NLL Insider - Team by Team: Detroit Pistonsby greenmig, updated on Saturday, September 28 2013, 07:17 pm EST 2012-2013 Finish: 35-47 The other lowlight for Detroit would have to be the trade acquisition for the overpaid, underperforming and now again injured big man Emeka Okafor. Sure, there is a line of conversation that suggests Okafor is expiring this year but still his contract places Pistons management in a bind in more ways than one….more on this later..
Detroit release restricted free agent Brandon Rush and Doron Lamb to New Orleans. New Orleans send George Hill to Detroit. Hill had a solid season for Detroit whilst Rush spent the entire season on IR. Unfortunately, for reasons still not entirely understood the Pistons ended up trading away Hill in a multi-player deal for Emeka Okafor when the season ended.
As has been mentioned this is a confusing trade for the Pistons. Apparently, (this is not confirmed) gm mavs has a plan to stockpile expiring deals and I guess be a wheeler and dealer in the upcoming 2014 free agency bonanza when the likes of LBJ and Melo could hit the market? But as we know there are no guarantees in free agency. But for now this deal brings in a guy who hasn’t delivered $14.5M worth to date and an overhyped white guy who’s days in the NLL are likely numbered in Fredette in exchange for three good young, relatively cheap players in Hill, Jerebko and Hamilton. Other Notable Trades – The Detroit Pistons send Steve Nash, John Salmons and Anderson Varejao to the Oklahoma City Thunder. The Oklahoma City Thunder send Pau Gasol, Kirk Hinrich and Jordan Hamilton to the Detroit Pistons. In this deal the Pistons bring in an excellent big man in Gasol, a solid combo guard in Hinrich and a prospect in Hamilton in exchange for two veteran guards and an oft-injured big man in Varejao. At the time the league experts proclaimed this a bad deal for Detroit but now it looks OK. This could even be considered their best deal depending on if Gasol is actually rejuvenated or not. Hinrich ended up being part of the deal which landed Rodney Stuckey at the cost of a 1st rnd pick, (Cody Zeller) – this could come back to haunt them.
The Pistons traded away their 1st rnder, (pick 10) who ended up being Cody Zeller selected by the Nuggets. Their 2nd rnd pick was Pierre Jackson a 5’10 guy who may never play in the NLL.
So the Pistons are left in a salary cap bind with only 8 players under contract and already at $70.9M – basically at the luxury cap. They can sign Budinger for $5M using the bird rule – this makes 9 players at $75M!?! But with no rookies this means they still need to find 4 more players to reach the NLL minimum. Good luck doing this through free agency! Either way you are still going to be paying $80M+ in salary…maybe we should start calling him gm prokhorov4life…. Obviously the Pistons most trade-able asset is Rudy Gay. He would garner massive interest and surely net multiple players in return. Gm mavs has adamantly stated that Gay is NOT tradeable, but perhaps Rudy, (or league rules on minimum player numbers) may ‘demand’ he is dealt unless mavs shows him a path to the playoffs? Hopefully for gm mavs’ sake he has a rabbit in his hat or maybe he can get lucky with a deal for Okafor. Either way, I honestly think he is going to struggle to find willing trading partners under this tight new CBA without providing some sort of sweetener. Maybe he looks at moving Gasol for multiple players? This is probably more possible especially if Pau comes into the season rejuvenated. I guess the bigger questions for gm mavs, is “What is your goal for this season? Playoffs or are you setting up to make a run at the 2014 draft or free agent classes? And if so, does it make sense to hold on to Gay?” Either way, it’s going to be very interesting to see how gm mavs gets his way back up to the NLL minimum of 13 players whilst somehow staying below the luxury cap. Upcoming Free Agents Chase Budinger - he is keen to re-sign for 3yr, $15M but can the Pistons afford him? Josh Harrelson – this guy’s NLL days must be over… |
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