The Pistons didn’t find anyone to take what seems to be the mistake that is Josh Smith off their hands. It was reported by Grantland’s Zach Lowe that the Pistons tried to dump Smith before the deadline, but wanted more than expiring contracts in return.
They also didn’t find the right deal to send Greg Monroe elseswere even though his name was on everyone’s lips when it came to the Pistons.
Detroit didn’t have a legitimate move, so they didn’t make one at the trade deadline.
Their goal of getting into the playoffs looks bleaker and bleaker with each passing game. Making the playoffs only to get tossed in the first round has never seem like a smart idea. Being on the cusp of bad doesn’t help this team either since they only keep their first round pick if it’s in the top eight.
I’m not for tanking, but at this points losing isn’t going to get me as upset as it should.
What also comes into play is Joe Dumars and if he’ll have a future role with this team. The Pistons have some major things to deal with in the off-season like free agents. Greg Monroe will be a restricted free agent and Rodney Stuckey and Charlie Villanueva will be off the books.
Will Gores stick with Joe Dumars or will there be a new GM in town to deal with the off-season deals.
I can only hope that the lottery balls fall in Detroit’s’ favor since nothing else seems to be going as planned.
I think I’m OK with no moves. I think there are better moves that can potentially be made after the season. Everything that’s been happening makes me think a fresh start is coming for the Pistons next season; Management, Coaching…I wouldn’t hate a nice high draft pick to go with that. So I hope they play hard every game for the rest of the season, but if they don’t win many, I’m not going to be too upset. I don’t like to root for losing, but if that’s what it takes for Gores to finally make the tough decision to change this team’s direction…then I’m fine with it.
With Chauncey on the mend, and Jennings & Bynum clearly playing only for themselves, what would we have had to loose by going after Andre Miller, Gary Neal, and Steve Blake? Would the Pistons offense be worse if it was turned over to Miller? Is Bynum a better proposition at backup PG than Blake? Could we have used the shooting of Neal? If these players were 28 game rentals, they would have allowed us to rid the roster of some lazy, dumb, selfish players on one hand, and on the other, we could have freed up some players, who are not contributing, to play elsewhere.
I said it in 50,000 words or less. This is the worst possible outcome. You’ve left yourself with two bad options when it comes to Monroe, and you’re going to lose Stuckey for nothing in free agency after he finally looks like a basketball player.
I hope the pundits recognize that the Pistons were probably the biggest deadline losers of all. Cleveland and Charlotte (the teams above and below them in the standings) both got better. That means by doing nothing the Pistons got worse. It’s been clear for a while now that pushing for the playoffs is pointless. If you’re going to get married to Monroe and sink the franchise forever, you could have at least unloaded Stuckey to put yourself in a slightly better position than next year. Oh well. It was fun being a Pistons fan for a while.
I can’t believe that Evan Turner couldn’t be had for Stuckey and a 2nd round pick…what did we try to do?
I think the only thing we “tried” to do was trade Josh Smith and get something good in return, which doesn’t really qualify as “trying.” My best guess (which is usually pretty good) is that Gores is fed up. He feels that he gave Dumars the tools and freedom to be a factor in the East, and they’ve underachieved. Gores doesn’t understand basketball, so he just sees this collection of expensive underachieving talent and he believes they can and should be able to make the playoffs (though if we’re being honest, I don’t think they have a chance). He probably feels like, he’s given Joe enough and been burned, so he doesn’t feel like giving Joe any more. Dance with who brung ya’, and if the team doesn’t suddenly and for no reason make a drastic turnaround, let the next GM fix it.
The problem with this (again, assuming this approximates Gores’ attitude) is that Tom Gores IS the Pistons. He’s sort of taking his frustrations out on everyone else, but this is his team. it’s not about what GMs come and go, coaches, GMs. They can all be replaced. The Pistons go on. And this short-sighted, petulant attitude that we’re going to focus on internal improvement this season demonstrates Gores’ ignorance of how basketball works. For one thing, the writing is on the wall. This season isn’t going to end well. And your competition all made moves to get better. And for another thing, somebody has to take the reins next season, and they’re going to have a lot less flexibility based on needing to (1) overpay Monroe or lose him for nothing, and (2) renounce Stuckey and lose him for nothing in order to free up any cap space.
So you’ve kept together a roster that’s not working and are just waiting out the season to have a fresh start. But if he knew what he was doing, he would have recognized what a long shot the playoffs are (even in this HEINOUS East) and made some moves that would give the new guy flexibility. They basically gave up on the season without going all-out and being sellers. It was a major mistake, likely borne out of Gores’ somewhat justifiable frustration (the “somewhat” is because this guy should have fired Dumars as his first order of business), and everyone else has to pay for it. Childish, petulant, short-sighted. Wants to win in theory, but doesn’t take the time to learn even the first thing about the game or the league. Just expects the worst GM in professional sports to steer us to championships. Nothing’s ever going to change with the team until that changes.