http://www.nba.com/pistons/news/truebluepistons.htmlTrade deadline lesson: Joe D was ahead of the curve
After all the bluster, the bluffing, the speculation and the anticipation, the NBA trade deadline produced two deals that have any chance to shape the playoff race – and one of them didn’t count.When Oklahoma City’s doctors went thumbs down on Tyson Chandler’s big toe – a deal contender New Orleans went into for economic, not basketball, reasons – that left Orlando’s acquisition of Rafer Alston as the only deal involving a team that would appear to have any shot at competing for the 2009 NBA title. The Pistons? Crickets. If Joe Dumars had waited to pull the trigger on the Allen Iverson-Chauncey Billups trade instead of doing so back in November, the Pistons would be all over the headlines now. If Iverson-Billups was a magnitude 10 trade, Orlando’s pickup of Alston is a 2. Here’s the thing: If the trade-deadline inactivity has taught us anything, it’s that the Iverson-Billups trade might not have been possible for Joe D to pull off today. It’s entirely possible that Denver would not have signed off on the financial ramifications of the trade, which for them meant absorbing the three years left on Billups’ contract beyond this season. The climate has changed so significantly in the intervening months that owners shudder to commit to more dollars unless the results are certain – which they almost never are in sports.
(OK, we’ll take a 20-second timeout here to answer the obvious question: How would that be a bad thing for the Pistons if Denver wouldn’t take on Billups? Because the basic premise of Joe D’s motivation for making the deal still holds: Without trading Billups, the Pistons wouldn’t have the chance to add an All-Star-caliber player this summer, meaning they would essentially be taking their chances to win a title again with the core group that came up just short of the NBA Finals three years running. Would the Pistons be hovering around .500 if they still had Billups? Probably not. Would anyone feel better about their chances to win an NBA title? Probably not.) Trust this: Plenty of other NBA teams were intent over the past few days on doing exactly what Joe Dumars has already accomplished – dumping salary for the chance to start anew (or dumping salary just for the sake of dumping salary). And not much got done – because it’s awfully tough to stir much market activity when everyone is seeking the same things and shunning the same things. Put another way, when 25 teams are looking to dump salary and the other five are trying to add a valuable piece without making a long-term commitment or giving up much in return, you get what we got at Thursday’s trade deadline … not much.
As frustrating as the Pistons’ struggles have been this season – as inconsistently as they’ve played, as difficult as it has been for them to sustain momentum – there is this hope: The playoffs are a different animal. The Pistons have been on the other end of that equation the last few years, struggling to beat teams they drummed in the regular season. This isn’t a prediction that the Pistons will suddenly morph into a powerful team once the postseason arrives, but a reminder that the possibility exists that – assuming they right the ship enough to hold on to a postseason spot – they can be a very dangerous playoff opponent, given their experience and their potential firepower. But the bigger payoff for them comes this summer. Joe D could have made moves Thursday to make the Pistons immediately better, but more than likely marginally so – which would have put them back where they started. Or rolled the dice on a bigger name who could have walked away as a free agent himself. His reward will be unwrapped July 1, when the Pistons hit free agency with more cap room than anyone this side of Oklahoma City and as the clear desired destination for the most coveted free agents. It’s tough to sell patience as an organizational asset, but check back in July. The Pistons figure to be pretty prominently in the headlines by then.
