are the complete final results:

1) Celtics 592 votes
2) Cavs 588 votes
3) Pistons 582 votes
4) Magic 578 votes
5) Raptors 504 votes
6) Sixers 503 votes
7) Wizards 459 votes
8) Heat 294 votes
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9) Bulls 195 votes
10) Hawks 180 votes
11) Bucks 83 votes
12) Nets 68 votes
13) Knicks 53 votes
14) Pacers 53 votes
15) Bobcats 43 votes

Web viewing of NBA games may soon exist

The Oklahoman (Mel Bracht) reports: Say you’re working late and can’t make it to the Ford Center to watch Oklahoma City’s new NBA team play its game that night. Instead, you log on to your computer and watch streaming video of the team’s game broadcast. Sound far-fetched? Not if the NBA has its way. The league is aggresively promoting three new Internet elements — video streaming in home markets, interactive TV and video-on-demand — for the upcoming season. Ed Desser, a media consultant for Oklahoma City’s team, said many details have yet to be worked out, and didn’t expect the team to offer the Internet elements anytime soon.

Hawks sign Flip Murray

Seeking to add additional depth to its backcourt, the Atlanta Hawks General Manager Rick Sund announced today that the club has signed free agent guard Ronald “Flip” Murray to a contract. Per team policy, no other details were released.

“By signing Flip, it provides us with another experienced player who has the ability to play multiple positions for us,” said Sund. “Because of his versatility, he will be a valuable asset for us as a reserve, and we look forward to the contributions he’ll bring this season.”

A 6-3, 197-pound combo (point/shooting) guard, Murray is a six-year veteran who last played for the Indiana Pacers. He saw action in 23 games after he was signed a mid-season free agent (March 1) following his release from the Detroit Pistons, and he averaged 11.0 points and 3.5 assists (.425 FG%, .389 3FG%, .754 FT%) in those contests.

He started the final 15 games at point guard for the Pacers last season during their playoff push (Indiana went 10-5 during that stretch), and he averaged 11.0 ppg (.439 FG%, .450 3FG%, .703 FT%) in his 17 overall starts with Indiana.

In a season-and-a-half with the Pistons (88 games, 2006-07 and ’07-08), Murray tallied 6.9 ppg and 2.9 apg (.406 FG%, .694 FT%).

He brings career marks of 9.3 points, 2.4 assists and 2.0 rebounds to the Hawks, having played for five teams (Milwaukee, Seattle, Cleveland, Detroit and Indiana) over his six seasons. In addition, Murray has played in 29 postseason games with totals of 5.1 ppg, 2.0 rpg and 1.4 apg.

The NCAA Division II Player of the Year during his senior season at Shaw University, Murray was selected in the second round of the 2002 Draft by the Bucks. He saw limited action as a rookie and was traded during that year (along with Ray Allen, Kevin Ollie and a conditional 2003 first-round pick) to the Sonics (for Gary Payton and Desmond Mason), where he developed into a scoring threat one year later (2003-04) while subbing for Allen who missed 26 games due to injury. Murray turned in 12.4 ppg, 2.5 rpg and 2.5 apg in 82 contests (18 starts) and connected on .425 FG% and .715 FT%.

He spent two more seasons with the Sonics before being traded to the Cavaliers during the 2005-06 campaign, and he scored 13.5 points in 28 games in helping Cleveland reach the playoffs. He recorded his career-best playoff numbers that year, with 8.1 ppg, 3.2 rpg and 1.6 apg.

Pistons re-sign Walter Herrmann

The Pistons roster has looked incomplete all summer because it lacked a long-haired, thinner version of Fabio. However, as of yesterday, that need has been met. Here’s the news:

Detroit Pistons President of Basketball Operations Joe Dumars announced Monday that the club has re-signed forward Walter Herrmann to a contract. Per team policy, terms of the contract were not disclosed.

“We are pleased to re-sign Walter Herrmann,” said Dumars. “Walter is a player with tremendous work ethic and showed last year that he is a player that can contribute to this team.”

Herrmann, 29, was acquired by the Pistons on December 14, 2007 along with Primoz Brezec in a trade that sent Nazr Mohammed to the Charlotte Bobcats. He appeared in 45 games last season with Charlotte and Detroit, averaging 3.4 points, 1.6 rebounds and 0.4 assists in 8.2 minutes per game. In 17 games with Charlotte, Herrmann averaged 4.0 points and 2.1 rebounds in 10.2 minutes per game. He played in 28 games with Detroit (no starts) and averaged 3.0 points and 1.3 rebounds in 7.1 minutes per game. The 6-9, 229-pound forward scored a season-high 16 points (6-15 FG, 2-5 3FG, 2-2 FT) in a season-high 33 minutes at Orlando (11/23).

Herrmann was not drafted by an NBA franchise and signed with Charlotte as a free agent on September 11, 2006. He played six seasons of professional basketball in his native Argentina and four seasons in Spain. Herrmann averaged 9.2 points and 2.9 rebounds in 48 games during the 2006-07 season with the Bobcats. He was named to the NBA All-Rookie Second Team and was named Eastern Conference T-Mobile Rookie of the Month for games played in March. He scored in double figures in 17 of the last 18 games of the season, averaging 17.9 points per game on 58.2% shooting over that span.

Pistons sign Walter Sharpe

Detroit Pistons President of Basketball Operations Joe Dumars announced today that the team has signed second round draft choice Walter Sharpe.

“We are pleased to add Walter Sharpe to our roster,” said Dumars. “Walter is a young athletic small forward with good size and intriguing skills. We look forward to seeing him grow and mature as a player in our system.”

Sharpe was selected by the Detroit Pistons with the No. 32 pick in the second round of the 2008 NBA Draft. The 6-9, 245-pound forward from the University of Alabama Birmingham, played 12 games last season averaging 14.2 points, 6.8 rebounds and 1.8 blocks. He shot 52% from the field and had a career game against University of Rhode Island when he recorded career-highs in points (26) and rebounds (17). Sharpe averaged 9.3 points and 5.0 rebounds during the 2005-06 season for Mississippi State and sat out the 2006-07 season due to NCAA transfer rules.

Pistons exercise options on Stuckey and Afflalo

Rodney Stuckey looks like a future starting point guard, and Arron Afflalo is a somewhat decent backup, so today the Pistons did the obvious. Here’s the news:

Detroit Pistons President of Basketball Operations Joe Dumars announced today that the team exercised its team option on the contracts of guards Rodney Stuckey and Arron Afflalo. Both contracts are now extended through the 2009-10 NBA season.

“We are pleased to have both Rodney Stuckey and Arron Afflalo signed through the 2009-10 season,” said Dumars. “Both players will continue to grow and mature within our system and we look forward to the contributions they will bring this season and beyond.”

Stuckey, 22, appeared in 57 games (two starts) last season, averaging 7.6 points, 2.3 rebounds and 2.8 assists in 19.0 minutes per game. In two starts (Pistons 2-0 in those games) he averaged 18.0 points, 3.5 rebounds, 4.5 assists and 28.5 minutes per game. Stuckey saw action in 17 playoff games (2 starts), averaging 8.2 points, 1.9 rebounds and 3.4 assists in 22.4 minutes per game. Filling in for an injured Chauncey Billups, he averaged 10.5 points and 4.5 assists in two playoff games as a starter, recording playoff career-highs in points (19) and minutes (34) at Orlando (5/7) in the second round. He missed the first 25 games of the season after suffering a broken left hand in the club’s final preseason game vs. Washington (10/24).

Afflalo, 22, appeared in 75 games (nine starts) last season, averaging 3.7 points, 1.8 rebounds and 0.7 assists in 12.9 minutes per game…In nine starts (Pistons 6-3 in those games) he averaged 7.0 points, 2.7 rebounds, 1.0 assists and 21.1 minutes per game. Afflalo became the first Pistons rookie since Grant Hill (1994-95) to start a season opener at Miami (11/1) when he played in place of Richard Hamilton who missed the game tending to the birth of his son. He scored 10-plus points seven times and led the team in scoring twice during the year. He also recorded a career-high 15 points twice [at Miami (3/27) and at Cleveland (4/16)], grabbed a career-high eight rebounds and dished out a career-high four assists at Cleveland (4/16).

Pistons sign Kwame Brown

The Pistons have added Kwame “Shut up about the ‘Bust’ stuff already” Brown to their roster. He’ll provide bench depth and help play backup to Antonio McDyess and Rasheed Wallace. Here’s the news:

Detroit Pistons President of Basketball Operations Joe Dumars announced today that the club has signed free agent center Kwame Brown to a contract. Per team policy, terms of the contract were not disclosed.

“We are pleased to add Kwame Brown to our roster,” said Dumars. “Kwame is a player that gives us depth at the center position and we feel that he will have the opportunity to grow within our system.”

Brown, 26, appeared in 38 games (15 starts) last season with the Los Angeles Lakers and Memphis Grizzlies averaging 4.8 points, 4.9 rebounds and 1.2 assists in 18.8 minutes per game. He was acquired by the Grizzlies on February 1 from the Lakers along with Javaris Crittenton, Aaron McKie, the rights to Marc Gasol, two future first round picks and cash considerations in exchange for Pau Gasol and a 2010 second round pick. He scored in double figures four times a year ago, including a season-high 11 points at New York (4/2). Brown grabbed 10-plus rebounds on three occasions, including a season-high 11 rebounds vs. Denver (1/21) and New York (1/29).

The former No. 1 overall draft pick by the Washington Wizards (2001) has career averages of 7.5 points, 5.7 rebounds, 1.1 assists and 23.7 minutes in 404 NBA games. He averaged a career-high 10.9 points and 7.4 rebounds during the 2003-04 NBA campaign as a member of the Wizards. Brown has posted 40 career double-doubles and 12 20-plus point performances.